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RENE & ETTIENE BOURLAND

OF HARVENG, BELGIUM

by Les Parkinson

Yes another loft visit whilst in Belgium and an impressive one at that because this partnership won 5 x 1st Nationals in 6yrs, which is an excellent record at such a high level of competition. Those wins are 1st National Orange hens 2005, 1st National Limoges Old birds plus Derby 2005, 1st National Cahors 2006,. 1st National Narbonne 2008 and 1st & 2nd National Montélimar 2010.

Bottom racing lofts

This father & Son partnership are more for the longer races and therefore for the first two years of their life the partnership take care of their pigeons because of their main aim in the sport. Experience is the name of the game and the only way to get that is to send them to selected races as part of their preparation. Also for the first two seasons of their lives the pigeons are treated as young birds and given no special treatment and are raced celibate. It is a fact that any fancier aiming for the longer races likes to take their time and let the pigeons develop before expecting them to achieve the results in the longer races.

Rene & Ettiene Bourlard with Les J Parkinson

The first time the cocks go onto the widowhood system is when they are two year olds and that is when their tasks are set. Because they are not given a hen in the first two seasons when they go into the widowhood loft as 2yo they are allowed to see their hen even on the 30km training tosses. I was surprised to hear that the pigeons don’t always return home in good time from the training tosses because they are known to take between 3 and 4hrs. However one of the National wins saw the winner spend such a time out before going on to take 1st National so you see when you are waiting for those trainers they could quite easily be learning the ropes. Showing the hens to the cocks before basketting is a bone of contention because some do and some don’t show the hens; here at Harveng the cocks are allowed to see their hen. There is another bone of contention and that is whether or not the widowhood cocks are allowed to rear before the racing season starts and here the racing cocks are not allowed to breed youngsters prior to the season but they are allowed to sit two consecutive nests of eggs. Then like so many others this team allow the cocks to rear a youngster and then they are separated in mid October until the middle of March when they are repaired as part of the preparation for the following season.

Stock birds

They like to keep a little over 40 old widowhood cocks plus a team of 50 yearling cocks, 25 yearling hens and 20 old hens that are normally sent to their nesting condition. The team might appear to be a big one but when you consider the number of National races they can compete in and they only send each pigeon to two or maybe three National races each year then they are rested for the following year. They will also have around 25 pairs of breeders in the stock loft.

Like most winners the birds are treated every four weeks for canker and also a precautionary respiratory treatment but they stress that they do seek the vet’s advice. Because their aim is competing in the longer races they do prefer to feed the same mixture so that the pigeon’s digestion system is stable. They do like to prepare the birds for specific races but if a few fall into the right condition they can change them for the better.

Rene Bourlard

There is a view that the Belgium lofts are big extravagant affairs but that is not the case and these lofts were like many you see here in the UK. Just ordinary back garden lofts that many fanciers race and win to in the UK. They obviously are not bothered about the loft facing any particular direction because they are facing each other.

This was a cracking loft to visit and one that is worth going to see even though it is off the beaten track. If it were not for Frans and Guillaume I doubt if I would have found it, mind you the sat nav is very good.

Frans and Guillaume at the Bourlard lofts