BEVERDAM HOFKENS

This is a family that was built from the famous racer and breeder, the ‘Driebander’ of Gust Hofkens. Gust Hofkens and Adriaan Wouters were good friends and were known to trade birds back and forth over the years, which benefited both flyers. At that time, Wouters partner was Karel Meulemans and their number 2 pair was the ‘182 Witpen Hofkens Cock and ‘Schoondonker’. The only pair in their stock loft that was more important was their world famous ‘Golden Couple’, and they were ‘Schoondonkers’ parents. ‘182 was a super breeding ‘Driebander’ grandson and he had a maroon iris with gold circles of correlation. This paired with the violet eyes of ‘Schoondonker’ was a great combination and this pairing was responsible for most of the orange eyes in the old line Meulemans and this Hofkens family today. This pair is still responsible for top breeders and racers as I write this today, and because of the ‘Schoondonker’ influence on this family, occasionally you will breed a recessive red, chocolate or brown, depending on what you choose to call them.

‘182’s parents were a great breeding pair themselves and they had several other youngsters that made a mark for them selves also. There was the ‘Geschiften’, a super racing and foundation breeding cock that was bought by Verbruggen. There was another brother also called the ‘Geschiften’ that was a good flyer and dominant breeder for Grondelears. There was a sister that was a good breeder for Leo Broeckx in his family of Hofkens. These were all grand children of Gust Hofkens famous ‘Driebander’ and key pigeons in all the above famous lofts.

Herman Beverdam of Enter, Holland, recognized the value of the birds from ‘182 and ‘Schoondonker’ and he purchased 3 sons from Karel Meulemans. With these 3 sons of ‘182, ‘Driebander 075’, ‘Genopte v 80’ (483), and ‘Witpen 78’ (914), Herman paired them with Hofkens from his good friend, Karel Verrijdt, daughters of the ‘Geschiften’ from Verbruggen, and old-line Janssen pigeons from the loft of Jacob van Hoppe. The JVH pigeons included birds like the ‘Ace Zuiderkempen’, the ‘Ace Milionaire’, an 18 time winner and his brother, ‘505’, a 20 time winner, plus many more. With these, the nucleus of Hermans Hofkens family was conceived. A dominant Janssen based family ready to be crossed back to other Hofkens families, Meulemans or other Janssen based families.

We are currently (2004) breeding from sons or daughters of Hermans famous ‘Panther’, ‘Geschifte 634’, ‘945 ( Son Ace Lier) and the ‘Genopte v 80’. Grand children of ‘Witneusje 72’( Hermans foundation hen), ‘Driebander 075’, ‘Witpen 78’, the ‘Ace Zuiderkempen’, the ‘Ace Drie’ and the two time ‘Ace Lier’, plus a few line bred great grand children of the ‘Ace Milionaire’.

Bill Curtis Jr.

October, 2003