An introduction to the Master Breeder of Jan Aarden pigeons - Machiel Buijk

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

There are many lofts that have found fame based on the Jan Aarden pigeons. However, whilst most of these lofts have excellent birds, hardly anyone kept the Jan Aarden pigeons pure. The lofts of Machiel Buijk are a rare exception.

Nearly all these lofts have very nice pigeons, but 99 % of them are crossed with other strains other than the pure Jan Aarden strain. At the breeding lofts of Machiel Buijk in Holland there are only pure Jan Aarden pigeons of superior quality and outstanding eyesign, which are admired by all who see them, and they are bred from the best lines of the world famous Jan Aarden long distance strain of Marijn van Geel.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Machiel started in the pigeon fancy in 1970. He was born and still lives in the neighbourhood of Steenbergen, the little city where Jan Aarden and many of his successors lived, and from the beginning of his career Machiel was only fascinated by long distance pigeons.

After being a pigeon fancier for 10 years, Machiel started working for pigeon magazines in Belgium and Holland. In those days he visited many lofts in Europe and bought many excellent pigeons from those champions. He only wanted the best Jan Aarden pigeons and bought them from several lofts, such as Antoon Aarden, Lazeroms, Sprenkels, Vroegindeweij, Van der Wegen, and last but not least from Marijn van Geel from Nieuw Vossemeer.

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Machiel was from a younger generation than the famous long distance champions of those days, but that did not stop him from visiting them many times. Throughout the ensuing years, Machiel studied the Jan Aarden pigeons and found out that the pigeons of Marijn van Geel were the best and purest Jan Aarden pigeons of all. Marijn van Geel not only had the best results on the 1000 kilometre races (621 miles) but his pigeons won out of turn for many other lofts too.

For long distance racing there were no better pigeons than those of Marijn van Geel and Machiel decided that in order to keep the Jan Aarden strain pure for the future, he had to form a colony of these pigeons, all direct from the Van Geel loft. It was really difficult to buy those pigeons at that time, because everybody wanted them so much but, having known Machiel since he was a young lad and having watched him mature as a keen and competent pigeon fancier, Van Geel not only sold him pigeons, but taught him over the years all about the Jan Aarden strain.

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In the early years, before commerce dominated the pigeon world, it was possible to obtain pigeons from Jan Aarden and other fanciers who kept the Jan Aarden strain pure. Marijn van Geel was one of these fanciers and he started with his friend Jan Cools to concentrate on the long distance racing in preference to short and middle distance.

A year later, Marijn van Geel and Jan Cools decided to separate and race pigeons on their own and both fanciers went to Steenbergen to obtain long distance pigeons to build up their own strains, based on the Jan Aarden birds.

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Marijn van Geel acquired some birds from a fellow fancier, named Van Agtmaal. This fancier was the best friend of Jan Aarden and he could get all the pigeons he wanted from Jan Aarden. Van Agtmaal gave to Van Geel 5 eggs off his best breeding pigeons, two of these being the sire and dam of the world famous '500', one of the best long distance racers of Holland and also a superb breeder. In the same year, Van Geel acquired two more youngsters from the same pair and these four brothers and sisters of the '500' were Jan Aarden pigeons from the very best.

Besides these 4 pigeons, Marijn van Geel used only two more birds to form his own Jan Aarden strain. Those pigeons were the 'Ligtenberg' and the 'Old 59', bred by Van Geel from the 'Big Cock' from Stoffelen. Both the 'Ligtenberg' and the 'Old 59' were pure Jan Aarden pigeons. With these 6 pigeons, Marijn van Geel laid the base for what years later was to become the best Jan Aarden colony in the world.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

The only other birds introduced after the initial start were the 1st National St. Vincent winner of Willem van den Burgh, and the 1st International Barcelona winner of Piet van der Slik. These two pigeons were also pure Jan Aarden pigeons.

