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GEERT & CLARA PHILLIPS

with Les J. Parkinson

 

The year was 1970 when like so many other new starters to the sport in years gone by a stray pigeon dropped into the Phillips household. At that time Geert Phillips could not have even imagined the impact that the stray pigeon would have on his life and now over 30yrs later still playing a major part in the Phillips household. We are very fortunate to be able to go to so many top continental lofts and one such loft that is well worth a visit is the loft that has a great record at National level at Dendemonde where Geert and Clara Phillips have an excellent team of pigeons. We have been there on several occasion's to deliver pigeons for the German race so everything dropped in handy and we learnt quite a bit about this approachable couple whose lives now evolve around pigeons and everything that goes with them. There is no doubt about the fact that they are pigeons through and through with both work and their hobby. Geert is in a similar position to myself where has taken on an official post with the East Flanders Federation as part of his work and one that has taken up in the region of 20yrs of his life. I am fully aware of the commitment that he has to put into that position and the time that it takes to make sure that everything is right, at times this can take you away from what you should be doing with the pigeons.

 

Geert & Clara Phillips with Les Parkinson at their pigeon loft.
Geert & Clara Phillips with Les Parkinson

 

This has been a real success story because Geert & Clara have a good winning National line that they now hold on to. That has not always been the case because they admit to making the big mistake of selling one of their great "Zipa" who won 1st National Bourges, which is something that many have regretted doing over the years. Temptation comes your way but that did not happen again because since then their other top National pigeons have stayed in the loft and helped the partnership to establish a National based line of their own. There are not many lofts who can boast such an impressive team of pigeons that as well as the top breeders that have made a name for themselves but also "Jonge Excellent" "Napan" and "Elpa", quality pigeons at their best. Other pigeons worth a mention in the breeding loft are "Sanex III" 1st National Bourges 2000 and was the fastest of 57.004 pigeons. "lezil" best old bird from Belgium 1999 middle distance. "Lezi" 1st Semi National Chateauroux and 1st Provincial Bourges. "Untop" Bourges 2nd Provincial, Bourges 9th Provincial, Bourges 13th Provincial. And we must add that the parents of these four pigeons are also the parents of Napan which highlights just how high the quality of these pigeons is. These lofts are now established as one of the best Middle Distance lofts on the continent and with their results who can deny them their right to be there.

Geert who is now reaching his mid forties and started with pigeons when he was 13yrs old and has worked hard around pigeons ever since. As I have already mentioned that hard work has brought it's results but how did he get those results and what are the team of present day pigeons built upon. We all dabble in the early days and then hopefully move on to better pigeons, in the case of this loft those better pigeons started in 1983 from the lofts of Raoul & Xavier Verstraete who we have visited on a couple of occasion's and reported on in the fancy press. At that time the pigeons of the moment we re the impressive "Zilveren" lines from the "Gouden-Bol-Line" plus the lines of "Monolito" that were followed with the "Panter Line" of Theo Gilbert that went on to produce "Rapido" "Cupido" and "Panter". I remember Planet Bros having the Verstraate pigeons in the 80's which was where my first attention was drawn to them and they are still successful today. Geert & Clara are like any other winning fanciers and always looking to improve so the next move came when they introduced the Hans & Silvain D'Hondt, Romain Legiest and Andre & Patrick De Smet pigeons whom I am also writing an article on at the present time that will be out shortly. Bourges is the Middle Distance race that these lofts prefer to compete in, they are always looking for pigeons to bring into their lofts from the Bourges winners. With this in mind Geert kept up the search to improve his winning team and soon found a good addition via the "Nationaal 1" of Karel Schellens which came through Herbots Bros. The relentless search continued with the next pigeon to come in being from the Jan Withofs "Nationaal" who was paired to a direct daughter of the 1st World Champion competing in the long Distance events. What made this line that much better was that the dam of this hen is also a sister to the highly rated "Supercrack 327" of Pros Roosen. The foundation was not there with the next few years seeing these lofts breed very carefully back to the Middle Distance Champions and the results started to come with top national performances.

