The Kuyper Bros
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The Kuyper Bros of Neer in the Netherlands were considered one of the best long distance
lofts in Europe in the latter years of the 20th century.Their successes from Barcelona are considered phenomenal. Ordinary tradesmen but when it came to the sport of distance pigeon racing they possessed a gift that others lack inspite of the commitment of many sincere pigeon fanciers to compete and succeed with their own charges.

Again when we look at their pedigrees we see there the influence of the Aarden and van Wanroy strains. But how could any aspirant to success at the distance operate without these two strains in particular. Now this is not to rule out other equally good bloodlines but a look at the results in the last 50 years of the previous century and the early years of this century ( the 21st) confirm the productive aspect of the van Wanroy's and the Aarden's.

A recent produced video which I viewed presented a good insight to the Kuyper's and their
management, a management plan allied with the right bloodlines produced pigeons that appeared to be made of steel when it came to the marathon of all marathons. As already stated at the base of the Kuyper's are some of Europe's most renowned bloodlines including van Geel and van Wanroy. The Cattrysse genes are also there especially that of the latter strain's great racer and producer De 45. As I have written elsewhere Pette and Mette of Cattrysse bred De 45 which once won a race from Bordeaux by one hour! 45 also won 1st Angouleme by 19 minutes. In fact in 1989 out of 41 pairs of Kuyper Bros’ best pigeons, 20 pairs were descendants of De 45.

One of the best racers of the Kuypers was the Zwartje (Dark) Barcelona, a beautiful bird
containing van Wanroy and van Geel bloodlines which in 1996 scored 2nd National, 3rd
International Barcelona. But obviously as the statistics reveal this is not a one bird loft for in the
1998 Dutch National from Barcelona the brothers had three birds in the first 100 in the race. Don
Leo was 20th, Het 395 was 30th, and Blauwe 68 was 85th. I should also add that Geschelpte
537 finished 157th in the same race against a national total of 6,290 birds. That year was an
excellent year for the Kuyper family for they achieved 4th National Marathon. The proof of the
pigeons is in the flying, they say!

by: Liam O Comain