Turn and twist it as you like but during the first weekend of the month of July, all pigeon fanciers talk about only one flight and that is Barcelona International. Fanciers worldwide sit, when the first pigeons are expected, in front of their computers to follow up the entries live. Numerous forecasts were drawn up and favourites put on paper. 

To measure the Barcelona fever in ‘real time’ with a real Barcelona specialist, we visited Joost De Smeyter (playing under the name De Smeyter-Restiaen) in Melden with a questionnaire under our arm. Joost De Smeyter...any introduction is superfluous...on his impressive palmares shine the following (inter)national victories

1st International Perpignan against 4,534 yearlings with ‘Joost’ in 2003
1st International Bordeaux against 6,223 yearlings with ‘Grand Cru’ in 2006
1st International Pau against 9,052 pigeons with ‘Cas’ in 2015
(only pigeon registered on day of release)
1st International Barcelona against 4. 820 hens with ‘Floor’ in 2016
(also 2nd International against 15,700 pigeons)
1st International Narbonne against 9,154 pigeons with “Celsius” in 2018
1st National St. Vincent against 3,080 pigeons with ‘Tadej’ in 2021

We call Joost a real Barcelona specialist and with that we are not exaggerating a single letter. Results never lie and we looked them up for you, proof on the table !

2018: 
1st International hens 
2nd International
6 pigeons to 22nd prize national: 2,9,12,21,22,51 and 59 national

2019:
9th National

2020 - corona year
was the only time only cocks were basketed,

2021
19th, 58th, 60th and 96th national

2022:
3rd, 17th, 25th, 43rd, 51st, 78th and 87th national

2023:
2nd national (there were then only 3 pigeons clocked on the day of release)

2024:
4th and 9th national (there were 10 pigeons clocked on the day of release including 2 De Smeyter-Restiaen pigeons)

Impressive figures that can only confirm the quality of the De Smeyter-Restiaen pigeon as a Barcelona pigeon. Who ever did better, we wonder.

First Barcelona participation in 1994

Joost takes a sip of his hot coffee, takes a quick look at son Cas who is cleaning his racing bike (for your information: Cas is combining studies in industrial engineering with a cycling career with Lotto's training team next year) and starts talking about the year 1992. "In that year I submitted my first loft list and believe it or not but in 1994 I was already at the basketing table for Barcelona. Back then you were still allowed to basket yearlings. I achieved the 4th prize locally. In 1995 I was on the date again and won 1st prize locally. The ‘Barcelona virus’ had got hold of me. It became a marriage for life!

Some ask me about the basis of my colony but that is very difficult to answer. I am afraid of forgetting names and I don't want to do that anyway. What I can say is that in 1992 I devoured the book ‘The history of Belgian pigeon racing’ by Jules Gallez. In that book, there was a group photo of the best pigeons from Vervisch (Kortrijk). All dark black pigeons...that photo did not let me go and I took my courage and knocked on Vervisch's door to buy something. I succeeded and even now the Vervisch pigeons, together with the Aarden pigeons (via Jan Ernest) and the Lei Kurvers pigeons run like a thread through all my pigeons.

1st International Perpignan

My first major success came with the now world-famous ‘Joost’. ‘Joost’ won 1° International Perpignan 4,534 yearling and 21st national St Vincent in 2003
He was a direct son of one of my first stock pigeons, namely ‘The 95 Vervisch’, from J. Vervisch from Kortrijk. Out of a cross with that unsurpassed ‘Aardenbloed’... that ‘old Steenberg breed’... that I went to get from Jan Ernest in Steenbergen.
After the ‘Joost’ produced several offspring in his own loft, he was bought by Erik Limbourg (where he was renamed ‘De Joost’) and also in Brussegem he turned out to be a master breeder.
More recently, I would refer to my top hen ‘Floorke’ as a new basic hen. ‘Floorke’ won 2nd international Barcelona and in the meantime is already mother and grandmother of several good pigeons.

