Giel Janssens from Epen wins 1st National Agen 6.642 old pigeons.

For many people the village Epen from the Netherlands is well known, here are the lofts of the famous tandem Janssens - Hausoul. Unfortunately Jean Hausoul left us in the summer of 2019 and Giel Janssens continues on his own. The colony where so many top performances have already been made on the marathon races and where many other fanciers have also succeeded very well. 
Now on the international race from Agen they strike again, now it's their topper NL 16-1802944 "Siem", a 4 year old powerboy who already won 113th National Narbonne and now 1st National Agen in 2020 against 6,642 old pigeons and also the fastest of all 12,220 Dutch pigeons released from Agen. Also her half-brothers are doing great with 15th National Pau won in 2018 and 94th National Marseille in 2016.
After winning 1st National St.Vincent, 1st and 2nd National hens Marseille and 1st National Pau hens this is already the 4th National victory on their record.

How do they apply their tactics to the breeding loft now?

Over the years we have noticed that it always has to come from proven Barcelona birds ... they can do it on Barcelona… they can perform also on other marathon races. We had then with our national winner of St.Vincent a base breeder of which we now notice that this is the basis of all successes still today. His descendants are still doing great and when we cross our strain with inbreeding from another good Barcelona loft we find that we have the most success. 

This is the same story as with the winner of Agen, where the mother is a granddaughter of our "Zwarte Lourdes" coupled with strong inbreeding of Coos v.Houten. 

What is the preparation for the racers ? 

There are 18 widowers in the lofts which were separated in the autumn of last year in October. Around mid-March they were coupled and were allowed to raise a youngster. When this youngsters were 14 days old, the hen was taken away and the cock had to raise it alone. 
The hens are raced on widowhood in the beginning of the season and fly Barcelona as their main target on nest, they have been doing this for years and still with great success. 
Because of the abnormal preparation the winner of Agen first flew a race from Germany because we weren't allowed in France yet, afterwards he did Charleville, Rethel, Melun and 14 days before Agen he flew Issoudun. 
The widowers are divided into 3 groups of which 6 Pau flew, 6 Agen and 6 Barcelona. Because they each get their own drinks and food you can races 3 flights in one loft. 
It is always the intention to make a strong selection , so the yearlings usually fly Marseille. This year, because of the later start due to Covid-19 Marseille came too early and they will fly Perpignan. 

Is training important or not ? 
I think so, they have always trained here once a day, but never as hard as this season. Also the nest-pigeons training very well so we noticed that the condition was fine.

So how do you do it in terms of motivation ? 
At basketing we only show the hens when they have to go to a heavy long distance race, this during fifteen minutes. When they return home they are locked up together with their hens until the next day.

NL 16-1802944 Siem 
1 Nat Agen 6,642d
1 Fastest 12,220d
9 I.Nat                 

Guidance 

All racers get here the Beyers mixtures, so after a heavy flight they usually get the first week Galaxy Light, after that 50% Galaxy Sport together with 50% Galaxy Energy. The last days it becomes 100% Galaxy Energy. Twice a week proteins are added to the food and again when they return home. What we feel very good about are the products of Rohnfried, especially Hexenbier and Atemfrei is given here regularly and electrolytes are always given on returning home. 

In the medical field, we always go to Ferdi Vandersanden for a check-up 2 or 3 times a year. In spring they have been given a cure with Tricho green and at the basketing of a heavy long distance flight we light them another tricho pill. The week before an important flight they get a cocci - pill so we are sure that they are pure when they have to fly 800-900km. So we do this maximum twice a year while we treat the airways maximum once, usually just before the heavy long distance season starts. 

Giel & Maria, congratulations with this beautiful victory because of the whole HERBOTS TEAM.