"A whole life between birds and women"

May 1st … the temptation was big. The sun high in heaven but still we kept our birds at home. A cold North-East wind, 3-4 Beaufort, scared us off. Of course, we felle the tension now that everybody else is racing, some even raced Pithiviers which is already 350 km. And BLUE HEAVEN LOFT is standing nowhere. But we’re not mournful, we keep everything under control and a lot is possible with well trained birds.

We’re on schedule. The last week of April, we stopped darkening the old and the yearling birds and from that moment on, we turned over to a bigger speed. In the morning from 7 till 8 o’clock, our hens can train and from 8 till 9, it’s up to the cocks. Both for one hour. In the afternoon, all of this is repeated; from 16 till 17.00 hours the hens and from 17 till 18.00 hours the cocks. With two hours of training every day, the condition becomes better and better. But we also must mention that the food has been adjusted. With this kind of training, they need more and rich food and one soupspoon per pigeon is not enough. Some pigeons use more than others and here you must pay attention that it’s best to feed them extra individually. Nevertheless, you must pay attention.

In BLUE HEAVEN LOFT there are some smart pigeons who regularly hurry inside and fly into the box of his neighbour to steal some grains. They do it every time again till the “owner” of the box arrives and then they hurry to get into their own box. It’s not often that they start a fight which is remarkable. On each compartment is a certain cock who’s the boss on the floor. I don’t like that because he usually prevents the others to drink and eat enough. And he, because he’s busy keeping the others away, doesn’t eat enough himself either. Regularly we close such cocks inside, certainly after the evening training. Do his fellow racers notice this?  Well, they usually take the opportunity to eat and drink. Being a fancier is not only giving some food and water, you also have to watch them carefully and observe how everything is going on the loft. This is also the reason why we regularly give a coffeespoon of HERBOMIX(HAP) or  ALL IN ONE  grit of Versele-Laga in their boxes. 
They wait for this as if it’s a super dessert after a good meal. 

I also notice that hereby the pigeons get more attached to their boxes. Probably because they receive their food in their own boxes twice a day. Hereby, the pigeons also get used to the hand of their master. If there’s something I don’t like, it’s a shy bird on the loft which means, a pigeon that leaves her box when the master wants to take it in his hands. It’s the same for pigeons that leave their nest when you want to take it. We don’t like these pigeons and such a bird should be a very good one with good results and otherwise they have to leave.
I learn every day : a study among married couples showed that 28 % of the women aren’t happy that they don’t have enough sex because their husbands are not in the mood. The author COX even mentions that this already appeared in the primal times. In those days, men didn’t take the effort, once they conquered their “prey “. According to this expert, married men and women, see their sex frequency drop.  Couples, which are married more than two years have a lot less sex than who only know each other recently.
And I thought that I wasn’t normal. But I am because I always do what a woman desires and loves: sex.

Provides energy and is also convenient to use

BLUE HEAVEN LOFT :  May 11th … the old and yearling birds got into the basket for Soissons. Last week, they did 2 x Momingnies with always a short training of 30  km some days before basketing. Both flights didn’t go that well, no chain results. And among our testing pilots we had many losts: +- 1/3 didn’t return back home. This must be because they didn’t have enough experience nor training in their year of birth 2012 .  Those that are left, will be trained and played among our youngsters. But we made this conclusion:  we won’t go on with experiments in 2013-2014 with youngsters that are locked inside in an open aviary till September and then moved to the racing lofts. Nevertheless, it’s already been proved that it’s possible but here for you need to have a lot of patience and hard work to race them with success as yearlings.
On the basketing for Soissons, somebody mentioned that he couldn’t race with his pigeons. A couple of hours earlier, a member of his family told us that this man couldn’t put in his birds because they were ill. But in fact, they weren’t.  They all were too light and too skinny. The vet didn’t find a thing; not in the manure nor in the throat and not even an abnormal matter in the blood.  He was talking about 15 widowers spread over 3 compartments. Finally, the scientist solved the problem. Before in this edition, we already mentioned it; the case in which a cock is the boss on the floor on each compartment.  The one who’s always aware that no other can eat and drink enough. The fancier here, always took away the food after half an hour in which the birds should have eaten enough. A shortage which results in a large problem. Pigeons which can’t eat and drink enough are not capable to score. Their only faith is stress and become thinner. As you see again, a little inattention can have big consequences. So, pay attention and don’t wait to react when something like this happens on the loft.