Winter regime
Joost: "To explain my Barcelona system I will go back to the last international flight of last season, and we are talking about Perpignan. Before I continue, I must stipulate that - for Barcelona - all attention is given to a team of 35 lesbian hens. For these 35 hens, Barcelona and Perpignan are marked in fluor on the flight calendar. 
This year, 35 hens - which are played on pure widowhood - will also go to Barcelona. Normally they were meant to fly Agen, but at the last moment I decided to put them on the Barcelona poule. Meanwhile, I have found that this system does not suit me very well, I cannot control the hens as well. But let's go back to the preparation of the ‘lesbian hens’.
When they come home from Perpignan, this team of hens stays in the racing loft until the end of the moult. They are even allowed to raise a youngster. Once most of the hens are through the moult, the ‘cosy’ loft is transformed into a less cosy affair. In other words, the lofts get a very thorough cleaning, the straw on the floor is removed and replaced by grids. The living boxes are closed and the hens can only sit on sticks. I call this the ‘winter regime’. This ‘winter regime’ is maintained until Bourges national (end of May). So concretely, during the training flights (speed and middle distance) the 35 hens just sit together, on sticks, in a loft. When they join a race, they are ‘plucked’ from the loft without any motivation and that's it.  When they go with the club, they are always basketed for the furthest possible flight.
The feed during this ‘winter regime’ is a mix of Gerry Plus I.C., Depure Plus I.C., Winter Plus I.C., all from Versele-Laga. Only when they have 2-night basket preparation flights, Champion Plus I.C. is also added. 
In terms of by-products, I choose various products from the Belga-Vet range.
Medically, apart from the compulsory vaccinations, the medicine cabinet remains closed. 

Some cocks bring ambiance

Once Bourges national - end of May - is finished, the loft is made more ‘cosy’ again. The poles will be removed, grids will be replaced by straw, living boxes will be opened again and the lesbian hens will be able to start a nest anywhere. The intention is that, on the day of basketing for Barcelona, the hens will have the care of a young of 3 to 4 days old, but this year the hens laid a little too smoothly.
Some hens - just under 10% - do not have lesbian tendencies, which is why some 6 cocks also enter the loft. The cocks have the time of their lives as all the ‘ladies’ call on their services from time to time. Another advantage of the presence of the cocks is that the lesbian hens mate faster.  A disadvantage is that those cocks can sometimes cause a ‘fight’. For example, they want to occupy an extra box, where 2 hens are breeding, and that should definitely not happen. It is up to me - as a fancier - to keep a very close eye on all this and intervene if necessary. 
The Barcelona hens usually lay after 10 days. From then on, they are given protein-rich feed and various Belga-Vet products are administered by feel. Two to three times a week Wonder Pigeon goes into the drinking pot.
From mid-May, veterinarian Pascal Lanneau will visit weekly and the pigeons will be examined for tricho, coxi and worms. Treatment against ornithosis is only done in consultation. 
This year the hens were treated with Dokamox for 5 days after Bourges, which was finished in very bad weather with a lot of rain. 
When the hens have laid they fly another Noyon (145km) and a Pont Sainte Maxence (180km). They fly these flights because these are 1-night basket flights. 
This Barcelona team is the first team to take to the air in the morning to train and when I go to release my youngsters, I can't resist taking those hens along too. Training flights between 15km and 35km are no exception during this period. 
I want to tell you something else regarding food. It is not because they are Barcelona pigeons that they should not listen. I want them to come in smoothly when I call. That is why they are fed by feel up to even 3 times a day and it is striking that one day they eat a lot and the next day much less. I really can't put a firm line on it.

The last five days before basketing Barcelona, they are raised. A mix of Energy Plus I.C., Champion Plus I.C., Master R. Exclusive and Mariman Standard are on the menu. I like to mix in Mariman Standard because this mixture contains large yellow maize. Similar maize to the one they get in the basket during their transport to Barcelona. 
I do not shy away from mixing ‘Twister Oil’ and ‘Joostmengeling’ (an all-in-one product) from Belga Vet over the feed. 
When Barcelona is over , all the youngsters are removed and allowed to start another nest. Usually they go to Perpignan on a 10-day brood."

The ideal Barcelona pigeon
Joost: "I don't know if it really exists. There is definitely a difference between a Barcelona pigeon that has to travel 1,000km with us or a Barcelona pigeon that has to travel 1,200km to get home.

And now wait and see

Voila, also this year I did everything possible to get my Barcelona team in top forme at the basketing table. In total I basketed 66 hens, 36 lesbian/nesting hens and 30 hens on pure widowhood.
And now it's wait and see...hopefully they can finish the ‘marathon of the skies’ in nice weather conditions and no...I'm not going to lie awake at night because of it...I'm going to get a good night's sleep as always. Let us say that since the passing away of my sister, I look at it all differently in life. Pigeon racing is practised here less obsessively with ‘just as much love’. Thanks to the support of some very good friends, who jump in to care when I can't, I can also make time for my family at important moments and that is so damn important in life." 

Joost, thank you for this interview and we wish you every success

Stefan Mertens