Leo Hulst in Spain Text and photos: Leo Hulst Other photos: Dick Hamer The well known breeder and Judge of Long face Tumbler Leo Hulst from Holland left Holland 8 years ago on an early retirement and settled down in the south of Spain. His pigeon life started ending 1940. Left: Leo shows a Young male, with a very nice head shape. Owner and photo: Leo Hulst. Right: For some years ago. Leo is judging the Long Face Tumblers at the National Championship in Doncaster GB. Photo: AE.
His recollection My father was already a pigeon man as far as I can remember in 1946 of an unknown variety breed. The birds were kept in the back garden where a wooden shed was erupted. A chicken-house was attached to it which was a common thing just after the second worldwar because eggs and even at times a drumstick was most welcome in a family raising at that time - 3 kids. I really have no idea how my father got into the pigeon world. They simply were there and what I can remember they joined the chicken-house. The pigeon nest bowls were situated about 5 feet off the floor which of course I could not reach as being too little (which later worked out to 6 feet 6 inches) saved for chicken attacks. He must have had contacts with other fanciers but I am unable to recollect it. All of a sudden the pigeons had to be separated from the chicken-house, he became a real pigeon fancier. Shortly after that he came home with a couple of flying pigeons and eggs. Since that time I knew that he has very close contacts with fanciers like Mr. K. Seelt, Mr. Leniors and B. van Wel, all living in Amsterdam. I remember that he bought the whole stud of Mr. Leniors who was Champion long day concurs. His Hugh Hall tipplers flew 11,58 hours that day. Most probably these birds originated in England, because the name of the pigeon did not related to a Dutch name. Later on I learned that Mr. B. van Wel imported many breed of tippler from England named as EAGLES, HUGHES, SHEFFIELD S, MACCLESFIELD S and MANCHESTER S to name a few. A few years later (1953), Holland suffered from a water flow in the south/west caused by dike-breaking, my father - he was a mechanic - was appointed for work outside Amsterdam to install pumping-engines and turbines and consequently stayed away form the family as from Monday till Saturday. My older brother and I were appointed to feed his birds and clean the lofts during his absence. In fact that obligatory subject gave me much pleasure and became fascinating to me. My father loved seeing his birds fly high in the sky for so many hours, while I as loft-manager enjoyed the cleaning out and looking after the youngsters. In these early 50 s we entered the tipplers into a Show. Mr. K. Seelt was at that time the Judge for the tippler section. The so-called Macclesfield, Sheffield and Show tipplers had their standard of perfection. It was during these Shows that I felt very much attracted to the German Short Face tumblers and their fanciers. Messrs. Haubrich, Helmers, Nagel, Grooteboer, Bleesing and Mr. A. Baars to name a few, were the big shots at that time. I should make write a book about these outstanding fanciers. Especially about Mr. Baars, as fancier, Judge and human being. He was brilliant in making, us young guys, feel comfortable while telling his stories about the pigeons and explaining the specialities of the various breeds. Whenever the opportunity occurred I cycled from Amsterdam west to east of Amsterdam and spent many hours with him. He imported Hundreds of Short Face Tumblers from Hungary and Germany. All smuggled in through sources around the German border.
He offered me the first German Short faces (Ancients) on a loan. I had to persuade my Dad first as I knew that he was too negative for that variety. You know, he said to me, these birds are not healthy. They can t even fly. He was right as their condition was not at all comparable with the Tipplers. Any way, although hesitating, he allowed me to start up with my TOYS as he used to call them. I raised German Shortfaces till 1980. Above: The Hamburg White Tail Tumblers in red and black, as they were on Leo s loft in the fifties. I also got a collection of Hamburg White tails and for some 10 years I found a lot of pleasure in breeding this particular breed. Right: At the end of the fifties we changed the old hen house into a large new pigeon loft. The chickens were replaced by pigeons and became very important for me and my father. All of a sudden my Long Face Tumbler life started. A completely different bird compared to the pigeons I had for so long. More quiet and more manageable but also very fascinated. Feeders were needed as well but that was no problem at all as I worked with them for so many years already. Studying the standard of perfection for my new breed I realised that I did have to improve a lot on them. No much of quality was available in Holland as there were only a hand full of fanciers around and the suffered of lack of quality in general too. The only person who had contact with the UK was Hubert Vet. His sister was living there. Searching and reading about the Longface Tumblers I realised that England was the country to be for it. Fortunately enough was doing a lot of travelling abroad so I organised to go for my profession to England. One of my very first trips was combined with a visit to the Stokesley Agriculture Showground. There I came across Mr. Mike Dea and his brother Peter. They gave me the pleasant feeling that they will bring me into the Longface Tumbler world. A few months later, in Doncaster I was introduced to Mr. D. Barnicaot, Mr. L. Goat, M. Knaggs, A. Tayler and the Master of Long face Tumblers Mr. L. Williams. Right: One year old female with a good head shape and breast. Beak should be more powerful. Owner and photo: L. Hulst. The years following I exhibited on the National Shows at Doncaster regularly. I was fortunate to win several classes in Red Self and White. During these years hundreds of my birds were brought into England and Germany. Some times even 10 at a time, just hidden in my car.
