Dhaenens - De Block (Schelderode) triumphs at Aurillac provincial yearlings

When we drop Dhaenens - De Block as a name, we know we end up with a small colony with a lot of quality. Since about six years, brother Antoine (77 years old) and Geert (65 years old) have largely joined their pigeon hands.  Geert started in 2018 on his own lofts in Heurne (Oudenaarde) while Antoine has been playing with the pigeons at his lofts in Schelderode for 50 years. Third brother Alex (76 years old) is not a pigeon sportsman but follows the results and supports from the sidelines.
The breeding pigeons from both lofts are spread on 2 breeding lofts with Antoine and Geert. The first round of youngsters goes with Geert, about 45 of the second round goes on Antoine's lofts. At Antoine's loft, it is not a large colony and the racing team consists of some 25 cocks on classic widowhood and some 45 youngsters. There is daily consultation between the brothers but each is boss in his own loft racing loft.

A breeding loft brimming with quality

The basis of Antoine's pigeons can be traced back to the sallow strain of Germain Imbrechts from Bornival. Sallow and red pigeons with an iron mordant. These pigeons are still strongly interwoven in the current strain. These pigeons have been reinforced for the one-day long distance with pigeons from Gaby Vandenabeele (and, by extension, pigeons of the Gaby strain such as Rik Cools, Paul Lannoo, Luc De Laere, Herbots Gebroeders...) and Marc and Geert Pollin (Antoine and Marc were together soldiers in the army when army service was still a duty) and more recently Youri Deblanc.
For the long-distance races, they are pigeons from De Clercq-Vervaeren (De Smeyter-Restiaen type), Wilson Dekens, Wilfried Bruyneel, Dieter Ballmann, C & X Vandemeulebroucke,.... Recently, a number of pigeons for the heavy work have been added, the testing of which is still in full swing (Colpaert Daniël, Francois Callebaut, Jos Joossen, Demaret-Marichal, Alex Rans,....and a few more individual pigeons). By trial and error, pigeons have died in the breeding loft and names are confirmed. To put it in pigeon fancier language "many are called, few are chosen...". Every year some pigeons are added, exchanged to discover white ravens as yet. From all this, they try to forge pigeons that can do it especially on races from 600 km and beyond. Some nice references on other lofts confirm this quality (Demaret-Marichal, De Clercq-Van Puyvelde, De Moerloose Rudy,....). Both brothers are medically supervised by Domien Van Acker (Belgica de Weerd) and for additional advice Raf Herbots. Feed from Beyers is fed and by-products are from Röhnfried, Belgica De Weerd and Herbots-Herbovet.

Small but fine

Antoine has already proven more than enough in the past to be a fine pigeon stealer with a.o. :

2nd national La Soutteraine
2nd national Bourges
3rd national Aurillac (1st provincial, 1st zonal)
5th national Libourne
6th national champion KBDB long-distance pigeons
 ......

Proof that top results can be achieved with quality and expertise.

Falco (BE22-4046656) wins Aurillac provincial
It is a fine, well-made, checquer cock, with a smart head. As a young pigeon he was taught very limited and as a yearling he showed pretty quickly that he had something up his sleeve. In the first races (where he flew as a racing pigeon) he had regularly flown early. When things got serious, he was ready :

Chateauroux
2nd club 414 jl
21st provincial 3,906 birds

Aurillac
1st club 167 jl
1st provincial 1,579 jl
1st zonal
27th national 6,512 jl

On the national flight from Aurillac, he is just about the first yearling from East and West Flanders who, against the fierce south-west wind, managed to work his way to the head of the race.

He owes his name Falco to (regrettable and special) incident. On the provincial Chateauroux of a few weeks ago, where he flew 2nd club, he was only just home when a bird of prey flew into the loft with the third arriving pigeon. A real panic and havoc among the pigeons and Falco flew back out. After disappearing for more than half an hour, he arrived back home only to reluctantly dare to come back into the loft. With this terror still in him, it took about 3 minutes before he dared to enter the loft from Aurillac after his arrival....

