Eddy and Maarten Leutenez (Ruien) 1st National Chateauroux 13,825 young birds 2nd National ace KBDB Great Middle Distance youngsters

When we sat down at the table in the spacious living room of Maarten Leutenez's newly built house, we realised we had one of the very best fanciers in Belgium sitting in front of us. Maarten left his job as a nurse about seven years ago and concentrated fully on pigeon racing. A "bold" step if we may say so because as a father of a young family with 3 children, it is not easy to take such an important decision. But so many years later, we are convinced that Maarten is glad he took this decision at the time. Pigeon sport combined with "quality time" for the family is the ideal formula for him. 
Those who know Maarten know that he will not shout his results from the rooftops, modesty suits him, but if we analyse the record of the last 7 seasons, we can only conclude that the pigeons have been played "rock hard". First in Kruishoutem and now in Ruien. National victories, national KBDB ace pigeons, provincial victories you name it...you will undoubtedly find it on the palmares of the Leutenez pigeons. 
Dad Eddy laid the foundation of all this and is still enjoying it daily. Thanks to Eddy's experience and Maarten's "fine tuning" of the system, they score at a very high level. The class of pigeons and fancier(s) apparently knows no bounds here.
Time for a chat.

We are already in the starting phase of the 2024 season, but has the 2023 season been properly "digested"? It was yet another successful season in a row, wasn't it?
Maarten: "Thank you for the nice words. It has indeed been pigeon racing at the "cutting edge" up to and including the last flight of the season. On the last national Chateauroux flight, really anything was still possible, but this final result still defies all imagination. Must you know that the week before national Chateauroux, our youngsters finished a provincial flight from Montoire and that result was perhaps the worst of the whole season. Don't ask me the reason but despite the first pigeons being clocked in our region, Leutenez's name was hardly on the result. More even our later national winner came home as we say "between the bright and the dark". 
There was nothing to see on the pigeons and experience has already taught us not to panic all the time and reach for all means when such a situation arises. No...only calmness can save you...and we certainly stayed calm. 
Those who know us know that we love the youngsters anyway and for the last race we spent more time in our loft than in the house. Some don't believe in it, but we do and we are talking about "motivation" of pigeons. As known, our blue cock "B23-4180041" stood very well to achieve a top ranking in the national KBDB ace pigeon competition. One more time he had to report stone early and to achieve this all the stops were pulled out. Our youngsters are played on the sliding door and just like everyone else, sometimes a pigeon is left behind and it was a coincidence that the "041" had already lost its hen twice. We did not see the "041" mourning but he always found the motivation to court a new hen and was also not afraid to expand his territory at the same time. I thought now is the time to give the "041" an extra tickle and I installed an extra shelf just in front of his 2nd living box which he had just taken up. I kept a close eye on the whole "spectacle" because I didn't want another cock to possibly take over his new property. 
Super motivated the "041" went into the basket but that he would also bring the national victory to Ruien on that final flight I had not expected at all. Thanks to this victory, he could set his coefficient for the national ace pigeon competition very sharp (0.8640% over 3 flights) and ended up in 2nd place in this extremely difficult competition. 
The "041-23 "was promptly renamed "New Oscar", referring to "Oscar", our previous national winner. 
"New Oscar" provided the 1st national win here at the lofts at Ruien but 8th national win in the history of Leutenez pigeons. The other 7 national wins were:

1st National Bourges '88
1st National Royan '90
1st National La Souterraine '91
1st National Brive '91
1st National Argenton '18

A non-negligible detail... we have also been stranded in 2nd place nationally 5 times. Yet also worth mentioning we think."

There have been pigeons here at Ruien since 2019, but 2023 was the first season of playing only here.
"Indeed, in 2019 I moved to our newly built home with wife and children. The first season was played in my son Milan's name. With my parents there were also playing and breeding pigeons and the Ruien-Kruishoutem route (still 30 to 40 minutes one way) was travelled several times a day. I don't need to draw a picture that this started to weigh heavily and we are all glad that all pigeons are now housed here in the Grote Heirweg in Ruien. In the meantime, my parents have sold their house in Kruishoutem and have also moved here. This means that dad can still enjoy pigeon racing to the full. 

New home means a new loft. We are now several years on and were there things that were not right? 
I think every fancier builds a new loft with the necessary fear. How will the pigeons' condition react to heat or cold or wind from a certain direction. We too had many questions, especially because the new loft was located in an open plain. To block the wind, we placed hedges. We made a copy of the loft at Kruishoutem and are more than satisfied. Last year, we had a chilly feeling in the lofts when standing close to the windows. Exactly as if the wind flew through the loft from left to right. At the living lofts it was more pleasant and we felt nothing at all, but we didn't want to take a risk and put partitions in the ridge. Believe it or not, after 3 weeks we removed all partitions and kept everything as it was. A good loft should not be tinkered with, is one of our theses." 

