THE RACING PIGEON 26 APRIL 2024
18
Inside the Boeckx widowers loft nothing special except of course the pigeons, which are very special.
Have you ever seen so many Golden Duif trophies. Incredibly they all belong to the Karel & Daniel Boeckx.
The breeders section. Once again all very simple but the quality of the inmates is very obvious.
Schaerlaeckens told us about it and also got us a few bags of them and I must say that both my father and I really like it.The dust and droppings seem to dry out very quickly and fall under the cobs so there is very little dust”. I suppose once the commercial men get to hear of this excellent way to use the waste maize cobs then they will be available to us all but beware as I bet ‘a pound to penny’ they will be expensive. We were soon handling the Boeckx latest team of champions and breeders including the cock that is now the mainstay of the loft their 3rd National Sprint KBDB Ace. All I can say is what a specimen. Typical sprinter with a broad chest that quickly tapers to one
Another of the hens which have terrorised the opposition once again.
With regard to medication, I was informed that the birds are innoculated against paramyxo and two weeks later against pox. The birds are tested before both breeding and racing and treatment is given if found to be necessary but blind treatments are a complete no-no. One thing that Karel has given to his birds for many years is a homemade Tee drink which is made up of the following ingredients: onion, garlic, brown sugar and a product called Kruidentee which is made up of pine needles to this brew a few drops of iodine is added. This is offered to the birds for the first two days after their return from a race. Whether this ‘tee’ is the secret of the Boeckx pigeons success I will leave to your own opinion. As we then made our way down to the lofts to view the birds that have served their owners so successfully for many years I could almost ‘smell’ the history of the Boeckx loft. I was told that very little has changed over the years, though Daniel confided, “We once cleaned the loft windows before a visitor came to film our birds but the birds form seemed to dip after so we have left the windows remain uncleaned since this time!” I noticed the corn cob husk deep litter for the first time. Daniel explained, “Our good friend Ad The new deep litter of waste maize cobs used on the recommendation of the partners great friend Ad Schaeraeckens who has ‘raided’ the Boeckx loft in the past for good pigeons.
Karel in front of a few of his passed Champions.
remain at home. As has been previously explained the racing cocks go to Quievrain and the hens go to the longer races. The birds are fed a light mixture the first two days after their return from the race. Then the birds are gradually fed a mixture consisting of three ‘sport’ mixes which includes Verse Laga and Beyers and is fed for the final four days until they are sent to the next race. I asked Daniel who speaks excellent English about the road training and he said that the old birds just get two or three 15kms (10 miles) training flights prior to their first race. The youngsters which are raced on the ‘sliding door method’ after being placed on the Darkness system get maybe five or six 15kms training runs before a flight of 58kms (40 miles) then it’s Quievrain every week until the end of the season.
a single feather tail or to quote my companion Glyn Machin who accurately described the Boeckx birds as ’all front with no ass’. The predominant eye colour was pearl another dead give away that the birds were closely bred being their classic ‘peas in the pod’ shape description. For anyone wishing to find out how superior quality sprint birds should look and feel I would say handle a couple of Boeckx pigeons. Mike Lakin The Broeckx team together. I think it is fair to say that the birds are in safe hands.
Made with FlippingBook interactive PDF creator