Pigeon Videos UK - Ray Knight

Jan & Tom de Raaf of Wateringen

The club P.V. Wateringen is affiliated to the mighty "Kuststrook Division" which boasts some seventeen hundred members, in 1997 this father and son partnership were second General Champion, in 1998 they went one better and the title of "First Nominated Championship" with a laid back approach and enjoyment being the key word, keeping just eighteen widowhood cocks and a team of fifty youngsters they back it up with such results as 1st 27,393(b), 1st 17,756(b) including a new car, 1st 16,648(b), 1st 5,247(b) 1st 3,135(b), championships include 1st Ace Pigeon Long Distance (370 –500 miles), 1st Ace Young Pigeon on the N. P.O. Flights Division 5. 2,600 members, (a series of four young bird races), 3rd Champion Long Distance races division 5, 4,600 members, 1st Middle Distance Champion Division 5 Section A 2,600 members, 1st General Champion (Nominated), and 1st Long Distance Champion of the Kuuststrook 1,700 members, This year they are the 4th General Champion of the Kuststrook and have the best youngster of the Kuststrook which isn't bad flying by any ones standards.

The birds are Janssen based and were obtained by Jan direct from Cor Buis of Allsemeer, for three successive years Jan purchased youngsters from Cor and the result of selection by the basket has given them a family of birds which are of medium size made up of blues and chequers with the odd pied amongst them which race the program starting at 125k.m. through to 700k.m. The main stud sire of the loft is the "Schuwe" a dark chequer pied cock and a winner of no less than 17 top prizes in one year, his children include "Black Magic" 35 prizes in two years, "Kelsea Boko" 27 prizes in two years and "Donna" 1st 5,247(b) the list goes on and on.


click picture to see enlargement
"De Schuwe"	"Black Magic"

The birds are housed at the back of Jans house in very tidy and functional lofts, the old bird loft is 7.5m and 2m deep and has a tiled roof, in the front side of the roof is a large area of Perspex which is ideal for the warming of the loft, trapping is via drop holes to which the electronic clocking system is fitted these are sited above large bay windows, Jan fitted these as they give him an extra two cubic meters of air space within the loft, and tells me when the sun is shinning all the cocks come into the bays and lay down on one wing resting, as well as benefiting from the sun Jan and Tom have fitted heating plates to the floor to help to keep the humidity level down due to all the rain they seem to get over there.

There are three sections with twelve boxes in each, over the boxes is a solid board with the remainder of the ceiling being of laths, in total eighteen widowhood cocks are housed between two of the sections with the remaining section housing the breeding pigeons. The young bird loft is divided into two sections so that the youngsters can be played on the widowhood system, trapping to this loft is by stall traps but again the landing board is equipped with the electronic clocking system.


click picture to see enlargement
"Kelsea Boko"	"Donna"

So what of the simple system that these two fanciers apply to obtain such remarkable results, follows are the answers to a few questions which I put to them and should be most interesting to these with limited time;

When does your season start? After the natour and the late youngsters are away we select what birds we are going to carry over for the next season, all of these are put into the young bird loft, cocks in one side and hens in the other, at this point the whole old bird race loft is disinfected, this is about the of for the next six weeks the old bird loft is free of pigeons, then about the 5th November I fill the loft of straw and put in the young cocks to settle in there boxes once settled the older cocks are brought in.

When do you couple the pigeons ? Both the racers and breeders are coupled on the 20 December, at this time they are given a commercial breeding mix, when sitting they are given a treatment for trichomomosis, and when the youngsters are about fourteen days old I take one youngster away with the hen and put them in the young bird loft, when the youngsters reach about twenty three twenty four days the hens are put into the other section.

The birds are separated until the 21 March during this separation period we show the hens to the cocks once a week as this helps to stop them going together, when they are coupled this time they are allowed to sit for seven days maximum, our first race is about the second week in April so this allows my cocks to be on widowhood for twelve days.

Do you train your cocks with the car and when do you exercise them? Our pigeons get two training tosses on there own and then one, which the club organises, after this there we don't take them away from the loft.

