Hadrien Marsille, continues to impress with impressive performances !

At the end of the year we paid a visit to the young well known Ophain pigeon fancier, Hadrien Marsille, who despite his young age has already achieved numerous victories and continues to expand his impressive palmares !
Hadrien decided to start playing on his own from 2011 after having been in touch with pigeon racing since a young age. Class pigeons were immediately purchased to start with a solid base.
Through his father, who works at the KBDB, he accidentally came into contact with Thierry Aerts from Hoeilaart, owner of the “AT Breeding Loft”. From 2014 a partnership with him was established and since that year other pigeons were brought in for reinforcement to cross with Hadrien's existing lines consisting of pigeons from Chris Hebberecht from Evergem, Deno-Herbots and Nouwen-Paesen.
Later Hadrien and Thierry Aerts also decided to knock on Marcel Wouters' door from Westmalle. This again yielded excellent pigeons! These pigeons come from the bloodlines of Bart Geerinckx and Jos Vercammen.
Also pigeons from the PIPA Breeding Loft were added. A son of the Best Kittel is at the base of many champions at Hadrien!

Winter breeding

Hadrien has 10 breeding boxes, where the cocks get a new partner after each laying. The eggs are shifted each time, so the number of couples shifters is considerably large.
This year the 35 breeding couples were paired on December 2, which is later than previous years. The reason for this later pairing is that the early-born youngsters cannot participate in the first races before the end of May anyway. (calendar)

The youngsters

Hadrien annually breeds about 180 youngsters to compose a strong racing team and to be able to compensate for the large losses in the youngsters that many fanciers have had to deal with in recent years. In this respect, the year 2024 was a difficult year for Hadrien with significant losses in the first round.
For this reason, he decided to stop participating in national races with the youngsters for the moment.
During the first training flights, Hadrien is very careful and first brings the pigeons away very close to home. He starts with short distances and trains several times at the same location to build confidence. Eventually the pigeons are taken away to a distance of about 45 km near the French border.
Once the season has started, the youngsters are taken away once a week and usually on Wednesdays.
Because Hadrien's place of residence is on the route of release places or where people come to recharge very often, he has to be very careful the first time the youngsters come out. It happens more often that they fly with clad pigeons.
The first two rounds are darkened which is not the case for the last round. The first two rounds are played with the sliding door system while the last round is played more on the nest game.

The raceteams

This year the season will be played with 36 couples on total widowhood. The cocks are divided into three sections and the hens have one section.The hens can be locked in their boxes with a handy system (photo), this to prevent mating.

Care 

The pigeons are cared for twice a day. All cocks are fed separately in their box and the hens are fed in the box. In the loft, the pigeons can be cared for individually and prepared well according to the planned flight program and the coming races. Hens leaving on different flights are groomed in the corridor so that each is groomed appropriately according to the flight on the calendar that weekend. Hadrien chooses Beyers mixtures and follows the Galaxy system.
At the beginning of the week, the pigeons receive Sport Light, then switch to Galaxy Energy or Long Distance, depending on the distances and goals. For the big middle distance he also enriches the menu with the Long Distance mixture. Upon return, the Brilliant mixture rich in fats is given. This is for optimal recovery. A little grit is also given with each meal for a good digestion and to provide the pigeons with sufficient minerals.Most of the by-products come from the Schroeder range. He also likes to use Sedochol, especially for the young pigeons.
Like most fanciers, the visits to the vet take place before the start of the season and when Hadrien notices something in the pigeons. But this will change starting next year as Kobe Herbots has recently opened a practice near Hadrien's home. This will facilitate appointments on a more frequent basis.
As far as treatments are concerned, there will be no blind treatment and as little administration as possible. Everything is done on the advice of the veterinarian.

Some results of last season ;

25/05 St Soupplets 208Km 520 oude/jaarse 1,2,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,…30/37
23/06 Sancoins 434Km Nat 9753 oude 42,58,432,… 9/12
05/07 Limoges 611Km Nat 6889 jaarse 65,85,115,150,295,… 8/14
07/07 Sancoins 434Km S/Nat 4894 oude/jaarse 7,8,15,36,52,… 10/24
14/07 Argenton 492Km Prov BW 242 jaarse 1,2,4,5,6,7,… 8/14
10/08 St Soupplets 208Km 383 jonge duiven 1,2,3,4,5,7,8,… 13/17
10/08 Vervins 94Km 194 jonge duiven 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11,12,13,… 29/46
18/08 St Soupplets 208Km 418 jonge duiven 1,2,3,4,5,6,8,9,10,11,12,13,… 17/54
07/09 Soissons 150Km 311 jonge duiven 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,… 19/33

Top nominations KBDB championships ;

1st Nat. Champion middle distance old and yearbirds KBDB 2022
1st Nat. champion Youth  KBDB 2015,2016,2018,2019,2020,2021,2022
2nd Olympic Pigeon Oaradea Cat A (20-21) 2022
2nd Olympic Pigeon Oaradea Cat A (21-22) 2022
2nd PIPA Ranking best old bird 7 prizes middle distance  2023
2nd PIPA Ranking best yearbird 8 prizes middle distance 2023
3rd Nat. Champion middle distance old and yearbirds KBDB 2019
4th olympic Hope Cat A KBDB 2021
4th Nat. champion short distance old and yearbirds KBDB 2021
4th Nat. champion short distance youngbirds KBDB 2020
6th Nat. champion short distance youngbirds KBDB 2016
6th Nat. Ace middle distance yearbirds KBDB 2015
6th Nat. Ace middle distance old birds KBDB 2019
9th Nat. Champion short distance old and yearbirds KBDB 2021
10th Nat. Ace ½ Fond yearbirds KBDB 2022
14th Nat. Ace short distance youngbirds KBDB 2016
14th Nat. Ace middle distance old birds KBDB 2016
14th Nat. Ace middle distance old birds KBDB 2020
17th Nat. Ace middle distance old birds KBDB 2020
17th Nat. Ace short distance yearbirds KBDB 2023

We thank Hadrien for his welcome 

Lelièvre-Damit Julien

Currently Hadrien is offering a wonderful collection of 53 pigeons on internet auction Pigeon Bids.
This auction ends Wednesday, Jan. 15 from 2 p.m. onwards.
An unique opportunity for fanciers to get the quality of Hadrien's lines into their homes! 

Some unique toppers are: