Charles-Michaux:
National Champions
Small Middle Distance 2011
         

by Stefan Mertens

Click on any photo for larger version 




Andre Charles
with grandson
and Francois
Michaux

The young
bird loft

Lobbes:  For our first report about national champions KBDB 2011, we start with the champion in the category small middle distance. To classify yourself in this category you have to take the best five results with your 1st and 2nd nominated old bird, and this must be with races starting from 250km.


The winner of the 2011 edition is the famous partnership of Charles-Michaux from Lobbes.  The 2nd place in this category went to Dirk Van Dijck (Zandhoven), and the 3rd place to Jan Pappens (Zwalm).


By the way, in 2006 Andre Charles won the 1st national Argenton with his hen “Tia.”  In other words, we are sitting with real good fanciers around the table.


SINCE 2008

The combination Charles-Michaux is formed by Andre Charles and Olivier Michaux, but in fact Francois (the bother of Olivier) is the team partner of Andre Charles.  Francois explains, “The reason that we have my brother’s name mentioned is that I also race under my name at my home. As a fancier, you cannot race pigeons on two addresses.  That’s why we did it in this way.


Here , at Lobbes, there are no two captains on one ship. Three times a week I come to Lobbes to have a talk about the birds and if necessary to help, but in fact Andre is the man in the lofts. Only when we want to purchase some pigeons, or when we want to change the system then we both have a vote in the decision.”


What is the base of your colony?

Andre: “I have always been very interested in the pigeons of Marc Roosen. Beginning in 1990 I went there to buy my first original Roossen birds. Afterwards I went to buy pigeons from fanciers who also have the strain of Roossen in their lofts, and then I’m talking about Delbruyere (Solre Sur Sambre) and Bourlard (Harveng). With the pigeons of those two fanciers we succeeded very well. Later we crossed this strain with pigeons from Casaert Maurice (Nechin), Nibus Julien, Limbourg Erik, Van Avondt Henri and Danny, Bosua Toon, Van Der Wielen Louis, Nihoul, Erwin Geraerts and so on.

"It is not always possible, but when we invest we like to buy a group of youngsters which can be selected on races. For example from Maurice Casaert we bought in 2009 and 2010 half of his round of youngsters out of his widowers. These babies were not reserved for the breeding loft but were raced. If you handle things like this, I’m convinced that you win a generation in making a selection.

"In the breeding loft, we have 20 breeding couples. We breed three rounds each year and after two years we know the breeding capacities of those breeders and we can make a selection."


Can you tell something more about  your widowers?

 
Francois: “Our main target in the pigeon sport is the game with the widowers. In 2011 we started the racing season with 60 widowers. Of these, we had 17 old birds, all the other were year birds.  The racing program of the widowers is built up with races from small middle distance (races between 250km and 400km) and great middle distance (races between 400km and 600km). Now and then, but not often, we basket for a long distance race. The widowers are housed in five different sections, but are not raced per section.

"At the beginning of December, we couple our widowers for the 1st time, and they may breed a couple of youngsters.  Before the hens lay again, they are separated. Once all babies are weaned, a kind of winter period starts for the widowers. During this period they may only train twice a week and a light mixture is fed. This is so that the widowers don’t get condition but may not become too fat.


"At the beginning of February, we start the first preparations for the new racing season. When you want to make a good season, you have to start the season with very healthy pigeons. The first thing we do is a 10 days’ treatment against parathyphus with a product from Dr. Raf Herbots. After this drinking water treatment, we vaccinate the pigeons against parathyphus. About two weeks later, we contact vet Raf Herbots again and then all birds are vaccinated against paramyxovirus.


"At the end of March, we go again to Raf Herbots, and then he decides which treatment we have to give before the racing season starts. In 2011 this was first a five-day treatment against trichomoniasis, then a 10-day treatment against ornithosis and then a 10-day treatment with Herbots Tea. After all these treatments the pigeons looked perfect and had a superb start of the racing season."


Did you couple your widowers a second time?


Andre:  “I know that a lot of fanciers do this, but here we don’t do this. Why not? Well, we find when you couple your widowers for a second time and you let them brood, then you bring down the condition and that is something you need to avoid. So, yes, from the moment that the youngsters are weaned, till the end of July the cocks are on widowhood the whole time.  This is without a breakdown of the condition.


