The two brothers used to play separately under their own names together with their sons. However, the two brothers Hanny & Frans decided to form a team in 2005 as the ‘Fanger brothers’ and this was the start of a successful combination. Frans usually takes care of the old birds, whereas Hanny is responsible for the young birds. It was Hanny who once told us: “I would rather have no ventilation in the loft than bad ventilation.” The young birds are kept in a loft that is practically sealed off but that does not prevent them from performing outstandingly well.
You are probably curious about the achievements of the two brothers. Well, the following list of achievement makes very clear that this loft is about quality, not about quantity. They are known for being successful at a regular basis. They take great care of their pigeons, which are of excellent quality. Is not easy to become a successful fancier but you should not make things more complicated than they are. That is the philosophy of Hanny & Frans Fanger, who have won the following prizes in championships since 2008 (this is only a selection; it would be impossible to include all prizes):
1st National Best Cock W.H.Z.B. 2012 ‘Messi’
1st Provincial Best Allround Pigeon District 6 Noord-Holland 2012 ‘Messi’
1st General One Day Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2011
1st General One Day Long Distance nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2010
1st Pigeon Champion One Day Long Distance Fondclub Noord-Holland 2010 ‘Noa’
1st Emperor Champion One Day Long Distance Fondclub Noord-Holland 2010
1st One Day Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2010
1st One Day Long Distance nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2010
1st Provincial Pigeon Champion One Day Long Distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2010 ‘Noa’
1st Provincial Champion One Day Long Distance not nom. District 6 Noord-Holland 2010
1st Provincial Champion One Day Long Distance nominated District 6 Noord-Holland 2010
1st Provincial Loft performance One Day Long Distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2010
1st National Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance N.P.O. 2009 ‘Ace Devil’
1st Emperor Champion One Day Long Distance Fondclub Noord-Holland 2009
1st One Day Long Distance nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2009
1st Provincial Champion One Day Long Distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2009
1st Pigeon Champion One Day Long Distance Fondclub Noord-Holland 2008 ‘Fu’
1st Junior Long Distance nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2008
2nd National Olympiad Pigeon One Day Long Distance 2012 “Miss Romy”
2nd One Day Long Distance nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2012
2nd Provincial General Champion One Day Long Distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2012
2nd Provincial General Champion 'Natour' District 6 Noord-Holland 2012
2nd Provincial General Champion One Day Long Distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2011
2nd National Loft Champion One Day Long Distance N.P.O. 2010
2nd General One Day Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2010
2nd Provincial Pigeon Champion One Day Long Distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2010 ‘Anouk’
2nd National Best Fancier in The Netherlands W.H.Z.B. 2009
2nd National Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance The Best of The Best 2009 ‘Ace Devil’
2nd National Loft Champion One Day Long Distance N.P.O. 2009
2nd National One Day Long Distance 'Spiegel' Category 8. 2009
2nd Junior Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2009
3rd One Day Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2011
3rd One Day Long Distance nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2011
3rd Junior Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2011
3rd National Pigeon Champion sprint N.P.O. 2010 ‘Isabel’
3rd National Pigeon Champion One Day Long Distance N.P.O. 2010 ‘Miss Romy’
3rd One Day Long Distance not nom. Fondclub Noord-Holland 2009
4th National Pigeon Champion Sprint N.P.O. 2012 ‘Ronaldo’
4th Provincial General Champion super sprint District 6 Noord-Holland 2012
4th National Best Hen W.H.Z.B. 2011 ‘Isabel’
4th National Best Fancier in The Netherlands W.H.Z.B. 2010
4th National Pigeon Champion One Day Long Distance N.P.O. 2010 ‘Noa’
5th Provincial Pigeon Champion 'Natour' District 6 North Holland 2012 ‘Messi’
5th Provincial Loft Achievement one day long distance district 6 Noord-Holland 2012
5th Superstar Long Distance ('golden pigeon') 2011 ‘Isabel’
5th Provincial Loft Performance one day long distance District 6 Noord-Holland 2011
5th National Best Ace Pigeon One Day Long Distance W.H.Z.B. 2009 ‘Ace Devil’
5th Junior long dist. not nominated Fondclub Noord-Holland 2008
These are just the top 5 results in national and provincial championships. Let's have a look at their top 10 results in the last three seasons (2009-2012) as well. This is very impressive, their pigeon breed is indeed very unique.
