Carlos & Xavier Vandemeulebroecke (St-Léger), 1st National ace KBDB ' Route du Rhône ' 2024

To the already impressive list of honor of the sympathetic tandem father and son Vandemeulebroecke from Saint-Léger in Hainaut, another important title has been added in 2024, namely that of 1st National Ace Pigeon 'Route du Rhône' KBDB 2024, won by 'Mistral' BE22-1145518, a blue cock of character. At the beginning of the season, 'Mistral' was in a loft with 9 pigeons, of which 2 were soon lost, leaving 7, and then Mistral became the dominant guy of this loft. It was he who held the scepter. This motivation was further spurred on by his owner's bag of tricks because as the season progressed, 1 cock was removed from the loft each week, so that the week before Marseille there were only 2 cocks left in the loft and 'Mistral' spent his day being angry at the other remaining cock. 

History of the colony

The VANDEMEULEBROECKE team consists of Carlos, 61, and his son Xavier, 37. Carlos has been retired since May of this year, but helps his wife Catherine, a still-active farmer's wife , on their farm. Xavier, an engineer, is married to Margaux and has 2 children (Anouk, 7 and Gaspard, 4). He built his house right across from his parents' farm, where the pigeon lofts are located, so he only has to cross the street to take care of the pigeons. The tasks are divided between Carlos and Xavier according to their respective schedules.
Carlos has been a pigeon fancier since 1976, when he only participated in speed and middle distance races. Xavier learned the first tricks of the pigeon trade in 1997, this by taking care of his father's 2nd and 3rd round as a young fancier. In 2000 he also helped his then neighbor with the care of his pigeons and let that neighbor be Sébastien Casaert, you can't imagine a better teacher as a starting fancier.
In 2005 Xavier completely pulled the card of his father's colony, this since dad worked full time as a heating engineer and his wife also helped on the farm. Together they decided to focus more on long-distance flights.
In 2012, Xavier filled back a loft list and started his own colony in Evregnies, a village a few kilometers from St-Léger. But in 2020, the VANDEMEULEBROECKE tandem was formed as Xavier went to build his own house opposite his parents' farm. 

The origin of the colony

The base of the colony is mainly based on pigeons from Carlos' uncle, Henri Van Neste of Féluy, and Sébastien Casaert-Sénéchal, their former neighbor in Saint-Léger. Over the years other races have been added: a daughter of Joost Desmeyter-Restiaen's 'Narbonne' (Melden), and a daughter of Wilson Dekens' 'Monti' (Zingem). They also have some pigeons from Ivan & Gunnar Delrue (Bovekerke), Pascal & Romain Hardeman (Velaines) and Bruno & Marvin Degand (Ligne). There have also been recent exchanges with Patrick Dubois (Gaurain-Ramecroix) and Wilson Dekens (Zingem).

The following pigeons have left their mark on the colony 

First of all, the golden pair of the colony, consisting of 2 direct Casaert-Sénéchal pigeons: “Fahrenheid” x “Alix”, which can be found in almost all pedigrees. “Fahrenheid” is a pigeon of Georges Bolle origin (parentage of ‘General’, ‘Superbol’, ‘Georgia’) and ‘Alix’ is a granddaughter of the famous ‘Limoges King’ of Maurice Casaert who is the father of ‘Nasdaq’ 1st National Souillac. This golden couple of royal descent have become among others the parents of 2 fantastic toppers “Poséidon” and “Le Cahors”. 

'POSÉIDON' (BE05-9007620)

Poséidon was 1st Ace pigeon Provincial Fond KBDB 2009 and 1st Ace pigeon Provincial Fond & large Fond L.C.B. 2009 . His descendants perform very well, here are some examples

- Father of 'TRAPIST 
3rd Ace pigeon Prov. Fond KBDB 2014
3rd Ace pigeon Prov. Fond KBDB 2015

- Grandfather of 'CHELSEA 
2nd Nat. Narbonne 7,027b. (2012)

- Grandfather of 'Miss ST-VINCENT
3rd Nat. Narbonne 3,080b. (2021)

- Grandfather of 'KIKA
1st S/N National Pau 489d. (2023) (25th National 3,080d.)
9th ace Herbots Championship 2023

- Grandfather of 'ST-EMILION
1st National Agen 4,101d. (2018)
1st International Agen 11,444d. (2018)

LE CAHORS (BE07-9012579) Brother of Poséidon

Le Cahors was 3rd Ace pigeon Provincial long-distance KBDB 2012 & Co-Winner 1st Championship Provincial long-distance KBDB 2012 

Father of 'AVCII
2nd National Brive 4,384d. (2018)

Father of 'SPECIAL ONE
6th National Agen 3,180b. (2014)

Grandfather of 'TESLA
1st Ace long distance “ Derby Hainaut ” 2015 (with 4 top 100 S/Nat.)

Grandfather of 'JACK
1st Ace Provincial Long Distance KBDB 2022

Grandfather of 'MISTRAL
1st Ace pigeon National Rhône Valley KBDB 2024

Grandfather of '342/20
1st Walloon Zone Marseille 175d. (2023) (73rd National 2,590d.)

Grandfather of '818/21
1st Agen + 1st Libourne + 2nd Dax (Local Tournai)

The golden couple 'Fahrenheit' x 'Alix' are also the parents of :

Easy': 2nd Ace pigeon Provincial Long Distance KBDB 2012
Médoc': 2nd Ace pigeon Provincial Long Distance KBDB 2014
Venus' : Mother of 'Tommy' 2 + 5 + 7th Ace pigeon Provincial Long Distance KBDB
Alexia' : Mother of 1st Prov. Argenton and 1st Prov. Libourne
 Lambda' : Grandfather of Axwell, 3rd Nat. Montauban

Another striking pigeon of the colony is ' XAVI ' (BE08-9037436) 

Xavi' was 1st Ace pigeon Provincial long distance KBDB 2013 and besides a fantastic traveler he is also an excellent breeder because he is :

- Father of :

1st S/Nat. Limoges 1,567d. (2016)
1st S/Nat. Cahors 1,699d. (2016)
2nd S/Nat. Jarnac 1,629d. (2018)
3rd S/Nat. Limoges 1,926d. (2018)
2nd Ace pigeon provincial long distance KBDB 2018

- Grandfather of 'Miss St-Vincent
3rd Nat. Narbonne 3,080p (2021)

References

Many fanciers have succeeded with the pigeons of the tandem Carlos & Xavier VANDEMEULEBROECKE: Casaert Maurice Fils (Néchin), Harchies Christian & Cyril (Warchin), Demaret Grégory (Herquegies), Hoflack Didier & Serge (Boursin/France), Defrenne Bernard (Avelgem), Hardeman Pascal (Watrelos/France), Murez-Marichal Albert (Wadelincourt), Dekkens Wilson (Zingem), Delrue Yvan (Bovekerke) etc. ..

Colony composition, method and care

The colony consists of 20 breeding couples housed in boxes and 110 racers (50 old and 60 yearlings). Among these 110 racers, there are 25 hens. These are first played on widowhood and then brought into nesting position for Narbonne. 

The widowers are paired at the end of April, allowed to brood for 5 days and then widowhood is a fact. They do not breed youngsters for the season. 

The breeders are paired around Christmas and each year 150 youngsters are raised and played. The 1st round participates in races up to 400 km, the 2nd round is played up to 300 km, the 3rd round only on speed.

Carlos and Xavier have relied for years on the mixtures of Vanrobaeys and the complementary products of Röhnfried. On their return from the races, the racers are given the 'Kweek Révolution' mix and BT-Amin Forte + Mumm in their drinking water for 2 days. When the hens are taken away, each kite receives 1 'K + K' dragée in the beak. At the beginning of the week, 'Platteeuw Spécial' mixture is on the menu and the last 5 meals it is replaced by 'Sport Révolution' to which 'Top Energy' mixture is added. On Monday and Tuesday, vitamins 'Gervit-W + RO 200 ready' are mixed with the mixture. Fresh minerals are also provided. Every week the cocks see their partners, even when resting.

 In terms of care, veterinarian Pascal Lanneau (Moen) is consulted at the beginning of the season and then 1 check-up per month. The pigeons are vaccinated against paratyphosis, paramyxovirosis and smallpox. If necessary, a treatment of the respiratory tract is also carried out, this always following the advice of the veterinarian. Avidress Plus + Use Gano (Röhnfried) are also given to fight trichomoniasis and keep the pigeons healthy. 

As for their achievements in recent years, the list is too long to list them all as they have won more than 30 provincial titles, but let's mention the highlights:

1st Nat. Agen 4,101d and 1st International Agen 11,444d
2nd Nat. Brive with 4,384d
2nd Nat. Limoges with 6,946d
2nd Nat. Narbonne 7,027d and 3rd International Narbonne 9,966d
3rd Nat. Bourges 19,084b
3rd Nat. St-Vincent with 3,080d
3rd Nat. Montauban 5,408b
5th Nat. Jarnac with 5,371b
6 x 1st Provincial Champion Fond KBDB
3 x 1st long distance and great long distance champion LCB
3 x 1st long distance and great long distance champion (V and Y) Union Brabançonne
2 x 1st long distance champion (V and Y) C.F.W.
2nd National Championship long distance KBDB 2020
1st International Ace Pigeon in Marseille 2019-2023 (5 years)

On behalf of the 'Herbots' Team, congratulations on these fantastic achievements and no doubt we will be talking about the VANDEMEULEBROECKE tandem Carlos & Xavier again in 2025.

Bernard Henry