We assume that the breeding loft still houses the same basic lines as at Kruishoutem?

Maarten: "Almost all current breeders and racers descend from or are close relatives of "Het Bolleken" and "Oscar". Apart from a few pigeons, the breeding loft is actually one big family.
You will find "Het Bolleken", her parents ("José" and "Rita") or "Oscar" in every pedigree. All toppers descend from these pigeons. "Het Bolleken" won with José Denoyette the 1st prize provincial Tours with rock hard weather. My dad happened to be present when "Het Bolleken" shook this victory out of her wings. José proudly showed daddy his winning hen and daddy was so impressed that he bought "Het Bolleken". It became an extremely good breeding hen and later (in 2009) we also bought her parents "José" and "Rita". These pigeons became the basis of our current colony.
"New Oscar", casually mentioned a grandson and inbred product of "José", is still in our breeding loft and we have such a slight suspicion that he, together with his parents, could become our next important breeding base. Full brothers and sisters of "New Oscar" have also already placed their ring number in the top of a national pigeon result and that "being able to fly head-to-head nationally" is something we like so much. And, it is not only with us but also with other fanciers that the line of "Het Bolleken" leaves its mark. Take last season 2023. One of the best pigeons in Belgium is "De Flup" of Herbots brothers. "De Flup" won 7th, 9th, 9th and 9th national at one month. The mother of this topper comes directly from with us and was born from a "Son Bolleken" x "half-sister Bolleken".

Or look at the pedigree of "Roucky" at tridem Desmons-Wibaut-Lemoine. "Roucky" became 1st National Ace Pigeon Heavy Middle Distance Old - 6 flights KBDB-Ranking 2023. His mother comes directly from us and is a granddaughter of "José x Rita" (the parents of "Het Bolleken")

...That is yet another proof that the line of "Het Bolleken" gives winners in several generations.

Only 15 widowers for 2024

Maarten takes a sip of his fresh coffee, takes a quick glance at the pigeon loft and continues. "Many will probably frown but I have only 4 old and 11 yearling widowers for this season. Those 4 old ones are no "pancakes" though as 3 have already won prizes Top-60 nationally. With such guys you can normally get out, I think. And those who think I have a cot somewhere with hens, I have to disappoint. At the moment I don't have enough space to keep hens as well. Keeping hens is for the near future. 
Despite the small group of widowers, they were prepared for the season in 2 different ways. The old birds were only allowed to brood over, while the yearlings raised a young. 
In April, the hens came to the loft for a few days and while the first training flights were completed, widowhood could start.
Normally, the widowers work a long distance programme, but this can change during the season. Everything depends on the weather, the results on the races already flown, etc.
The widowers were vaccinated against both paramyxo/pox and parathyphoid. 
The intention is to basket them every 14 days, but all this is not fixed at the moment as it may be that, due to "lighter weather", they will see a weekly release. 
When coming home from a flight, we use either products from Röhnfried or products from the Tollisan/Schroeder range. We work somewhat "by feel". One week we give K + K protein on the feed, the other week we put a gelule on them. 
Medically, we give a tricho pill every 3 weeks and a coxi pill every month. We do this because our pigeons are in the basket several nights a week during the full season anyway. Infections happen very quickly. We only treat ornithose in consultation with a specialised vet. We are not in favour of blind treatment against ornithosis. 
The feed comes from Aidi and Van Robaeys. Upon arrival home, Mix 3 (Aidi) is on the menu and is then replaced by Mix 2 (Aidi). On the speed and middle distance we feed them Mix 2 and Mix 3, while from the heavy middle distance and long distance they feed them Flight Exclusive and Top Energy by Van Robaeys. We take our time when we feed the widowers and feed little by little until we think it is enough. 
Our widowers train once a day, usually in the morning, but the group is probably too small to train impressively. We go to sleep with confidence when they train with a lot of "power" in the wings. The way they storm outside also says a lot.
A yes...before I forget. We darken our widowers from 5.30pm to 7.30am. This from the moment the days get longer or sunnier until maximum the end of April.  
When basketing a race with a minimum of 2 nights in the basket, they either get their nesting dish or their hen. A little motivation never hurts, right?

