Janssens-Boen Theo, "General champion HAFO ‘DE 3 PROVINCIES’ "

Mol :
On one side of my town is Westerlo and on the other side it is Mol, the town I will visit one of the best half fond fanciers of the club’ HAFO 3 Provincies.’ This husband and wife combination Theo Janssens and Gerarda Boens are for many years amongst the champions on speed and half fond races and since a few years try with success on the distance 500-700 km. For the half fond races (350-400 km) they go to the club ‘ De 3 provincies’ and for the longer distance to Molse Fondclub. In ‘De 3 provincies’ Theo Janssens-Boen won the general championship for the second year? Last season they won 1st Champion old pigeons, 7th Champion yearlings and 7th Champion youngsters. With the old birds they won 2nd-5th and 9th ace-pigeon, with yearlings 4th and 11th ace-pigeon. In the special championship of the firm DOPHARMA Janssens –Boen was 1st Champion old birds, 1st Champion yearlings and 4th with youngsters but also General Champion. This is not the first year that they had very good results? In 2000 Janssens-Boen was 11th Champion KBDB on speed and half fond, this was the first time that they entered the national championships. When Theo comes to the club Molse Fondclub for the races 500-700 km the other fancier watch out. Than they know there birds will have to be good to beat the Janssens-Boen pigeons. Now that I have visited the loft and its owners I am sure about one thing: the wife Gerarda knows a lot of pigeons. She is one of the best female fanciers of Belgium!

The history and the strains
Theo is 60 years old now and retired. He started pigeon racing on a young age. He must have been 12 years when his brother stopped with pigeons. The father of Theo was a farmer and had no time for pigeons but Theo was interested in taking care of the pigeons of his brother. The birds of his brothers were mainly from Jean Smaers from Mol who used to work with the brother of Theo. In fact the Smaers pigeons were fond pigeons but Theo raced them with success on speed-races. Some of the birds of today still have the blood of the Smaers fond pigeons: Kleine Blauwe and Koekoek are still on the pedigrees. When father Janssens ended his planting enterprise the family moved to another house and Theo stopped with pigeon racing for a few years. The best birds (4) moved to a brother-in-law.

In 1963 Theo married Gerarda Boens, daughter of the famous speed racer Frans Boens. It did not take the married couple very long to start pigeon racing again. The old birds, which moved to, the brother-in-law came back to Theo and matched to the new blood of Frans Boens. This crossbreeding was successful with the first super pair ‘Goede Blauwe’ (old strain) X a hen of F. Boens. They were the parents of the basic cock, usually paired with a hen of Lievens brothers of Geel. Those descendents did very good on Quievrain.
In 1986 Theo got two good birds of Hooyberghs brothers of Mol, so in 1989 these two fanciers exchanged 21 youngsters. The Hooyberghs brothers owned the strains Van Loon and Verstappen-Van Reet. Amongst the youngsters were 2 super birds. “My 6611031/89, direct from Hooyberghs and pure Van Loon, won 5 X 1st prize on Noyon and 2 X 2nd. My 6611026/89, direct Hooyberghs and cross-breeding Van Loon and Verstappen-Van Reet, won 2 X 1st prize on Noyon and 5 X 2de prize.
In 1990 Theo bought 3 birds with Flor Engels and sons in Putte. One of these birds was a very good breeder and Theo still has 3 direct sons of this Engels on the breeding-loft. The grandchildren do very well in racing. On an auction of late-breds in 1991 of Verberck-Van Hove he bought a hen, and matched her with a cock of Cyriel Vandereycken from Vorselaar,
Another basic pair on this loft. Exchanging youngsters with other good fancier is something Janssens-Boen likes to do. By this method he had success with pigeons from Willy Vangeel (Hulshout), Geert Strijker (Midwolda, NL), Gommaar Van Opstal (Turnhout) and Marcel de Feyter (Schilde).
In 2001 he also exchanged youngsters with Eddy Vos (Mol), Binnemans-Vandeweyer (Geel), Luc Vanarweghen (Mol) and Jan & Jens Van Gompel (Mol). In order not to forget anyone I must add the direct bird from Louis Van Loon (Popper), a hen from Henri &Danny Avondt (Haacht) and two hens from Kurt Verhoeven. This seems like many different strains but this is not the case. Theo and Gerarda are very good in breeding with these birds a strain that can race from 100-700 km. All-round birds, for these distances and for all kinds of weather.

