Daan Rego from Wijer and his Bourges festival in 2023
30 Mar 2024
In Wijer, Limburg, we visit Daan Rego, another young enthusiast who has been competing at a high level in his province for several years. You can no longer call him a one-hit wonder and you have to take him into account every week. The focus here is mainly on the middle distance races and if he decides to compete in a national race, it may be a gamble for him, but the result is anything but. Daan had another top season last year and had the opportunity to score high nationally at Bourges National. The racing team was not yet out of spirit and with 6 pigeons in the first 10 National, the result was excellent. Two weeks later on Bourges he again scored 4 pigeons in the first 100 National. The right gamble and the first national flight in 5 years, which he experienced with great pride to end the season. A young enthusiast who fortunately can count on the help of his parents, otherwise he would never be able to achieve these results. Pigeon racing is now a top sport and Daan himself always gets up very early during the season to clean the lofts and make the necessary preparations for food and drinks. Then mom takes over and takes care of the daily training.
The history or lineage of this colony comes from father Guido (varieties Guisson – Vanbrabant x Pros Roosen) and several pigeons from Bosmans – Leekens. The best couple is a cross between these two, “161” is the cock x “Triple Goud”. The other pigeons are a cock from Dirk Van Dijck that we were able to bring into our breeding loft via Dirk Leekens and the last contribution comes from Geraerts – Vanlanden and Karlo Van Rompaey.
30/07/23 6 x TOP 10 National
Bourges National 7.270 old birds : 2,3,8,9,13,33,43,44,50,126,160,179,196,… 23/30
Bourges National 12.094 yearlings : 2,6,47,92,100,186,196,… 19/28
13/08/23
Bourges National 9.922 old + yls : 19,34,48,99,144,188,… 34/54
The loft is large and deep and all racing lofts have a spacious corridor at the front. In 2016 the iton dividing walls were removed to install new boxes. These iton blocks then had to make way for wooden partitions and a new floor was then suddenly installed.
Racing team on total widowhood
The racing team has been raced here for several years on total widowhood, the pigeons usually go to the same flight, which makes this system easy and you have to keep fewer pigeons. There are 4 lofts for cocks and 2 resting lofts for hens. One resting loft for the hens is simply indoors with small boxes and no grilles on the floor, the other resting loft is an outdoor aviary that is closed at the front with windbreak mesh that can be adjusted to provide extra oxygen at temperatures that are too warm and above which the ceiling lighting can be adjusted. These are also in small containers and there are grilles on the floor.
The pigeons are raced on double widowhood, but because there are more hens than cocks and the pigeons are all raced on one flight, 12 cocks staying at home serve as extra motivation with a permanent hen. These are then coupled to a hen in small boxes in the resting loft. During the winter period they were all allowed to raise a round of youngsters to become more stable, which is especially important for yearlings. Afterwards they meet for a few hours every 2 or 3 weeks so as not to forget each other and to keep the pigeons a bit calmer.
When they return from the training flights at the start of the season, the pigeons come home straight away, but the pigeons are only allowed to enter the hallway, where they stay together for fifteen minutes and are thus separated.
Each pigeon only flies here once a day, usually everything here in the morning unless the weather decides otherwise. During very warm temperatures in the summer, riding is done once a week instead of training at home. This limits the hours of work at home and gives the pigeons the necessary confidence again. This is certainly not weekly, but when it is really hot we do this once a week. On the day of basketing, sometimes there is training and sometimes not, this all depends on the condition at that time. The young pigeons do not train on the day of basketing anyway. The training sessions in the spring are always very good, 1 hour is a fixed time, 1h30 to 2 hours is regular.
During the season itself, 1 hour of training is always a benchmark. The racing team is not darkened in the spring, in the summer when Daan gets up early the lights are turned on so that you can view this as the only point of additional lighting.
The pigeons therefore receive 2 extra hours of light in the morning than usual. The pigeons never come together here for speed, in the middle distance it depends on the difficulty of the flight. If they really get a tailwind we won't drive the pigeons too crazy, if there is a headwind they always come together but they don't stay together for long. We put all the lofts and the pigeons together and we start packing the first pigeons. When we return home, we allow them to stay together for a long time, but the pigeons always separate in the evening.
Young pigeons
The young pigeons are darkened here until June 10 (6 p.m. to 8 a.m.) and are illuminated from the beginning of August. They are played normally for the first 4-5 flights and only then go on the sliding door that opens 45 minutes after basketing. After the flight, depending on the time we have, they can stay together until the evening or the next day in the morning. The pigeons here all have to be basketted 4-5 times for 2 nights outside the drawers, the selection here is not made solely on performance. A poor young pigeon does not always have to be a bad yearling, so the selection here is largely made by hand.
Do you spend a lot of time learning?
We think this is important for young pigeons and it takes a little more time than an old pigeon that already has the necessary experience. They are sometimes put in the basket overnight and released into the loft. The next time this is 400m, afterwards 5km a few times and so we build up until we are at 40km. During the season we only drive in warm weather, otherwise not.
