Nouwen-Paesen of Grote-Brogel (BE)
In the "Pigeon Sport" of January 26th 2001 I wrote an article about these remade Barcelona specialists Nouwen-Paesen. I wanted to tell you something about their good system for racing hens on Barcelona and Perpignan. I did not write a lot about their system for the cocks and their good racing results. I usually try to visit many different fanciers with different systems, but now I had to go back to these fanciers Jaak Nouwen, Annie Paesen and her son Dirk. With the cock "Schone Late" 95-5295724, I mentioned him in my previous article as a really good son of the basic cock "Narbonne", they won 1st International Marseille against 19.622 birds. Marseille is 875 km. If you achieve such a big victory you have to visit them again.
History : In 1962 Jaak Nouwen (now 58 years old) and his father-in-law Pier Paesen (died in 1997) made a partnership in pigeon racing. For 35 years they stayed friends and partners and won many important championships and races:
-1st International Barcelona hens in '71;
-1st National Barcelona hens in '91; -1st National St. Vincent hens in '75;
-2nd Champion Long Distance National '93;
-2nd National Marathon '96;
and numerous 1st prize winners on other lofts in Belgium and all over the world.
Nouwen-Paesen has made themselves a real strain famous for the long distance a kind of Van der Wegen or Aarden of Belgium. This had the roots in the famous Cattrysse birds. The first Cattrysse pigeons came by wy of muscle specialist Van Steenbergen, later Jaak en Pier went to Cattrysse (Moere) themselves and it happened a few times that they got a box full of youngsters of 2-3 days old home to Grote Brogel. "We also were succesfull with other stains like M. Denys, Van den Heuvel (Van der Wegen), Jan Ernest, Phillippens, Kuypers and I must not forget the famous Jef Carlens (Zepperen) also with Cattrysse-blood" Jaak says. "For 20 years we only got Cattrysse birds and by inbreed we made this strain very strong. Later we started crossbreeding them. Usually still 75% Cattrysse and 25% new blood"'.
The first main breeding pair was 68-5060455 an 66-5140152 (1st International Barcelona hens). The second basic pair was formed by the same hen (152-66) with the cock 72-6601593, inbred Cattrysse (line "45"). This first breeding pair produced 4 superbirds: -041/72: Ace pigeon plus more than 20.000 km prize; -009/72: Dikke won 5x Barcelona and 5x St. Vincent; -010/72: 2x 2nd Provincial; -059/72: 2x in first 50 International from Barcelona.
The second basic pair produced 1st National St. Vincent in '75 and '76 (the last one at the loft of Van Steenbergen).
The current main basic breeders are "Narbonne" 87-5020399 and "Euro-Regio" 84-5065571. "The Narbonne"is 14 years old but still fertile. He is undoubtedly the best breeder in Belgium. When he was a widower he won 17 prizes on the long distance races along with 1st Provincial Narbonne and 2nd Provincial Montauban. "The Euro Regio"basic cock won 1st Provincial Perpignan with one hour ahead (13th National and 25th International).
The current basic hens are : -033/89 (5 times in a row on Barcelona. Best hen in Europe on this race from '91-'95); -064/89 (sister of "033"which won 6 times on Bracelona) and -514/91 (daughter of 1st National hens "Euro Regio".
1st International.
The cock 724-95 won this race with one second ahead from a bird of father and son Loobuyck from Aalter. Only a few centimeters difference! The 19622 birds were released at 7:10AM and the 724-95 arrived in Grote Brogel just after 19:00 PM. Jaak and Dirk were surprised to see this cock arrive so soon and all windows were still closed. The 724-95 did not want to go into the loft and a few minutes were lost. Lucky for them he was clocked just before the 2nd prize keeping not even 1 second left over, but good enough for the victory. The father is the basic cock "Narbonne 399/87" and the mother is the basic hen 514/91, daughter of 214/87 (1st National Barcelona hens '91) and basic cock 571/84 "Euro Regio". The Marseille race 2001 was the last race for 724/95.