Marijn van Geel was a person who intensely disliked crossing his pigeons with other strains. He achieved his ideal through inbreeding, a method commended by some and acclaimed by others as the best method to achieve success.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Success came quickly to Van Geel after the purchase of the Jan Aarden strain via his friend Van Agtmaal. In no time Marijn van Geel belonged to the best long distance fanciers of Holland and from the early sixties onwards, he became very well known through a series of top positions in the races from St. Vincent, Dax, Pau, Barcelona etc.

Although it is over 40 years ago, it is interesting to note that the results of Marijn van Geel have never been equalled in long distance racing and if there had been a world championship league for long distance racing, he would surely have topped it.

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Marijn van Geel's pigeons won two cars in national races, 'Vlekje' won a car in the Dax race and the 'Dolle' won a car at the St. Vincent race, and five times a bird of Marijn van Geel was the winner in the southwest region of Holland against the cream of the Dutch long distance fanciers. Van Geel succeeded in obtaining positions in the first twenty-five prizes against several thousands of pigeons in almost every race he took part in.

The Jan Aarden strain of Marijn van Geel developed into the best of all long distance strains in Holland and several very good long distance fanciers approached Van Geel and bought birds and many of these became very successful with his birds.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Marijn van Geel was the only fancier who kept the Jan Aarden strain pure like they were in the 1950s: pigeons with the most beautiful eyes imaginable, perfect physique and silky plumage. Van Geel kept the Jan Aarden pigeons pure through very close inbreeding and he succeeded in keeping the Jan Aarden pigeons to type and performance, 25 years after the demise of Jan Aarden himself. Marijn showed how the old Jan Aarden strain was very suitable to inbreeding and he was unequalled in keeping the inbred Jan Aarden strain pure and successful.

Through the years Marijn van Geel bred many unique long distance birds. World fame started with the now famous 'Dolle', undoubtedly the world's best long distance pigeon of all time. The 'Dolle' was followed by the 'Lange', 'Bonte 62', 'Old 54' and 'Old 59' and many others. The more recent generation of Van Geel birds include ‘Vlekje', 'Goede Blauwe', 'Barcelona', Favoriet', and 'Munchenvlieger'. They were all from the same incomparable class, the hallmark of the Jan Aarden strain, and are still used in long distance flying at many top lofts in Europe.

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THE 'DOLLE'
Machiel Buijk’s favourite Van Geel pigeon has always been the 'Dolle', not only for its perfect results on the long distance races, but even more for the unique breeding eyes of this bird. The 'Dolle proved to be one of the best breeding birds of the Jan Aarden strain. The 'Dolle' is without any doubt the best long distance pigeon ever. The 'Dolle' participated in 17 long distance races and won 17 prizes. His most important results are:
1st Provincial St. Vincent 1.684 birds
3rd National St. Vincent 6.844 birds
1st Provincial Dax 1.032 birds
3rd National Dax 3.649 birds
9th Provincial Limoges 1.610 birds
12th National St. Vincent 6.917 birds
20th Provincial Chateauroux 2.176 birds
22nd Provincial Chateauroux 2.425 birds
39th Provincial Moulins 5.146 birds
59th Provincial Moulins 4.612 birds
66th National Dax 3.561 birds

The great 'Dolle' died in 1985 at the age of eighteen years. The number of proven ace pigeons with 'Dolle' blood in their veins is tremendous and at that time Machiel Buijk had 13 children of the 'Dolle' at his own loft, more than anyone had ever seen together. Also at his loft were14 children of the famous 'Vlekje', the car winner from Dax. 'Vlekje' was a grandson of 'Dolle'.

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Sadly in 1983 Marijn van Geel died and from all over the world came requests to buy Marijn's entire colony. However his wife Martha decided to go on racing and breeding the birds on her own. During the following years Machiel became Martha's right-hand man since she knew that her husband had taught this young man well and she continually asked Machiel for his advice. Machiel became her loft manager and in this capacity advised, paired and selected racing and breeding pigeons in order to continue Marijn's work. His payment was not money, but pigeons from the best breeders and racers of the Van Geel loft.