Our youngsters 2013 train well; at least one hour a day. Of course with our balloons. Nevertheless, we had this year an case of  ADENO-COLI, bad manure and vomit as a result. Till now, we were spared of it but some strangers, which vomited and green manure on the plank, are probably the reason why.  Unbelievable to follow this kind of evolution. The ADENO-Capsules of our vet Raf Herbots are always in the house and these took care of the problem rather soon, together with light food and not too much. In fact it’s rather difficult to escape it, nevertheless you are carefully watching them. It’s a bit of a consolation but it’s better they have it now then during the racing season.  

Sunday May 12th :  the race from Soissons wasn’t very successful. The weather was bad; a lot of rain and low clouds on the whole race line. It wasn’t an easy flight even though they were helped by a strong South West wind. Result: irregular arrivals and at noon there were still some birds missing. We don’t mourn because the game has started and BLUE HEAVEN LOFT is already watching out for the next middle distance race, next Saturday May 18th.

Just want to tell you this :  I always thought nothing could happen but recently I got confronted with the opposite. In the middle of the week, I was attacked by heavy pain in my back. The whole neighbourhood must have heard because each time I bend forward and afterwards get up, I screamed like a pig. And when you never had to take any medication, never any antibiotics but now I had to go and see a doctor and to me that wasn’t easy. He soon found out the problem. Diagnose : “Lumbago” and I had to start a treatment immediately with a painkiller and something against inflammation, a new product on the market : “VIMOVO”. And all of this just at the moment that the MEDIA is talking about this kind of medication almost every day and we can’t get it without a prescription of the doctor. I had no choice but when you never had pain, never took any kind of medication, it’s not easy to deal with. But now I was obliged because of the heavy pain… And yes, it helps, it eases the pain and I almost feel like any other person on earth…

We will be back on May 30th, just after the first national race from Bourges. In the mean time, I wish you all a lot of success on the future races. We’ll meet again soon…

Your servant

THE LOST SON

Nice weather and South-South Western wind, sometimes 4-5 Beaufort; gave us the opportunity to train our racers properly. Five days in a row, we brought them at a distance of maximum 40 kilometres. But then they announced a North-Eastern wind  and cold temperatures of about 12 °Celsius and these were the reasons why we kept them at home in the weekend. Of course time and habits have changed. After such a long time of bad weather, we all want to start the season as soon as possible.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

Back home again. My first assignment was to catch one’s breath. After three weeks in Taiwan and China, it felt good to sleep in my own bed, in the arms of the woman I love, the mother of my 20 year old daughter Linda.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

It’s warm outside and no wind. The sun is high in the blue sky and the temperature rose above 25°C. Spring is all around here. Flowers bloom, trees and bushes are all covered with green leaves. Butterflies dance up and down, all signs that winter is finally over. But Taipei doesn’t know a lot of winter; it’s rare that temperature falls below 10 degrees…what a difference with our weather in Belgium.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

The last time, people asked the same question over and over again: "What do you advice against Paratyphus, treat or not? Doing a previous cure with Emdotrim or Parastop and afterwards the vaccination?  What should we do?"

