In the national long distance races with yearlings, you get 6 chances, 3 of which you must cash in with your 1st and 2nd nominated yearling pigeons in order to compete for the national long distance championship. Thanks to the outstanding performances of a few sublime hens, the colony of Serge Van Elsacker and Kirsten Jepsen in Schilde, Antwerp, became 1st National Champion Long Distance Yearlings KBDB 2024. Anyone who follows Belgian pigeon racing knows that Serge Van Elsacker has had a very long “pigeon career.” No fewer than 59 provincial victories have already been nailed to the proverbial ceiling, but one gap remains (for now) on Serge’s list of honors, and that is winning a national victory. “That would be fantastic if I could still experience that,” he said.
This earned them the national long distance championship title.
Limoges Nat 6,838 yearlings: 35th (1st nominated) – 74th (2nd nominated)
Tulle Nat (z) 1,701 yearlings: 32nd (1st nominated) – 65th (2nd nominated)
Souillac Nat (z) 1,051 yearlings: 29th (1st nominated) – 11th (2nd nominated)
Total widowhood for years
For 30 years now, the “total widowhood” card has been played here. Serge: “It may not be the best system, but you have to keep a lot fewer pigeons that are not motivated and do nothing. That’s why we made this choice. The pigeons are transferred to their new loft very late; the future yearlings remain in the young bird loft for a long time and are not paired until March 20. The pigeons return outside for the first time on March 1, due to many problems with birds of prey. When the first pair breeds 16 to 17 eggs, everything is removed and widowhood is a fact. They sometimes fly their first race while still on eggs or just off eggs, but when they return home, everything has been removed anyway.
In 2025, they flew Quievrain on Wednesday and Noyon on Sunday. When they returned from Noyon, I had cleared everything away.
Training is not the biggest time investment here; the cocks are trained when I pair them and the hens during breeding. But that is a maximum of 4 to 5 times that I take them away, and then they have to be ready.
If you experience losses or injured pigeons during the season, you naturally have to look for new pairings, but such things revitalize the team and provide renewed motivation. If I notice that there are some top pigeons among them, I will definitely keep their partners at home. I don’t want the loss of a pigeon to also sap the motivation of a top pigeon.
How are your pigeons during the week?
The cocks are at the front of the loft, all the cocks are half-boxed, and their nest bowl remains in the enclosed part of the nest box. The hens are at the back of the loft and get little sunlight. The back of the loft is shielded with plexiglass, which puts the pigeons in a chilly space. The solution for my loft is to run a heating system that maintains more or less the same temperature, which helps the pigeons get in shape. During our visit, we were allowed to feel the lofts, and it was indeed very pleasant there. They are housed in spacious aviaries where they can be let out through a corridor. During training, the widowers are briefly moved to the back of the loft in a separate aviary, while the hens enter the cocks’ loft. From there, they are quickly led through the corridor to the back of the loft and back into the aviary, where they spend almost the entire day.
The pigeons train here once a day, and this training is certainly not intensive. Initially, they often encounter birds of prey, which cause them considerable stress. This, of course, is not conducive to flying.
So how do you handle basketing?
The hens then return to the cocks’ lofts via the corridor and fly into their nest boxes. These are then completely open, and the pairs are free to do as they please. Once everything is together, I start putting them in the basket, usually starting with my first nominated pigeon to ensure they’re properly placed. The first pigeons are only together for a few minutes, and the last for 20 to 25 minutes, but even here, I don’t attach much importance.
When they return, the pigeons are only allowed in the corridor. When most of the basketed pigeons are home, I go to the lofts and leave them in their nest boxes. Personally, I think this is a good system because otherwise there would be too much chaos and fighting, and the pigeons would become demotivated because there wasn’t a partner home. If I leave them in the corridor now and the partner comes home 5 minutes later, there’s no problem.
The pigeons are allowed to stay together for 2 to 3 hours initially, but after the national races, this usually lasts until the following morning. Only when a race goes very poorly do I quickly separate them, to promote recovery since they’re of no use to each other. I do leave them together for half a day on Sunday morning.
The hens are basketed every week. If they’ve completed a race with multiple nights in the basket, they’re sent to a shorter, sprint race the following week. For pigeons that have a long-distance race under their belts, I’ll observe how the races went to determine what I’ll race the following week. You can’t decide that in advance. The pigeons are raced on widowhood until early August, after which they’re released. They’re no longer driven during the week during the season.