Falco has noble blood in his veins. His father is Little Joe and comes directly from the lofts of Marc & Geert Pollin. Little Joe is a son of top ace Saint Junien who flew top 100 national 5 times on the Pollin lofts and the line of Little Joe, winner 1st nat Libourne and top breeder.
The mother is Yvan Lady and was purchased from Herbots Gebroeders and is a daughter out of Yvanke (son top breeder Yvan) and is a half-sister to the 1st national Argenton and many other toppers from this breeding line. Yvanke is a slightly inbred pigeon after Gaby Vandenabeele's Lightning.
 
Step by step you can get far
Pigeon racing is undergoing rapid evolution in many areas. But here again the proof that you can achieve great results step by step and as a real passionate hobbyist. This season the lofts of Antoine and Geert already achieved 1st Limoges, 1st Aurillac, 1st provincial Aurillac, 1st national zone Aurillac, 2nd provincial Limoges, 7th national Limoges, 27th national Aurillac, 83rd national Limoges, etc. Results to be proud of.
Step by step they work hard but above all they both try to enjoy the pigeon sport and the social life around it.
In the past few years, both lofts achieved some very nice results and rankings, a short overview:
2022
- 2nd champion old birds Union & Liberté KBDB Ghent
- 1st champion long-distance RBFC
- 11th general championship long-distance and middle-distance RBFC
- 16th prov champion KBDB long-distance pigeons
- 22nd & 26th prov ace KBDB long-distance pigeons
- 1st Cahors, 4 x top 100 national long-distance, 
- Petit Lion (BE-19-4128294) 6 out of 6 flights Rhone valley (2021-2022) with 98th nat Marseille, 176th nat Marseille, 9th ace pigeon Rhone KBDB 2021

2021
- 1st champion long-distance pigeons Union & Liberté KBDB
- 1st champion yearling birds Union & Liberté KBDB
- 3rd champion KBDB Prov OVl Fond old birds
- 3rd champion OVV-FVOV old and yearling birds
- 9th ace pigeon KBDB national Rhônevallei (3 races) 19.29 %.
- 12th ace pigeon KBDB national Rhône Valley (2 flights) 2.22
- 11th national champion KBDB Rhône Valley 3 flights 1st and 2nd afgev 16.85 %
- 1st Chateauroux, 1st Cahors, 2nd Agen, 2nd Montélimar, 2nd Cahors, etc......

2020
- 6th national champion KBDB long-distance pigeons
- 4th provincial champion KBDB long-distance pigeons
- 1st champion club Union & Liberté old birds
- 4th champion club Union & Liberté long-distance pigeons
- 5th champion club Union & Liberté old birds
- 1st Sermaises, 1st Aurillac, 2nd Limoges, 2nd Agen etc... 1st provincial Aurillac, 1st nat Zone Aurillac, 3rd national Aurillac
- Aurillac 1st loc, 1st prov, 1st nat Z, 3rd nat
- Aurillac prov 1,39,43,55,...
- Aurillac nat Z 1,70,75,94,171....
- Agen 2nd loc, 15th prov, 42nd nat, 53rd internat
- Chateauroux 8th nat Zone 7,117 d (jo)
- Bourges 7th nat Zone 6,626d (jo)

2019
- 3rd national champion KBDB long-distance and very long-distance yearlings
- 2nd provincial champion KBDB long-distance and very long-distance yearlings
- 2nd champion club Union & Liberté long-distance pigeons
- 1st ace pigeon long-distance pigeons club De Verbroedering
- 5th champion long-distance pigeons club De Verbroedering
- 1st Chevrainvilliers, 3 x 1st Orléans, 1st Libourne, 2nd Souillac, 3rd Aurillac etc... 5th nat Libourne etc.....

The 2023 season can already be called more than successful. With a few more long-distance flights on the list, this can only be accentuated.
Congratulations from the Herbot team !

 

Stefan Mertens