A.J. Nel Pigeons

INTRODUCTION

Bertus Nel lives in Colesberg, South Africa. He is married to Lida and they have three children. Colesberg is situated in the most south eastern region of the Northern Cape Province and close to the border of the Eastern Cape and Free State. Part of the Northern Cape is known as the Karoo and Colesberg is one of the towns in this semi-desert area.

Bertus has been involved with pigeons since 1978 (age 10) and started competing in races in 1983 (in partnership with his father and brother). In 1994, two years after completing his studies, he started on his own as a member of the Riversdale Pigeon Club in the Southern Cape. One of his club members was the late Hannes van der Merwe whose birds would have a big influence on his loft in later years. Bertus moved to Colesberg in December 1997 and lives at his present address since 2001.

Pigeons from different sources have been tried and tested over the years with mixed success. In 2001 Bertus managed to get hold of the Golden Couple of Hannes van der Merwe. Hannes had super results with these Janssen based pigeons in long distance races. The male Goede Blauwe OBU 92D/1849 and the beautiful female Mooie Blauwe OBU 93D/0452 were both 1st prize winners in Union races. As a breeding couple they were superb and bred many Union winners. A daughter also won 8th in the 1998 Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race.

Bertus also managed to take their three best children at that stage, Kroonstad 1 OBU 95/0189 (1 Union Kroonstad 925km), Bloemfontein Hen OBU 98D/0230 (1 Union Bloemfontein 724km) and the Sun City Hen OBU 97/2100 (8 SCMDPR), to Colesberg.

Goede Blauwe - OBU 92D/1849

Pau Brazier - NL 04/1799885

When Hannes decided to sell all his pigeons at the end of 2002 Steven van Breemen of Holland wanted to buy all the new stars of the Golden Couple. Among them were Kroonstad 2 (1 Union Kroonstad 925km and only bird on the day), Namibia Cock and Bloemfontein 2 Hen (2 Union Bloemfontein 724km). Bertus arranged the deal between Hannes and Steven and another deal was struck: Bertus would breed a few inbred youngsters from his Van der Merwe stock for Steven in exchange for youngsters from Steven’s new acquisitions as well as youngsters from his national winners and national ace pigeons like Good Yearling, Orleans Lady, Magic Mealy, Magic Olympic, Vechter, etc.

The Van Breemens and an original Victor Christiaens male BELG 93/2066895 (responsible for many 1st prize winners for the late James Jennings) were used to cross with the Van der Merwes with very good results.

BELG 93/2066895

NOK CAS 02/177

Bertus has always tried to keep up to date with the latest happenings and news in the sport and has been a subscriber to many international pigeon publications since 1994. Many of these publications have published articles about the exploits of Gaby Vandenabeele, one of the modern stars of the Belgium pigeon sport. Gaby is world famous for his racing success at provincial and national level and breeder of super pigeons like Kleinen, Wittenbuik, Picanol, Bijter, Playboy, Kolonel, Bliksem, Sissi and many others. Fanciers lucky enough to obtain some Vandenabeele pigeons enjoyed unbelievable success with their offspring in the races. The fanciers knocking on Gaby’s door and wanting to buy pigeons were many of the greatest champions in the world. A clear indication how highly they thought of the quality housed in Dentergem.

Witpen Wittenbuik SA - BELG 98/3020316

Wittenbuik 370 – SA CAS 05/370

Gaby’s most famous pigeons were Kleinen and his son Wittenbuik BELG 88/3206112. They were undoubtedly two of the best breeders in the history of the pigeon sport, responsible for first prize winners at provincial and national level for an unbelievable number of fanciers. Bertus introduced the Vandenabeele pigeons in 2003 and this line is based around Witpen Wittenbuik SA BELG 98/3020316 (grandson of Wittenbuik bred by Silvere Toye) and the Gaby Hen BELG 99/3199599 (granddaughter of Wittenbuik). This pair has bred super pigeons from the first nest and all their children have turned out to be very good breeders. One of their sons, Wittenbuik 370, is currently the number one breeder.

More Vandenabeeles were introduced in 2006, 2007 and 2008. These include direct birds out of:

Bliksem - best middle distance bird Belgium 2000 (Gaby Vandenabeele)
Loverboy - 1 Provincial Chateauroux 6 334 birds (Gaby Vandenabeele)
Super As - 2 National Ace Pigeon KBDB 2004 (Gaby Vandenabeele)
Golden Gaby - 1 National Orleans 606km 12 875 pigeons (M&D Evans)
Rolls Royce - 1 MNFC Picauville 480km 4 154 birds (M&D Evans)
Solitaire - 1 MNFC La Ferte Barnard (M&D Evans)
Logan, Golden Boy (M&D Evans), etc.

	E-mail: ajnel@eject.co.za - Cel. +27 83 233 5807 - Fax +27 51 753 1726

Design and Code by: