The story of King Kong shows that not only the most famous pigeon fanciers can have (very) good pigeons in their loft. King Kong is a good example of an excellent racing pigeon and he is not the only top quality pigeon in André’s loft. André has a good team of racers and every season his pigeons manage to win a lot of prizes in the most interesting races in the region.
First of all we take a look at the achievements of his star ‘King Kong’:
6th national Bourges 20,589 p '12 71st national Argenton 11,001 p '11 76th national Chateauroux 20,517 p '11 79th national Bourges 9761 p '11 26th interprov. Tours 2285 p '10 36th interprov. Tours 2898 p '10 17th interprov. Blois 1058 p '10 40th interprov. Argenton 3387 p '09 47th interprov. Argenton 5241 p '09
One thing led to the other. A few weeks ago André had the idea to have his champion photographed. He paid a visit to the well known pigeon photographer Dominique Velghe from Ingelmunster in West Flanders. Dominique was genuinely impressed by the achievements and the overall quality of King Kong. That is why he offered to buy the pigeon from André. A deal was made and today King Kong lives in the breeding loft of Dominique Velghe.
A long list of achievements for King Kong
This cock collected 74 prizes in four years’ time. He managed to win prizes in races of 100 to 600 km seemingly effortlessly. We give you a summary of his most important wins:
2009:
14th Roye 193 p.
8th Roye 221 p.
11th Roye 223 p.
43rd Ablis 165 p.
69th Ablis 268 p.
16th Ablis 206 p.
11th Ablis 212 p.
46th Orléans 461 p.
45th Orléans 487 p.
44th Orléans 576 p.
54th Orléans 540 p.
4th Argenton Long Dist. Club 441 p.
47th Argenton interprovincial 5241 p.
9th Argenton Long Dist. Club 389 p.
40th Argenton interprovincial 3387 p.
11th Argenton Long Dist. Club 351 p.
27th Argenton interprovincial 886 p.
2010:
39th Clermont 306 p.
3rd Clermont 215 p.
4th Tours Long Dist. Club 215 p.
36th Tours interprovincial 2898 p.
26th Fondclub Bourges 195 p.
507th zone A Bourges I 6154 p.
2387th nationaal Bourges I 22476 p.
14th Tours Fondclub 284 p.
124th interprovincial 2504 p.
1st Tours Long Dist. Club 137 p.
26th interprovincial Tours 2285 p.
6th Blois Long Dist. Club 166 p.
17th Blois interprovincial 1058 p.
152th zone A Bourges II 2164 p.
673th national Bourges II 10906 p.
2011: An amazingly successful season for this champion!
He was nominated pigeon for four national races that season,
in each of which he won a prize including three times top-100
13th Arras 259 p.
14th Clermont 177 p.
25th Clermont 274 p.
218th Ablis 1118 p.
8th Chateauroux Long Dist. Club 325 p.
36th zone A Chateauroux 7132 p.
76th national Chateauroux 20517 p.
12th La Chatre Long Dist. Club 282 p.
224th zone A La Chatre 5481 p.
2380th national La Chatre 15780 p.
5th Argenton Fondclub 210 p.
39th zone A Argenton 4106 p.
71st national Argenton 11001 p.
3rd Long Dist. Club Bourges 82 p.
33th zone A Bourges 2108 p.
79th national Bourges 9761 p.
2012:
9th Angerville 141 p.
15th Angerville 466 p.
2nd Bourges Long Dist. Club 303 p.
5th zone A Bourges 6402 p.
6th national Bourges 20589 p.
94th Long Dist. Club Tours 344 p.
486th interprovincial Tours 2355 p.
55th Long Dist. Club Limoges 287 p.
594th interprovincial Limoges 2594 p.
40th Long Dist. Club Blois 199 p.
200th interprovincial Blois 1306 p.
King Kong did particularly well in the more demanding races with a velocity of 1000 to 1200 m/min and in a temperature of 20 to 25 °C. What about his origins? He stems from N. & F. Norman x Vanwildemeersch-Vyncke (Norman x G. Vandenabeele) x Et. Clauwaert. We took a closer look at the pedigree of King Kong 08-4038644 and we noticed that this pigeon was given to André De smyter as a youngster by André Dhaese from Deinze.
The sire is the B-98-4383998, which stems in turn from 96-3119383 (via Vanwildemeersch-Vyncke, with Norman & G. Vandenabeele origins) and the 97-4528864 (via Et. Clauwaert). The dam of this champion is a pure Norman hen, namely the Dochter Taremol 04-3236938. Her sire is De Taremol 03-3028012 (bred from top class breeder Zorro 94-3160128 x Tourske 99-3225167) and her dam is Dochter Wippie 02-3217224 (bred from Wippie 97-4157642 x Dochter Zorro 00-3022223). You have noticed that this is another outstanding pigeon from the line of the world famous Zorro of N. & F. Norman, this time in a combination with the high quality line of Vanwildemeersch-Vyncke, as well as Etienne Clauwaert.
One of the sisters of King Kong is the dam of 12-4020360, which has won the following prizes last season: 28th / 589 p. Angerville – 93rd / 710 p. Fontenay – 14th / 361 p. Blois – 129th / 3619 p. Blois – 66th / 552 p. Blois – 432nd / 5645 p. Blois – 104th / 1061 p. Fontenay – 16th / 509 p. Bourges – 47th / 1187 p. Bourges – 315th / 11003 p. national Bourges.