Your servant

THE LOST SON

Because several visits abroad and a recent rapport about the Veterinary Congress in Nitra (Slovakia), you didn’t get a lot of news about what’s happening on Blue Heaven Loft. So today we will start again. The breeding period did go very well and all youngsters of the fist round of the breeders are exploring the area by fluttering from one shelve to another. In contrast with the previous years, we didn’t let them vaccinate against Paramixo/Pox yet. Before, they were vaccinated for the first time from the moment they were weaned and afterwards, this was repeated when they were about 60 days old.  We think that because they didn’t build enough resistance at the age of 22 till 26 days, it’s better to let them vaccinate when they reached the age of 2 months. So now only one vaccination instead of two at an interval of 5-6 weeks.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

The meeting was opened by vice-chairman FCI, Mr. Horst Menzel (Germany), who warmly welcomed the present audience ,and then immediately passed the word to Dr. Ludger Kamphouser (Germany). He told us about the danger of a newly discovered disease of protozoën with pigeons , the so-called SARKOSPORIDIEN, that appears more and more with pigeons.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

During the second weekend of 2013, we flew over to Budapest in Hungary where they organised the 83rd National Days of the Hungarian Federation and we were invited as guests. This  manifestation and exhibition were in the same building ( Syma Event Centre :8.000 m² ) where they will organise in 2015, the 34th International Pigeon Olympiad from January 28th till February 1st. While we were there, we went to take a look and we saw it was good.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

As we promised in our previous article, we bring you the complete report of a recent publication. It’s our intention that everything becomes more clear about the always returning problem of the respiration of our pigeons and the herpes virus involved.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

The Hungarian parliament at the blue Danube.

Between Christmas an New Year, we took our time to make an inventory and to evaluate our racers. After this research, I can easily say that all pigeons on our racing loft, as well cocks as hens, already thrown their 10th pinion. These aren’t paired yet and this will only happen, according to our habit, on February 2nd 2013.

THE LOST SON

It’s cold outside, - 5 degrees (Celsius).  It’s misty and it snows without stopping. The visibility hardly is 2 till 300 metres. Beijing is at my feet, the immense capitol of the  Peoples Republic of China (PR China).  From my hotel room (KUNLUN), I notice the CITYMALL at the other side of the boulevard and I can also see a glimpse of  the WESTIN HOTEL, that rises high above the town.  Further, there’s also the LUFTHANSA SHOPPING CENTER. Already since 1982, we visit here minimum 1, 2 or even more a year. We know the environment and certainly the changes of the last years.

THE LOST SON

The reactions keep on coming in concerning the use of medication with pigeons.
Recently we made a remarkable conclusion about this.  During a meeting with a very big champion, who’s known for not using any medication at all, I heard following: “It’s not because I didn’t use any medication to keep my birds healthy, that I can’t or may not start using it in 2013.” Isn’t that clear enough?

Your servant

THE LOST SON

If everything stays the way they already announced, we will have 14 national races on the heavy middle distance in 2013.  To us, on BLUE HEAVEN LOFT, it will be more than 30 opportunities to win a national. 
That’s why the opening words of this article…It won’t be easy because everything has to go right but because these chances they offer, will give us a lot of opportunities. I’m not a mind-reader and I don’t want to run ahead but still I will go for it. It’ll be hard to do, that’s for sure but we have the advantage that our old and yearling birds are selected to do a race from 450 till 625 km every week again. So we will surely participate and take our chances.  With the good will and the persuasion to win another national race in 2013.  Those that live will see…

Your servant

THE LOST SON

It’s really a miracle the way our birds change their feathers. They change them all, the big ones and the small ones and this takes them a lot of energy. On those lofts, where the moulting go on without problems, you can be sure that their condition was good, certainly during that period.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

My last news report provoked many reactions. I got mails from the U.S.A, Canada, Scotland and of course from different European countries. All with the same request and question for the name of the alternative product for ZOVIRAX, which can be used in case of an invasion of the Herpes virus. There even was one person that said :”When you say “A”, you have to say “B” too.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

About two months ago, we had a visitor of an experienced scientist, a professional on the area of ornithose and viruses. Our conversation was very interesting and we learned a lot about it.

