Peter & Hans-Peter Brockamp

Boppard, Germany

1st International Marseille 2005

14,041 pigeons were basketed Internationally for the Marseille 2005. As always, many German fanciers participated in this race. The father & son combination of Peter & Hans-Peter Brockamp won the event. Marseille is about 785km for them and they basketted 21 pigeons. They did not only win 1st International, they also took a lot of good prizes with early arrivals at 18H46, 19H04, 19H13, 19H14, 19H18, 19H22, 19H48, 20H28, 20H31 and 20H59 . 18 pigeons from 21 were clocked within time. A super result! That means on the International result they were: 1st, 21st, 79th, 112th, 118th, 136th, 163rd . . The winning pigeon, now called 'The Marseille King', is a 3 year old cock, which was their 4th nominated pigeon. Beforehand he had been basketed 5 times for National and International races and he always won a decent prize. In 2004 he won 4th National Cahors (828km) against 1578 pigeons, 297th National Marseille against 4928 pigeons and 195th National Perpignan (938km) against 2210 pigeons. Also in 2005 he won 102ne National Pau (977km) against 1238 pigeons. 'The Marseille King' is a blue chequer white/flight with very soft feathers, medium sized and with a very beautiful eye. His sire is ' Blaue Budapest II', a son of STAMFATHER 'Junge As', an original Georges Carteus cock. The Budapest II was also an excellent racing pigeon: 2nd and 8th prize St Polten (635 km), 4th Nickelsdorf (735km), 4th Wenen (720km) and 5th, 12th and 19th prizes Budapest (900km). His dam is a daughter of the super couple of Etienne Vanhaverbeke , Ichtegem. She is also the mother of the 12th National Perpignan. Also a brother of the father was a super racer. Another brother became a German Olympiad pigeon in South-Africa 2001 for Menne & Daughter . A great family of pigeons! In the opinion of Hans-Peter Brockamp, 'The Marseille King' won this International prize because of the system of jealousy with another cock in the box above him. This other red cock, injured on the wing and not able to race, cannot really fly well into his box. Shortly before the basketing he was put again the loft where also the international Marseille winner is housed. 'The Marseille King' got very jealous because the other cock was now in his box... this probably made him want to get home as soon as possible. Father Peter has been racing since 1948 with success. In the sixties he bought Huijskens-Van Riel pigeons and they made him famous in Koblenz. Son Hans-Peter was fascinated by the long distance from the beginning. Since the middle of the eighties Pau, Barcelona, Dax, Marseille and Perpignan have been the most important races for them.
In 1999 the Brockamp pigeons won in 3 weeks as well 1st International Bordeaux (raced by Harald Schröder with an original Brockamp pigeon), 1st International Perpignan, won by the Brockamps themselves. Even they are so successful, the pigeon sport is a hobby for them! In total they only have about 150 pigeons, and they only race cocks on widowhood.

Strain building:

The first long distance pigeons were bought from the loft of Andre Vanbruaene between 1985 and 1988 and from the loft of Ivo Van Lerberghe . In the loft of Vanbruaene they bought 'Blaue Vanbruaene' BELG 85-3410669, son of full brother to 1st international Barcelona 1984. This pigeon is one of the basic breeders in the loft of Brockamp.
Just like many superior long distance lofts, also Brockamp seems to have built his strain on the Vanbruaene pigeons, probably the best long distance strain ever flown. In the loft of Ivo Van Lerberghe they bought a son of 'Barcelona Crack' (43rd and 50th International Barcelona) x 'Mona' (Dam of 1 st International Perpignan 1988). He produces very good children. At present the Brockamp loft contains about 50% Georges Carteus pigeons. The first 3 pigeons bought in the Carteus loft were each wonderful breeders. The mother of 'Armstrong', 1st international Perpignan is a direct daughter of the legendary "Limoges" of Carteus (1st Nat Limoges, 3rd Nat Perpignan). The mother of 'Super Bordeaux' 1st International Bordeaux (Schröder) is a daughter of the famous 'Bonte Barcelona' (4th Nat Perpignan 91) and the grandfather of 'Marseille King', 1st International Marseille 2005 is a son of 'As' (4th National acepigeon 93). Because they almost never race hens, they are always looking for breeding hens directly out of top pigeons and acepigeons to cross them with their own strain. In this way they bought pigeons from Menne & Töchter, Hamminkeln, Harald Schröder, Aachen and Josef Fell , Erkelenz. Their first pigeon from Barcelona comes from a hen of Wim Muller, Wilhelminadorp.

The wing of Marsellie King

Breeding :

They try to breed performance pigeons. They only have 10 breeding pairs. Among them the 2 Carteus pigeons (son As 797 and son As 571) and a son of 'Soustons' of H. & R. Wijnands, Maastricht, which is the father of 'Armstrong'. All other breeding pigeons are performance pigeons with top results, among them 'Armstrong' (1st International Perpignan 1999), 'Marseille Star' (12th International Marseille 1997), 'Tiger' (1st National St Pölten 1997), 'Raphael' (10th National Perpignan 1999), 'Hannah' (4th National Marseille 2003), 'Blaue Budapest II' (2nd national St Pölten 1997, 4° national Wenen 2001 and 4° national Nickelsdorf 2001). Because most of the national winners and ace pigeons are born out of crossings, the Brockamp family likes to cross. When they acquire pigeons, they always have to come from a successful family. Also the ability to recover fast is very important.

Preparation:

The preparation of the next racing season starts at the end of the previous season. After Perpignan all racerare paired and they can all breed a round of youngsters, and after that the pigeons can still incubate. This is to improve the moulting. At the middle or end of December these couples are separated. All pigeons are separated for the whole winter. At the beginning of April they are put together. Now they only sit on their eggs without having youngsters, and during this period they participate in their first training races. At this time the pigeons are also cured against Trichomonias for 7 days with Ronidazol (10%). Starting from May the pigeons are raced in the local club every week. This system makes sure that the pigeons moult slowly in the summer; 'The Marseille King' still had his full wing of feathers at Pau, at for Marseille he had lost his first feather. That is why Marseille and Perpignan became the favourite race of the Brockamp family.

Medical supervision of the racing pigeons:
Son Hans-Peter is a biochemist and for many years he has studies the metabolism of the pigeons. He treats the pigeons as real athletes and he realises there is a big difference between just health and top condition. A very good metabolism is the key to top condition, that's why he developed the "Probac" products, based on probiotic bacteria. These products are administered the whole year to the racing pigeons. The specific preparation for the long distance races starts at about 14 days before basketing. They also give Oregano oil, Probac 1000 electrolytes and a very concentrated protein (from animals) APF90. This to let the whole muscle mass recover. Afterwards all pigeons get Metro Plus against canker. About 8 days before basketing they administer for 3-4 days 'Aktieve Eisen', an important product for the increase of haemoglobins in the blood; this stimulates the taking in of oxygen. This because of the fact that the metabolism for pigeons needs a lot of oxygen, just like the human body. And finally in the last 4 days essential fat acids are administered (Lecithin oil ) mixed with Probac Energy. In the water the pigeons get some Probac 1000 and Catosal. Of course one still need class pigeons to win these kind of international victories. We wish father and son a lot of success and pigeon pleasure.

Information supplied by Nikolaas Gyselbrecht of www.pipa.be in conjunction with Elimar Pigeon Services