1st Tours N.P.O. sec.II 18450 p. 1st Chateauroux N.P.O. 6099 p. 1st Ablis National 3689 p. 1st Orleans National 2750 p. 2nd Tours N.P.O. 6565 p. 2nd Chateauroux N.P.O. 6009 p. 3rd Blois N.P.O. 8803 p. 3rd Chateauroux N.P.O. 6009 p. 3rd Blois N.P.O. 5368 p. 3rd Ablis National 3688 p. 4th Bourges N.P.O. 6798 p. 5th Blois N.P.O. 5368 p. 8th Orleans N.P.O. 6788 p. 8th Orleans N.P.O. 5146 p. 8th Tours N.P.O. 6565 p. 9th Blois N.P.O. 6637 p. 10th Orleans N.P.O. 5146 p. 10th Blois N.P.O. 6095 p.
A strong family!
Their pigeons seem to be just as strong as the two brothers themselves! The top class pigeons originate mainly from pigeons of Jan Manten, Henny la Grouw, Bertus Vermeulen and Louis van Loon. Keep in mind that the pigeons of Jan Manten and Bertus Vermeulen are largely based on the bloodlines of Koen Minderhout (= Vandenabeele). The successes of the two brothers make clear that this combination of bloodlines results in excellent racing pigeons. Now it is time to introduce some of their best cracks!
'Miss Romy’ is an excellent hen. She won a whole lot of prizes, which resulted in the title of second Olympiad Pigeon 2013. IN 2010 she was already awarded the title of third National Ace Pigeon One Day Middle Distance (NPO) and in 2009 she was 7th National Best Hen WHZB. This means she had a long and very successful career as a racing pigeon as the winner of:
Tours NPO/NAT 1/ 5,399 Sec II 1/ 18,971 Morlincourt 1/ 16,454 Blois NPO 3/ 5,368 Ablis NAT 3/ 3,688 Orleans NPO 8/ 6,778 Bourges NPO 13/ 7,640 Tours NPO 30/ 3,916 Blois NPO 36/ 8,803 Orleans NPO 43/ 6,773
Her outstanding sister 'Isabel' has won:
Strombeek 1/ 23,347 Tours NPO 2/ 6,565 Nijvel Prov 11/21,506 Ablis NAT 14/ 3,688 Tours NPO 19/ 3,916 Nanteuil PROV 20/11,894
These successful racing birds were bred from ‘Slatan’ x ‘Anne’. Zlatan is a pigeon that has the bloodlines of H. La Grouw and a son of ‘Bourges’, winner of three teletext notations. The ‘Anne’ is a daughter of top couple ‘Jan x Berta’, which has also bred ‘Willy’, the dam of Bowien & Britney.
As we said, these pigeons are nieces of 'Miss Romy & Isabel' and they were bred from Willy, a sister of Anne. Willy was paired with ‘Herman’ and together they bred such top class hens as Britney and Bowien. Bowien has won a first national against 3,689 pigeons from Ablis. Her sister Britney has won many prizes over the years. This is her list of achievements:
Morlincourt 1/ 3,875 Nijvel 1/ 2,139 Strombeek 1/ 930 Nijvel 1/ 419 Chimay 1/ 414 Strombeek 4/ 3,008 Chimay 5/ 2,458 Ablis NAT 12/3,689 Laon 12/3,427 Strombeek 13/2,123 Morlincourt 20/3,592 Meer 26/4,487 Nijvel 26/3,812 Strombeek 26/4,414 Meer 27/4,386 Chimay 28/3,366
This is impressive! Some of you might have noticed that these prizes were won by their hens. Well, the cocks of the Fanger brothers have been doing great as well! Take for instance their cock ‘Messi’: he was first National Cock WHZB in 2012. He performed very well both nationally and provincially and he turned into one of the big stars in the Fanger loft, which houses only about 45 racing birds.
Another successful cock is ‘Youri’. He has won a car as winner of the first prize in the NPO race from Chateauroux against 6,009 pigeons. However, this was not his first teletext notation. He also won an 8th prize from Orleans against 5,146 birds, as well as several (+13x) top 100 results provincially and in the NPO.
This is what the pigeon family of the Fanger brothers has achieved. The quality of their birds is really amazing but we should not forget that they spend a lot of time in their lofts to make sure that their pigeons are always in great form. These birds are among the best pigeons you can find Belgium. They are simply amazing.