Method
For the new season this husband and wife combination has 45 widow cocks ready. They were matched on December 1st to breed youngsters. On that same date they matched the breeding stock, 20 couples. The eggs moved to the yearling cocks, so the breeders could start immediately with a second nest. On March 15th the widowers are matched again for 5 days of breeding and the traditional widowhood can start. Although Theo and Gerarda do something special. During the widowhood, all cocks are kept in their widow box. After the daily training in the morning, they have the chance to eat in their box for about 30 minutes. Now this small eating box will become their resting block. Theo turns it over. They sit and rest on it during daytime. The cocks train again in the evening for the second time. After this training, the widow boxes are not closed. That the cocks rest in their box during is the day has been trained during the winter.
By the beginning of October the yearlings come on their new loft and they can choose a box. During the first week, the older cocks are locked in their own box. After one week, the cocks, old and yearling, are locked in the box during the night. From 17.00 PM until the next morning 8.00 AM. The yearling gets attached to their box. When they have the youngsters in the winter, they are trained a few times a week to get acquaintance with the new loft. In the period between the two nests, all cocks are locked up during the night. When racing starts, the cocks are locked during the day, but they are used to the system. It takes a lot of work, but this team of husband and wife are used to the method. After the racing season the cocks can breed on eggs, but no youngsters. Theo likes to give peanuts to the widowers. His cocks love them and would stele it out of his pocket. After the daily training, when the cocks are locked, he walks in the loft and give them a peanut by hand. The bond between fancier and pigeon gets bigger and is really important for a good performance. Theo also gives his bird’s special small red corn, cultivated by his own. He lets the corn dry in his greenhouse for several months. He mingles this corn with other mixtures from different brands and firms. Why so many brands and from different firms? He wins many mixtures with the good performances of his birds. In 2001 he won more than 600 kg on different championships. One must use the mixtures!! And by mingling he has a good variety of food.
A few times a year he visits the vet. Every 3 or 4 weeks he cures against trichomonas with Tricho-Plus or 1/6 Flagyl. Beer yeast, garlic-oil, lemon and vitamins are mixed on the food regularly.
The youngsters of the first and second round are darkened, starting darkening on April 1st until June 15th. Now the cocks and hens are separated and raced on the door system. Youngsters born later are put on a special loft, almost an aviary! Lots fresh air, and these youngsters also do well on the races. Young cocks race 230 km, young hens on half fond (400 km). Last season Theo and Gerarda tried to race hens on a system but this give no good results. His friend W. Vangeel advised it because he has good results, but Janssens-Boen did not succeed. The stick to the cocks! I have already said that the wife Gerarda does a lot of work. This is true. She likes pigeon racing even better than Theo. She takes care of the breeding stock, youngsters and even the cocks. When the birds arrive from the race, she clocks them. Theo is the supervisor, but I think Gerarda the big boss!! I have not seen a female fancier with good knowledge of pigeons as Gerarda. She must have inherited it from her father.

Some super pigeons
The 2nd ace pigeon of the big club ‘De 3 provincies’ old birds was the cock 6494324/99.
This cock became 2nd ace with following results:
Quievrain 631p: 44 - Noyon 512p: 2 - Pithiviers (400km) 581p: 8 - Pithiviers 516p: 4 - Pithiviers 457p: 1 - Pithiviers 402p: 45 - Pithiviers 375p: 3 - Pithiviers 324p: 1 - Pithiviers 246p: 65 - Pithiviers 146p: 23 - Pithiviers 205p: 14 - Pithiviers 192p: 4 - Marne La Vallee (300 km) 192p: 1

He is a result of inbreeding half brother X half sister. Both the mother and the father are bred from the hen 6605829/93, a daughter of the already mentioned 031/89 (10th world champion in 1992 Versele-Laga). This hen was in 1995 matched to the cock 317/92, strain Geerinckx and the father of 234/99, ‘41/95’, was born.
In 1998 the 829/93 was matched to a cock from Germany 92-03480-331, strain Grondelaers. They are the parents of ‘838/98’ mother of 324/99. Out of this inbreed-pair came in 1999 also the cock 6490586/99, 1st ace-pigeon in the club in 2000 and 5th ace-pigeon in 2001. His performances in 2001:
Quievrain 631p: 182 - Noyon 512p: 48 - Pithiviers 581p: 4 -Pithiviers ““ 516p: 25 - Pithiviers 457p: 8
Pithiviers 321p: 14 - Pithiviers 375p: 2 - Pithiviers 192p: 27 - Pithiviers 192p: 10 - Pithiviers 128p: 1
Pithiviers 126p: 4

Fanciers who know the championships of KBDB should have noticed that the 324/99 has had the possibility to be amongst the ace-pigeons half fond. Theo was not lucky with this cock. For the KBDB championship half fond the distance of the races must be at least 300 km. The 324/99 should have an average of 2,658 but the race Marne La Vallee is for Janssens-Boen 296 km so does not count. Now his average is 3,4619 not good enough for being in this championship KBDB. But these are the rules of the game!!!

