A morning on Barcelona
Picture this. You have just finished a season in which you became 1st national champion KBDB long distance yearlings. The whole country knows your team can explode. And again it is Barcelona. The race of races.
At Koen De Backer in Hoevenen there is no big show that morning. No circus. Only silence, focus and the knowledge that a few pigeons in the sky represent his whole system. When De Kleine Blauwe cuts in low between the houses and later writes 4th national Narbonne and 23rd national Barcelona on his record, you know this is not coincidence but craftsmanship.
That is what Koen De Backer Pigeons stands for. Not many races, only the toughest ones, with pigeons that return year after year on Agen, Narbonne and Barcelona.
2024: the year of national confirmation
For Koen, 2024 is the season where everything comes together. With a well planned yearling team he wins the title every long distance fancier dreams of: 1st national champion KBDB long distance yearlings.
His yearlings move from Agen to Narbonne as if it were a simple middle distance race. On Narbonne he wins among other things 1st and 2nd provincial against 867 yearlings and 4th and 7th national against 5553 yearlings. In total the loft scores six top one hundred national positions in 2024. These are numbers you usually see on lofts with an army of pigeons, not with a fulltime working fancier who uses very sharp selection.
At the same time his reputation on Barcelona grows. With De Rooie 706 and Het Dakzitterke he builds a series of Barcelona results that demands respect even in Belgium, and that says something. De Rooie 706 becomes 6th national ace pigeon Barcelona over the seasons 2021 up to and including 2024, Het Dakzitterke climbs to 2nd national ace pigeon Barcelona over 2022 up to and including 2024.
Not one big hit, but series. That is the trademark of Koen De Backer Pigeons. Pigeons that can handle Barcelona three or four years in a row in all kinds of weather. No coincidence, but strain, selection and a system built around the toughest classic of the year.
The drama of 2025 only makes the story more human. In that season De Rooie 706 does not return from Barcelona. One icon less, exactly on the race that should have crowned his career. That is the dark side of a loft that uses the toughest race in Europe as spearhead. The glory is big, but sometimes the price is high as well.
Het Dakzitterke has already moved to the breeding loft by then to secure her Barcelona genes for the future.
Nestbroer 402 and Het Moederke, the real foundation
Behind every magic duo there are pigeons that hardly ever make it onto a poster. In Hoevenen these are mainly Het Moederke and Nestbroer 402.
Het Moederke is a hen from an exchange with Gebr Devriesere. As a young bird she is almost always early and as a yearling she meets all expectations. After that she moves to the breeding loft and slowly it becomes clear that she is not just any hen but the base of the whole strain.
Her son Nestbroer 402, ring BE12 6279403, develops into a top breeder. He is nest brother of De Carcassonne, 10th international Carcassonne, and at the same time a grandson of De 561 of Jos Van Olmen. From this cock, success literally flows into the lofts.
A few examples of what his line has produced
Den As, 5th national ace pigeon KBDB long distance yearlings 2022, with early prizes on Agen and Narbonne.
Koen at Daan Roosen, 4th national ace pigeon long distance yearlings 2021 and 1st provincial, 8th national Agen.
De Schicht and Victor, two nest brothers from Nestbroer 402 x Bella who in 2024 become co winners of the national championship KBDB extreme long distance with among other results 2nd provincial and 7th national Narbonne for De Schicht and 17th provincial and 87th national Narbonne for Victor.
De Kleine Blauwe, inbred to Nestbroer 402 paired to Cynthia Campio Barca 900 from the Barcelona loft of Geert De Coninck. He becomes 17th national ace pigeon KBDB long distance yearlings 2024, 1st provincial and 4th national Narbonne and in 2025 23rd national Barcelona.
If you look at the whole picture you do not see a patchwork of random purchases but a logical building of a strain. Own base Het Moederke and Nestbroer 402, combined with proven Barcelona lines such as El Campio Barca through Bella and Cynthia Campio Barca. That is how you build a team that wins a national title and at the same time dares to play along for several years in the Barcelona ace pigeon rankings.
2025: the season of scars and character
After a title year the outside world often expects a repeat. The reality of the extreme long distance is much tougher. Even before the season has really started Koen loses three pillars on the middle distance. The 88th national Barcelona disappears, just like the 13th national Narbonne, a hen with four out of four on Barcelona and Perpignan in 2024. Then Aske 784, 10th national ace pigeon, is lost on the final preparation race toward Barcelona.
Add the retirement of Het Dakzitterke and you know the start of 2025 is much slimmer than the results suggest.