Preference for racing with the youngsters

"If you make me choose between playing with old/yearlings and playing with the youngsters tomorrow, my choice will be made incredibly quickly and I will go flat out for playing with the youngsters. With the latter, my motivation is just that little bit bigger to get more out of the pigeons. 
At the moment, I count about 120 youngsters in the loft. These were bred in 3 rounds. I only have 8 youngsters from the best breeding couples. 
Once weaned, they were fed 100% breeding mixture of Van Robaeys and at the moment of weaning they also got a tricho pill rammed down their throats. 
The first vaccination Paramyxo/Rota followed very quickly, followed 3 weeks later by Paramyxo/pox and another 3 weeks later by a parathyphoid vaccination. I think that thanks to this tight vaccination schedule, we have almost no more problems with young pigeon disease (Adeno). Sometimes when the youngsters go into the big basket for the first time, Adeno can break out slightly but most of the time they sick out by themselves and we can keep the medicine cabinet closed.
What we do face every year is "One Eye Cold". The earlier in the year the youngsters come into contact with it, the better off we are. If we see that the youngsters are suffering from it, we drip daily with vet's eye drops or Virgan. If this happens in the full season, we leave the youngsters at home anyway. 
Once the Parathyphus vaccination is over, the menu is adjusted to 50% breeding Van Robaeys and 50% Mix 1 (Aidi). 
During the first months of life, we provide a lot of by-products. Back alternating products from Röhnfried and Tollisan.  Hexenbier, Usne Gano, Kräuter Gemüse Mix, Dosto you name it...we use them all with great satisfaction.
Of course, the youngsters are darkened from mid-March until the longest day of the year (or even longer). There is no question of supplementary lighting. 

National flights

The leather baskets are taken out of the attic around mid-May and we only start training them when we think we can continue. After several shorter stages, they do about four speed races with the club and then go on to the small middle distance races and the national races. The nationals are marked here in fluor on the flight calendar and it will be the same this season. We live right in the front flight on the border between East and West Flanders and we basket our youngsters in both provinces. We like them to fly in crowds and be obliged to wriggle out of them. This experience can certainly help them on the national young pigeon races. 
Whether we do a lot of driving with the youngsters during the week? At the beginning of the season, yes, but not afterwards unless to boost confidence after a flight that went less well. For example, after the Montoire race which did not go so well for us, we raced the youngsters at 40km. That was the week of basketing for the last national Chateauroux flight. 
The youngsters here stay together for a very long time and by long we mean until the end of July. The week before the 1st national youngster race, they are only separated. In the period before, they can do what they want. If they breed or even have small youngsters...no problem for us. The thing is that we are not going to encourage them to get into nesting position. If some eggs do not hatch or are broken by fighting, it is unfortunate for the couple concerned. 
An important aspect in young pigeon racing is motivation and in order to motivate youngsters, fanciers need to know the ins and outs of the loft. Who is in charge of the floor or of a particular tray. Who is looking at a new partner. These are all things that count in young pigeon racing and that is why you will find me in the loft a lot. Youngsters that are not motivated in a forced way can perform strongly.

In terms of feeding and medical supervision you can copy/paste with the system of the old pigeons. 

NATIONAL VICTORIES :

8 x 1 NATIONAL ! 

1 NATIONAL BOURGES 1988

1 NATIONAL ROYAN 1990

1 NATIONAL LA SOUTERRAINE 1991

1 NATIONAL BRIVE 1991

1 NATIONAL BRIVE 1993

1 NATIONAL LA SOUTERRAINE 1999

1 NATIONAL ARGENTON 2018

1 NATIONAL CHATEAUROUX 2023

(also  5 x 2 NATIONAL !)

2 x 1st NATIONAL ACE K.B.D.B. !

1 NATIONAL ACE KBDB 1997

1 NATIONAL ACE KBDB 2017

BEST NATIONAL RESULTS 2023 :   

1 NATIONAL CHATEAUROUX 13.852d.
2 NATIONAL ACE KBDB GREAT MIDDLE DISTANCE YB 
8 NATIONAL ACE FOND YEARBIRDS – 5 RACES – PIPA RANKING
11 NATIONAL BERGERAC 3.838d.
20 NATIONAL ACE KBDB ALL-ROUND OLD / YEARBIRDS
50 NATIONAL ARGENTON 14.174d.
53 NATIONAL CHATEAUROUX 13.852d.
54 NATIONAL CHATEAUROUX 13.852d.
60 NATIONAL ARGENTON 17.210d. 

