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Van Avondt Henri & Danny Haacht -  |
1st Ace Pigeon Grand Middle Distance KBDB 2007 |
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Danny, Henri en Nick Van Avondt |
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Text : Pipa
Edited : Martin Degrave |
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1st Ace Pigeon Grand Middle Distance KBDB 2007 |
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The duo Van Avondt Henri & Danny consists of father Henri , 72 years old & son Danny , 47 years old. Danny's son, Nick , 16 years old, helps when necessary (especially in the holiday period) and since last year he also takes care of the website. Henri is a retired car mechanic and has raced in Haacht with the pigeons on his own since 1965. Prior to this he raced with his father Gerard in Werchter. Danny works shifts in the brewery in Haachte. He started racing with his father in 1976. The daily care of the pigeons is in the hands of father Henri. Son Danny visits every day to help and takes care of the planning and the administration. |
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"Flor" Father "Million" |
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The Mother of "Million is direct
MICHEL & LINDA BAERTSOEN - BRASSCHAAT Belgium |
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Method
Widowhood is raced with both the old and the yearlings, and this with both the cocks as well as a few hens. The youngsters are only raced with the sliding door system. They make sure that the youngsters have a partner before the national races (if necessary, old cocks or hens are used if there are not enough youngsters).
The widowers race the Extreme Middle Distance every week. After this they are sometimes allowed to rest for a week, depending on the toughness of the races.
The yearling hens (they race only with yearling hens in widowhood) have to be basketted every week from the first to the last race of the season. They mainly race the Extreme Middle Distance, but are sometimes allowed to race a sprint race if it has been a tough race for weeks on end.
The youngsters are also basketted every week and as long as they are fit they have to race the Extreme Middle Distance, even between the National races. The Extreme Middle Distance races are the Brabantse Union races + de National races. The selection at the end of the season is exclusively based upon the performances in the Extreme Middle Distance races. |
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Loft building
There are 30 breedin g couples, 30 widowers, 9 yearling widow hens and they breed about 140 youngsters for the races. All the pigeons are given more than enough to eat. The food for the racing pigeons is removed after about an hour. They are always given good feed from Beyers (70%), supplemented with Mariman (30%) Qua medical coaching, the system of Raf Herbots is generally followed. At the beginning of the season they visit the vet and if everything is in order then there is no follow-up visit. The youngsters are taken to the vet 4 weeks before Bourges , but if everything is in order then he is not consulted again. Vitamins are only given if they have to take part in an Extreme Middle Distance race and antibiotics are only given on the advice of the vet. Danny is of the opinion that one has to give as little medicine as possible, because this is detrimental to the form. They don't do anything extra for a race, but try to bring the pigeons in top condition for the Extreme Middle Distance races. They try to achieve top performances in every Extreme Middle Distance race and also to basket a team of good racers every week. They try to achieve this by making sure that the pigeons have been trained enough at the beginning of the season and have had the necessary medical support. At the beginning of the season a lot of time and effort is invested in the training and between the first races they also take the pigeons to a distance of 50 km themselves in order to give them an extra training. Once the Extreme Middle Distance races have started, then the pigeons are not taken away again. The fancier can help get the pigeons in form, but top form can't be ordered and depends on many factors. Henri and Danny know that form is achieved sooner if there are real good pigeons in the loft, because a few toppers in the loft bring the whole loft in top condition. They don't have any preference for what a pigeon looks like. It has to be a balanced pigeon with a good eye (colour isn't important). They are of the meaning that there are good pigeons in every model or colour and it is up to the fancier to test these pigeons in the races. Every youngster is given a chance and if it performs well in the races it is allowed to stay and a disappointing youngster becomes more beautiful if it achieves top results. |
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The pedigrees in the loft :
Verbruggen (present in more than 50 % of the pigeons), Flor Engels, Herbots Gebroeders, Aerts Gebroeders, Derwa Albert, Van Leest-Peeters, De Rijck Walter, Ysschol-Janssens en Baertsoen L&M (mother MILLION - 1° Nat Ace pigeon Grand Middle Distance) Inbreeding is very rarely or never done. |
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Top results 2007
1 Provincial Le Mans 1470 Youngsters
1 Provincial La Souterraine 510 Old
2 Provincial Montluçon 1609 Yearlings
2 Provincial Minden 2596 Youngsters
2 Provincial Argenton 678 Yearlings
2 Provincial Argenton 3088 Youngsters
3 Provincial Le Mans 918 Old
5 Provincial Minden 2596 Youngsters
2 Interprovincial Argenton 1926 Yearlings
2 Interprovincial Argenton 6286 Youngsters
2 Interprovincial La Souterraine 1732 Old
4 Interprovincial Montluçon 4292 Yearlings
2 National Zone B Argenton 2106 Old
3 National Zone B Argenton 7621 Youngsters
3 National Zone B La Souterraine 1578 Old
3 National Argenton 5927 Yearlings
5 National Argenton 20844 Youngsters
5 National La Souetrraine 4314 Old
8 x 1 IN THE EXTREME MIDDLE DISTANCE |
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