Interview with Stephaan Lambrechts

Laura G. Orenes WINKIE: Why did you choose to exchange pigeons with Van Loock? Stefaan: I used to participate every week with speed races (100km-200km) and Van Loock was one of my toughest opponent, so I thought that he must have great pigeons. One day I decided to go to his house and ask for an exchange of pigeons, we ended up exchanging 3-4 pigeons and I was lucky that one of those pigeons was the famous 568€, a Super Breeding Hen. This couple was also a brother of the 459€ is also the father of Olympic Rosita (1st Olympiad pigeon from Dirk van de Bulck) and Olympic Rosita became mother of Kittel. I also was good with the pigeon from Dirk van de Bulck. WINKIE: You are known for breeding excellent pigeons, how do you select you breeding pairs? Stefaan: 90% of the people start choosing the breeding pairs with the pedigree€™s and it is possible to breed good youngsters just by looking at the pedigree€™s of the father and mother but is not my system of pairing. I personally put my cocks separated a couple days before the breeding so they know their place in the breeding section and then I lock them up in their section (House), then I go to the first cock and I inspect him good€¦I look at the length of the pigeon, are the colors of the tail good? Is he standing strong? Does he has a red eye or a white eye, fly-eye or a breeding-eye? All these questions are very important to consider. WINKIE: Why do you look if the pigeon is a red eye or a white eye? Stefaan: I always try to pair a red eye with a white eye, it is also possible to breed good pigeons if you put 2 red eyes or 2 white eyes but, in my opinion, if you keep pairing the same eye color with each other than the bloodline weakens. It can happen when the pairing in my loft is almost finished, I end up with only white or red eyes€¦ and then I can€™t help it and I couple them by the same eye color€¦but I always try to avoid that because, out of my experience, I always had better youngsters if I pair with different eye colors. When I start pairing I always make sure that I pair a red with a white eye and a fly eye with a breeding eye. WINKIE: What about the belly of the pigeon, what is important for you when you look at the belly of the pigeon? Stefaan: My main rule of pairing is that I always look for a middle point, as well with the belly of the pigeon. If I see my pigeon has a short belly bone I pair my pigeon with a long belly bone, if I see that my pigeon has a wide belly I pair it with a pigeon with a thin belly to be able to breed the perfect balanced pigeon. That is the reason why I don€™t pair with pedigree€™s€¦ if you have 10 pigeons you know exactly how they look or feel and you can pair by looking at the pedigree€™s but I have so much pigeons that I don€™t remember which pigeon has red eye or white etc€¦so I handle my pigeon one by one to see these characteristics. WINKIE: Where started your love for the pigeons? Stefaan: My uncle always lived next to my parents€™ house and since I could crawl I was already in the loft with my uncle and there started my love for the pigeons. The moment I became 8 years old my uncle told me that if I wanted, he would build me a small loft to take care of my own pigeons because he was amazed how much I loved the pigeons and he wanted to invest time and money to make my dream come true. So In 1987 I started with a small loft of 4m2 and in 1988 I already had pigeons in my loft and I already had a spectacular season in 1988, because of my spectacular season I was able to expand my loft to 8m2 in 1989. WINKIE: How big is your loft now? Stefaan: My new loft has about 40m2 but I already asked permission to expand my loft to around 120m2. WINKIE: Can you tell me more about your pigeon Lincia? And why is Lincia so important to you? Stefaan: I started to play middle distance (350km) in 2009 only with the hens and in one year I became more famous then in my 20 years participating in the Diamond Bond (100-200km). The first year I played middle distance was a huge success for me and that gave me a big motivation to continue with this distance, I still continued playing short distance with my cock and won 6th National Ace Pigeon and for that you really needed a top pigeon because not so many pigeons participated in the middle distance, it continued in 2009,10,11,12 and in 2013 I won 2th National Ace Pigeon. From 2010 I ended every year with the top Ace pigeons of my category. I started to sell my youngsters and I could see that they all won top prices in Belgium and Netherland like Herman Paul, Cas Mijers, Eijerkamp. WINKIE: Are you talking about the speed or half Fond? Stefaan: Well in Belgium it is completely different compare to Netherlands. In Netherland they start with 100km and every week they increase to distance