The man that transformed his everlasting quest for wonder pigeons into this luxurious group of pigeons is Jürgen Jung from Germany … a dedicated fancier, a real connoisseur but above all … Jürgen Jung is the owner of the most impressive pigeon colony of Western Europe. That he however has to say farewell because of his private situation and serious health problems. Just a while before his diamonds will shine at their new owners, PIPA visited him once more to hear his story … and again we were very impressed!
Jürgen Jung is a pigeon man in heart and soul. Crazy about his feathers friends and a perfectionist. “The lofts for instance must be so clean you can eat from the floor,” he says. When he leads us round his lofts and also tells he lets out the pairs one by one to be sure youngsters descend from the pair they should, one question directly comes to mind; ‘how can one man do all this work’? “And that is the exact problem. I used to have help from pigeon friends, but their health ran back quickly. My own far too high blood-pressure made it impossible for me to take care of my colony any longer. I still want to enjoy racing pigeons, but it’s time for a new start. With the same enthusiasm, but with way less pigeons. I only keep youngsters and my racing team to make a new start.”
The Jürgen Jung colony distinguishes itself for the numerous super birds with breathtaking pedigrees. Jung: “However I never bought a pigeon just by looking at the pedigree. A pigeon must be built very well, first than the pedigree becomes interesting. I always searched for the very best! Pigeons that excelled at the highest level themselves or listed incredible breeding performances …. In several generations that is. For these birds I had to pay much money, bit since 1995 my life is all about racing pigeons and so it was normal for me to invest thoroughly. Like that I created a colony that meets up to my demands. A sort of life’s work; consisting of the very best I could find in International pigeon racing.”
‘Aladin’ x ‘Last Lady’
Probably the most important move in his career Jürgen Jung made at the entire clearance sale of Marijke Vink in november 2005. There he bought the founding pair ‘Aladin’ x ‘Last Lady’, superstars in Dutch pigeon history!! Both are direct of C. & G. Koopman, ‘Aladin’ is bred from ‘Kleine Dirk’ x ‘Daughter Beatrixdoffer’ & ‘Last Lady’ is a full sister to ‘Kleine Dirk’!! This pair bred a/o ‘Tips’, father to at least 9 different 1. prize winner and the sensational father of ‘Reza’ (Best middle distance racer in the world with 1. prizes against 28,332 birds, 21,982 birds,10,589 birds), ‘Farah Diba’ (1. Nat. acebird 500-700 km WHZB 2003 & 1. acebird 500-700 km WENC 2004), ‘Drum’, ‘Future’, and more. Jürgen Jung bred a/o ‘Last Baby’ from this pair; the father to the 1. acebird in the Sun City Million Dollar Pigeon Race XI. Many direct children to ‘Aladin’ and ‘Last Lady’ forms the base of the Jung colony.
At the auction of Marijke Vink, Jürgen purchased some more wonder pigeons, like a/o:
– A full sister to sensational ‘Ramses’, 4. Nat. old acebird WHZB 2003 & 3x 1. prize winner. He is bred from a son to ‘Lei’ x ‘Rosaline’
– ‘Rosalinde’, the mother to ‘Rames’, but also to wonder breeder ‘Merlijn’, father to winners of 8. NPO Chantilly 17,818 birds, 9. s-Nat. Le Mans 15,848 birds & 3. prov. Peronne 18,513 birds. ‘Rosalinde’ is a sister to ‘Kadir’ (1. NPO 5,831 birds & 4. NPO 13,137 birds) and to the grandfather of ‘Blauwe Hertog’, 1. Nat. acebird short distance WHZB 2008. She is bred from Koopmans 1. world champion youngbirds ‘Emperor Qin’ x ‘Fiero’ (sister ‘Kleine Dirk’)
– ‘Florin’, direct from ‘Kleine Dirk’s daughter ‘Florence’ and already father to the 1. acebird in combine (RV) with 13 prize cards from 13 races for M. Wessinghagen
Koopman influence
To secure the golden bloodlines of his ‘Aladin’ x ‘Last Lady’ base, Jürgen Jung also found his way to Ermerveen to purschase some of the golden bloodlines they have in their capital bloodlines. Direct from Koopman he acquired a/o a daughter to ‘Golden Lady’ and a full sister to ‘Zina’ (2. Nat. acebird, bred from 1. NPO winner ‘Deng Lin’s Favourite’ x ‘Annelies’, wonder sister ‘Kleine Dirk’). A 100% Koopman bird that is Jürgen’s absolute favourite is ‘Para Kleine Dirk’. “A wonder cock, at my own loft every year I breed something good from him. And the few fanciers that purchased something from him all succeeded; he is a true topper!!” ‘Para Kleine Dirk’ was bred from a full brother to ‘Golden Lady’ x full sister to ‘Gentil’ … that means he has exactly all the same grandparents as ‘Kleine Dirk’ and his super brothers & sisters.