THE LOST SON

Nevertheless there are many women who think so. How many times, women dream about having good sex with interesting men.  They almost always adore to be “taken” well.
This also happens with young hens that have been separated for some time.  They walk around with a dragging tail behind each cock. They almost beg to be “taken”.  Of course, nature has its secrets and it doesn’t always show them. But when you open your eyes, you can see a lot. When you close your eyes, you seem to be blind to all miracles of nature.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

The season 2012 is finished and it wasn’t an easy one. Nevertheless we found out that you don’t loose pigeons easily on those last races when they raced every week between 350 and 650 km and normally those are the most difficult no matter the weather conditions. Isn’t this a proof that the more you play your birds, the more experience they have to return back home. Of course, with this system, several birds can’t follow and they give up at the beginning or afterwards. But you can be sure that those that keep on going, have learned their lesson and they know their way back home by heart. We don’t have to select hard because the basket did its job.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

Life on BLUE HEAVEN LOFT continues undisturbed. When you read this, our racers will have finished their very last task of the season 2012; the national race from GUERET September 8th , a distance of 537 km. The national race from La Souterraine (576km.) was a success.  As we told, we went for a place on the podium and so we did with a 3rd National with the old and the yearlings (which raced together). We succeeded with 39 of 63 pigeons within the prizes in Club de Fond de Wallonie (C.F.W.) against 2180 pigeons. This means 62% prizes, more than we normally want (60%).

Your servant

THE LOST SON

It’s hot outside, the sun burns like hell, birds gasp for oxygen and water and also our pigeons sometimes lie on their side gasping, with their wing wide open in the sun.
When you take a close look these days and observe their attitude, you can find out many things about their condition.
Of course it’s also hot on BLUE HEAVEN LOFT. More than 30° Celsius isn’t rare, even with our vaporising system, which brings some freshness and humidity on the lofts. Nevertheless, the temperature remains above the normal, even with all doors and windows open day and night, the heat remains muggy sultry and I can’t stand it.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

In our previous article, we promised to talk about the use of vitamins and a lot more. Till now, we in BLUE HEAVEN LOFT always used it in the drinking water. Mostly because it’s easier but also because we found out that our birds take it better by the drinking water then by their food.
That’s all changed now and certainly when we use vitamins.  From now on and in future we will use it in the food of our pigeons.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

We already are at the end of July…the national race from Limoges yearlings has been raced and the famous national Bourges is coming soon.
The yearlings of  BLUE HEAVEN LOFT succeeded well in their ultimate test. When you can score with 18 yearlings out of 28 on Limoges National, which is at a distance of 658 km, can’t complain.

THE LOST SON

It all goes very fast. Races follow up very fast, one after another. Enough choices but we can’t do anything about our position or the wind, we just have to accept it as it comes…
Our yearling birds and their old colleagues are getting back the good form; 6 old birds within a minute from NEVERS (451 km) gave us hope again. Not only our medical help but surely them dropping their first pinion made the change. In general they say that the top form only comes after they dropped their second pinion. We surely can expect something.

THE LOST SON

Recently they asked me following question :”What to do when the little feathers around the ears of the pigeons, aren’t tight flat  to their head?” ”It’s a sure fact that these pigeons are disadvantaged in the race.” The man who qsked that question, noticed this with several pigeons by basketing in his club.

Your servant

THE LOST SON

We’re already half June : the racing season runs fast. The first races of 2012 weren’t the easiest. Wind at their head and speeds between 1100 and 1200 m/m gave several lost everywhere. Specially from Bourges National, there seemed to be many pigeons which didn’t find their way back home, among these even some experienced racers. With cold wind at the head, the un experienced pigeons always have difficulties.

THE LOST SON

BLUE HEAVEN LOFT :
The week-end (19/05) before Bourges (26/05), our pigeons had to race Orléans (400km.). All birds went along in preparation to the first national race. We had the worst day of our life, never experienced before. It was a very big disappointment. The happier we were last week, the bigger the disappointment. Only a few small prizes and nothing else. The introduction of the last article :”Those that are happy about their victory yesterday, will have nothing to be proud of tomorrow.” So this also applies to us.

