Bart & Nance Van Oeckel Top Bombing from Souillac

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9 Prov. 743 Yearlings /

4, 5, 7, 8, 9 Nat. Souillac 4,571 Yearlings

1, 2, 3, 7, 11 Prov. 503 Old Birds /

8, 10, 11 Nat. Souillac 4,144 Old Birds

 After the super results at Bourges and Tulle it felt like all eyes were on Oud-Turnhout.

Bart: “I compare pigeon racing in 2021 with boxing. You’re going to take a lot of punches, but you’re going to get off your ass and you can also hand one out. Yesterday at Souillac was our moment. We started with 73 pigeons. They gave us our most beautiful pigeon day.

Eight pigeons in the first 11 National. Twelve pigeons in the first 11 Provincial (Old birds and Yearlings)!!

I never even dared to dream of this… I don’t know if we’ll ever will come close to this result.

Superlatives really fall short.”

Fighting without blood

Bart: “We will try to sketch how we worked towards Souillac.  Of course everything starts with quality pigeons, a good system, and top condition at the right time and the big factor of happiness.

After Bourges and Tulle we decided to go with everything including our ‘middle distance pigeons’ to Souillac (760 km).

To keep the pigeons from moulting we darken from 15 March to 15 April (Middle Distance pigeons) and from 15 March to 1 May (Long Distance team).

The principle is ten hours light per day. From 10 July we will start with light from 5 h to 23 h. This is 18 hours of light.

I will now try to get down to the last few days of how we proceeded between the home coming from Tulle (Saturday) to the basketing for Souillac (Wednesday).

The arrivals from Bourges and Tulle did not get to their partners. All pigeons remained in the corridor that runs the length of the loft. When almost everything was at home, the pigeons were separated.

When returning home on Saturday Recovery and Herbosol by Raf Herbots was in the drinking pot. Monday we gave again Herbosol, Tuesday pure water and Wednesday CMB (a new product from Herbots). Sunday was a rest day. Some pigeons from Tulle didn’t come home until Sunday or Monday. These went in a separate compartment to recuperate.

All pigeons (except of course the latecomers of Tulle) were trained three times by Kjenten: Monday from Vilvoorde, Tuesday from Ittre and Wednesday from Vilvoorde. This was to aim a little between showers.

Wednesday night we let all the couples go together. We have two identical mating rooms. In order to get a good picture, it is best to view everything with your own eyes on our site www.diamondloft.be).

What have we done specifically? In place of all the pigeons of the left and the right-hand loft in their own mating area. Let’s leave everything together in one loft. Then War broke out. After all, many pigeons have the same box. There’s been a fight and a fight. Fight without blood, of course. This way the pigeons become motivated.”

Bart: “The weather and the wind are a crucial factor. In 2020 we won 1, 6, 7 nat. Tulle.

Afterwards, the rain fell in Oud-Turnhout from the air and we did not get another single pigeon for twenty minutes. Also this year the Tulle pigeons had a lot of trouble with rain. When she went to Souillac on Wednesday the wattles of “Tulleken” were still rose pink from the rain. This week from Souillac, our pigeons had a lot less less rain than at other locations, I could hear left and right.

Fortunately, Souillac was able not able to be liberated due to a rain zone…. On Sunday there was a much more westerly wind. Tensions rose to the top.

And then they were here. The first two came side by side to the loft. The first three pigeons from Tulle are also the first three from Souillac. According to the projections, they are 2nd 4th and 5th Nat. ace pigeon long distance yearlings with our “Tulleken” in the lead. The next two are daughters of “F – Hao Hao”. Do you want this do you have to mention it? Jan and Marleen Broeckx are our best friends.

In 2016, we were borrowed a sister of their “Olympic 306” for crossing with our stock breeder “F16”. She is mother of the breeder “F-Hao Hao”.

Souillac was the realising of a dream: wind in the sails, sun on the earth and it rained nothing but pigeons…!

Our 4th Ace pigeon is in 6th place and is a direct Herbots pigeon.”

The winner of the old birds was 17-020 “F-Wicky”.  This one already has from Chateauroux 73/57/93rd National to her name in addition to a lot of other top prizes. On her father’s side, she is granddaughter of our patriarch “F16” x “Snow-Girl” (daughter “Gladiator” Geerinckx) and on her mother’s side she is daughter of “Wickmayer” (daughter “Tennis couple” “Lendl” x “Navratilova”).

Olympic Nance

Bart: “When the results became clear, I invited friends to celebrate the moment with us until the very early hours. It was almost light when I went sleep. So today is the day after. Yesterday we have immediately separated again the home comers from Souillac. The plan is (was) to work towards La Souterraine. That’s three weeks of relative rest and pigeons keep in the race rhythm on the sprint flights. But the condition is so good. For the national ace pigeons their career will depend on it.

A very special place in my heart is for “Olympic Nance” 6091085-19 (3rd Olympic Hope Cat. B 2020). This hen (directly Geert Lambrechts) is a super talent. “Olympic Nance” flew last week 2nd Prov. Bourges and this week – basketed with a large pigeon heart to win a very early prize the 10th Nat. Souillac.”

“Tulleken” 6154467-20

1st Provincial Tulle 1,008 Yearlings / 7th Nat 7,267 Yearlings (31 July) 1st Provincial Souillac 743 Yearlings / 4th Nat 4,571 Yearlings (8 August) Provisionally 2nd Nat. Asduif Fond Yearlings KBDB

Sire : “Guustje” 6058531-18 from “Zoon Gusta” 6057522-17 x “Anetje” 6264304-14 (Andre Roodhooft)

Dam : Dochter “Limo Diamond” 6063772-19 out of “Beauty Expensive” 2146385-16 Gebr Herbots (brother 1st Nat Limoges 10,554 yearlings) x “Limo Diamond” 6059368-15 (1st Prov Limoges/ 6th best of Belgium 2 races/ 8th best of Belgium 4 races).

LvdP

Translation Witpen