Best birds of the racing season 2024
BE 23-6033075 “Kensi”
1st Ace Pigeon Yearlings Long Distance Kempische Fondclub 2024
1st Ace Pigeon Yearlings Long Distance Schilde 2024
2nd Ace Pigeon Long Distance Union Antwerp Yearlings 2024
Co-winner of 1st National Long Distance Champion Yearlings KBDB 2024
1 Limoges 197b
12 Nat (z) 2,192b
30 Nat 6,838b
1 Souillac 84b
11 Nat (z) 1,051b
58 Nat 4,073b
293 Nat Tulle 5,751b
Father BE 22-6079267 Jubilaris
Also father to 1 Noyon 377b – 2 Quievrain 524b – 3 Quievrain 645b – 4 Nat (z) Tulle 1.637b – 19 Nat Tulle 5.753b – 13 Nat (z) La Souterraine 1.087b – 52 Nat La Souterraine 7.698b – 94 Nat Tulle 5.753b
Mother BE 22-6079271 Judy
Also to the mother of 1 Noyon 377b – 4 Nat (z) Tulle 1,637b – 19 Nat Tulle 5,753b – 13 Nat (z) La Souterraine 1,087b – 52 Nat La Souterraine 7,698b – 94 Nat Tulle 5,753b
BE 23-6033236 “Katie”
2nd Ace Pigeon Yearlings Long Distance Kempische Fondclub 2024
Co-winner of 1st National Long Distance Champion Yearlings KBDB 2024
14 Nat (z) Limoges 2.192d
35 Nat 6.838d
29 Nat (z) Souillac 1.051d
134 Nat 4.073d
32 Nat (z) Tulle 1.701d
182 Nat 5.751d
Father BE 17-4055875 “Elimar” – original Marnick De Neve
Sire and grandfather of 19th Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB 2021 – 29th Nat. Tulle 4,451 p. – 38th Nat. Issoudun 14,758 p. – 53rd Nat. Argenton 17,666 p. – 46th Nat. Gueret 12,888 p. – 70th Nat. Argenton 17,666 p.
Brother of “Angelina,” 5th Nat. Ace Pigeon extreme middle distance young KBDB 2015
Mother BE 18-6055245 “Feeks “
½ sister of 8th Nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Middle Distance KBDB 2017
Mother of 19th Nat. Ace Pigeon KBDB 2021 – 25th Nat. La Souterraine 7,368 p. – 38th Nat. Issoudun 14,758 p. – 46th Nat. Gueret 12,888 p. – 58th Nat. Argenton 21,282 p. – 70th Nat. Argenton 17,666 p.
BE 22-6079033 “Jenny”
1st Ace Pigeon Old Long Distance Kempische Fondclub 2024
1st Ace Pigeon Old Long Distance Schilde 2024
4th Best Tulle Pigeon 2023-2024 PIPA ranking
15 Nat (z) Tulle 2.258d
46 Nat 7.813d
28 Nat (z) Tulle 1.306d
101 Nat 4.964d
224 Nat Souillac 4.673d
597 Nat Tulle 7.883d
Vader BE 18-6051183 “Diamond Jack”
Also father to 1 Toury 1,456b. – 4 Morlincourt 856b. – 5 Morlincourt 499v. – 5 Bourges 834b. – 59 Nat Bourges 28,551b.
Mother BE 16-6041242 “Dinky Toy “
Young Pigeons
The young pigeons are divided into three groups and are placed in a large aviary for the first six weeks of their outdoor season to protect them from birds of prey. Afterward, they are separated by round and allowed outside once a day. The first round is darkened until June 1st, the second until June 15th, and the third round until June 21st. The goal is for them to fly at least one, and preferably two, national races. But of course, everything has to go smoothly; you can’t always control these things.
After the first group has flown Noyon, they are separated. The third group has also flown Noyon, all the cocks (young and old) from all lofts train simultaneously during the week. The same applies to the hens. It’s noticeable that the older pigeons come down faster, but generally speaking, they train much better than if they were trained separately.
Feeding
I always feed the older pigeons twice a day for 30 minutes at a time. They can eat whatever they want, and then I clean everything up. After training, they get a portion of treats and peanuts. The young pigeons only get fed once a day, and a treat mix in the morning. I don’t over feed my pigeons; they simply get a good Vanrobaeys racing mix every day. Upon returning home, they mainly get grit, Tovo, and minerals to pick up first, and BT Amin from Röhnfried or Nano Tolyamin in their drinking water.
I haven’t added anything to the feed for the past four years, and the pigeons eat just fine. During breeding season, the pigeons get a 7-day treatment with Trichomoniasis in the spring, and during the season, they are only treated as recommended by Vincent Schroeder. All pigeons are given a treatment against paratyphoid in the autumn without vaccination, the old and yearling pigeons are vaccinated with Colombopox in the spring and the pigeons are given Rota-Paramyxo and Colombopox.
August 2025
The reigning national champion KBDB Long Distance yearlings can look back on a fantastic 2025 season. Defending a national title is motivation in itself, but chasing a first national victory is also at the top of his bucket list. In the last national long distance race from Tulle, he almost achieved it again, but unfortunately, he finished second nationally against 4,277 yearlings. The provincial and zonal victory certainly made up for a lot!
It was hen “The Last One” (B24-6186358) who secured the provincial victory. Her name sounds like a story, and indeed, she is the last daughter of “Bamiske,” and so we know we’re dealing with the mother of the 3rd national ace pigeon KBDB longer middle distance 2017. A winning family… and “The Last One” can certainly be proud of her palmares. Enjoy this:
1st Provincial Tulle 571 p.
1st Nat. (z) Tulle 1,161 p.
2nd National Tulle 4,277 p.
13th Nat. (z) Chateauroux 3,482 p.
88th National Chateauroux 15,060 p.
412th Nat. Argenton 6,523 p.
575th Nat. Bourges 11,056 p.
1,039th Nat. Bourges 17,163 p.
1,179th Nat. Bourges 17,189 p.
1,111th Nat. Argenton 14,745 p.
And this in just two seasons!
Loft
Winners