more and more€¦. In 2012, Cas Mijers won the 1st Olympiade Pigeon, Dirk van de Bulck won 1st Olympiade Pigeon, Eijerkamp had super results with my pigeons so€¦ by the end of the day, every pigeon lover wanted pigeons from me. So then, in 2013, I won 2nd National Ace pigeon myself, in 2014 was a bit of a slow season for me€¦ and in 2015 I had a super season and I won 1st place every week in the Middle Distance. That was the year of Lincia was a super year for me€¦ I won 3 National Ace Pigeons and I only played Middle distance with Youngsters€¦ Then 2 weeks before the end of the season I read on PIPA that Gilbert was going for the 1st prize in the Middle Distance, then I thought, this will not happen€¦ I told myself 1000 times in those 2 weeks that I needed to win that prize, nobody wanted to believe me until the last moment. That period I could choose between 2 races (Mechelen and Antwerp) so I checked the weather of both races and I noticed that the wind was better in Antwerp€¦ (if I can help my pigeons, I will help them€¦) its already hard enough. I was waiting for my pigeons to arrive and the 1st pigeon wasn€™t Lincia and I was devastated because Lincia had to be on top for be able to win the season, then I could see the second pigeon coming and I thought my god€¦ this isn€™t Lincia.. he was a cock€¦ and he went on the loft of my hens€¦ so I ended up 2th place that race€¦ then the last race was the most important race because I could be the champion of the season in my distance and all my friends came to the loft because they knew that I could win the season, then the first pigeon came and I could already see from far that it was Lincia (The gift from Heaven) and I ended up winning the season. I never won a National 1st place but for me the feeling that moment was more important than winning a national€¦ Best moment in my life. WINKIE: when the season ends how do you decide which pigeons goes to the breeding loft and which pigeon continue to race? Stefaan: Now it is the 3rd year that I race with old pigeons€¦ all the years before I only raced with youngsters, and when I used to play with young pigeons I went to work and I didn€™t had the time to play with old pigeons, then at the end of the season I kept my 3 best youngsters to put on the breeding loft and the rest I sell them. Sometimes 3 pigeons is too much€¦ you need to be really hard on the selection of the breeding pigeons, this way you know that the youngsters will be supreme racers. Now I play with old pigeons and I don€™t sell them anymore at the end of the season and I still put them as yearlings, only when I have a super race pigeon I put him on the breeding loft because the risk is so big to keep playing with them. Because I had a big selling of my pigeons I had to put all my Ace Pigeons on the breeding loft but from next year I use my old system again and put my top 3 Ace pigeons on the breeding loft and with the other pigeons I will continue racing. WINKIE: What is for you the best way to train pigeons? Stefaan: With the youngsters in the beginning of the season we train them 3 times a week but once we are In the middle of the season I only train them once a week, if the weather is good I fly them for 70km. if the weather is bad, only 30km. With my old pigeons I use the same method. WINKIE: if people want to start with pigeons, what is important about the loft? Stefaan: If you have a good loft where the pigeons can keep themselves healthy is really important, like that you don€™t need to give so much medication, it is all natural, for me it is really important to have a clean loft. There are people that never clean their loft and still have good results, depends from person to person, but for me it is really important to keep it clean. WINKIE: How many times do you take your pigeons to the vet? Stefaan: Attempt to keep them in good condition and always at the beginning of the season and during the season, they are supervised by the veterinarian. WINKIE: What news do you receive of this sport in Spain? Stefaan: The truth is that not many, I am very focused on the Belgian league and my work with Pipa, with the exclusivity of the sale of my pigeons. But I do know that derbys are a very popular type of competition. I am not very fond of One Loft Race, I like to train and raise my own pigeons and train them, when they are so far away, I can not control or see them in my hand ... WINKIE: What would an amateur who wants to start with this sport of carrier pigeons say? Stefaan: That is something wonderful and very rewarding but do not cover more pigeons than they can take charge. This is the great handicap, when you start you have to have few pigeons and know them very well, because you need time, care and a lot of cleanliness, it is a long distance race to have great tapas.