Herbots | Tulle: Old Pigeons

Moorsele: This is already the third time that we are driving towards Olmenlaan to visit Team Demely, consisting of Liliane, Filip, their son David, and grandson Milan. All of them grew up among the pigeons, and it clearly shows, as this team has never been afraid to pull off an outstanding result. The season had already been excellent, as we previously reported on the Herbots website, but now the proverbial icing on the cake arrived with the national victory from Tulle, achieved under truly tropical conditions. “We were completely surprised by the arrival of our winner,” David begins his story. “I had just gone into the loft to give some extra care to the pigeons that had already arrived when this gentleman entered the loft. At first, I thought he was a late arrival from the previous race, but when I saw which nest box he flew into, my heart skipped a few beats. ‘It’s one from Tulle!’ I shouted outside, and at first, I honestly did not know what to do. From experience, I know that you often have to wait a long time before you can be 100% certain because we once spent almost an entire hour in first place nationally, only to be beaten by a pigeon from the far north of the country. Fortunately, that was not the case this time, and the champagne bottles could be taken out of the refrigerator.”

Motivated

The national winner against 5,936 competing old birds was “New Tulle” (B24-3075476). When we wanted to photograph him in his nest box, we immediately noticed how nervous he was and how he constantly wanted to enter the open nest box directly beneath his own. “You noticed it as well,” David said when he saw my reaction. “Indeed… his neighbour below has been gone for two weeks now, and ‘New Tulle’ was quick to take over this additional nest box. As you know, I work every day as a carpenter, while my father Filip takes care of the widowhood cocks. Almost every day he would send me a message saying, ‘476 is flying alone’ or ‘476 has flown longer than all the others.’ As a fancier, you can conclude from that that he was preparing to produce something special, but a national victory was, of course, a complete surprise to us. Because of the forecasted hot weather, we were very cautious with the number of pigeons entered and only had two soldiers on the basketing table.”

The future of “New Tulle” will now continue in the breeding loft. A breeding loft that is also home to the national La Souterraine winner “Lady Liliane” (1st National and fastest of 11,668 pigeons), and no further explanation is needed. For the rest, the word “commitment” is central to the management system at Demely Loft. The pigeons are fed from light to heavy mixtures (not one fixed brand, but a blend of different brands), and they are checked regularly by a specialised veterinarian so that everything remains in perfect order from a medical standpoint.

Team Demely, congratulations on your third national victory, and who knows what may still follow.

You truly deserve it.