Toppers of the 2023 season
BE 18-5065140 Checkered Cock
2 NAT Bourges 7.270p
3 Sourdun 753p
5 Sourdun 1.736p
14 Sourdun 1.336p
23 Sourdun 931p
45 Vervins 4.305p
Full brother from “869/20” 3 Nat Bourges 7.270p
Father BE 15-2245642 Brother Marijke
Super breeder
Son from « 161/09 » Den 161 , he won 1 Vervins 362p – 4 Gien 5,231p – 7 Vervins 991p – 10 Nevers 674p x « 013/14 » Triple Goud Bosmans – Leekens is a sister from « Olympic Triple Nena »
Mother BE 16-2239498 Super breeding hen
Daughter from "514/13" Reus 1 Laon 814p – 1 Reims 631p – 1 Sourdun 353p – 1 Gien 157p x « 594/13 » Tina 94, she won 1 Sourdun 150p – 6 Sezanne 2,194p – 15 Sourdun 2. 380p
BE 20-5055873 Checkered Hen « Féline »
1 Chimay 196p
2 Melun 208p
2 Sens 787p
3 Sens 2.646p
7 Laon 1.114p
7 Sens 1.611p
8 Laon 1.767p
9 Lorris 5.281p
10 Dizy 738p
11 Melun 2.074p
21 Laon 1.530p
23 Melun 3.382p
55 Sens 3.270p
59 Melun 3.120p
141 Nat Bourges 7.270p
Father BE 17-5089345 Checkered
Won himself 5 Prov Melun 7,329p – 19 Sourdun 2,326p – 38 Chevrain 1,276p – 55 Prov Sens 9,473p – 65 Laon 2,299p – 67 Gien 3,841p
Father of « 723/22 » 2 Nat Bourges 12.094p
Son from « 032/13 » Guido Rego x « 294/11 » Granddaughter Computer 2 Pros Roosen
Mother BE 19-5099445 Lies
She won herself 4 Melun 12.123p – 9 Nanteuil 498p – 14 Sens 671p – 15 Sens 1.505p – 22 Melun 3.924p – 39 Sens 1.360p – 46 Dizy 3.552p
Daugter from « 149/18 » Bosmans Leekens x Rego x « 059/18 » Sister Nora
BE 20-5055927 Blue Hen
1 Laon 1.918p
1 Melun 401p
1 Gien 149p
1 Melun 875p ( 2-2.582p )
1 Gien 381p ( 6-4.155p )
3 Chimay 363p
4 Mettet 869p
9 Nat Bourges 7.270p
17 Auxerre 1.274p
19 Laon 1.838p
28 Melun 3.267p
42 Gien 4.747p
44 Lorris 8.616p
68 Lorris 8.525p
Sister from “Marijke” 1 Prov Sezanne 13.277p
Father BE 09-5111161 Den 161 – Guido Rego
Won himself 1 Vervins 362p – 4 Gien 5,231p – 7 Vervins 991p – 10 Nevers 674p
Super breeder
Father of « 927/20 » 12 x pour 100
Grandfather of « 140/18 » 2 Nat Bourges 7,270p
Grandfather of « 869/20 » 3 Nat Bourges 7,270p
Son from « 000/08 » Blue x « 682/07 » Granddaughter Computer 2 Pros Roosen
Mother BE 14-2024013 Triple Goud – Bosmans Leekens
Sister “Olympic Triple Nena” 2 Olympiad bird Cat.D Bruxelles 2017
BE 22-5063723 Checkered Hen
2 NAT Bourges 12.094p
3 Sourdun 779p
48 Orleans 4.176p
91 Auxerre 2.130p
99 NAT Bourges 9.922p
118 Laon 2.916p
421 Lorris 8.525p
Father BE 17-5089345 Checkered
Won himself 5 Prov Melun 7,329p – 19 Sourdun 2,326p – 38 Chevrain 1,276p – 55 Prov Sens 9,473p – 65 Laon 2,299p – 67 Gien 3,841p
Father of « 873/20 » 10 x in the best 1% of the race
Son from « 032/13 » Guido Rego x « 294/11 » Granddaughter Computer 2 Pros Roosen
Mother BE 15-2243621 Super 621
Daughter from "976/08" Marco won 4 Nanteuil 2.130p – 6 Couvin 1.537p x « 678/11 » Sofie won 2 Gien 467p – 2 Laon 681p – 4 Nevers 343p – 4 Chimay 701p
Accompaniment
After the breeding period, the racing pigeons receive 50% Vandenabeele and 50% Rui Beyers. He also uses this mixture during the first days of the week in the racing season itself. Afterwards the pigeons are raised with 2 sports mixtures (Top Energy Beyers and Super Widuwschap Vanrobaeys) on the advice of Karlo Van Rompaey.
This is usually 2 to 2.5 days when they receive 100% Sport, just like when they return home. When the pigeons return home, we first let them do it and if some of them are at home, the pigeons are distributed among the lofts, if some pigeons are wrong. Then they are fed for the first time in the living box. The second time is only after the pigeons are separated in the evening.
As additional supplements we use Recup Fly + Zell Oxygen Herbots once a week on the food, when we return home it is Protein Plus that is added on the food with Omega plus Oil from Aidi and they get Recup Fast in the drinking water. The racing pigeons were given a tricho treatment during breeding, after which the yellow drops are used weekly after the pigeons are separated.
This treatment is on the agenda every year in the spring, but this year it was not done due to perfect health. No further action has been taken against the respiratory tract in the last 8 years because there have been no problems. The young pigeons also receive a treatment against tricho during weaning and yellow drops are used during the season.
We wish Daan and his parents congratulations on these top results from the entire HERBOTS TEAM.
Buelens Kim
