Impression of the over 1000 fancy pigeons at the Show of the 28-30 October 2011 in Leeuwarden. Text: Wim Halsema and Geert de Vries jr. Photos: Henk Krans Upon entering the pigeon show hall of the WTC Expo, you immediately noticed how well everything was organized. The nice wide aisles between the cages and the beautiful new spacious aviaries in the middle aisle made it a pleasure to be here to enjoy and experience the hobby. The monotonous drone of the birds was drowned out by the cock-crowing entries of the poultry association "Het Raskonijn" which occupied the other side of the hall and thus served as a great mood maker. Above: Panoramic view of the show hall. Right: Three pigeon judges, left to right: Dick Hamer, Willem Roke and Hennie Schwarz. The Croppers The 4 Dutch Croppers entered by B. Feenstra, were of excellent quality. Each one of them perfect in type and also perfect in blowing display. Their full muffs were in wonderful condition. The 2 English Croppers could show more length in the neck and legs, and during judging they were not in the mood to blow and show their best. The 4 black Saxon Pouters by R. Hagenauw were very beautiful and with ideal upright stance. Especially the young hen; she was not fully moulted in the legs, or else she would have earned a better award.
Left: English Cropper, black pied, m/y. 91 Points. Owner: R. Maatjes. Right: Saxon Pouter, black, f/y. Owner: Rikus Hagenauw. Left: Steller Cropper, blue gansel marked (magpie), m/y. 92 Points. Owner: Gerrit de Kruyk. Right: Silezian Cropper, Blue grizzle, f/y. 95 Points. Owner: W. Tuinman.
Left: Voorburg Shield Cropper, yellow, f/o. Owner: Rikus Hanegauw. Right: Brunner Cropper, red grizzle, m/y. 92 Points. Owner: R. Maatjes. Left: Brunner Cropper, Black dark tiger, m/o. 95 Points. Owner: D. den Dulk. Right: Holle Cropper, white, f/y. Owner: P.J. Hiemstra.
A surprizingly number of 21 Horseman Croppers had been entered. This breed is attracting more breeders. The blue black barred s of R. Kramer claimed the first place in all four classes (Old cock and hen, young cock and hen).they were active birds with good proportions and blowing, and all four were awarded 96 pts. In the judge s report of the 8 Steller Croppers that performed better during the opening days than on judging day - was a note about the hairy condition of their feathers. The 4 Silesian Croppers, all entered by W. Tuinman, met the standard requirements, especially the young ash red barred (mealy) cock which excelled in blowing and its perfect upright stance. Y. van Hijum was the only participant with Norwich Croppers; and he entered 10 of his birds. During the judging, the self whites were a bit stiff, which yielded to less points, the pieds however, were a feast for the eyes, with perfect type, good legs and nice soft balloons. The old black cock excelled and scored 96 pts. Only one Marchenero Cropper entered, but then a stunning collection of 25 Voorburg Shield Croppers. It must have been a pleasure for the 3 fanciers to enter the competition here. Many birds with good type and stance, and beautiful legs and globe. The shield colours were perfect. Top bird of the collection was a young black hen with 97 points, entered by the secretary of the specialty club, R. Hagenauw. Other winning birds in this colour were by H. Veenstra. Only 12 Brunner Croppers were at this show. D. den Dulk and R. Maatjes entered them in six colour varieties; a young black hen of D. den Dulk was Breed winner with 96 points. Also his old black cock was a beauty, with a round globe, a slim body and very distinct waist. P.J. Hiemstra and Kevin Boekema entered 20 Holle Croppers. The famous breeder Hiemstra made sure that quality was shown in the cages and was also the winner, with a young blue hen awarded 97 pts. Several other birds were awarded 96 pts. Beautiful pigeons with perfect round globes and active performance. The Utility Pigeons For the second time A. Wierda was present with his Prachen Kanik. Several birds with beautiful type and colours. Also the fiery eye colours with the red ceres passed all the requirements. Only the Blacks could be somewhat shorter in the rear parts. The two blue chequereds were very beautiful, and the young cock winning Best of Breed with 97 points. Left: Prachen Kanik, blue black barred, m/y. Owner: A. Wierda. Right: Prachen Kanik, black, m/y. 95 Points. Owner: A. Wierda.
