On Monday, after spending a week in their baskets, the pigeons were released in Narbonne (or at least in the vicinity).
It was going to be a tough flight, with rain showers along the way.
Keeping it completely dry over a distance of 900 km across the various participating countries… difficult… unless there is a longer dry spell, but not in an unsettled period such as the past few weeks.
We had 18 pigeons in the race, including 3 two-year-olds and 15 yearlings.
Among the two-year-olds, three were from the same breeding pair, namely “Nestbroer 402” x “Bella.”
The first two entries were “Victor” and “De Schicht.” Some of you will know which two these are, but perhaps for new visitors, here is a photo to refresh your memory 🙂
On Monday evening in France, a number of pigeons arrived, but not many. It was striking that initially a Belgian pigeon flew 100 meters/min ahead of the French pigeons. On day two, a few more arrived in the Netherlands and the lead narrowed.
At my own loft, it was a matter of waiting to see what would happen after Agen. At Agen, where the same team competed, 12 prizes were won out of 26 entries, but apart from one top 100 place, there were no early prizes, especially considering that the pigeons were in Antwerp at the time.
So it was a nervous wait, doing everything possible. After the losses earlier in the year, I didn’t want to lose Victor and De Schicht as well.
The pigeons started arriving in our province and we waited for the first pigeon. Suddenly, a pigeon turned up, not knowing where it came from, and I knew immediately that it was Victor. 1st entry of the old birds. 8:23 a.m. over the antenna, good for a 12th report in the province and 67th nationally. After his performance as a yearling and also 1:10 nationally at Agen, this was another confirmation for him. He now flies 4/4 on two participations from Agen and Narbonne.
I took a photo and wrote a short text on social media, and I had barely sat down when another one came flying in from far away. “De Schicht” arrived in 2nd place, just a few minutes behind “Victor.” After his 7th national in 2024, he is now clocked in 79th national according to the reports.
1st and 2nd of the old birds in the clock and the two most important pigeons back home from a tough Narbonne.
The pressure was off.
At 9:11 a.m., another pigeon arrived, the third old bird and thus also from the same breeding pair. The descendants of “Nestbroer 402” and “Bella” did it again. 9:11 a.m. and 3/3 of the old birds clocked in, perhaps the first series of three nationally or internationally.
But then… still no yearling back at the loft. We had to wait until 9:41 a.m. before the first yearling arrived. It was the 860. He also won a prize at Agen and now he is on time with a top100 nationally.
You may have guessed it already, but he also comes from the same line, namely from “Den As,” and he is a full brother of Victor and De Schicht.
This is the first year that yearlings from “Den As” (himself 5th national ace pigeon) are in the racing loft, and one of them is already making a name for himself.
After that, it was a long wait. The yearlings had a difficult time, and after more than two hours and a few heavy rain showers, they started to come through, and by 5 p.m., 7/15 yearlings were back in the loft. Remarkably, none of the first five pigeons from Agen returned.
Once again, proof that Agen is not Narbonne.
With 10/18 pigeons in the national prizes and a full house among the old birds, we can be satisfied with Narbonne.
This was the last race for this year; we will skip Perpignan again. Soon, we will take stock of what has been a very tough season with the necessary losses. Now all that remains is to continue training the youngsters so we can add some nice new additions to the racing loft. For the 2025 breeding season, we focused even more on the line of “Nestbroer 402” and the new addition of the line “Het Dakzitterke” to the breeding loft. We will see what this brings in the future.
The arrivals from Narbonne