" How do we manage this? Well, first of all, we basket our widowers weekly, along with those who go every week to the 400km races. In this way you keep them in rhythm . Secondly we are very careful with the motivation of widowers. Motivation is something that works only once.  We don’t show the hens before basketting, and when the widowers arrive from a race, the hens stay only 15 minutes with the widowers in the beginning of the racing season.  Later in the racing season they stay till the evening.


"What we do in a special way is our way of tossing the widowers. When we know that the weather conditions for the coming weekend are good, then we bring the hens to the widowers loft the Wednesday before the weekend. The hens are staying in the box which is half closed. On that Wednesday I toss my widowers three times a day. Once at 10 am, once at 2 pm and once at 5 pm, this at 10km from the loft. When they come home for the third time, they stay a good hour with the hens, and then the hens are taken away from the loft and the cocks are on widowhood. The weekend after they go directly to 150km race.”


Can you tell us something more about your system?

"As I already mentioned, the widowers are in five different sections. The widowers eat and drink per section. As a feeding I work with two mixtures:  first of all a protein poor mixture (Vandenabeele from Beyers) and secondly a special mixture, named “4-quarter mixture” which is composed out of 25% safflower + dari, 25%  wheat, 25% peas mixture and 25% maize). In the beginning of the week they receive half and half from each mixture, but when basketting day comes closer I feed more “4 quarter mixture” than the protein poor mixture. I don’t feed the widowers with a measured spoon.  For 15 minutes they can eat as much as they want.

" As for supplements, I give a lot of the Herbots products--4-Oils, BMT (brewer’s yeast), Aminovit…they  are all given on very regular basis.


"On a medical level, we didn’t treat a lot this season. Only when the results were not so good we treated a few days against trichomoniasis. Typically when you make a very good season, you don’t need to treat at all. The pigeons are in such top condition that they don’t need medication. Well, we had such a season."  

And what about the young birds?

Andre:  “In three rounds we breed 150 youngsters. Note that we are not young bird specialist. The fact that we don’t darken our young birds already says enough. The hens of our first round are raced till Argenton national (beginning of August), the cocks of the first round have the Bourges national (end of August) as their final race. The youngsters from the second and third round just do some short distance races. Sometimes people ask us how we select our youngsters to become future year birds. The answer is simple. We keep them all. Of course as a year bird they have to show what they are worth.


"The first round is raced following the system of the sliding door and the second and third round are not even separated. As for caring for the young birds, we follow the same system as with the widowers."

"Tia"

9046028/09 ... a real top bird!

Results 2010

In 2011:

"Rogers"

"Reina"

"Crack"

SO BECAME CHARLES-MICHAUX NATIONAL CHAMPION:

RESULTS 2011:

HIGHLIGHTS TEAM CHARLES MICHAUX

1 NATIONAL ARGENTON 06  -- 14492 youngsters
1 S National MONTLUCON 06  --  3696 Yearlings

LCB CHAMPIONSHIP

1 CHAMPION YOUNGSTERS SEMI LONG DISTANCES LCB 2009
1 CHAMPION SEMI LONG DISTANCE LCB 06
1 NAT ACE PIGEON SEMI LONG DISTANCE LCB 06
1 NAT ACE « AS DES AS » LCB 06
1 NAT ACE PIGEON YEARLING LCB 06
2 NAT ACE PIGEON SEMI LONG DISTANCE LCB 06
2 NAT ACE PIGEON SEMI LONG DISTANCE LCB 06
3 NAT ACE PIGEON SEMI LONG DISTANCE YOUNGSTERS LCB 06
3 NAT ACE PIGEON «  AS DES AS » YOUNGSTERS LCB 06
5 NAT ACE PIGEON YEARLINGS LCB 2008



KBDB CHAMPIONSHIP

1 NATIONAL CHAMPION MEDIUM DISTANCE KBDB 2011

3 NATIONAL ACE PIGEON SPEED KBDB 1997

3 NATIONAL ACE PIGEON MEDIUM DISTANCE KBDB 06

6 NATIONAL CHAMPION YEARLINGS KBDB 2010

7 NATIONAL CHAMPION YEARLINGS KBDB 06

8 NATIONAL ACE PIGEON MEDIUM DISTANCE KBDB 05

8 NATIONAL CHAMPION SEMI LONG DISTANCE KBDB 06