As many as 56 Giant Homers were in the cages, entered by only 4 breeders. There was much to enjoy, birds with fine bodies and good stance, along with well-outlined heads and beaks. Especially in the blue black barred competition it was tough and the differences were small. In the class of young birds, K.W. de With won at the cocks and the hens, both awarded with 96 pts. In the class of 11 Indigos were again magnificent, typed birds with nice broad chests and the body tapered gradient in the short rear parts. J. Suk Jr. noted the Best in this colour variety, followed by R. Martens with a young hen with 96 points. The former was an old hen and she took the lead with 97 points. Left: Giant Homer, blue black barred, m/y. Owner: K.W. de With. Out of the 5 Andalusian's of K.W. de With, the young hen stood out in type, stance. Apart from that, the bird also excelled in the beautiful Andalusia colour with a perfect lacing. Beautifully balanced and a nice head, eyes and eye ceres made her an overall winner and she was proclaimed the Most Beautiful Hen of the Show, with 97 points. Right: Giant Homer, dark chequered, m/y. Owner: K.W. de With. The 6 Genuine Homers by J.S. Brandsma were of very good quality. The young ash red chequered cock attracted the attention by his outstanding head shape with the wanted dip, awarded with 96 points. Still it could be a little shorter in the rear. Left: Genuine Homer, ash yellow grizzle, m/y. 95 Points. Owner: J.S. Brandsma.
35 Dutch Beauty Homer were present in 10 colours, the largest group in blue black barred and silver dark barred. The eye colour was cause for debate. The standard requires orange to red eyes, which was present in several birds, but there were also birds with a lighter colour around the pupil. In the blue black barred H. Sijtsma with an old cock and B. Nijhof with an old hen scored 96 points both. B. Nijhof won in silver dark barred with an old hen awarded 97 points and a young hen with 96 points. Right: Dutch Beauty Homer, black, m/o. 94 Points. Owner: A.P. Visser. Also at the German Beauty Homer, B. Nijhof showed the Best of Breed, which was a blue black barred with 97 points. Left: German Beauty Homer, blue black barred, m/y. Owner: B. Nijhof. Right: German Beauty Homer, black dark tiger, m/o. Owner: W. de Graaf. In the eight Kings, the quality varied. All birds were of Partnership de Bruijn-van de Burgt. The young blue black barred hen with 96 points had beautiful type and stance, same as the young ash red barred cock that stood out for his well-rounded skull. The 8 Modena Schietti by Andre ten Hoeve were even in type and stance and had beautiful proportions. A single bird could show more head width and filling, nevertheless 3 times 96 points could be granted. For most of the 36 German Modena Schietti the chest was desired to be broader, rounder and more
prominent. Comb. de Bruijn-van der Burgt showed the best, a young black hen with 97 points. In Gazzi, the colour and markings were amply sufficient, but again broader, rounder and more prominent chest were desired and 94 points was the highest award. Left: King, white, m/y. 95 Points. Owner: Comb. De Bruin-vd Burgt. Right: King, ash red barred (mealy), m/y. 92 Points. Owner: Comb. De Bruin-vd Burgt. Left: German Modena, blue barless, m/y. 94 Points. Owner: H. Piekema.
The Owls and Structure Pigeons A large collection of Old Dutch Owls, with a total of 90 birds. Only 2 white shield, 3 black shield and 1 red shield opened the row, clearly indicating that these are not the easiest colours, but certainly not inferior in beauty to other popular colours. The 6 yellow shields of J. Kastelein were very good in type and stance, the winner was a young hen with a beautifully outlined head and beak, 96 points. In the 33 blue shields we noticed several very good to outstanding types. The cock of W. de Boer won Best of the entire collection of blue shields. W. Fabriek showed an old ash red barred cock, beautiful in type and position, and with a perfect head profile and strong, well positioned beak. Top birds in the ash yellow barreds were the old cock of W. Fabriek, with 96 points, an old hen and a young cock of K.W. de With, both with 96 points, and a young hen by J. Verdeuzeldonk, also 96 points. Right: One of the chequereds by John de Groot, striking by its perfect head profile and strong, well positioned beak; 95 Points. The four Antwerp Smerle by A.P. Visser were a joy to behold, entered in outstanding show condition. The old dun colour hen was an absolute top bird with a beautiful head with great length in the forehead and a strong and wide beak with fine, and smooth wattles. Left: Antwerps Smerle, dun, f/o. Owner: A.P. Visser. In the clean-legged Valencian Frills a more typical head form is required; the grouse legged birds were significantly better in that part, with a young hen of A. Jasper winning Best of Breed with 96 pts. A class of 26 Italian Owl, G.C.M. Duivenvoorde showing very appealing ice colour birds, both in colour as in type and stance. One of the young cocks with a distinctive head was awarded 96 points. In the chequered variety, K. Joustra took the lead with a young silver dark barred. Again a bird with a good head shape well filled in forehead and on top, good stance and leg length. Although we used to have a good number of Old German Owls the previous years, now there were just 11 birds in blue black barred, by G. de Vries Jr. Many of them with beautiful type and good stance, the winning birds were awarded with 96 points.
