Dirk Deroose is a 43 year old businessman (CEO of the building company Willy Naesens) from Lozer in Kruishoutem and he is the national winner from Bourges in the old bird category. This is a crowning achievement for a fancier who is passionate about his sport and who spares no effort to breed a collection of top class birds. As often, Dirk got involved in the sport via his family: both his father Marcel and his grandfather were passionate pigeon fanciers. Dirk raced together with his father until 2005 under the name of Marcel Deroose & Son, mainly in the sprint competition. Dirk preferred a slightly longer distance so he decided to race on his own from 2005. Initially he aimed for the long distance but he soon developed an interest in the (extreme) middle distance. Dirk is out of the house very often so he could not do without a loft assistant. It used to be his father Marcel who took care of the loft but nowadays he is only there on the weekends to clock the pigeons that arrive home. For a few years now Dirk has been assisted by his faithful assistant Joost De Smeyter, who takes care of the pigeons on a daily basis. This was a great move of course as Joost is an excellent fancier himself who knows everything about pigeons. Joost achieves excellent results from his own loft in the extreme long distance while also applying his skills for the middle distance team of his friend Dirk Deroose.
When Dirk started on his own he purchased a few pigeons from Ivan & Gunnar Delrue. Father and son Delrue were in the construction business as well so they are good friends. Dirk purchased a round of young birds from Lefebre-Dhaenens from Zulte as well. The national winner originates from these two bloodlines, as you can read further down. He also purchased a number of pigeons from Gaby Vandenabeele and Erik Limbourg. In addition he added some pigeons from the bloodline of Picsou of Chris Hebberechts. Descendants of Picsou have won for instance a 1st Nat. Zone Argenton ’12, a 2nd Nat. Narbonne ’09, 3rd nat. Pau ’09, 3rd nat. Narobnne ’10, 6th nat. Argenton ‚12, etc. Dirk also obtained the national winner from Argenton 2009 from André Van Herzeele (Nazarath), as well as the first nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance from De Clercq-Vervaeren. He also introduced pigeons from Willem De Bruijn and Gilbert Meire via his loft assistant Joost de Smeyter. He invested in few pigeons from the PEC (PIPA Elite Center), where he gained confidence in the Freddy line: he got his hands on no less than 15 youngsters of New Freddy (first nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Long Distance 2010 for Pierre Matthijs) and four youngsters of Blauwe Prins of Pros Roosen. To conclude, he purchased youngsters of Amalia (first nat. Ace Pigeon Extreme Middle Distance 2009 for Casaert-Senechal) at the PEC as well.
1st nat. Bourges
The great-looking blue coloured hen that beat all other pigeons from Bourges originates from the old lines of Dirk Deroose. The sire is a direct Gunnar & Ivan Delrue, a great racing pigeon and winner of a 28th Poitiers 1,022 pigeons, 69th Poitiers 4,190 pigeons and 83rd Angouleme 2,589 pigeons. He proved an excellent breeder as well, because he is the sire of Lady, first prize winner from La Souterraine. He originates from the breed of Eddy & Velere Vandepoele from Werken. The dam is a direct Lefebre-Dhaenens and a sister to the first La Souterraine. She comes from the line of the first nat. Ace Pigeon Long Distance ’95 of Norbert Sierens. Click here for the pedigree of the first nat. Bourges old birds.
Some of the results per ten of the national winner:
Bourges '13 nat. 1/9,653 Angerville '13 3/70 Angerville '13 6/139 Blois '11 7/426 Gueret '13 zon. 80/2,435 Argenton '13 zon. 246/3,455 Montluçon '12 591/7,828 Bourges '11 zon. 608/9,480
This hen was put on classic widowhood at the start of the season, with a partner that stays in the loft. She was raced like that until the national race from La Souterraine, afer which the hens were placed on the nest. They were basketed after five days of brooding. They are allowed to continue the brood and then they go into the moult. There is no winter breed towards the new racing season but they are paired at the end of March to brood together for about five days..
The pigeons are on a diet of mixtures of Versele Laga and Beyers. His pigeons get a medical check-up every two weeks by their vet Pascal Lanneau. Dirk leaves nothing to chance and he wants to take immediate action if a health problem should occur.