About three o' clock I let the cocks out for about fifteen minutes they fly very hard and they will come back on there own as soon as they land on the loft and stop working I call them in at this time I give them a small amount of then I let them free again and they can be out for anything up to two even three hours, if I have to go out I call them in but while they are enjoying themselves I think it is best to let them be, this is allowed from Sunday until Thursday, on the Friday they are left in the loft all day.

With what and how do you feed the cocks? We feed a commercial mixture from Beyers it's just a regular widowhood mixture, for the first few days they receive depurative and the last three days prior to basketing they get the racing mixture when the distance starts to get a little further then we start to feed the widowhood mixture one day earlier, remember the further they go the more fuel they need, well maybe not more but definitely heavier.

Are the cocks shown their hens on the day of basketing? Because we race from the first race through to 700km where the pigeons have to spend two days in the baskets our system varies, normally when the birds are being basketed on a Friday the hens are given, our system is to turn over the bowl, the cocks that will spend two nights in a basket don't get the hens but are given the bowl and then basketed. On the return from all of the races the hens are left for anything up to two or even three hours it is very important that the cocks know they have a hen and visa versa, we think this is very important as our cocks race for eighteen weeks and we think by limiting the time to say twenty minutes each week they will not be happy and this is very important if you wish to make the top of the list! A little unorthodox but looking at their results who can argue.


click picture to see enlargement
"Hattrick"	"Lady Creil"

Is there anything that you might do to give the cocks a little more incentive? Yes and this is why you must always observe your birds to see how they react, they are like people all individuals just like people, for instance the birds that come from the line of the Schuwe "shy" are timid and when they are on form they will fly to me and fight with me when I am getting there hens for them where as normally the are a little nervous, other things I do is to hang a single perch in the loft the cocks will fight for this and really create an atmosphere in the loft, this is the same as when I open up the spare boxes, in each of my widowhood sections I have twelve boxes but only nine cocks so three days prior to the race I will open two of them some times you will get two early birds but you I can be sure when I use this I am sure I will be getting an early bird, I have tried opening the box on the day of basketing but this way I feel that the cocks are two excited in the baskets.


click picture to see enlargement
"Sandy"	"Zabel"

What is the system for the young pigeons? With the youngsters loft darkening is practised but only with the hens, why well the young cocks are not raced up to the end of the young bird program and those showing any promise are kept over for the following year as after much studying of past results over 75% of all the races were being won by yearlings and two year olds, hence Jan and Toms race team are made up of mainly yearling and two year olds and a young breeding loft maintained last year the Hattrick, all found a place there, to retire such pigeons at an early age surely show the confidence that these two have in their youngsters, of which they take sixty for their own use, once flying then at about thirteen weeks they are basketed and placed in the shed, the following morning they are let out of the basket the next time they are basketed put in the shed and released in the next street the following morning, Jan's reasoning for this is that in his opinion the youngsters must feel safe when they are placed in the basket and that nothing is going to happen to them and if you think he nurse maids them then you couldn't be more wrong because the next toss is from sixty five kilometres on there own and then into the clubs training program, a little hard on them but as Jan said those that you lose at the start are probably the ones that you would loose during the season anyway, and after all there's enough to worry about with those that make it back.

The youngsters are given as much mixture as they wish, starting with 50% diat 50% widowhood mix then three days before basketing they have 100% race mixture the same as the old birds, the sexes are separated and allowed together on the morning of basketing, when a few bowls are scattered around as an incentive.

On asking if they followed any health program, all the did was to vaccinate against paramyxovirus, treat for trichomonosis and each Sunday when racing they were given an all in one product which is given via the water for coccidiosis and trichomonosis, while touching on the water the partnership have two drinkers for each section, this is something that all the lofts that I have visited have in common, it is a simple way of breaking down the cycle of bacteria being passed on through the drinker, what happen s is that when the water is changed the drinker is washed hung up to dry and a clean dry one used, simple but effective, try it !

Text by Ray Knight. Copyright July 2002