A recently recognised breed was submitted by J. Oord and K. Nicolaij, namely the Old Oriental Frill with 12 birds. The birds are smaller than the modern Oriental Frills and can raise their own young and they have a lot of vitality. The entered blue white barred Satinettes (also called Bluettes) had a good colour on shield and tail, but the bars were not well defined. The heads were good. In the 2 red laced - one of the most difficult colours to breed - the lacing could be more clearly defined. In the modern Oriental Frill, 8 Satinettes had been entered, with a striking old cock brown laced Satinette, noted for his powerful head and beak. Best of Breed was a most beautiful young brown white barred hen (Silverette) with a perfect type and beautiful head, awarded 97 points, owner G. de Vries Jr. Right: Old- Oriental Frill, blue white barred, m/y. 95 Points. Owner: J. Oord. Left: Oriental Frill, Satinette, brown laced, m/o. Owner: G. de Vries jr. The number of Chinese Owl used to be larger in the past, now only 12 birds in 5 colour varieties had been entered. Best of Breed with 96 points was an old blue black barred cock with outstanding upperand down breast feather structure (the socalled pillows), by Mrs. J. Tuinman- Woudstra. In the Fantail class 19 birds were present. A real top bird was the young black cock of H. van Diepen with a beautiful type and stance, outstanding tail structure and intense colour and sheen; fully worth the awarded 97 points. Also the young hen in the same colour was a fine bird. L.W. Forest had to settle for second place with an old ash yellow chequered hen with 96 pts. Four white Arabian Trumpeters by M. Veenstrade Jong, showed in excellent condition. Very typical birds, especially the old hen, but she was also showing a prominent dewlap, 96 points. Right: Arabian Trumpeter, white, f/o. Owner: M. Veenstra-de Jong.
The Colour Pigeons We always have a good class of Archangels at the Friesche Sierduiven Show, this year again 26 birds. Together with her husband, Melinda Veenstra-de Jong is working wonders with this breed, as the results show: 2x 96 points. A few birds were lacking the desired sheen. Left: Crested Archangel, copper blue wing blackbar whiteflight, f/y. 94 Points. Owner: J. Ekkelboom. Right: Hyacinth pigeon, blue white spangled m/y, Owner: R. Hoornstra. 24 Hyacinth pigeons and Danish Suabian had been entered. Robert Hoornstra is presently showing the best Hyacinth pigeons, but in the Suabians it still is Jo Dommerholt showing the best birds; this time his young silver hen won best Danish Suabian. Left: Thuringian Wing Pigeon, black, f/y. Owner: P.P. v/d Post. Right: Thuringian Spot, black f/y. 94 Points. Owner: Wendel Overbeek.
Jo Dommerholt was awarded a certificate for his Suabians. Tjalke Bergsma owns a superb line of Ice Pigeons; ace of this show was one of his bar less hens with a perfect ice colour, justly winning a certificate. No real outstanding birds in the class of 42 Starlings mainly by Robert Hoornstra although it struck my eye that his blue white barreds had improved enormously, having a fine colour and distinct bars. The Thuringian Wing Pigeons were present with 70 birds; the Top Breeders of the Netherlands had come to Leeuwarden. Unfortunately the German breed specialist Willi Schmidt had to cancel his judging due to circumstances, but he was replaced by Jouke v.d. Siepkamp, who did a great job. The breeders P.P. van der Post, Kulik and Bergsma fought a close battle, the differences were trifling, still it was again P. v.d. Post scoring two birds with 97 points and winning the highest score in both blue barless as in blue barred. The Tumblers and Highflyers The Polish and Berlin long-faced Tumblers had been entered by Charles Lewin, who scored 96 points with a blue magpie Berlin long-faced Tumblers. The Danish Tumblers were well represented with 49 entries. The quality was extremely high, as evidenced by the awarded points. The selfs did not yield to each other, while in the magpies; the red magpies were clearly the best. The competition was mainly between Geert Siemons and Wim Halsema, and the latter won with a young red magpie hen awarded 97 points. Left: Polish Long Faced Tumbler, ice colour, m/o. 95 Points. Owner: K.W.J. Lewin. Right: Danish Tumbler, white, m/y. 95 Points. Owner: H. Kromkamp. In the Dutch Tumblers unfortunately only a few Amsterdam Tumbler had been entered, but for the first time there were Amsterdam High Flyers, entered by Germ Fokkema. One outstanding bird in the Dutch High Flyers, a young black rosewing cock by Freek Lukens was awarded 97 points, a very good achievement of this persevering breeder. In the Dutch Helmets both Ane Visser and Bennie Nijhof achieved 96 points. Another eye catcher was a young blue Old-Dutch Tumbler by Ger Yedema with an outstanding muff. Klaas Joustra again presented a nice collection of Portugal Tumblers, the blacks are outstanding at the moment, and his Andalusian s are also very beautiful.