Left: Nice strong beak shape. Insufficient head volume. Eye colour should be more clearly. Too low and too horizontal in type. Owner: P. Leyten. Later on, while living in Spain I brought 2-4 at a time in my hand luggage in the plane-cabin. Beside England I did travel to America too. During my first visit to the States I noticed that the quality of L.F. Tumblers was even on a higher level that in the U.K. I brought excellent Red and Yellows from Mr. J. Bush. A couple of years later I had birds from Mr. R. Bordi who is still one of the best breeder of Baldhead Tumblers. During that period I stocked with Red/Yellow self, Black self and Teager, Whites and my new marked pigeon the Baldhead. Too many to take care of so I gave the Red/Yellows and Black/Tiger varieties to friends in Holland and Belgium as an extension of my hobby and concentrated on my Whites and Baldhead Tumblers. Right: Excellent Pigeon, with the right Type. Splendid full neck with a perfect beak for shape and position. Owner: A. Frans. I crossed my White into the Baldheads with an acceptable result in the first 2 years. At first a lot of splashes with the right Baldhead markings. But also one with the proper markings. It gave me the confidence to continue. The years following were in fact too easy. Hardly any mis-markings. Blacks, Strawberry and Reds is what I raised after 3 years. The whole stud was very strong and was producing a lot of youngsters. Intensive selecting was a must. So I selected on style, beak setting and head power all at once. Left: Good in type, but a bit too small in body. Missing head volume. Poor beak shape and position (hanging). Owner: P. Leijten. Notice the difference in beak setting and carriage Right: Good beak setting and carriage needs more topscull. Very good eye colour. Owner: L. Hulst.
It is not customary to compare the self s with the marked pigeons in type. But too much tolerance must be avoid, concerning the essential points like head volume and shape, beak form and position. Type and stance must be kept in mind as well as the rich feather structure giving the full neck. A good example of this last point is the Yellow Barred below: Left: Excellent compact type. Top quality height in head above the eye. Unfortunately the head is turned away in this picture, giving the impression of a too short head. Beak form is too pointed. Owner: R. van der Wouw. Notice the difference with the other bird Right: This Red Barred (Ash Red) missing elegancy and gives a clumsy impression and is too long in head shape. Owner: W. Hasselt The Long Faced Tumblers in black are not the best representatives for this breed. Most of them are too narrow in breast and too long in body. Left: One of the best in black. However, to obtain the correct head shape, this pigeon must show more volume above the eye. Height and length of the head should be the same. The broadness of the head is mostly too narrow. Owner: C. Smeets. Notice the differences in body and a short thick neck Right: Black Tigered. Owner: L. Hulst. Some years ago the Tigereds were crossed with the blacks to give them more volume and a better type, considering th at the tigered variety had more head width and height. When Jack Maas, one of the leading fanciers of this colour variety passed away, his birds were split up amongst other fanciers and I don t know what happened to them.?
Left: An excellent beak for shape and substance. Upper and lower part are the same in thickness and appearance. Owner: L. Hulst. Finally the tense of producing some thing special like these Baldhead was not any more there and I decided to quit. Lots of these birds went to England but also to Germany. Now I am back to my first love THE WHITES. For what reason I do not know but I seem to have a lot more problems in getting them to the quality as I want them to be. Of course, they are not as vigorous as the Baldheads because the lines are getting too close and importing from England does not seem to help me a lot. I may have to look again in the States soon or later. To start with I shall try to find a solution in my pedigrees through the computer were I kept the information about my birds for over 20 years already. Nevertheless, I still like to work on them. They do give me the pleasure working on them with the material available for the time being. The only problem I am facing here in Spain is how to get more fanciers interested to work with Long Face Tumblers. Up till this moment no luck in that. It would have given me at least a bit of competition. Right: Young female with a very good beak shape and carriage. The profile is already very good, but the bird must fill out. Owner: Leo Hulst. However, I am convinced that I am still following the right direction with my stud of Long Face Tumblers and I think I will continue for a while this way. Greetings and success to all my friends in the next exhibition season. Leo Hulst (La paloma) - Spanje Copyright 2007 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC