Schaekels – De Loecker from Lennik win 1st Semi National Vierzon 7,626 old birds

On the first semi-national flight from Vierzon, quite a few pigeons came to the start. The winner with the old pigeons is the tandem Schaekels – De Loecker from Lennik in Brussels. We already know this colony from several provincial and zonal victories and now they have also started the 2025 season well. Rudi and Mathijs are continuing to build on their career and it is only going up. The winner from Vierzon is a 2-year-old hen who is still a granddaughter of their top couple from Bak 7 and on the mother's side we see the best of Clement De Mesmaeker coming back with whom they have been very successful here. Now she is the fastest of 7,626 old pigeons. A start of the icing on the cake of a very strong season?

Racing team

The racing team consists of half hens that are raced on classic widowhood, the other half we race on total widowhood. Everything was paired in mid-February and we let them brood for 14 days. Then we pulled everything apart and started the season like that. Especially box stability and fixed pairs are the reason why we do this.

The pigeons train once a day, the hens in the morning and the cocks in the evening. The pigeons are kept in the air for one hour here. The basis has to be there and then you can loosen the belt a bit at the beginning of the week. So from the heavy middle distance flights they certainly don't have to fly for an hour on Monday. But afterwards they do.

We let our pigeons fly well with 4x Noyon and then 2x middle distance with Melun and Toury. Especially the flying in towards the heavy middle distance is certainly important.

The pigeons don't see each other when they are basketed and they just go into the basket like that. After the flight they are allowed to be together for 1h30 to 2h at the beginning. This always gets longer as the flights get longer and the season progresses. But the pigeons are separated in the evening anyway and get rest and recovery for the next flight.

In terms of nutrition, we use the Beyers Premium mixtures together with some Superdieet from Beyers and also their products. Especially Royal Jelly, Bioflorum, Energy Oil with condition powder and Recovery are the main products we use from them.

In terms of medical care, we go for a check-up with Dr. Bjorn Geeroms a few times a year. We follow his advice and where we used to give the pigeons the yellow drops every few weeks, we have increased this to every week on the day of their return. We find this a bit better by being on the ball for a shorter time, since they will be in the basket for almost 2 nights every week from now on. For the airways, we will only give something if it is necessary or if the performances are less.

Winner Vierzon

BE 23-2063374 Vierzonke – Light chequered Hen 
1st Semi National Vierzon 7,626 old

Father BE 19-2011506 Son Bak 7
Brother of 1st Chateauroux 206p – 2 Prov Blois 1.012p – 2 Noyon 724p – 9 Prov Argenton 796p - … 

Gr.F. BE 13-2012013 Father Bak 7 - Daniel De Roock
Gr.M. BE 14-2166312 Mother Bak 7 - Clement Demesmaeker

Mother BE 17-2010881 Inbred Origi – Clement Demesmaeker

Gr.V. BE 15-2314744 Gorki - Clement Demesmaeker              
          Son of “891/14” Rudy Junior x “417/10” Ronkertje Super breeding hen
Gr.M. BE 15-2009359 Wielemie               
            1⁄2 sister “Origi” – “Lukaku” – “Luis-Leon”              
           Daughter of “728/10” Blue Gaby x “152/14” Daughter of Super Romeo       
           1 Nat Ace Long Distance KBDB Gaby Vandenabeele 

Rudi and Mathijs, congratulations on these great results from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.

Buelens Kim