THE LOST SON

It was Friday morning, the sun was shining early and there was not one cloud in the sky. The old and yearlings were already in the basket for a race from TOURY( 373 Km.).  Today would be ideal to start driving our youngsters of 2012. “Let’s do it” said my wife, while she put on her blue overall and I agreed. I put on my overall too, which is a daily ritual. Our pigeons are used to this and so they aren’t afraid, although they sometimes are without my usual blue overall, to do some inspection to see if their droppings are normal.

THE LOST SON

In 2011, during spring races, we had unexpected visit. A vet from Flanders had to be in our neighbourhood and he asked if I had time to talk.  As usual I was very curious. We talked about many things and most certainly about our pigeons.  What was the main subject?

THE LOST SON

Blue Heaven Loft : Wednesday April 11th… good weather conditions.
Finally, it’s happening. Because we have the possibility, we gratefully used the opportunity. We took away all our racers (about 72) at a distance of +- 15 km. There was a West-South Western wind with the power of 3 Beaufort. The sun was shining but now and then some dangerous clouds passed by. Our racers are divided on 5 compartments. Baskets of our Cabine-express are brought to the loft upstairs by the elevator and when these are filled, they go downstairs the same way. This operation takes about 10 minutes because our pigeons are driven into the baskets.

THE LOST SON

Life is as it is on “BLUE HEAVEN LOFT”
Nevertheless, spring began with a lot of sunshine and temperatures of +- 20° Celsius, with morning and night temperatures around 5°Celsius, there always is this nasty East-North-East wind of 3 Beaufort. This kept us from leaving with the old and yearling birds. Don’t forget that this returns every year again and spring without storm is like women without good shape. 

THE LOST SON

Reaction on Paratyphus : 
As we already mentioned, on BLUE HEAVEN LOFT, all racers; old birds and yearlings included the hens which are played on double widowhood, have being vaccinated against Paratyphus. Before we did a cure of 10 days and one after the treatment of 5 days with Emdotrim. This treatment in preparation to the vaccination, is very important. We didn’t see any pigeon that had problems after the vaccination with COLOMBOVAC(Paratyphus) of the firm Pfizer. Nevertheless all pigeons were a little bit calmer for a few days but they didn’t seem to have real problems.

THE LOST SON

We keep on experimenting because that’s the only way to learn. When you always ride the same horse, it becomes dull and that’s what I want to avoid. This year we started darkening one week earlier as usual. We want to start sooner with our youngsters but that’s easier said than done. In the past, we started darkening on March 1st till the beginning of May with our old and yearling birds. With the youngsters we stopped in the middle of the month of June. But in 2012, this period will become shorter, especially towards the national races, which are on the calendar at the end of May. 

THE LOST SON

It’s still very cold outside but it seems that the hardest part has passed. There’s hope again in the hart of many fanciers with all the youngsters on the roof, this hope is real. New horizons appear again when spring begins; nature will come alive and will recover of the cold weather of the past weeks. During these cold temperatures, I visited my second home , Taiwan for 10 days.

THE LOST SON

In one of our previous editions, we said that people talk a lot about sex but they don’t do it enough…
Well, coincidence or not.  A professor at the University of Leuven had a research about sex in general. By an appeal by a television program, he reached about 100.000 people, who wanted to participate to this research. By all their answers, he got to a very interesting conclusion, which you could read in several newspapers, on television or may be on some radio stations. The result of this research showed, that we weekly have only one time sex, not 3 times as they usually say. Of course, this is a conclusion based on statistics and as we all know, this isn’t always the exact reality. But still, it shows that the sex life of the average Belgian, is going down. What could be the reason?