The race team consists of 32 widowhood cocks that are paired at the same time as the stock bird which is the 15th December with the widowhood cocks being allowed to rear a nest of youngsters. The difference from the stock birds is that when the young are 15/16 days old in the widowhood lofts the hens are taken away after which the young are left with the cocks for about one week. This is a system that works for the partnership and they have never seen any reason to change, also if the cocks are not capable of rearing a pair in the nest for one week then they are never going to make strong top winning racers. There are generally about 100 youngsters for their own racing purposes, this is based on the fact they do like to have around 50% of their old bird race team made up of yearlings to ensure that they always have strength in the race team.

Now we know what the pigeons are and how they came about what about the surroundings that they are kept in order that they are healthy for the races that the partnership strive to win. This is where the partnership excels because they have their own racing loft and can therefore spend time with a small team of their own. Geert has a loft measuring some 4.20mtrs x 2mts (see photo) with a total of 20 standard widowhood boxes and as you can see by the photos they are all traditional style lofts. Clara looks after a slightly smaller team of 12 widowhood cocks in a loft of 2.40mtrs x 2.20mtrs (See photo).

 

Geert Phillips Widowhood loft & YB Loft.
Geert Phillips Widowhood loft & YB Loft

 

Although Geert's loft is bigger he does have it split between young and old birds that has a front to rear corridor between the old and young birds. There is a also another loft where the widow hens are housed along with a few breeding hens that are waiting to be paired, this loft unlike the main racing lofts has the back to front sloping roof. The main race lofts have the pan tiled roofs with skylights which allows the temperature in the lofts to rise with the sun. Also the inside ceiling is fully ventilated which again allows more light through the skylights that in turn allows the rays from the sun to warm the lofts. If it is raining and damp in the air then there is a safeguard of heating via the floor which keeps the lofts dry at all times and all lofts are lined with ply-wood. The floors are also well thought out because this is not a case of one layer and that is that as is the case with most traditional lofts. The floor make up is wood, insulation board, heating system all covered with ply-wood, this ensures that during the critical periods of the year the lofts are always right for the pigeons.

There is a big benefit to Geert & Clara having their own race team because the numbers are manageable. This system also makes sure that they know what is going on with each of the pigeons at all times, it is a case of more observation leads to fitter healthier pigeons. When you enter the lofts you can tell that the pigeons are happy with their owners, the pigeons show their joy when Geert and Clara approach them, happy and contentment goes a long way to making a winning team. Exercise is twice a day starting in the morning between 7 & 8am then again in the evening from 6.30 to 7.30pm. Training for the races is all done prior to the start of the season when they will be given between 6 to 10 tosses to a distance of 70km and that is it. They will not train the cocks once the racing season has started because they believe that if you do then you will need to show the hen. Showing the hen between races only makes the cocks more nervous, therefore they are left alone. The most important part about widowhood racing is having the cocks content and you cannot have them content by messing about all week. The system that Geert & Clara use is based on their experience for Middle Distance racing which is a successful system so why make changes. The one thing that the cocks do have is a bath twice each week providing that the conditions are right. What I believe is a major reason for their success is that the panic buttons do not go out if they are behind in the early races, they stick to their system no matter what. Too many fanciers start to listen to others and make changes if they start off badly and those changes do not very often resolve the problem, therefore when you have made your mind up stick to the system. Racing and winning is all about believing in yourself and having confidence in your birds, as long as they are healthy they will come good in the end.

The youngsters are treated differently and are all reared on the darkness system that is different from others that I have heard about. I say different because these youngsters are reared in early January and left as normal until mid-may when the lofts are darkened from 6pm until 8am, the rest of the time the lofts are open to the elements. The youngsters are exercised for two hours between 2 & 4pm and when training begins they are given as many training tosses as possible starting at 30 to 35kms. When the racing gets under way the young birds are raced for the first three races naturally but after the third race at 170km they are separated and raced on a semi-widowhood system.

One of the most important things that we have to do with racing pigeons is to get the feeding method right and to any winner their feeding has to be spot on. These lofts start when the birds return from the races on the Saturday when no food is given while the hens are in the loft, however they do have access to the water. Each Saturday the water does have an additive of "Kop Oude" which is from the vet. This is for Trichomoniasis and inflammation of the upper breathing passage and is given every other weekend with the other week being taken up by a tea formula. Being a widowhood racer the hens are in the boxes when the cocks return from the races and are only fed with "Purifying mix" after the birds are separated. Then on Sunday both morning and evening they are given the same Purifying mix and again with either "Kop oude" of tea in the water. Monday morning sees a change when the Elite Purifying mix is enriched with Zell-oxygen plus optimix. A further change is made on Monday evening when they receive a mix of 50% Purifying mix and 50% the new modern Elite system that contains four different mixtures of "Recup" "Energie" "Opbouw" & "Extra". The same 50/50 mix is also used on a Tuesday for both feeds and they have clean fresh water. Wednesday morning again sees the same mix plus the addition of one desert spoon of Armino-vit then in the evening it is 100% of the four combination mix plus the Armino-vit, this same feed is also used on Thursday for both feeds and also the water is the same system. Friday morning which is generally the day of basketing they are given 100% the Four Comb mix and because they know their job they do not eat a great deal, the water is fresh with no additives. During the breeding season the stock birds are fed 50% breeding mix and 50% purifying mix but when they are feeding the youngsters they are fed 100% breeding mix. One thing that they partnership are very careful about is that they only use yellow maize from France during the breeding season. This is done because it is much fresher due to the amount of time the red maize has to travel from America and the extra time in transit will allow fungi to grow. The water for the stock birds is supplemented with a product called "Sedochol" from "Rhone-Merieux" that is made up of "Methionine" and "Choline" this is given to help maintain a healthy liver. This is a great addition during the moult of the birds and helps to maintain a soft silky feathering.

A product that I have seen about on several occasion's is "Altabactine" which Geert and Clara have successfully used for the last 15yrs and see as a 100% treatment against Paratyphoid. They see this as a very good product that makes sure their birds are healthy prior to the start of the season and is given for a period of 8 to 10 days and is also repeated after the season has finished. Other treatments are Ronidazol for five days prior to the racing season starting and the stock birds also receive this same product once per month for three days whether they are feeding youngsters or just sitting eggs. Unlike many lofts there is not a preventative treatment given against worms and Coccidiosis unless the vet has recommended that they be treated. However the Trichomoniasis and inflammation of the upper breathing passage is very important and also used on a Monday, this is a treatment that should be carried out in the proper manner.

Every fancier has a different idea of what they look for in a racing or breeding pigeon in Geerts case he does look for a pigeon that has a good well balanced body and what he calls an expressive eye and top class feathering. If he likes the pigeon that he is prepared to put everything in to get the best out and you cannot ask for any more than that. Geert is also a good worker for the sport and sees one of the main problems being the fact that there are fanciers about who give off negative attitude about pigeon racing. These people are not doing the hobby any good at all and should keep their unwanted negative thoughts to themselves. Genuine fanciers love their pigeons and it is great to be in a position to care about animals that are giving you so much enjoyment, this is the positive attitude that we should put over to others. Pigeon racing in one form or another will still be going in 100yrs time because there are a great deal of fanciers who are interested in the sport to look after it for the future.

Having been to these lofts on a few occasions we have had a good insight into the way they are around the lofts, their friendly attitude spreads into the birds who show their affection to their owners. This is a back garden loft worth visiting on the continent and one that you are sure to see a National winning family. The only thing that I would suggest is that you do not go unless you have an appointment because they are very busy people but well worth going to see.