Daenen Viktor - Velm: 1st National Bourges 20,328 youngbirds

B23-2056968
1st National Bourges 20,328 youngbirds

Distance: 452km
Velocity: 1,572.09 m/m

Due to a rearrangement of the national young pigeon programme, a national Bourges/Vierzon flight was on the flight calendar two weeks in a row. Besides being released at the same release point two weeks in a row, the young pigeons also got extra nights of basket time two weeks in a row. A third similarity between these 2 national races is that the winner was clocked twice in the same village, namely Velm. However, with 2 different fanciers and there we can perhaps draw a 4th similarity because both Bourges flights were won by youngsters. 
To go and visit the winner of this edition we had to drive to Halleweg no 30. There in an impressive square farmhouse lives Viktor Daenen (22 years young) together with his parents. The whole family is responsible for fattening up to 1,000 cattle. This makes it one of the largest fattening farms in Belgium. Until 1 July '23, Viktor was part of the Herbot team for a good year. In Halle-Booienhoven, he was also responsible for looking after the so-called "commercial pigeons". A great job in a top team but the combination with a lot of work on the farm was not tenable. Choices had to be made.

The young force
Entering Viktor's loft, you can feel that this is not just any loft. No, the concept has clearly been thought through. Very airy lofts with a spacious adjoining aviary should ensure good basic condition. Some 75 youngsters were bred and 40 were on the poule note at Bourges. As everywhere, the youngsters were darkened and exposed and are working the national programme on the sliding door. Viktor "A fancier hopes his youngsters will all form pairs, but as far as I saw, my national winner had no partner. Maybe he had his eye on some hen because otherwise you don't shake a top performance just like that out of your wings anyway."
Speaking of the national winner. With an average speed of 1572.09 m/m for 452km, he flew a nice lead victory as the speed of the 2nd national (Team Hooymans.be) is 1564.57 m/m. . "I saw him coming from afar" Viktor still enjoys "but he dawdled for a long time, I suspect just under a minute, to come in".

Thanks to Raf Herbots
Viktor says: "Raf Herbots is our vet. He is responsible for the health of our livestock and it was he who infected me with the "pigeon bug". It was 2017 and in no time there was a pigeon loft near the stables. The first pigeons came from Raf's place and were then supplemented with pigeons from Herbots Gebroeders, Joseph Reynaerts, Danny & Bjorn Knaepen, Frank Neven and Kumpen-Schepers. Van Rompaey Karlo also added 1 pigeon from the "Hatrick" line. 
On the menu are Van Robaeys' "Revolution" mixtures and Beyers' mixtures. Usually, ¾ part Van Robaeys is fed and ¼ part Beyers. Feeding is an important aspect and, as a fancier, you have to make sure that they keep eating until the day of basketing. We feed from light to heavy. In terms of medical support and by-products, we have full confidence in the range of veterinary surgeon Raf Herbots. Concretely, the youngsters are taken care of as follows 
Saturday (returning home): Small amount of feed and in the drinking water Herbo Recovery Plus. 
They are allowed to stay together for about 2 hours and then they are separated. When they are separated, they go into the aviary where they have a bath available. Afterwards, they are only fed.
Sunday: Herbo Recovery Plus, so they can still recover very well.
Monday: clean water
Tuesday: Herbochol + Herbo Aqua Control
Wednesday: pure water
Thursday (basketing): Herbochol + Herbo CMB Plus
On the medical front, there was no really targeted treatment towards Bourges national. The youngsters did not have an easy season and it is better to be patient than to start treating them".
Hereby also a heartfelt thanks to the whole Herbots team who supported me in word and deed.


 

Stefan Mertens