Gunther (l) and Michel (r) Eyletten
The fanciers
This national first prize from Gueret yearlings is not the first major achievement for the father-son combination, which has been really successful for several years now. Michel (64) started keeping pigeons back in 1969 but had already been involved in the sport through his family. He got passionate about pigeons at an early age but his busy daytime job prevented him from spending enough time in the loft. However, that did not keep him from running a top level loft. His son Gunther (40) joined the team in the 1990s. Father and son gradually started to compete in national races as well, besides the sprint competition.
The pigeon breed
It all began with pigeons of Jos Deno (Leefdaal, BE), and they also obtained an excellent breeding hen from Dirk van Dyck (Zandhoven, BE). Pigeons of Wouters-Coremans (Langdorp, BE) were introduced later on as well, and a son of their pigeon De Stek developed into an outstanding breeding bird. One of the cocks that has bred quite a number of successful prize winners is Gert, a cock obtained from Gert Schotsmans (Scherpenheuvel, BE). For instance, Gert’s granddaughters have won a 1st and 2nd provincial Bourges. This loft is also home to their own renowned white bloodline based around stock cock Mister 28, which managed to win 28 first prizes in four seasons’ time. This so called white bloodline originates from Rijkske, the dam and grandmother of numerous ace pigeons and provincial and national winners, both in their own loft and for other fanciers.
Gert, sire of many great champions

Mister 28: winner of 28 first prizes
Results in major races
As we said, Michel and Gunther began as sprint fanciers but they have been increasingly focusing on the national races. This was clearly not a bad decicision; we take a look at some of their best results over the years:
1st Provincial Bourges 2013 2nd Provincial Bourges 2013 2nd Provincial Nevers 2013 1st National Zone C1 Gueret 2014 6th National Chareauroux 2013
BE14-2205898 Rosa
2015 has been going really well too, with the crowning achievement being the national victory from Gueret, which was won by the hen Rosa. This is the palmares of this one year old hen so far:
Gueret 1st 16,248 pigeons (and 2nd of 28,781 pigeons) Soissons 18th 870 pigeons Soissons 198th 2,365 pigeons Villemandeur 316th 1,474 pigeons Soissons 32nd 1,474 pigeons Bourges 1874th 21,522 pigeons Chateauroux 828th 25,710 pigeons
The sire of this hen was also obtained from Gert Schotsmans (Maurice Vandevelde); the dam comes from the Timmermans-Reijnders combination through a voucher.
BE14-2205898 Rosa: 1st National Gueret yearlings
Prima 2015
Rosa put in a great performance but it was not the only great result this season. We would like to conclude with an overview of the best results of 2015 so far, which prove that this is indeed a top quality loft. We would not be surprised to see these pigeons win several more top results in the near future.
Montargis 374 km 935 YL : 2-3-4-13-20-22-27-37-42-69-etc. (16/24) Montargis 374 km 1,008 YL : 1-36-59-108-133-135-etc. (8/12) Vierzon Prov. 472 km 1,339 YL : 93-113-134 (3/3) Bourges Prov. 473 km 3,110 YL : 69-89-91-99-109-155-188-253-275-etc. (18/23) Chateauroux Prov. 523 km 3,075 YL : 9-25-52-78-97-etc. (13/17) Geuret Prov. 584 km 1,824 YL : 1-12-31-41-43-108-etc. (13/25) Soissons 1,338 YB : 4-6-36-40-49-etc. (24/46)