Results 2020

What is shown in red below was the plan for 2020. However, COVID-19 … yeah you know. We were only able to get started in mid-May instead of early April.
Four races of 111 km were raced in quick succession on May 21, May 24, May 27, and May 31. From then on, we were allowed into France, and Noyon and Melun was scheduled for the entire team, after which the team was split up. A double Barcelona-Perpignan was no longer possible given the new program, and we had to see how we could keep the pigeons’ feathers intact.

The two-year-old cocks would go via Vierzon-Limoges to Agen-Narbonne. This was also achieved for these pigeons. The pigeons that were intended for Barcelona were not a problem. However, they would not do a double with Perpignan. After Chatearoux, I decided to send the yearlings to Agen after all, as the condition of their feathers would cause problems later in the season.

Overall, we are satisfied with the season. Barcelona was a race with mixed feelings. On one hand, it was another very tough edition, where thunderstorms and heat may have brought the pigeons down to the ground quite quickly. With 14 pigeons in the race, including 6 very inexperienced pigeons, I had hoped for a smooth edition, but this went completely wrong. In the end, 4 pigeons (3 of which had previously done Barcelona) managed to win prizes. At the time of writing (August 17, 2020), 9/14 pigeons have also returned.

We were satisfied with the races we entered. Narbonne was perhaps a little too late, but given the state of their feathers (almost all of them had lost 4 feathers), racing at the front was not really possible. The new batch of yearlings also did excellently, with 12/30 prizes in Agen and then another 7/16 prizes in Brive.

The selection in our own loft has already been completed and, under normal circumstances, 28 pigeons from this year’s racing team will be allowed to stay. These are mainly cocks; we are having difficulty getting the hens on track for the time being, so we will see how we can improve this in the future.
As far as the new generation for 2021, we have a luxury problem. Of the 103 weaned youngsters, 82 were still present! This was for the oldest after 8 baskets with 410 km as the furthest flight, and for the youngsters 6 baskets with 3 x 217 km. In the end, we set aside about 70 youngsters to possibly start as yearlings. We also decided to breed only 60 youngsters for our own use next year.

We also managed to achieve some good results this year with pigeons bred directly or from pigeons from here.
1st provincial St Vincent Brabant –> 100% KDB
2nd provincial Pau Brabant –> 100% KDB
8th provincial Narbonne Limburg –> 50% KDB
9th provincial Narbonne Antwerp –> direct KDB
11th provincial Valence Antwerp –> direct KDB
19th provincial Brive Limburg –> 50% KDB
19th provincial Marseille Limburg –> 50% KDB
..

Below is an overview of the results achieved in our own loft. We only show the +650km flights, and in fact we don’t compete in those with our old birds. Yearlings are more likely to show themselves because they haven’t flown that many kilometers yet.