Annick Goeteyn (Deinze): 1st National Ace KBDB Middle Distance Young Pigeons 2025

A tribute to dedication and commitment...resulting in a series of top performances. The 2025 season was also a challenging one for Annick and her pigeons, yet thanks to the quality and the unwavering commitment to focus and care, her pigeons surpassed themselves with fantastic results. With a 1st National Ace Pigeon, a provincial victory, 2 interprovincial victories, and 31 first prizes, there are fewer achievements to be had. The conclusion is a truly fantastic 2025 season!

Please stay focused!

It's always noticeable when you talk to Annick (58 years old) that her focus is unwavering. A focus on her pigeons and her offspring. With her daughter Kim, who has also successfully completed her studies and is finding her way in the business world, and her pigeons, her passion, her profession.
This is the case 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. It's no coincidence that she achieves strong results with her pigeons year after year. It would be impossible to maintain motivation if all her efforts weren't rewarded with the occasional top result. Pigeon racing is also an ideal hobby for cultivating a sense of humility. A great deal of dedication is expected of both the pigeons and the fanciers to achieve results. Everyone, at some point, faces the harsh reality that it's not an exact science and that many factors can hinder success. We always basket with ambitious or even ambitious goals, but before they cross the registration plate at home, a lot can happen, go wrong, and/or go wrong.
So, definitely leave nothing to chance... is also a motto Annick lives by in Deinze.

What numbers are we talking about? There are around 40 breeding pairs. The 2025 season started with 25 cocks on classic widowhood, 47 hens on classic widowhood (yearlings and old birds), and 140 youngsters. Voilà, with these numbers, the day is well filled. And Annick wants to race from the first flight to the last.
In preparation for the 2025 season, the breeding pigeons were paired on December 15, 2024, to ensure the first round of youngsters. The racing cocks were paired in January and were allowed to raise one youngster in the nest. The racing hens were paired even later, were also allowed to raise one youngster in the nest, and were also trained on the nest in preparation for the season. That's it for the start of the season; more about the care along the way later.

A pigeon breed made of reinforced concrete

"A long time ago," it all began with a few pairs of eggs (and later a few pigeons) from Gaby Vandenabeele of Dentergem. Even today, if you look at the pedigrees of winners in 2025, you'll often find these pigeons. A very strong breeding force, excellent crossbreeding with other pigeons, and capable of achieving national fame from 100 km to 800 km. Countless lofts have succeeded with pigeons from Dentergem, and Annick's was no different. These pigeons still form the broad foundation of the breeding stock.
Later, these were supplemented with the occasional dash of "other" blood, which could be successfully crossed in, or not. This has been achieved with pigeons from the wonderman Joël Verschoot, Leo Dejonghe, José & Stijn Van Laere, Eric Limbourg, Chris Debacker, Loft Verstraete, Hok Demely, Emiel Denijs, Guido Loockx, and more.
Breeding is also a constant process of weaving fine new threads into the existing lineage, ensuring that the existing foundation is not lost. These are pigeons that easily take the lead, clever pigeons that stand out through their ability to win.
Inbreeding is done with minimal inbreeding, not too close, and with the preservation of the old lines always in mind. The fact that other lofts also achieve excellent results with these pigeons reinforces Annick's approach and breeding strategy.
They are also beautiful pigeons in the hand. Very soft plumage, thick plumage, beautiful, spacious wings, and a strong body. Clearly, a line of pigeons that still has a lot of potential.
Pigeons that perform well are also cherished and preferably retained in the breeding loft. And with the performances of the past years it is clear that performance pigeons are increasingly claiming their nest box in the breeding loft.

Annick’s ABC

If you have a strong breeding base and are willing to dedicate yourself unrestrainedly to making it a success, you might want to approach care as follows.