He won also:
Laon 279 birds: 7th
Artenay 1783 birds: 4th
Dax 4170 birds: 66th
Perpignan 5855 birds: 522nd
Vierzon 267 birds: 48th
Brive 25842 birds: 1789th Dax 4066 birds: 524th
Perpignan 5765 birds: 296th
Brive 27081 birds 1594th
Pau 2560 birds: 597th
Marseille 17648 birds: 335th
Perpignan 6246 birds: 489th
Brive 22026 birds: 1955th
Pau 466 birds: 81th
Marseille International 19622 birds: 1st
This cock was raced on widowhood but is motivated on a special way. He is a real fighter on the widowhood section. He wants to take the box above him and also under him. Normally Jaak locks him in his own box so he can't fight with the other cock's. The other day Jaak locks the other cock's in their nestboxes and leaves the box of 724/95 open. In front of his box Jaak had put a gangway so another cock can sit there. This made 724/95 very angry. Three days before the basketing Jaak moves the neighbor (his rival) to another section and 724/95 was the big boss on the loft. All 3 nest boxes were his. This was his motivation to come home from Marseille in winning style.
Methods :
The old widowhood cocks are mated by the end of March and after 10 days sitting on eggs they are separated and the widowhood starts. They are tossed by car 2 times on 50 km, 2 times 150 km and than 250 km with the club. Subsequently 400 km, Vierzon 500 km and Brive 700 km. After the first race with the club they get a cure for cancer. After Brive and Cahors Jaak and Dirk were not satisfied with the results of these cocks so they cured again for cancer. After a visit to the vet it turned out one of them still had cancer. So the cure was not successful. The vet advised to cure with Emtryl and after that all was okay. When the birds come home from a race they get electrolytes, one day Aviol and one day Naturaline. During molting 2 days tea, 2 days apple vinegar, 2 days Sedochol and one day multi vitamins. Don't forget minerals!
The 25 yearling cocks are on another loft and can raise youngsters before the racing season. They only race up to 500 km. As 2-year olds 3-4 times up to 700-960 km. They also race 25 hens (yearling and old). The yearling hens must race Beziers or Perpignan in order to get experience on the long distance. The old hens get a special preparation for Barcelona and Perpignan. They are mated for the first time on March 25th in the breeding loft.
The breeding cocks are their partners. The hens can raise youngsters and train once a day in the afternoon. They are not allowed to lay for the second time and go in an avery on widowhood. They don't train during the week but race every weekend; 150 km, 2x 250 km, 1x 430 km. They can stay with the breeding partners 1-2 hours after the race. By the end of May they can start another nest but they don't go into any races anymore. A few times a week Dirk tosses them by car up to 100 km. The racing hens are basketed for the Barcelona race with 2-3 days old youngsters in the nest. After this race a 3rd nest for the Perpignan race. In 2001 both races were a success. Barcelona (1119 km) 21 pigeons in the race and National result: 13161 birds: 69-408-473-785 etc 15 prizes (71%). Amongst them 13 hens with 9 prizes (70%). On Perpignan (964 km) 15 pigeons in the race and national 10 prizes (60%): 72-131-193 etc.
The Small 96-5254951. This hen is the other star of the loft. In her pedigree on the fathers side she is a grandchild of the "Narbonne", on mothers side we see a cross with the Kuypers strain.
The results of this small blue hen are amazing:
Narbonne National 5619 birds: 96th.
Barcelona National 12678 birds: 559th.
Barcelona National 13966 birds: 161th.
Barcelona National 13659 birds: 445th.
Perpignan National 6246 birds: 178th.
Barcelona National 13161 birds: 408th.
In 2001 this super hen was defeated by a cock. This cock won 69th in the National. This new star is 98-1614877 direct from Jo Jeurinck from Sevenum as a gift. The father of this cock was direct Nouwen Paesen 94/298 and the mother was also Cattrysse strain. This 94/298 won several good prozes on the loft of Jeurinck (Soustons National 12372 birds 172nd, Barcelona 100th National, Bergerac 8496 birds 64th, Bergerac 8972 birds 38th, etc). Jo Jeurinck was satisfied with this direct Nouwen Paesen and gave a son as a gift to Nouwen Paesen. Pigeon sport makes good friends!
International races 2001:
Pau 981 km: 7841 birds: 653-712-1368 (3/5)
Barcelona 1119 km 13.161 birds: 69-408-473-785-1017-1112-1283 (15/20)
Marseille 875 km 4619 birds: 1-166-264 (3/5)
Perpignan 964 km 6349 birds: 7-58 (10/15)
St. Vincent 980 km 1705 birds: 14-139 (4/5)
Dax 927 km 12.176 birds:1141-1486-2036 (3/5)
So total Nouwen-Paesen send 56 pigeons to international races and win 38 prizes
(=68%) and win 20 prizes in the first 10%.
Some other results on national long distance races:
Limoges 669 km 23.661 birds: 187 etc.
Narbonne 888 km 6522 birds : 125-157 etc.
Narbonne 888 km 5420 yearlings 94-169-710 (3/3).