Left: Danish Tumbler, black magpie, f/y. 93 Points. Owner: L.R. Docter. Right above: Danish Tumbler, grey stipper, f/y. Owner: W.B. Halsema. Right: Amsterdam Highflyer, red shieldtiger m/y. 94 Points. Owner: G.J. Fokkema. Below: Amsterdam beard Tumbler, black, f/y. Owner: R. Bijkerk. Right: Dutch Highflyer, yellow white shield, f/o. 95 Points. Owner: Ton Entius.
Left: Dutch Helmet, blue, m/o. Owner: A.P. Visser. Right: Old Dutch Tumbler, blue black barred, f/y. Owner: G. Yedema. Right: Portugal Tumbler, andalusian, f/y. 93 Points. Owner: K. Joustra. Below: German Show Tippler, black dark tiger, f/y. Owner: S. Rekker. Right: Flying Tippler, blue stork white shield f/y. Owner: C.L.J.M. Butter.
Left: English Long Faced Tumbler, black light tiger, f/y. Owner: U. van der Schaaf. Right: English Long Faced Tumbler, red light tiger, m/y. 95 Points. Owner: U. van der Schaaf. Right: Viennese Long faced Tumbler CL, red, f/y. 95 Points. Owner: H. Krans. Below: Oriental Roller, white m/o. Owner: L.J. Postma. Right: Oriental Roller, indigo m/o. 97 Points. Owner: Luke Postma.
Left: Stettin Tumbler, copper light tiger m/o. Owner: C.L.J.M. Butter. Andalusian by Lieuwe Postma won Best in Show ; the old cock presented itself in an optimal way. Son Luke Postma did not yield to the superior experience of his father and scored the highest award with a pure indigo, also his black speckles were very good. The black Mookees of Oving are outstanding in type and colour. It is a pity that there are no more fanciers in the North of our country that are interested in this fine breed; it sure would benefit the breed. The German Show Tipplers of Siep Rekker and the Flying Tipplers of Cas Butter are of high quality, the latter winning a certificate with a young blue stork white shield hen, a super show result. The ash red English Long Faced Tumblers of V.d. Schaaf made a very good impression, same as the black Viennese Long faced Tumblers by Henk Krans. Also the Nuns by V.d. Vegt and Buis achieved impressive results. 40 Oriental Rollers is a good number in Friesland; and there were a few top birds, mainly in the rare colours. An Right: Berlin Short faced Tumbler, red barred, f/o. 93 Points. Owner: L.J. Niemeijer. The Short Faced Tumblers were present with 3 breeds; Ludolf Niemeijer showed a few outstanding Berlin Short faced Tumblers in blue grizzle, Roel Bijkerk matched him with 2x 96 points for his English Short faced Tumblers and finally Cas Butter was awarded 1x 96 points with one of his Stettin Tumblers, a copper light tiger. Left: English Short faced Tumbler, red agate, m/o. Owner: R. Bijkerk.
Above: Panoramic view of the show in the WTC EXPO Leeuwarden, with the aviaries on the left side in the photo. The aviaries Best Aviary was won by Robert Hoornstra with his black silver spangled Starlings, a breed that always shows at their best in an aviary. The Friesche Sierduiven Show was the first show of the season in the Netherlands. Many shows were to follow, with the Champion Show being the final event. For more information: The Friesche Sierduivenclub: Founded 20 November 1935 Secretary: W.B. Halsema, tel. 0561-688608 www.frieschesierduivenclub.nl Copyright 2012 Aviculture-Europe. All rights reserved by VBC.