The van de Merwe family, Dordrecht (NL) leave the competitors immediately behind in 2021

Peter, wife Nathalie, daughter Gwen or father Arie van de Merwe don’t need any introduction. That Peter had chickens and rabbits when he was a kid and that he got to know racing pigeons via uncle Piet van de Merwe where he cleaned the lofts after school time is also a common knowledge. 

The first pigeons came via my uncle Piet, these where Tournier pigeons, later on more pigeons came on to the loft from Gebr de Wit -Klak /Janssen, Louis van Loon, Cees vd Poel (Koopmanduiven), Comb B&W, Ad Schaerlaeackens, Marcel Sangers(Replay Koopman), Guy vd Auwera-Jozef Goovaerts-Gaston vd Wouwer (Kaasboer), Leo Heremans ,Marcel Sangers(Dirk vd Bulck)

They race under 3 names namely Peter van de Merwe, Gwen v/d Merwe and Nathalie v d Merwe. Peter started off with 80 old, Gwen with 40 old and Nathalie with 23 old, these are old and year birds together. There are 40 breeding couples on the breeding loft who take care of 200 youngsters which are divided over the 3 fanciers. 

The old ones are being selected really hard, but they aren’t that though for the youngsters, their experience says that a lot of the time the lesser youngsters become the best old / year birds. 

All pigeons train once a day, the old were being tossed 4x before the beginning of the season. The first round youngsters are starting to train substantial around the loft now, the 2nd and 3rd round are still running around on the roof, these 2 last rounds reside together on one loft 

Before we go into the care of the pigeons we want to talk first about their amazing start of the season 2021…

Start season 2021

The first race was out of Lennik (116km) and this against 3,458 pigeons with a result above expectation:
Peter : 5-7-8-9-13-16-19-20-23-29-37-48-49-50-51-66-77
Gwen : 1-2-3-15-18-22-44-109-110
Nathalie 17-43-54-71-105

So, the 3 of them together wons:
1 – 2 – 3 – 5 – 7 – 8 – 9 – 13 – 15 – 16 – 17 - 18 – 19 – 20 – 22 – 23 - … against 3,458 pigeons !!! 

In the union the 1st 2 pigeons were also the fastest against 12,324 pigeons.

The first 3 are NL20-1498420 – NL20-7021294 and NL20-1498512 who will be introduced in a minute.

Next race on the program was Quièvrain (170km) on the 24th of April against 1,427 pigeons and also on this race they hit the jackpot: 

Common result : 1-2-3-4-5-7-8-9-12-13-14-21-22-23-24-26-29-30 - … against 1,427 pigeons

And the past weekend on the 1st of May they went to Perron (243km) where 3,603b were basketed and the results are:

Peter: 7-8-10-11-13-16-18-19-21-22-23-24-...(66/82)
Gwen: 2-4-6-14-15-17-20-28-...(37/41)
Nathalie: 1-3-5-12-29-32-...(20/23)

Common result : 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-22-23-24- … against 3,603 pigeons
(At the bottom of this article you can find the pedigrees of the 1st 9 arrivals!)

The competition in Holland has been warned…they are more than ready in Dordrecht! 

NL20-1498420 – NL20-7021294 and NL20-1498512 shined from the first race

NL20-1498420 – NL20-7021294 and NL20-1498512 are the number 1 – 2 and 3 on Lennik against 3,458 pigeons where off number 1 and 2 also became the fastest against 12,324 pigeons.

NL20-1498420 Granddaughter ‘Allievero’ x ‘Jill’ 

Good blood doesn’t lie…this hen won : 
1 Lennik 3,458b (fastest against 12,324b). 

It can’t be a coincidence that she comes out of the strains of super racers ‘Allieviero’ and ‘Jill’ via mothers’ side:

‘Allieviero’ NL14-1061575 won himself:

1 NPO Ruffec 4,133b
8 Prov. Perron 19,772b
11 NPO Nanteuil 16,722b
11 Zellik 556b
13 Pont St. Maxence 445b
44 Morlincourt 11,191b

And became in the meantime (gr)father to a few top pigeons as for example:

1 Lennik 3,458b (fastest against 12,324b).
4 NPO Pont St. Maxence 6,733b
5 Lennik 984b
…

‘Jill’ NL15-1708672 won herself:
1st National Ace bird Youngsters PIPA ranking 2015
4th Ace bird WHZB 2015
1 Duffel 1,064b
2 Duffel 2,355b
12 Asse – Zellik 1,306b
13 Pont St. Maxence 6,160b
14 Prov. Troyes 4,147b
18 Nanteuil 7,763b
…

On fathers’ side she is a daughter to inbred of the worldfamous ‘Kittel’ from Dirk Van den Bulck. In the fathers’ pedigree you can find no less than 2x ‘Kittel’, 2x ‘Goede Rode’ and 2x ‘Olympic Rosita’…in other words: the best of the best from Van den Bulck ! 

NL20-7021294 ‘Zus Aske 936’ 

The 2nd in line is a chequered hen and she already shined before with : 

1 Duffel 3,192b
2 Lennik 3,458b (2nd fastest against 12,324b).
2 Quièvrain 1,255b 
82 Peronne 28,284b
186 Pont St. Max. 19,399b

And also here we find super strains from the lofts in Dordrecht in her blood. 

Father: NL14-1075113 ‘Brother Arie 1 NPO’
‘Arie’ won 
1 NPO Sens 14,753b
Son to ‘Mister Ablis’ winner of : 1 National NPO Ablis 18,911b
‘Mister Ablis’ is next to father ‘Arie’ also father to ao: 1 Peronne 1,228b, 1 Pommeroeul 604b, 5 Prov. Peronne 20,239b, 14 Prov. Nanteuil 18,848b…
Son to ‘Granddaughter Kleine Figo’ who is a real super breeding hen with children who won underneath results:

1 NPO Sens 14,753b
3 Nationaal Ablis 18,911b
1 Menen 2,330b
1 Peronne 2,330b
5 Strombeek 2,744b
5 Prov. Peronne 20,239b
11 Pommeroeul 2,485b
17 Pommeroeul 1,803b
…

Mother: NL15-1708724 ‘Sister Shane’
Full sister ‘Shane’ winner off:
1 National NPO Argenton 10,432b
Full sister ‘Rivaldo’ winner off:
1 NPO Nanteuil 15,640b
Direct daughter ‘United’ 2nd National Ace bird youngsters Best of the Best 2009
Direct daughter ‘Joy’ 1 National NPO Ablis 15,871b 

NL20-1498512 Grandson ‘Allievero’ x ‘Jill’ 

And the last one in the row who we like to introduce is again a grandchild out of top racers and breeders ‘Allieviero’ x ‘Jill’ and is also a full brother to NL20-1498420 Granddaughter ‘Allievero’ x ‘Jill’ who won the 1st Lennik against 3,458b (fastest against 12,324b)

This blue / white cock wins:

3 Lennik 3,458b

And we don’t need to discuss his pedigree as you can find all the details above. 

When you have a look at the above, you just can’t ignore the fact that they took the first train and this with all the top pigeons on board. And this is only 2021, a season that is still in its infancy…very promising ! 

Food and side products

For years they got their food at the Teurlings factory in Dordrecht. Unfortunately for Peter, Tuerlings decided to change strategy and started to focus on other animal food so Peter decided to change onto Beyers. And this is something he really likes until now. Peter isn’t the guy that bothers too much about food. A lot of brands came by the past 30 years and pigeons raced well on all the brands. 

During moulting the pigeons get a mixture of 70% Galaxy moulting, 15% depurative and 15% barley. This is being given until the pigeons are coupled. The pigeons get immediately breeding mixtures. 

In the racing season the pigeons get depurative at arrival. On the short distance races this is being given until Sunday and then switched onto Galaxy Light van Beyers. Peter thought first that the Galaxy Light would be too light but saw that it also went really well with this food on the middle distance races. 

During the long distance race the pigeons get depurative until Monday and then accomplished with Galaxy Light and Galaxy Energy from Beyers. The energy mixtures are only being given on the day of basketing. 

The pigeons are being fed in a trunk. As soon as Peter sees that pigeons had enough, the food is being taken out. The pigeons never get as much as they can eat. At the day of basketing the pigeons are being fed in the morning until they have enough. Around 12-13 h they get food again, and again until they had enough. As closer the pigeons get some candy seed and Tovo. This has to be enough. Years ago it was a hype to stuff the pigeons with a lot of things. But when a pigeon can train once a day, are able to eat enough each day and can handle the distances, then they don’t need much else. 

When the races get heavier, the pigeons get candy seed and Tovo on a regular base. At arrival or a cure the pigeons always get Belgasol from Belgica de Weerd in the drinking water. In the middle of the week the pigeons get mostly BelgaBion and BelgaBac (probiotics) from the same company. 
Also Wonder Pigeon is something that Peter likes. This product on bases of different kind of acids, make the change for infections less and also for healthy intestines. 

The breeders get the same side products. They get on a daily base Belgasol in the water, BelgaBion, BelgaBac and BelgaBiovit. Peter breeds the entire year around, as many pigeons are being sold. The pigeons need a good support. The side products are especially given via the drinking water, Peter doesn’t like to mix it under the food. Pigeons eat less when you do this and this is something you don’t want concerning racing and breeding pigeons. The breeders also get ‘Bak Allerlei’ from Van Tilburg and Theuns. 

Medical
Pigeons are being vaccinated against paramyxo and small pocks and for the first time the youngsters get paramixo-rota. They are also being treated against yellow so they start off the season yellow-free. By feeling they B.S. after a race in the drinking water especially with hot weather or when they hav to sit for a long time in the basket. This a real good disinfection. Once a month the pigeons get Belgamagix from De Weerd. 

He doesn’t do anything for the airways. When Peter sees ‘something’ he drives to De Weerd or get a cure against head diseases. When this happens, this is always being done at the beginning of the week and this for 2 to 3 days. The best seasons are when you hardly suffered from airway diseases. 

Peter, Gwen, Nathalie, a big congratulation with your fantastic start of the season 2021. The entire HERBOTS team like to wish you a lot of success on the coming races.