The best yearling of Janssens-Boen was 6190904/00, 4th ace-pigeon ‘De 3 provincies’. He won:
Quievrain 873p: 35 - Noyon 780p: 101 - Pithiviers 499p: 78 - Pithiviers 521p: 34 - Pithiviers 541p: 61 - Pithiviers 561p: 47 - Pithiviers 425p: 8 - Pithiviers 572p: 4 - Pithiviers 207p: 54 - Pithiviers 216p: 14
Marne La Vallee 230p: 25

His 100% brother is 558/99, which also won 1st prize in 2001 against 402 pigeons on Pithiviers, but also 5th, 9th and 13th. The father of these cocks is Bourgesman 471/94 (18th national Bourges 10.652p), bred from cock 250/92 (son of the cock which won 10 X 1st prize) and 358/92 (daughter of 031/89).
The mother is 6543303/95, daughter of the ‘VOORUIT’, best bird Theo ever had (strain Smaers X Engels).
Some results on half fond 2001
Pithiviers 581p: 4-8-9-24-30-…9/10 - Pithiviers 457p: 1-8-32-40-. 9/10 - Sens 375p: 2-3-4-…7/12 - Pithiviers 334p: 1-21-…8/12 - Pithiviers 205p: 5-14-16-… 8/9 - Marne La Vallee 192p: 1-5-7-…9/12 - Marne La Vallee 230p: 3-4-11-20-… 7/9 - Pithiviers 127p: 1-2-…5/6 - Pithiviers 126p: 1-2-4-.3/4 - Pithiviers 561p: 2-47-50-…9/11

Some results on fond in Molse Fondclub
Vierzon 215p: 5-19-40 3/3
Bourges 321p: 5-36 2/3
Chateauroux 283p: 1-72 2/2
Souillac 106p: 6-10 2/2
Argenton 75p: 1 - 1/1

11th national champion KBDB speed and half fond 2000

Results 2003
Qieuvrain 701 old 1-49-136-155-173 (5/5)
Qieuvrain 777 yl: 7-17-77-80-93-121-146-152-252 (9/13)
Qieuvrain 532 oude: 12-58 (2/2)
Momignies 1155 oude: 31-33-128-156-184…(14/21)
Momignies 1846 yl: 20-58-109-144-149…(15/23)
Pithiviers 294 oude: 28-38-94 (3/6)
Pithiviers 350 jl: 23-26-34-39-51-55-95 (7/8)
Pithiviers 103 hens: 1-7-12-13-19-22-25-29 (8/9)
Orleans 152 oude: 5-7-25-28-37-41-48 (7/11)
Orleans 174 jl: 5-7-10-11-16-17-34-40-44 (9/13)
Pithiviers 98 oude: 1-4-6 (3/6)
Pithiviers 266 jongen: 1-8-88 (3/6)
Pithiviers 429 ouden: 7-20-27-45-52… (11/19)
Pithiviers 658 jl: 23-33-46-49-105…
Pithiviers 388 oude: 3-7-10-16-37-43-58-81-102-121-124 (11/14)
Pithiviers 553 jl: 7-37-43-49-63-66-88…. (14/19)
Pithiviers 113 oude: 6-12-15-31-36-37 (5/7)
Pithiviers 136 jl: 3-7-12-19-20 (5/7)
Pithiviers 663 jongen: 10-43-103-175-182 (6/9)
La Souterraine 122 oude: 10-19-21 (3/3)
La Souterraine 170 jl: 3-6 (2/3)
Limoges 1975 prov. Oude: 4-303 (2/2)
Bourges 1463 prov oude: 90-158-227 (3/4)
Bourges 2488 jl prov. : 288-501-585 (3/4)

Championships2003

Kempisch verbond
1ste General champion halve fond
1ste champion halve fond yooungsters
1ste champion yearling’s half fond
1ste champion old halve fond
Hafo Drie provincies
2de general champion Halve fond
1ste youngsters halve fond
3de hens halve fond
3de yearlings halve fond
7de old halve fond
Molse fondclub
2de champion old mid fond
3de champion yearlings mid fond

Championship ‘DUIVENKRANT’

3rd MELKER provincial youngsters 1994
2nd MELKER provincial youngsters 1997
4th MELKER provincial 1998
7th MELKER national 1998
2nd ace pigeon half fond youngsters 2000
5th MELKER provincial old and yearling 2000
3rd MELKER provincial 2001
10th MELKER national 2001