THE LOST SON

Most of our youngsters 2012, the first round of the breeder, are born with full moon. We didn’t plan this but it just happened. We couldn’t pair them earlier because we were very busy in that period with all kinds of pigeon-happenings, as well in our own country as abroad, among which three times in China. In fact too much to be good. But what do you want…it’s not easy to respond negative when you get the proposal. Of course, I must admit that I still like to belong to the pigeon world, so I can’t complain. It is and it was our own decision to be away from home regularly, always for at least a few days. My wife got used to it to spend some times alone in our bed, she likes to get some rest now and then and it’s good for her to build up some new energy. Of course it’s not good to do this too often because as you know: “When the cat’s away, the mice dance.” And sex is just like faith, they talk a lot about it but they don’t practise enough. It’s also a fact that people lie a lot about sex, most of them even lie during sex. Women can fake an orgasm and men a whole relation… But…we weren’t talking about that, so lets just get on…

THE LOST SON

The pairing of our breeders during the second week of December 2011 didn’t go as well as in 2010. The reason was easy to understand. If you take away all breeders, which were born in 2003 and 2004, you know they have to be replaced by younger and more dynamic forces. This isn’t an easy job to do. Luckily my wife, who is very patient, knew how to put everything in the right direction. Aren’t I a lucky man? I learned a lot of a life of 20 years in Taiwan. I also learned that when you’re looking for a beautiful, nice and clever woman, you don’t look for one but for three. A good advice: look out for a economical woman for yourself even i fit takes you a pair of shoes. Don’t forget that a woman is only beautiful when she’s more beautiful naked than half-naked.  I know now by experience, that one woman isn’t enough but three is too much.

THE LOST SON

Cobbler stay with your job...

Just one more time, I will give some information about the vaccination against Paratyphus, at request. We personally prefer the vaccination COLOMBOVAC PT of the Firm PFIZER. The shortage of the product and later on also the price were the reason why some scientists looked for an alternative, which they found. Remarquable that we received some more questions about this product, with some comment. That’s the reason why we would like to explain by this way.

THE LOST SON

Necessity is the mother of ingenuity

Those that didn’t pair already, may need some advice. Especially old hens sometimes have some problems to lay their first round of eggs. Some time ago, before pairing, we used to give a cure with Ampicilline but now this isn’t no longer available. So we had to find an alternative. Not easy to do because the use of antibiotics becomes very difficult the last few years and then it’s up to the vet to search a solution. We can’t that much any more, without his interference.

THE LOST SON

Finally, the vaccination product against the Paramixo Virus, Colombovac PMV ( 10ml/50 doses) and Colombovac, Paramixo/Pox will be in the running again by the firm Pfizer. It’s necessary to get in contact with your vet and make an appointment, so he can vaccinate your pigeons as soon as possible. You can imagine, after such a long time of waiting, that everybody want to be helped as soon as possible. It’s an obligation, this vaccination against Paramixo. But when there’s not enough vaccination product, there’s nothing you can do as a fancier. Isn’t this a task for our leaders of the KBDB? They should be able to do something about it. They know the proper authorities and they can explain the need of the Paramixo Virus vaccination. Hopefully this will all soon be solved and they will be no more shortage of the product in the near future. All they have to do is make sure that there will be a balance between the demand and the offer.  When is the best time to vaccinate?

THE LOST SON

Last time we talked about searching and selecting pigeons for our winter breed. I feel the need to add something very important. I forgot (with us it happens automatic) to point to the evaluation of the wing.  We must be sure that the pigeon doesn’t have split feathers in their wing. I will try to explain this process as good as possible.

THE LOST SON

It’s not always easy to make a choice. I always used to say : when you chose between two things, you have one thing but you’ll miss the other. When you want to do winter breed, you’ll have to deal with this. When we select pigeons to breed with, we follow this system: first we catch all pigeons and put them in the baskets. We move them from the open aviary to a space underneath the loft, where they have to stay for about at least two hours. We make sure the pigeons are in the dark so they don’t start to fight and they are much calmer. My wife always helps out every year again.  She’s very handy in catching pigeons: she takes them out of the basket one by one and passes them on to me. Normally they always say : “Where the trousers talk, skirts have to be quiet”.

THE LOST SON

Vaccination Paratyphus again on the market.