1. Do everything with the correct regularity and timing. This way, you won't confuse your pigeons, they'll be much calmer, and they'll recover well.
2. Keep an eye on your loft. Observe, observe, observe... try to tell from your pigeons' behavior whether they are happy, whether they behave sociably in the loft, whether they look well-groomed, whether they're training well, whether they all listen well and smoothly, etc.... and then react quickly. The loft climate is crucial for pigeons to feel comfortable and achieve top results. Therefore, take sufficient time to be present in your lofts. Caring for pigeons isn't a race of quickly cleaning lofts; take the time to be with your pigeons.
3. Stick to your own approach and make minimal adjustments when necessary. There are many variables you can adjust when necessary, but only change one thing. If you don't, you'll have no idea which change has had what effect.
4. Regularly question yourself and your operations. See if small adjustments can improve the level of results or the atmosphere in your lofts.
5. Listen carefully to players who have been at the top for years; they usually also seek clarity and simplicity, rather than many magic tricks.
6. All racing pigeons are now housed in the garden lofts. Where the widowers used to live in the lofts adjacent to the house (attic lofts), everything has been moved to the garden lofts. The breeding pigeons now live in the attic lofts. This makes care easier, moving from the youngsters' loft to the racing loft is simpler, etc.
7. The widowers have a partner who stays at home and are allowed to see this partner before basketing (15 minutes). Upon returning home, they stay with their hen, depending on the intensity of the race. 2025 was a difficult season for the cocks. In the early stages of the season, they had to complete several dirty and difficult races and, as with many players, there were many losses, including losses of pigeons with a lot of practice. The widowers are fed AIDI mixtures 1 and 3. For dessert, they also get some candy seeds and Annick's "world-famous sprouted grain" (for which they use Wal Zoontjes-mis from Beyers). The AIDI feed is varied and the pigeons eagerly devour it.
8. The widowhood hens also have a permanent partner and raise one youngster for the season. In the 2025 season, they were trained on the nest and then raced on widowhood for the entire season. The loft is built so that they can live in the aviary during the day and sleep inside on planks at night. The nest boxes are hidden and are opened before basketing. They train early in the morning, before the widowhood cocks, and at basketing, they have their partner for almost an hour. They are basketed weekly, and interbreeding is rare. They are fed the AIDI girl power mixture throughout the season, some treats, and for longer distances or challenging races, a dessert of AIDI mix 3 as feed... as well as germinated seed. 2025 was a top season for the hens. They were in great form from the start, and their form and strong performances were maintained until the end of the season.
9. The young pigeons are properly trained in the initial phase after weaning and are well-conditioned so that they respond well and come inside when needed. The young pigeons train in the afternoon. While it has sometimes been difficult to get them to train sufficiently in other seasons, this was not the case in 2025. They quickly started training very hard, and this was later confirmed with good results. In the past, the young pigeons were raced on widowhood (the sliding door system, etc.), but this is no longer the case. The tight timeframe within which everyone has to train, etc., led Annick to choose young pigeons on the nest or free in the loft. The results are no less impressive. However, it was more difficult to keep them training. The flag is raised as a flag, and during the full young pigeon season, the young pigeons are taken to Tournai twice for training.
10. Everyone receives medical supervision from veterinarian Piet Blancke. Piet ensures Annick's peace of mind. She takes her pigeons for a consultation every two weeks, and this is usually (fortunately) a waste of time. Annick can't basket her pigeons with peace of mind if she hasn't had the check-up done. There's nothing wrong with that; it's better to get too much advice than to overlook things and have to reactively intervene medically. The pigeons are vaccinated with a paratyphoid vaccine for breeding. The breeders also receive the paramyxo-rota vaccine, and smallpox is prevented with a "brush" vaccine. As for supplements, germinated seeds, some AIDI supplements, and recovery products from veterinarian Piet receive a lot of attention.

Inside and ouside view racing hens department

Wonderful results as a reward

In return for her efforts, Annick receives a great deal from her feathered friends, especially in the 2025 season.

One Loft Races

In recent years, she also took her first steps into the world of one loft racing (OLR), and here too, Annick's pigeons have proven that they can easily handle the varying conditions of a foreign loft, together with other pigeons, in a completely different environment, completely different flying conditions, etc. The results are certainly worth noting, with the icing on the cake being the 1st Ace Pigeon of the 2025 Winter Race in Greece, along with several other excellent rankings. • 1st Final Ace Golden Pigeon Race Greece winter 2025

1st Super Ace Championship Ace Golden Pigeon Race Greece summer 2025
1st Ace Grand Average Ace Golden Pigeon Race Greece summer 2025
1st Ace Long Distance Ace Golden Pigeon Race Greece summer 2025
1st Cup of the Country Belgium Ace Golden Pigeon Race Greece summer 2025

The first ace pigeon that achieved this in the winter edition is the Ace Golden Winner (BE24-4033266), from our own bloodlines with a touch of extreme long distance racing from Emiel Denys, paired with a hen from Erik Limbourg. This breeding is no one-hit wonder, as the same breeding pair has also produced many top racers in Belgium.

The first ace pigeon in the summer edition is Divine (BE25-4059209). She is a daughter of Rudinio (Gaby Vandenabeele x daughter Ballon of Erik Limbourg). Last year, they took third place in the final, and what's remarkable is that these pigeons all have the same mother! Impressive lady!

Belgium

But it is also and especially here that top results are achieved.

