Filip Norman:
Winner One-Million-Dollar
Race - South Africa &
2nd National Champion
Long Distance K.B.D.B. 2007



by Stefan Mertens

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Filip at center
with his two loft
managers

Breeders' &
widowers' loft

South Africa
winner's parents

Another
widowers' loft

Inside a
widowers' loft






Every widower
listed on
white board






Norbert Norman

Central
ventilation






Breeding loft

Breeding couple

The
youngbird loft








Inside the
youngbird loft






Hens' aviary

Aviary for the
breeders

Loft manager

When the season is finished at the Norman lofts, all widowers may breed a couple of youngsters. After this breeding they nest once more but no youngsters are allowed. During this period a high-class moulting mixture is fed and every day Colombine tea or Naturaline is given. When the weather is good, they can fly out every day and of course get the opportunity to take a bath in which some Ideal bath salts is mixed. During their first nesting all birds are treated against trichomoniasis, and then the medication closet is closed till the start of the next season.


When the second nesting is finished, the hens are separated and the cocks are put on widowhood until the beginning of April. Only some year birds are coupled for winter breeding, but Filip explains that this is only done to make the birds feel better, stronger in their box. As already mentioned, the old widowers have to wait until April to meet their hen again. An exact coupling day can not be planned because it all depends on the weather conditions. "Once the end of March or beginning of April has come, and the weather forecast has a few days of very good weather in it," Filip says, "then we put the hens in the lofts because we like to toss the widowers when they are chasing hens. The widowers may only nest for a maximum of four days, and then they're placed on widowhood."


Pigeons for the very long distance are basketted every three weeks, and all the other widowers see the inside of a basket every two weeks. Concerning feeding, motivation, etc., Filip says, "I discuss everything with my loft manager, Gilbert Van Parijs. We also discuss the birds which will be nominated 1st and 2nd . To be honest, such 'discussions' can be hard, very hard but after two beers everything is good again.


It was also this way in 2007. For the national race from Brive, I would nominate our widower 'V2' as the second one, but Gilbert didn't agree. You have to know that this bird failed on an earlier race, and I always say that a superb bird never misses his top prize twice, but Gilbert was convinced that this bird was not recuperated enough. After some time, we came to an agreement. The 'V2' became 3rd nominated. Believe it or not, but the 'V2' won the 187th national prize, and our second nominated bird won a prize at the tail end of the results. Here we lost the national championship. There was nothing to do about it… what happened happened!"

Youngbirds at
a sputnik

Pigeons are
clocked here 








Kitchen in
each loft








Cock coupled
with different
hens

NO FIXED SCHEDULE

"I don't have a fixed treatment schedule, but there's a certain pattern in it," Filip continues. "When the pigeons come home from a race, they can stay for about 30 minutes with their hen. Everything depends on the race. If it was a very hard race, then the hen can stay longer with the widower. We give electrolytes (Fortalyt Oropharma) in the drinking water, and for their feeding they get as much as they want of a protein-poor mixture. To this mixture we add a big percentage of French cribs maize.


Although we can heat the lofts we don't turn the heating plates on every week. Only when the pigeons have had to fly in cold and rainy weather do we use these heating plates. We turn these plates on for about one hour before the pigeons arrive, and when the pigeons have come home the plates are turned off. This is only done to create a nice climate in the lofts. Another reason why we don't use the heating system is that we want to create the top condition in the months of June and July and not in April or May."


On Sunday, Monday and Tuesday Norman gives the same protein poor-mixture. Afterwards the protein-poor mixture is replaced by a racing mixture. The widowers are fed this way up to the race. The widowers are always fed in a feeder, being allowed to what they want for about half an hour and then the feeder is put away. During the winter months, the pigeons are fed once a day. During the racing season they are fed twice a day.


"One thing we care about," Filip says, "is that the widowers keep on eating until basketting day. We like to basket the pigeons with a little bit of feed in the crop. The pigeons which are going to the long- and very long-distance races are not fed up to the limit. The reason is that we want the birds to eat during their stay in the basket. If they are really fed up to the limit, they will not eat anymore in the basket, and then they will start with empty batteries instead off fully loaded batteries."

Best breeder









National winners










Beer to celebrate

Concerning feeding, Filip continues, "We have already tried several methods, but in the end we have to conclude that a lot of good methods could be followed. The only thing we care about is that we feed very healthy grains to the birds, and therefore we have put our full trust in mixtures from famous brands like Beyers, Versele-Laga and Mariman. One thing I'm convinced about is that once you have a successful method, you don't have to change it. Even when the results are not that good you have to stick to your method. If you want to try something new, then you have to start this at the beginning of the season and not in the middle of the game."


It's Filip's opinion that motivation is very important but that it can also be so dangerous. "We already put some superb results on paper with a group of pigeons which were super motivated," he explains. "We also have won no at all prize with a group of birds which were super motivated. My conclusion from this story is that maybe we are not masters enough to motivate pigeons in the right way, so therefore we don't do anything special anymore. Only for the last races will we do something extra. The hen can stay longer with the cock or we give them some straw, for example. Let's just say that for us the normal ways of the widowhood approach seem like motivation enough."


"On the medical scene," Filip says, "we have full trust in vet Dr. Wim Boddaert. Every Monday he comes to us to examine some pigeons from each loft. We treat only based on his advice. In 2007 we gave for every important race a treatment against ornithosis and of course we also treat for trichomoniasis."

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ZORRO

"Although we have a very large racing team, the number of stock birds is limited," Filip explains. "For years we have had only 24 breeding couples, and I'm convinced that it will stay this way for years to come. In the breeding loft everything happens normally. Every couple breeds its own youngsters. Only the top breeder 'Zorro' is coupled to several hens."


"Zorro" (B94-3160128) is a very nice chequer cock that won the 11th national Limoges against 16,854 birds and the 14th national Cahors against 11,090 birds. After his racing period, he got a ticket to the breeding loft, and there he became father and grand-father of a lot of top birds. Also the winner of the one-million-dollar race is a grandchild of "Zorro." "Zorro" is coupled to four different hens. His box is constructed so that he can walk in front of all the boxes in which the hens are kept and every hour he gets together with a different hen. The eggs go under foster couples and they breed the youngsters. Those youngsters go then to the breeding loft and there they are coupled with each other.

To be honest I was very impressed by this loft-not only the impressive lofts themselves, but certainly the qualities of the birds are of a very high level. I'm convinced that this loft will do some impressive things in the near future.