Joop Groenen from Ooy (near Nijmegem) in The Netherlands 

By Johan Kempen 
 

I have seen some amazing results in my career as a pigeon reporter but I was astonished by Joop Groenen. Let me show you some results of 2007:

Duffel (132 km) 5,198b: 6-7-12-16-19-20-21-25-73-74-77-80-99-104-118-137…(53/99)

Offenburg (404 km) 2,532b: 1-12-18-47-64-147-219-226 (9/10)

Menen (226 km) 4,293b: 1-8-9-37-136-146-257 (8/10)

Strombeek (154 km) 11,682b: 10-20-21-24-34-39-44-48-76-77-90-98-114-141-154…(34/39)

I really wanted to meet this fancier and drove to Holland.  
 

Joop Groenen is 58 years but is one of the top fanciers in Holland on speed and middle distance races in the Netherlands. I have not seen such amazing results many times. I went to The Netherlands and wanted to found out all the details from this fancier and from his pigeons.

Joop Groenen was born in a little town called Overrasselt, near Nijmegen. I was in the summer of 1962 when Joop got his first introduction in the pigeon world. He was 14 years old when he saw a pigeon walking around aimlessly on the pavement. On closer inspection he noticed it had a ring on its legs. He picked it up ant the ring read Belg 6173129/62. Joop carried it home and made a temporary home for it. He looked after it for several weeks and was becoming infected with the pigeon bug. As the days and weeks passed by , Joop became increasingly inquisitive as to the owner of his new-found love and so began to trace where the pigeon came from. After a short time he was informed that this bird come direct from the world famous Janssens brothers in Arendonk Belgium. At this time Joop did not know the significance of his find, because he was not known that even then the Janssens brothers had pigeons the whole world wanted to get their hands on and here he was with one he had found wandering the streets of Holland! Joop made contact with the Janssens brothers and after a couple of letters it was decided that he could buy the youngster for only 75 cents. At his time one of Joop’s chores was to look after the rabbits at the back of the house that belonged to his father. This was a job that Joop hated. He hatched a plot with his neighbour who was a pigeon fancier with a taste for rabid stew. He arranged for the rabbits to escape one night. The neighbour was to round them up for himself, in exchange Joop was to get some pigeons. This was done and he made a start in pigeon racing. It was at the time he changed schools and his new teacher, a Mr Reichel, was a pigeon fancier and soon heard that his new pupil was interested in his own chosen hobby. They made a deal that Joop studied hard that year he would receive a gift of some eggs and needless to say, at the end of the year came the eggs. From one of those eggs a youngsters hatched and was rung NL896497/63; this turned out te be a hen and the next year Joop paired it to the cock from the Janssens Brothers and a fantastic breeding pair was formed.

Youngsters from this pair flew brilliantly and brought Joop his very first championships. They bred many top pigeons and the blood of this pair can be traced back through his bloodlines today-distance yes, but it is still there. At the age of 18, Joop was National Young Champion of All Holland NPO. The next few years saw his reputation grow as more and more championships were won.

Joop had a large slice of luck the day he found the Janssens pigeon on his way  home from school but he was to have another one on a lovely summer’s day when a beautiful blue cock strayed into his loft. He was smitten with this cock and he knew instantly that it was a quality pigeon, so he reported the fond and once again traced the owner. This time it was another famous loft, that of Smeulders Brothers and he was to learn that the pigeon was missing for several years. When Joop described the condition of the bird, the brothers knew that somebody had kept this bird for several years. Smeulders asked Joop to return it, rewarding him with a son of their world famous ‘Kanon’. This proved to be another goldmine breeding cock for Joop and it cemented this passion for Janssens pigeons that has lasted up to the present day.

By now he was out of his teenage years and he was getting older his thoughts were turning to birds of a different feather. He met a girl named Ellen, got married and settled down. The couple has been blessed with 4 children, all of them boys. None of the lads have become involved with the pigeons but they will look after them when their parents to on holiday, which is usually after racing season. Joop works for the local council and is a chief of works for the building of new houses and schools. It was in 1975 that he build his own house and moved with the family to Ooy, near Nijmegen and they lived there for the past 28 years.

