There are certain problems in the pigeon sport that exist for so long that, at some point, we almost start to accept them as normal. Not because they are normal, but because nobody really solves them.
For me, this was one of those problems.
You buy a pigeon abroad. Sometimes it is just another purchase, but sometimes it is that one pigeon you have been searching for for a very long time. You know the family, you know the bloodline and you know exactly why you want that bird. The moment the deal is done, the dreaming already begins. You can see the pigeon in your breeding loft. You start thinking ahead. Which pairing will I make? What can this pigeon add? Maybe this is exactly the piece of quality I have been looking for for years.
- But then comes the part that has frustrated me for a very long time.
- The pigeon still has to get home.
And from that moment on, uncertainty often begins. You know the seller has done his part. You know the pigeon has to go to the exporter. You know there are documents, checks and sometimes quarantine involved. All of that is part of the process, and that is not where the real problem is.
The real problem was that, as a buyer, you often had very little visibility on what was happening in between.
You wait a few days and, sooner or later, you look at your phone. No message yet. So you send one yourself. Maybe the seller knows the bird has already reached the exporter. Maybe something still needs to be arranged. Maybe the answer comes later.
And in the end, the same question always remains.
Where is my pigeon?
Struggling with for years.
Everyone who buys pigeons internationally knows that feeling.
That is exactly why I have always found this problem so strange. We live in a time where you can follow a simple parcel almost step by step. You know when it has been collected, when it reaches a depot and when it is on its way to your front door. But when you buy a valuable racing pigeon, a living animal carrying years of selection and often huge expectations, it was completely possible to have far less information.
That simply does not make sense.
Because for us, a pigeon is never just a parcel. Sometimes you are buying a direct son of a champion you have admired for years. Sometimes you are bringing in a bloodline you could not find anywhere else. Sometimes you genuinely believe a certain pigeon can change your breeding loft.
- At that moment, you are not only buying a bird.
- You are buying expectations.
- You are buying the future.
- And that is exactly why you want to know what is happening with that pigeon.
That is why I became so interested in what Daniel Hash has built with Avian Export Services. He did not try to invent an artificial problem and then wrap a marketing story around it. He looked at something the international pigeon world has been
He looked at that one simple question that keeps coming back.
- Where is my pigeon?
- And he built a solution for it.
It almost sounds too simple, but that is exactly where the strength lies.
The buyer no longer has to rely completely on separate messages and phone calls to understand where a bird is in the process. The journey becomes visible. As an owner, you stay connected to your pigeon while it moves through the export process.
For me, that changes the entire experience.
Not because technology solves everything. And not because exporting suddenly becomes easy. Exporting pigeons remains specialist work. There are regulations, documents, checks and logistical challenges.
But uncertainty does not have to be part of that process.
And that is a very important difference.
When you know your pigeon is in good hands and you can see that the process is moving forward, it creates peace of mind. The buyer needs to ask fewer questions. The seller gets fewer follow up messages. The exporter can focus more on the actual work instead of constantly giving the same updates.
Everybody benefits.
But for me, the most important winner remains the fancier.
- The man or woman sitting somewhere on the other side of the world, waiting for a pigeon that may become extremely important to their loft.
- That person does not need a complicated system.
- They simply want to know what is happening.
That is why I believe this can become much bigger than just a useful extra service. Once fanciers experience that there is another way, expectations will start to change.
- Then the question will no longer be only who can export a pigeon.
- The question will also become how professionally and transparently that process is handled.
- And that is where Avian Export Services has the opportunity to set a new standard.
I have seen many developments come and go in the pigeon sport. Some were genuinely innovative. Others were mainly well packaged. But the solutions that stay usually have one thing in common.
They remove real frustration.
This is one of those solutions.
For years, we accepted that between the moment of purchase and the moment of arrival there was a kind of grey area. We knew the process was moving, but we often did not know exactly where our pigeon was or how far things had progressed.
Daniel Hash looked directly at that grey area.
- And he made it visible.
- For me, that is the heart of this story.
- Not software.
- Not tracking.
- Not technology.
- Trust.
You buy a pigeon you have great expectations for. You look forward to the day that bird finally arrives at your loft.
- And now, at last, you can also follow the journey in between.
- After years of frustration, it almost feels obvious.
- And maybe that is the greatest compliment you can give a new service.
- After experiencing it once, you wonder why we did not always do it this way.
Guys, this is revolutionary!
Jan de Wijs
The Pigeon Boss