It took a while and when you wait for something, it always takes longer as expected. Our patience is rewarded and we’re glad to announce that the vaccination product COLOMBOVAC  PARATYPHUS is back on the market. We already called our vet Raf HERBOTS several times to ask about the availability of the vaccination product.  We prefer to vaccinate as quickly as possible, 6 till 8 weeks before the start of the winter breed. By experience we learned that this period is necessary to prevent clear eggs. Our vet became a bit irritated by our phone calls and he told me: “If I can’t get the product, no one can in Belgium.” 

THE LOST SON

September 29 th  2011 : today, day to day one year ago, my friend Willem from Holland called me and said: ”Congratulations with your birthday but don’t forget that today is the start of the last term of your life.”  At this moment, one year later, he called again, asking how I was doing and how I felt. 

THE LOST SON

We’re very impressed and yes, also disappointed about what happened the last time. The last national race of 2011 from Gueret (571 km), the finish of the season 2011, didn’t bring BLUE HEAVEN LOFT what we expected. All our devotion and hard work concerning the care-taking and the guidance, didn’t make us win.  When you aim for perfection, you have to know that not all roads are smooth. The stunt we expected to finish 2011, didn’t come.

THE LOST SON

In my previous article, I made a promise. Hereby I made many fanciers very curious. In fact, curiousity is a quality of women and you find that out, much too late. It was like that with me and I’m sure with many among you all. That’s the way women are and my ex wasn’t different. Be careful because when you go out with them, they love you a little, once you get married, they love you a lot and when you divorce, they keep everything from you. That’s the same with love, it’s like a flashing pole, you don’t expect it and it costs a lot of money. But now back to my promise, I can’t get out of it anymore. Although my wife wasn’t very pleased when she heard that I was going to explain how we play with the pigeons on “BLUE HEAVEN LOFT”.

THE LOST SON

“Blue Heaven loft” : the pigeons are doing well. Didn’t I say before that they were ready to go to the national race from Argenton (540 km) And when you succeed to score with 7 pigeons in the national top 100 against more than 30.000 pigeons, old-yearlings and youngsters together, you can’t complain. In the meantime, we brought all old and yearling birds on nest, which is spectacular every year again. After Bourges National (31/7), all racers were left together to end up in the basket after 4 nights (on drift and hunting), for a race from Blois (454 km), in preparation for Argenton (550 km). On Monday, the week before Argenton, we gave them eggs.

THE LOST SON

The national race from Bourges at the end of July had its course. Still it was a bad race. Everybody knew that on Saturday, the day of release, the weather wouldn’t be good in Belgium, all weather reports agreed about the bad weather conditions.  Still they released the pigeons, nothing against it but much too late. How many times didn’t I already tell that if they want to set the pigeons free with bad weather, they should do it as soon as possible. No, they waited till 9.30 to set the birds free. Conclusion…a bad race and many pigeons, which spend the night outside with all its consequences. Nevertheless, the weather was good and also the visibility was good, which we could see on television. Why didn’t they release the pigeons at 7.00 a.m.?

THE LOST SON

Last time I talked about my good friend Peter Trost from Essingen (Germany). Peter is going to be a fancier again, after an interruption of several years because of his journey around the world. I talked to you about how he saw everything, think over and how he put his decisions and brought them to a good end. I just want to add something, to be complete.

THE LOST SON

Recently, BLUE HEAVEN LOFT was visited by Peter Trost from Essingen (Germany). Before he lived in Aalen, not so far away from Stuttgart. He’s the man who travelled all over the world in his ADVENTURE 3, over sees and oceans. But above all, he’s also an obsessed fancier. Peter is a friend of us for many years now, from the time of Union Antwerp, the university of the pigeon sport in those days, when they celebrated their champions in the Arena in Deurne. Those were the days of the “DOKUS” of René Somers from Oelegem. By coincidence René, Peter and me are all born in the blessed year 1935.