Still, the team holds.
On Agen 2025 he enters five old birds and twenty one yearlings. The old birds win three national prizes of which two are within the first ten percent. The yearlings take nine national prizes with the first arrival in the top one hundred. It is not a spectacular Agen, but it is solid and above all it shows that the base is still there.
Barcelona 2025 again becomes the emotional centre of the season. The three spearheads are De Rooie 706, Klein Rooike and De Kleine Blauwe. The course of the race is classic long distance. Early arrivals elsewhere, tension on the loft, then finally a pigeon that cuts in between the roofs. It is De Kleine Blauwe who, as third nominated, wins 23rd national.
On the provincial result sheet of Antwerp Koen scores ten prizes with twenty three entered pigeons. Nationally about one in four wins a prize, in the province he is at one in three. It is a Barcelona to be proud of, despite the loss of De Rooie 706.
Narbonne 2025 closes the season with a statement. Three old birds and fifteen yearlings in the basket. All three old birds arrive within the first 156 national against 4021 pigeons. Victor and De Schicht win 67th and 79th national, their sister 007 joins at 156th national. For the yearlings the race is heavy, but Koen still wins seven prizes from fifteen entered pigeons with the first one again in the top one hundred national.
The final balance of 2025 looks strong. Five times top one hundred national, thirty four prizes from sixty seven pigeons on the provincial result of Antwerp, exactly fifty percent. And on Narbonne Koen is the first fancier in Belgium who has his first, second and third nominated home by the time the 156th national pigeon is clocked. These are figures that show the national title of 2024 was not a lucky shot but the logical outcome of a system that remains standing even when the wind is against you.
The system: few races, maximum impact
Koen is not a fancier who wants to shine every weekend. He does not play for the weekly club result but for the classics. Agen, Barcelona, Narbonne, sometimes Perpignan. The rest is preparation.
The racing team consists of a limited group of old birds and a yearling group that is built up step by step towards Agen and Narbonne. The pigeons train one hour per day, cocks in the morning, hens in the evening. Once the pairs are on eggs and the season approaches, training is increased and they go weekly to Quiévrain or the middle distance to stay in the right rhythm.
Medically Koen works with a very down to earth plan. No cupboard full of products, but targeted guidance with veterinarian Kristof Mortelmans. Before the season a five day treatment against trichomoniasis and manure checks, during the season a yellow drop on return and treatment only if there is a clear problem. The loft is smoked twice per year, exactly timed for Agen and Narbonne.
Selection is hard. Pigeons that cannot handle Barcelona or Narbonne do not get much patience. Those that can handle it get several seasons to build a series. That is how pigeons like De Rooie 706, Het Dakzitterke and De Kleine Blauwe are created.
Mindset: fulltime work, fulltime dreams
What makes Koen De Backer Pigeons extra interesting is the total picture. This is not a professional loft builder with staff, but a fancier who works fulltime at Colruyt, has a family with two children and still finds the energy to be a national reference on the extreme long distance.
The mindset is simple and at the same time rare.
Long term planning instead of impulse. Investing in children of national Barcelona ace pigeons and crossing them with his own strain. Working with GPS rings to understand what pigeons do on the road. And above all honesty towards himself. In his own reports you will not find sales talk but open analysis, including mistakes and setbacks.
That is exactly what makes him interesting as a figurehead for the modern sport. Younger generation, heavy job, yet top level on the hardest races. With this story you can show outsiders that pigeon sport is much more than a result on Sunday. It is top sport with planning, data, genetics and character.
Koen De Backer Pigeons as a visiting card for the extreme long distance
Anyone who looks at the seasons 2024 and 2025 sees one clear line.
A national title with yearlings. A Barcelona duo that builds result series over several years. A strain around Het Moederke and Nestbroer 402 that makes the difference not only on the home loft but also at reference lofts. A team that even after heavy losses still wins ten out of twenty three in the province on Barcelona and finishes Narbonne with a trio of old birds in the top part of the national result.
Koen De Backer Pigeons is a story that makes sense, both in sport and in structure. It is the type of colony that other fanciers can look up to and that makes outsiders curious. Exactly the kind of story pigeon sport needs to show that Barcelona is still very alive, not in nostalgia but in young lofts that work in a smart way towards the top.
Anyone who follows the results of Agen, Barcelona and Narbonne in the coming years would be wise to keep an eye on the name Hoevenen. The base is there, the strain is clear and the ambition is intact. The Barcelona machine keeps running, with scars and with a future.
Jan de Wijs
The Pigeon Boss
