Monick Nys

HISTORY

Europe's largest colony of Janssen pigeons

Pigeon fancier Monick Nys lives in Arendonk, a small village in the north of the province of Antwerp in Belgium. Monick is the daughter of an important Belgian fancier, Alfons Nys, who has always been known for keeping and flying pigeons of the Janssen breed (also originating from Arendonk). His father, who never bought a Janssen bird outright, was champion on many occasions and was successful in most of the Belgian league races. The curious thing is that it was Mr. Cees Timmers, an excellent Dutch veterinarian from Breda, who offered the pigeons to Nys.  It was through Timmers, in the early 1950s, that Monick's father acquired the Janssen pigeons.

Monick remembers her childhood always being linked to pigeons.  Ever since she was a little girl, she always waited in the garden of her house for the pigeons to arrive. She would help her father count the exact time when the birds entered the loft. He was always on the lookout for them. Even at the age of 12, her father gave her 15 young ones, which she had to feed, clean and take care of just like her father did. Later, she flew them (under her father's name) and won. The bond between father and daughter was growing when it came to pigeon racing. Soon Monick became an expert in the sport and devoted all her time to it.

It was in 1995 when an event took place that would mark Monick's career. It was in that year that her father died and she had to take over the loft. Her father had taught her everything about the sport, as she had grown up surrounded by birds. She was 27 years old and, as she herself says: "I had a lot of negative comments because it was a man's sport, but I still won". In 1996, it was the first time she competed with yearlings, kept 30 of her father's youngsters when he died, and won. That was scandalous because, in a man's sport, that young girl came along, alone, facing great rivals, and beat them. That "spoilt little girl", as many considered her, made herself respected and taught everyone that the fact that she was a woman did not prevent her from being able to win and be good at the sport. In her words: "I learned from the best" and she had "the best purebred Janssen birds" which means "there was no reason not to win," says Nys.

What Monick did was to keep his father De Stier's pigeon and De Stier's father and a daughter, in total, he kept four birds for breeding. In addition, in 1996 he bought his breeder, Elfpenner, from Mr. Timmers. Monick's sire won the 1st National Long Distance (La Souterraine) and it was this pigeon that Timmers used to create the famous Elfpenner, which he later sold to Monick. In 1996 she had yearlings for the first time and was champion of the middle distance at Arendonk. In 1997 the yearlings were adult birds and she also won with them. A few years later she was the champion of all the Tournout clubs, some 23. And a few years after that, she competed in long distance one-day races, over 500 km, and was also a winner. Monick says that "it is difficult to be taken seriously" in the man's world of pigeon racing. They were "very jealous".
 

History of Cees Timmers

Cees Timmers was a reputed veterinarian, a genius in genetics who achieved more than 20 national victories in long distance flying. Even a sister pigeon from the same litter won 1st National La Souterraine, which flew four weeks earlier in Argenton and came first in the Netherlands.  But this is no coincidence. Pigeon fancier Timmers was a true genius in pigeon breeding. He kept the old Janssen blood pure for more than 50 years. He constituted all his pigeons in this way and taught Monick Nys the secret of making Janssen inbreeding so that the line was never lost. Timmers has always been a great friend of the Nys family, protecting and helping Monick a lot after the death of his father, guiding her and passing on his knowledge in the art of breeding.
 

Connection to the Janssen family

The connection to the Janssen family is none other than their pigeon lineage. Monick owned the most extensive colony of this breed. But it is important to note that he had the colony of the father Janssen, the real expert when it came to pigeon breeding. His sons, years later, continued with the breeding of pigeons but did not know how to do it as well. Birds bred and trained for long distance racing were turning into short distance birds, which was synonymous with bad inbreeding. Janssen pigeons are an incredibly strong lineage that provides great flying birds.  They are pigeons with a quality of muscularity and silky plumage to be admired.

Monick's father obtained Janssen birds from Mr. Timmers, the renowned veterinarian who was a genius with inbreeding. This genetic expert was his friend and mentor for many years. Timmers bought several Janssen pigeons in the 1950s, when the Janssen brothers' father was alive and breeding them. It was clear evidence to Timmers that the breeder who made the Janssen breed a spectacular lineage was the Janssen father, not his sons. And Timmers gave in and, at other times, sold the dogs to Monick and passed on to him the secret of good inbreeding without problems. In this way Monick became the ambassador of the Janssen pigeons and has been able to keep the breed pure.

Achievements and current events

Monick has achieved many successes with her pigeons. She has won practically everything. The first time he went to the clubs, after the death of his father, Monick comments that "they looked at me with jealousy". They even told him that "I wouldn't be able to win anything" and the opposite happened, "I won everything the very next year", says Monick. It was in 2005 and 2007 that something very special happened. Monick competed with four adult birds and won first, second and third place. He was also 2nd, 7th and 10th in the whole province of Antwerp.

In addition, Monick competed every week with 12 females in long distance and 11 of them won prizes. This went on for several seasons. Also with the yearlings, of the 8 he competed with, 7 also came back with prizes. In Monick's own words: "I left them all open-mouthed and earned their respect". Today, Monick Nys no longer competes. She travels with her husband. In 2012 she sold a large part of her birds to China and kept six pigeons to breed about 40 pigeons a year and sell them.

Source: Winkie