Shortly after Joop had moved to his new address, he learned that an auction was to take place in Nijmegem for the Smeulders Brothers bloodlines and he decided he would attend and try to buy himself some pigeons. He brought a late youngsters from ‘The Good 42’, a grandson of the famous ‘Strik’ of Wout Smeulders (the same bloodlines can be found in the pedigree of ‘Old 05’ of Bertie Camphuis and the WOnderboys 05 and 06). This late youngster was coupled with a granddaughter of the Janssens stray the following years and another top breeding pair was formed. Many races were won through these pairs over the next couple of seasons and the loft was becoming stronger and stronger, but Joop is not a man who likes to stand still, so he was always looking for pigeons that he thought might improve his own loft. One such loft was that of a local fancier named Gerrit van Maasdijk, from Wijchen who had a super cock that went on to represent Holland in the Olympiad. Joop bought a pair of youngsters from this cock and they helped to improve the overall quality of the loft Groenen. Other purchases were made from Henk van den Berg who raced a family of Linssens Janssens. Joop crossed one the these Smeulders lines and out of that came his ace cock ‘Jordan 010/91’. Then there came a hen out of ‘Lieveling’ of Nic Janssen of Gronsveld, that became the mother of ‘Jordan 010/91’. This ace pigeon ‘Jordan 010’ became best ace pigeon Vredesduifcompetition 1993 and 1^st Ace Pigeon Kring Nijmegen 1993.

Due to all the success Joop was having with the pigeons, his wife Ellen realized that to see more of her husband, she would have to take an interest and although initially this was the reason, she got caught by pigeon bug herself. Ellen now manages the young birds team every year and had become a true lover of pigeon racing, leaving Joop in charge of the old birds.

In January 1995, the small town of Ooy became world news. The Waal was threatening to burst out of his banks and everyone had to be evacuated due to the deteriorating conditions and the threat of life. Joop would not leave his pigeons, as they were all feeding youngsters in the nest, so the authorities decided that all the youngsters should be killed. Almost every news station covered the story on him and the plight of his pigeons. CNN covered the story from start to finish and broadcast it all around the world. The older birds were finally loaded onto a horse box and evacuated to a neighbouring fancier in Wijchen. This was a sad time for Joop and Ellen. They were very disappointed, as the previous 2 years had been the most successful.

But the disappointment of the start of the season was cast aside, as 1995 saw them become general champions. It was in this period that they had introduced the pigeons of Leo van Rijn of Schipluiden and these were the pigeons that they were having the most success with. They also paid a visit to Bertie Camphuis and bought some pigeons from him when he was flying well. With these pigeons crossed into the old lines of their loft, the performances have really become top drawer.

Some amazing birds

NL5938623/99 MAXIMA G

Aarschot 4971b-1

Aarschot 13.522b-1

St-Gislain 3653b-2

Tessenderlo 5561b-4

Tessenderlo 5959b-6

Niergies 7048b-14

1^st Ace Pigeon section 8 (4500 members) in 2001

3^rd Ace Pigeon region 4 (1400 members) in 2000

The sire of this hen is ‘NL1401744/97 De Zwerver’ from  line L.v.Rijn. He was one of the best breedingcocks ever on the loft Groenen. He was from ‘NL695/91 De Eitjesdoffer’ from Leo van Rijn x ‘Keizerin 541/92’ (De Keizer 680/88 x Els 867/88).

The mother is ‘Janneke NL5856355/98’, one of the best breedinghens. She was bred from basis cock ‘Jordan Jr NL127/94’ (best breeders from ‘Jordan NL010/91’ ace pigeon in 1993) X ‘Raket G NL384/93’. This hen won Strombeek 10050b-11, St-Gislain 8157b-9, St-Gislain 3299b-9, Heverlee 5276b-17, Herentals 5605b-23… and bred from Generaal 577/89 1^st General Ace pigeon 1992) x ‘De Poot 620/89’. A special breeding couple.

NL5938624/99 Hercules G.

Monlincourt 2873-1

Monlincourt 7041-1

Chimay 5922-3

St-Gislaiin 14,377-22

Tessenderlo 14,938-26

Aarschot 5391-10

6th best bird on short distance NPO 2001

This cock is the nestmate of ‘MAXIMA G’. He has the same pedigree. Has their ever been better birds in the same nest born???

