Welcome to my website. Here you can read about the sport of pigeon racing as it is practiced in Gramsbergen. I live in 19th Century (1880) renovated old farmhouse, there is plenty of space for the pigeons. The house is situated on the outskirts of the village and the birds can enjoy the wide expanse of the floodplains of the river Vecht. Enjoy reading about my pigeons and if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.

History
In 1972 I started with the pigeons in Schildwolde in in the far north of the Netherlands. In the early years I focused primarily on gaining knowledge about the cultivation and care of the pigeons, which meant a lot of reading and listening. In 1978 we moved to Gramsbergen and there I had good results from the start. The level was improved in the following decades, but the breakthrough to the top came in 1997-2000 when I acquired new stock from Harm Vredeveld and the Leideman Brothers.

Ancestors
From Harm Vredeveld came the Boy x Queen pigeons. The Love Pair was undoubtedly one of the best breeding couples of the nineties (possibly ever), with outstanding offspring such as Loverboy, Dutch Queen, Mr. Loverman, Game Boy, etc. The Dutch Prince, son of the Dutch Queen, stands at the base of my success as he is the father of the Three Musketeers and the ancestor of the Three Musketeers family.

From the Leideman Brothers I received pigeons from the line of Tip-Top x Zeeuws Meisje (which comes directly from Koen Minderhoud from the line of Picanol van Gaby Vandenabeele). Two grandchildren of this wonderful couple created the De Diamant, which is the mother of the Three Musketeers and thus the ancestress of the Three Musketeers family.
Since 2000 I could benefit almost every year from these two rich sources.

Other prize winners
In 2003 I successfully introduced a grandson and granddaughter of Inbred Golden Smeulders from Jan Ganzeveld. In junction with the Musketeer pigeons, many of these birds are first prize winners.

Finally, I should mention the purchase of two brothers of Annelinde from Bert Berends. In 2007 she was the best young pigeon of WHZB in the Netherlands. Annelindes mother is a daughter of the worldfamous Euro from Leo Heremans!

With these birds I have achieved great results and championships the past few years. For example in Rayon 10 of department 10: in 2008 1e General old birds (All Pigeons)., in 2009 3e General old birds (All Pigeons). and in 2010 1e short distances (All Pigeons)., 1e middle long distances (All Pigeons). And again 1e General old birds (All Pigeons). These championship are for all pigeons and not for Nominated pigeons only.

Offspring champions
That the features of the Three Musketeers family are also passed on to the younger generation is not only seen in my own results, but also at many other pigeon fanciers. As you can see on the page with references.