BESTE NATIONAL RESULTATS 2022 :  

10 NATIONAL LIBOURNE 2.992d.
10 NATIONAL TULLE 6.842d.
12 NATIONAL ARGENTON 22.869d.
12 NATIONAL ACE KBDB FOND JAARLINGEN 
13 NATIONAL CHAMPION (1+2) KBDB FOND JAARLINGEN
17 NATIONAL ACE FOND JAARLINGEN – 4 VLUCHTEN – PIPA RANKING 
18 NATIONAL ACE GREAT MIDDLE DISTANCE YB – 4 RACES – KBDB RANKING
19 NATIONAL AGEN 7.331d.
29 NATIONAL BRIVE 5.885d.
35 NATIONAL ARGENTON 13.393d.
58 NATIONAL ARGENTON 13.393d.
72 NATIONAL ARGENTON 22.869d.
74 NATIONAL ARGENTON 13.393d.
78 NATIONAL ARGENTON 18.763d.
80 NATIONAL ARGENTON 12.938d.
98 NATIONAL ARGENTON 13.393d.

Breedingloft and boxes

SUPER REFERENTIES 2023 :

@ Herbots Jo & Raf (BE) :

BE21-2130124 “De Flup” :

1st National ace Fond Oude - 4 vluchten 2023 

3rd National Ace Fond Oude KBDB 2023 

7th National Souillac      4.827d.

9th National Limoges     7.211d.

9th National Aurillac       5.342d.

9th National Libourne   3.880d.

Mother : original Leutenez E&M !

Super inbred “Het Bolleken” -> son “Het Bolleken” x ½ sister “Het Bolleken” !

BE21-2130157 :

1st Prov. Narbonne 581d. - 2023 

7th National Narbonne   5.000d. - 2023 

Father : 50% Leutenez E&M !

Grandson “Alaphilippe” (grandson “Het Bolleken”)

@ Desmons-Wibaut-Lemoine (BE) :

BE21-1115570 “Roucky” 

1st National Ace Great middle distance old – 6 races KBDB-Ranking 2023 !

32e National Argenton 8.777d.

40e National Bourges 21.075d.

Mother : original Leutenez E&M !

Granddaughter “Jose” x “Rita” (parents “Het Bolleken”) !

@ Familie 3D (BE) :

BE22-1078101 “Eva” 

1st Nat. B2 Argenton 2.160d. 2023 

12th National    Argenton 14.174d. 

Mother : original Leutenez E&M 

Inbred “Het Bolleken” !

@ Van Weyenberghe Christiaan (BE) :

BE22-5048375 “Laatje” 

2nd Prov. Argenton 923d. - 2023 !

21st Prov. Bourges 1.130d.- 2023

Mother : 100% Leutenez E&M !

Inbred “Het Bolleken” !

@ Vervloesem Patrick (BE) :

BE22-6155117 “Blauwe Witpender” :

13e Nationale Asduif Zware halve Fond jaarlingen KBDB 2023 

Vader : 50% Leutenez E&M !

Kleinzoon “Alaphilippe” (kleinzoon “Het Bolleken”) 

BE23-6105834 :

1st Prov. Chateauroux 2.935d. !

20th Nationaal Chateauroux 13.852d.

Vader : 50% Leutenez E&M !

Kleinzoon “Alaphilippe” (kleinzoon “Het Bolleken”) 

@ Lepuch I.K.D. (PL) :

PL-370-23-00415 :

1st Peine 1.164d. - 320km 

20th Helmstedt                 1.177d. - 270km

Vader : origineel Leutenez E&M 

½ broer “Alaphilippe” 

PL-370-23-00355 :

1st Trebbin 2.850d. - 129km 

5th Peine 1.164d. - 320km 

15th Trebbin 2.764d. - 129km

Moeder : 50% Leutenez E&M !

Inteelt “Het Bolleken” !

PL-370-23-09034 :

6th Peine 1.164d. - 320km 

20th Trebbin 2.764d. - 129km

64th Trebbin 2.850d. - 129km

Moeder : origineel Leutenez E&M !

Dochter “Oscar” 

PL-370-23-09005 :

8th Trebbin 2.850d. - 129km !

20th Burg 2.511d. - 209km

26th Trebbin 2.764d. - 129km

37th Helmstedt 1.777d.                 - 270km

Vader : origineel Leutenez E&M !

Zoon “Oscar” 

Moeder : 50% Leutenez E&M !

Uit ½ broer “Alaphilippe” !

PL-370-23-00370 :

9th Helmstedt 1.777d. - 270km 

18th Burg 2.511d. - 209km

Vader : origineel Leutenez E&M !

Zoon “Oscar” !

Moeder : 50% Leutenez E&M !

Uit ½ broer “Alaphilippe” !

The entire Herbots team wishes Eddy and Maarten every success. We are already looking forward to their next exploit!

Stefan Mertens