In February 1989 Martha van Geel decided to sell all her old pigeons. Machiel compiled the sale catalogue since there was no one more knowledgeable about the Van Geel family. Machiel was also the auctioneer and the sale of 168 pigeons realised a world record result. The pigeons were sold for 770,000 Dutch Guilders in appreciation of the life's work of Marijn van Geel.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

At that moment in time, there were already 140 original Van Geel pigeons at Machiel Buijk's loft, bred only from the best racers and breeders and therefore the Van Geel strain was saved for the future.

During the years, Machiel Buijk had more than 300 original Van Geel pigeons at his loft and he cherished them like they were nuggets of gold but at the same time he did not hesitate to eliminate any pigeons not coming up to his high standards. In the past even children of the 'Dolle', the 'Lange' and ‘Vlekje' were removed if they did not fulfil the high standards set by Machiel and he eliminated over 50 % of the 300 direct Van Geel birds. Only pigeons bred from the very best Van Geels and moreover with the thoroughbred characteristics of this Jan Aarden strain were allowed to stay and by applying these standards Machiel saved the strain of Van Geel from a total crumbling.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Machiel has been very successful with the Van Geel pigeons and he proved once again how valuable the Van Geel strain has been and still is.

In his career, Machiel won many important Provincial races, such as St. Vincent, Chateauroux, Tours, La Souterainne and Limoges. All these races have distances from 600 to 1000 kilometres (372 miles to 621 miles) and on each occasion the victory was won against thousands of pigeons from the best long distance fanciers of Holland. Also Machiel was crowned as 1st champion of the famous 'Zuidwesthoek', undoubtley the most prestigious province for long distance racing in Holland.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Many lofts have achieved great success with pigeons obtained from the lofts of Machiel Buijk, such as J. Steijns who became National Champion Long Distance, Cees Schouw who became Marathon Champion of the 'Zuidwesthoek' and B. Hovenkamp who won 1st and 5th National St. Vincent. These 3 examples are just a few from the many fanciers in the whole world, who succeeded with the Jan Aarden pigeons of Machiel Buijk.

Because of his business commitments Machiel does not have much time left for other things since he is working with pigeons every day, 7 days a week and 52 weeks a year. Pigeons are his life and at his pigeon stud in Hoogerheide the breeding of the Jan Aarden pigeons is the most important goal.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Because of his busy life, Machiel decided to stop racing the pigeons at his own loft to concentrate on breeding his Jan Aarden pigeons. He decided however to race the pigeons at another place. He is very serious about this new racing loft. He is planning to attend only long distance races with large numbers of pigeons. In that way there will be a good selection, which is very important to select the good breeding pairs.

Machiel re-started racing in 2003 with a partner, Cees Schouw, competing as Schouw-Buijk with a team bred from the best long distance pigeons in Holland. They have already had some very good results such as winning in the long distance race from St. Vincent 970 Kilometres (602 miles) 4, 43, 44, 52, 61, 100, 114, 148, 150, 156, 195 etc.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Many times wealthy fanciers have bid fortunes for the Jan Aarden collection of Machiel Buijk but Machiel knows that his colony of Van Geel pigeons is the last and most unique Jan Aarden bastion in the world therefore he made up his mind to keep this strain for the future and in doing so the life-work of Marijn van Geel is preserved.

To own this thoroughbred valuable strain is for Machiel of great importance. And many visitors from all over the world have visited the breeding lofts at Hoogerheide and were unanimous that a collection like this one is seldom found and of uncommon excellence.

Machiel Buijk Stock Bird - Reference only

Of course there are fanciers in the possession of a few typical Jan Aarden pigeons, but we cannot compare it with the pigeons at the breeding loft of Machiel Buijk, where tens of those birds are the guarantee for the future of the Jan Aarden strain. Those birds have perfect bodies, velvety feathers, long flexible muscles and the most fantastic imaginable coloured eyes, varying from green to gold and from purple to chestnut brown.

The Jan Aarden strain still lives in all its glory thanks to the passion of Machiel Buijk, a perfectionist always trying to breed birds of better and better quality, a breeder of long distance racing pigeons of exceptional quality - you only have to see the eyesign.

Machiel is a very well respected International pigeon breeder whose aim is to own and race the best long distance strain of racing pigeons in the world.

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