NL2157313/96 De President

St-Gislain 5886-1

Breuil 3000-1

St-Gislain 9397-1

Breuil 4839-1

Breuil 2791-2

Strombeek 6118-9

Niergnies 6085-21

The father is ‘NL2012552/91 Hertog’. He is from ‘Hertog 4000/90’ Leo v Rijn  X ‘The Queen ‘ Leo v Rijn. The mother is ‘NL2012550/91 De Keizerin’. She is  from ‘De Keizer 680/88’ (Rick Mardis line Leo) v Rijn X Els 867/88 (Leo v Rijn).

NL2098253/03 Amalia

Peronne 11521-2

Hensies 14353-3

Strombeek 14601-45

Herentals 7201-43

She is an excellent racing hen. She was 7^th best young bird NPO in 2003. The father is ‘Dark Champion JR 315/96’. He is line ‘Dark Champion 115/88 (Leo v Rijn) X ‘Hattrick 113/91 (l v Rijn). The mother is ‘NL989/98’, from basic cock ‘Jordan 010/91’ x ‘Miss Ellen 495/95’ (Orleans 1764-16, Roye 3838-71, St-Gislain 5054-103…)

NL1733959/04 Alex

Peronne 6715-2

Peronne 4821-4

Strombeek 11,682-24

Morlincourt 3757-11

Hensies 10955-34

22nd best midfond pigeon NPO in 2005

The father is ‘NL624/99 Hercules’, a direct son of breeding wonder ‘Zwerver 744/97’ (L v Rijn) x ‘Janneke 355/98’(granddaughter ‘Jordan’ and ‘Genereaal’). This is a super pair. The mother of ‘Alex’ is ‘Louise 684/97’. She became 2^nd General ace pigeon Nijmegen (600 members) in 1999. The father is ‘son Eitjesdoffer’ (Leo v Rijn) x ‘Sister Jordan’.

NL1084451/05 Amy

Strombeek 9328-11

Chantilly 1170-3

Tessenderlo 4367-9

Duffel 8162-18

Duffel 10890-95

3^rd best youngster NPO in 2005

The father is ‘Superkweker 349/97’ from ‘Boris 418/93’(Heverlee 9793-6, Etampes 3980-3, St-Gislain 5562-11…) X ‘Sprinter 122/94’(Herentals 3930-3, Heverlee 7693-17, Aarschot 5808-15, Strombeek 248-1, Heverlee 5272-27)

The mother is ‘Maxima 623/99’, direct from famous breeding pair ‘Zwerver’ x ‘Janneke’.

Method

All the birds are paired on December 27^th, except for the one-day widowers, which are paired in March. Joop starts training the birds in March, due a big hawk problem in his area. He moves the eggs of the best stock birds to the yearling cocks. Joop does have the place to keep youngsters from the yearlings, not enough lofts. Once the youngsters are split from the widowers, Joop likes to send the droppings and swabs to the vet for checking and he will treat on the vet’s advice. He will use Ronidazole 10% for canker and Doxine (made by vet Hoekstra) for respiratory when necessary. Once he is satisfied with the health, the cocks are allowed to exercise. They are not pushed but are just left out for about one hour at a time once per day until the start to go well. On March 8^th they are re-paired, along with a dozen of one-day widowers and once they have been sitting 2 eggs for 5 days  the hens are removed from the main 16 widowers. The other 12 one-day widowers are allowed to rear 2 youngsters. The main 16 cocks are allowed on widowhood.

Joop feeds the cocks as follows: Sunday morning-100% depurative, evening- 100% depurative with BS from De Weerd or Doxin+ on it to clear the airways and the heads. Clean water. Monday am depurative, pm same as Sunday. Tuesday am 50% depurative and 50% widowhood mix; pm 100% widowhood for the sprint races. When they race middle distance the get 25% more maize for extra energy. Clean water. For the middle distance 33% extra maize. In the drinker there is Colombine tea and multivitamin. Thursday, am 100% widowhood corn; pm super diet with maize added. In the water he gives them ‘White nose’ from Deweerd. Friday (basket day) am super diet with a little maize added. In the afternoon he gives Super Diet with rice and electrolytes in the drinker when the weather is hot. Saterday-on return from the race the get Super Diet in the boxes and after the hens have been removed they get Super Diet again, as much as they want. Grit is given every day.

Joop always shows the hen to the cock before it goes to the race and he shows it 30 minutes to one hour. The cocks are calm and it’s better for the hens also.

With the youngsters it is all little different. Joop trains them often and takes them as much he can to the same spot, but once racing has started he does not train them again. He splits the sexes and races them on the door system. The youngsters are fed on the same system.

Johan Kempen