From top class racer to top class breeder
We also give you the list of achievements of two children of King Kong. The first in line is the 10-4073699 (from the pair King Kong x Duivin 2023/02). This descendant has won the following prizes as a yearling: 5th / 178 p. Arras – 15th /170 p. Arras – 6th / 274 p. Clermont – 4th / 167 p. Clermont – 9th Ablis 323 p. – 7th Ablis 206 p. – 17th Ablis 121 p. – 20th Ablis 125 p. – 7th Ablis 165 p. – 5th Ablis 181 p. – 472nd / 2766 p. Tours. In the Tour of Belgium he won these results: 18th / 251 p., 1st /249 p. and 3rd / 223 p. As a two year old in 2012 he did great as well: 10th Arras 151 p. – 36th / 226 p. Clermont – 1st / 143 p. Angerville – 32nd / 456 p. Angerville – 44th / 468 p. Angerville – 14th / 197 p. Angerville – 15th / 334 p. Tours – 24th / 2355 p. Tours. His results in the Tour of Belgium in 2012: 22nd /206 p., 31st / 177 p., 4th / 167 p. and 21st / 151 pigeons.
The second descendant of King Kong we mentioned is the 12-4220383 bred from King Kong x 890/11 (a P. Blancke hen), which has won for instance: 23rd Clermont 449 p., 78th Angerville 589 p., 95th Blois 542 p., 782nd Blois 5645 p., 54th Blois 377 p., 453rd Blois 3619 p., 106th Bourges 508 p., 44th Argenton 497 p., 137th Argenton 1429 p., 43rd La Souterraine 368 p., 88th La Souterraine 769 pigeons.
André De Smyter is an eye-catcher in the region of Machelen-Zulte
André has been regarded as one of the best fanciers in his region for several seasons in a row now. He is always looking for strong opponents and we all know he has been quite successful. We give you a few examples:
Clermont 215 p.: 1-3-3-7-10-17…( 10/12) Clermont 162 p.: 2-3-4-6-10……( 8/9) Ablis 163 p.: 13-14-25-27 ( 4/4) Clermont 164 p.: 3-4-5-12-14…( 6/10) Ablis 331 p.: 12-14-19….( 11/16) Arras 259 p.: 4-5-12-13-15…( 7/9) Clermont 274 p.: 6-8-12-18-22-25…( 7/10) Clermont 238 p.: 3-4-8-11…( 7/7 ) Clermont 144 p.: 3-17-18-18-23-24…(8/12) Angerville 141 p.: 1-2-7-8-9-10-11…( 9/12) Angerville 466 p.: 2-15-26-31-32……( 12/15)
It is no surprise that this talented fancier has been one of the champions in his region for several years in a row. He was awarded as Emperor in the autumn races in Zeveren-Deinze (in 2007-2008-2009), he was awarded as Champion Middle Distance for the Leievliegers in Zulte with a first, second and third in 2006-2007-2008 and he was also crowned as Emperor. In Waregem he was first Champion Middle Distance with first, second and third in 2011, etc., despite the fact that the Zulte-Waregem region has quite a few excellent middle and long distance fanciers. There is some heavy competition in that region. In 2007 André moved to a new home that was located behind his old pigeon loft. This means his old birds could stay where they were. In 2011 he built a new loft for the youngsters, which will also be used for the old birds in the future. For now he has to transfer his cocks from the young birds’ loft to the other loft. That is why he is planning to build another loft in the future. In the previous season he had tested a few of his young birds in the nationals and it seemed to work out fine. This was the start of a new challenge for him! He wants to excel with the young birds in the national races. He is composing a team of pigeons based on a mix of his old bloodlines and cocks and hens of Yvonne Lefevre (the Lefevre-Dhaenens- Zulte line), Philippe Dobbelaere (Olsene), Georges and Philippe Peirs (Zulte), van Baudoncq-Van Praet (Zulte), van André Dhaese (Deinze), van Garré-Vandenberghe (Vichte) and more recently Dr. P. Blancke (Ruiselede) – Ingmar Chanterie (Machelen) – R & D Speybroeck (Vinkt).
In 2013 André will enter the ring with 18 widowers and about thirty youngsters from the first round. 12 breeding pairs will provide a second and possibly a third round of youngsters for the future.
Some interesting facts
- At the end of February the pigeons are treated for paramyxo; the youngsters are treated for smallpox. The pigeons are checked by the vet before the start of the season. If something appears to be wrong André follows the advice of the vet.
- Before the start of the season a light feed is provided with 50% barley and 50% breeding mixture and grit/vitamineral. Every week (on Tuesday) some beer yeast is added to the seeds.
- The widowers are fed in the nest box with a spoon. Three days before basketing they get an extra portion and some sweet seeds.
- The widowers are preferably raced loft per loft. The hen is showed just a few moments before the race so that the cocks can easily be taken out of their nest box.
- When the pigeons arrive home there is always some honey in the drinking water. Before their arrival the hens are given a good meal so that they can give a warm welcome to their partners.
- On the day of arrival the widowers are given a racing mixture. In the following two or three days a light meal is provided; they get additional feed a few days before basketing.
This was our report about King Kong and the successes of the team of André De Smyter from Machelen near Zulte. Congratulations André!