2025 Achievements

• 1st National Ace KBDB Youngbirds middle distance 2025
• 1st & 4th Interprovincial Orleans 6,720 p
• 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 6th Interprovincial Chateauroux 570 p
• 2nd fastest pigeons of 3,593 old and young birds
• 2nd Interprovincial Orleans 1,526 p
• 2nd Interprovincial Orleans 971 p
• 2nd Interprovincial Toury 2,103 p
• 2nd & 6th Prov.Argenton 1,403
• 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th Prov. Orleans 4,523
• 2nd,3rd,4th,5th,6th InterProv.Chateaudun 2,084
• 3rd & 4th Nat.Z.Argenton 858 p
• 4th Nat.Z. Bourges 2,061 p
• 4th Nat.Z. Bourges 1,470 p
• 6th Prov.Argenton 1,403 p
• 5th Nat.Z.Bourges 453 p
• 6th Nat. Argenton 5,812 p
• 6th Nat. Zone Tulle 1,183 p
• 6th Nat. Z. Bourges 899 p
• 31 first prizes (including doubles)

1st National Ace Pigeon KBDB Young Birds Middle Distance with Power Louise (BE25-4059057)

After an intense season of hard work and great rewards, a 1st National Ace Pigeon finally came as a bit of a surprise. The pigeon had certainly flown incredibly well, but because this ranking is spread across the entire country and is more fragmented across various regions, it takes a long(er) wait, and sometimes a bit of guesswork, to know who will score the top prize.
With four incredibly early prizes, Power Louise has become the best pigeon in Belgium in the short middle distance for young birds. A truly impressive achievement.
Her lineage is a fusion of the old bloodline, including a hen from Chris Debacker, paired with a hen from Loft Verstraete, and interwoven with pigeons from Tom & Marnik Van Gaver and Joël Verschoot.
A true powerhouse with a sublime GPS!

Spotlight on the Interprovincial Winners

• Lady Donna wins 1st Interprovincial Chateauroux (BE24-4033062)
A beautiful blue hen, a typical Goeteyn pigeon, from their own foundation line with a quarter of the top pigeons of Joël and Dieter Verschoot (hen Aarijn from the line of 1st National Agen).
She won 1st Interprovincial Chateauroux and was also the fastest pigeon of 3,593 pigeons. Besides this victory, she already had a rosary of top prizes under her belt. 

Double Orlando wins 1st interprovincial Orléans (BE25-4059031)
Phew... it wasn't just the hens that dominated last season. Despite a bumpy start for the widowhood cocks, this was more than compensated for in the young bird loft by Double Orlando's interprovincial victory in Orléans. He proved to be the fastest of 6,720 pigeons and, as his name suggests, he is a product of the Orlando line with (once again) some Verschoot blood woven into it.

A superb reference in the lofts of Joeri De Doncker.

This is the "way of life," as we sometimes say. Through coincidence, people come into contact with each other, it clicks, a form of collaboration develops, and that leads to beautiful things... It's not new, and we think it's very obvious, but in reality, this isn't always the case. Looking for reinforcements for his pigeons, Joeri De Doncker from Erpe-Mere set his sights on Annick's pigeons. They met over coffee to learn about pigeons, purchase pigeons, offer help, collaborate, and the train was on the rails.
Joeri obtained a cock from breeding cock Clement, and this talented youngster would become the sire of super hen Nicky (BE25-4031730), who secured two provincial victories for Joeri:
1st Provincial Orléans 10,286 pigeons
1st Provincial Argenton 2,530 pigeons
1st Zonal Argenton
For Joeri, these are moments of goosebumps all around, and for Annick, it's further proof that she has top-notch pigeons that are also making waves in other lofts. Is this news? No, not really. Gaby Vandenabeele's Super Romeo also came from one of Annick's hens, and a few others too. But being able to repeatedly be proud of what your pigeons achieve in other lofts is rewarding, and it gives an additional boost to motivation in your own loft.

Annick also gives much praise and thanks to the helping hands who, with the motto "together we're strong," contribute to these results: Joeri for assisting with basketing and re-basing, Patrice for training the pigeons, and Peter for the more demanding grooming tasks. And now undoubtedly a whole lot more parties will follow where the champion, and in this case Annick, will have to do her very best to survive it all, climb onto podiums, return home with a car full of flowers and decorations, wring the necks of hangovers... and as it must be every day of the year... to surround the pigeons with the best care.

Geert Dhaenens

ANNICK OFFERS AN UNIQUE GROUP OF STRICTLY SELECTED PIGEONS ON INTERNET AUCTION PIGEON BIDS

THIS INTERNET AUCTION ENDS THURSDAY OCTOBER 30 AT 2 PM (c.e.t)