THE LOST SON

I had a long conversation with Jean-Louis Jorissen Pharmacist of Comed, about his new product RONI. (Regular Oligosaccharides for Normalizing the Intestin)

It became a story about pre-, pro-, and antibiotics all playing a role in the well-known framework of his mission: The Resistance Selection Method, without antibiotics. Together with Willem De Bruijn, I had numerous long conversations about this approach. Willem was an early believer of the method. Himself being a dentist and his wife a doctor, both medical academic educated, where already long time ago, convinced the abuse of antibiotics could not continue like that.

THE LOST SON

Wind, direction and the masse make the result.  This used to be and it’s still the case in 2011. When you don’t agree, you can call me. We had three weeks of middle distance behind us. The first two with an Eastern wind and what did we see? All top-prizes were won by fanciers who live at the West of the line.

THE LOST SON

A few days ago, my wife heard me cursing till inside the house. “What’s wrong now?” she asked when I came inside. “I was angry because two hens show some lesbian movements and they were sitting together in a corner.” I answered. “It’s in their nature and you can’t do anything about it” she replied.

A few days ago, my wife heard me cursing till inside the house. “What’s wrong now?” she asked when I came inside. “I was angry because two hens show some lesbian movements and they were sitting together in a corner.” I answered. “It’s in their nature and you can’t do anything about it” she replied.

White gloves : it’s a habit of mine, always wearing white gloves when I’m taking care of my birds, in and around the loft. I started it when I returned to Belgium at the end of 2002. I’m sure you wonder why? Well, I will only tell at the end of this story.

Here on BLUE HEAVEN LOFT, everything goes very well with the pigeons. The beautiful weather of the last few days also has an impact on us. All racers and some late youngsters of 2010 were brought away by car a couple of times. In between, we also cleared them from Ectoparasites and this with only one drop.

The racers and the youngsters are vaccinated at the beginning of March and I noticed that some of them had some inconvenience. Did you notice it too? Normally we keep our vaccinated pigeons inside for a few days but because of the good weather, my wife prefered to open the loft so they could get outside and inside.

We all know for sure that women like sex and pigeons like peanuts.  That’s what I experienced when I lived in Taiwan as a single man.  There’s a song that says: “A bachelor only goes to sleep when he saw the stars, when he enjoyed his freedom, when he says it was nice, thanks and goodbye.”

What’s going on in” BLUE HEAVEN LOFT” : we’re already half February…time goes fast.  During the 32nd Olympiad of 28-30.01.2011 in Poznan, Poland, we saw that our sport is still living, most certainly in the Eastern countries where the number of members are still rising. Finally a positive thing within our beloved sport and hobby.

Latin proverb written by the Roman poet Horatius.
Who, more than me can talk about this?

Hens that lay an egg… Didn’t you notice that yearling hens and those of two years old, which have to race more than 40 weeks on the Heavy middle distance, are eager to start a family.

The new year only just started and I already had bad points. My wife and I still were in bed, dark as hell but both awake, without saying anything…Till suddenly she broke the silence…And do you know what she said? You wouldn’t think it is possible but it was.  She literaly said: ”Michel, I think there’s not enough fresh air on the racing loft…”.

In BLUE HEAVEN LOFT everything goes by plan. We’re ringing a lot although there are still some couples that were a bit later by laying eggs, which don’t have any youngsters. But I’m sure they will follow. There was only a short period of giving light and that what we feel now. Hereby again the prove that the condition of our pigeons depend on THREE important aspects: the play between LIGHT and DARK, the TEMPERATURE (heath) and the MOISTURE on the loft...

Zoutleeuw: December 22nd, 2010
It's quiet at "BLUE HEAVEN LOFT". All the birds are breeding ... Every day we have given the birds some short-cut hay. It is quite a lot of fun to see how some birds willingly use it. The back and forth flying sharpens their swiftness and they find their way home almost blindly afterwards. But all that busy work and that back and forth flying with straw also teaches us a lot about the character and attachment to the nest that our birds are building. So we’d better watch out ...

Let me summarize and return to what has happened since mid-September 2010 (end of the racing season) at Blue Heaven Loft.

After the microscopic and bacteriological tests for all pigeons, I went off for a while ...