For the supreme Koopman lines, Jürgen also went to Pieter Veenstra. His number 1 breeding ace ‘Dirky’ is a full brother to ‘Aladin’ & therefore Jürgen just had to purchase 3 direct children to ‘Dirky’! From these ‘Mister Dirky’ is already an exceptional breeder, being father to 2. & 3. prize winner 191, again father to new 1. prize winners and acebirds! From Veenstra also direct children to ‘Diamond Lady’ (sister ‘Golden Lady’), ‘Darryl’ (brother ‘Dirky’) & ‘Prima Donna’ (1. Nat. acebird 500-700 km NPO 2007) came, as well as (half)sisters to 1. NPO winners ‘Turbo Magic’ & ‘Maxima’.
Successful
Since a young boy Jürgen Jung was crazy about a great variety of winged friends. “As a teenager I worked day and night to save money to built my first pigeon loft. But than I also liked fancy fowls and most of my money I spend on them … within a few years I was National champion and on the age of forty I was 18 times National champion and even 1 time world champion. Breeding outstanding show birds was my main goal and when I switched to racing pigeons in 1995, I again wanted to breed the National champions of the future. For thousands of euro’s I bought super champions or direct children to them … that should be the base for racing success!”
“However when racing started, I found out I was in the most unfavourable position in the region. With no fancier in a radius of 20 km and always the mountains for my pigeons to overcome. Whatever I tried, my pigeons always came in 3 minutes to late. I even doubted my breeding skills and also bred fancy pigeons … within a nick of time I was again champion of Germany and even of Europe. And it was no matter of quality, as the very few to who I gave some, had enormous successes with them. In 2005, when I bought ‘Aladin’ & ‘Last Lady’ I decided to once again accept the challenge and create a well considered colony of exceptional class … the best in the world as far as I am concerned and buying the worlds best breeder ‘Aladin’, I had a solid founding father to rely on!”
Close friendship
Many years of investing in the very best pigeons in the world, brought Jürgen Jung very good pigeons, but also annoying moments. “It is for me hard to accept that fame for some fanciers leads to dishonesty. I will mention no names, but I recently found out fanciers that I trusted lied in my face. Moments like these I am very thankful for friendships I made in pigeon racing. Like with Marian and Cees van Koppen. I never met them and at an Internet auction I bought some direct pigeons of them. I called Cees to ask what they were worth and he invited me to come over. When he judged them, he advised me to only keep two from the six. ‘The other four I’ll give you new ones’ he said … I had not spend a dime at him and still he helped me … that is true sportsmanship!!”
Several direct Van Koppen birds now earned an important place in the breeding lofts in Ebertshausen. Especially the lines of ‘Real King’ x ‘Blue Queen’, that was labelled as best Dutch breeding pair of the last millennium!! Top stock bird is ‘Miss Sarah’, winner of 2x 1. prize & 6x top 10 against an average of approx. 2,500 birds. She is bred from ‘Rocky’, super grandson to ‘Real King’ x ‘Blue Queen’. But also one direct son (‘Blue King’), several grandchildren and more direct children to ‘Rocky’ bring in the Van Koppen bloodlines in Jürgen Jungs colony. “Fantastic birds that can win against massive birdages. They succeeded for me, but for several pigeon friends as well … they are therefore of exceptional value.”
‘Terminator 862’ x ‘Franzi’
Jürgen also bred several super pigeons from ‘Terminator 862’ x ‘Franzi’. ‘Terminator 862’ is a Janssen cock based on the lines of ‘Geeloger’ & ‘Chantilly’. ‘Franzi’ is a granddaughter to the Schellens legend ‘Nationaal I’, later wonder breeder for Herbots. From this top pair a/o the brothers ‘Schwarzenegger’ & ‘Lichte Max’ were bred. Top performers they are for sure:
– ‘Schwarzenegger 714’, Winner 1., 7., 9., 14., 23., 29., 29., 31., 36. prize & crowned as 1. racing cock in combine (RV) 2004, 1. ace cock allround in combine 2004, 1. yearling in combine (RV) 2004, 1. acebird of the month May 2005, 1. acebird of the month July 2005, 2. ace cock in combine (RV) 2005, etc.
– ‘Lichte Max 127’, 2. prize 902 birds, 9. prize 906 birds, 18. prize 830 birds, 4. acebird of the month July 2005 and already grandfather to the 1. young acebird combine (RV) 2009 at R. Kratz & to the 19. acebird combine (RV) 2009
Some supreme full brothers/sisters to them are 128 (1. yearling ace cock combine (RV) 2005 & 2. acebird of the month July 2005), 713 (1. ace cock middle distance in combine (RV) 2004 & 2. yearling in combine (RV) 2004) & 90 (1. prize against 1,807 birds)
This super base was replenished with supreme direct pigeons of a/o Albert Marcelis and Marcel Aelbrecht, but also with top performers and direct children to worldwide legends such as ‘Freddy’ from Pros Roosen, Reynaerts’ ‘Figo’ and Aelbrechts Bak 17 … in part II of this Jürgen Jung story the complementation of the worlds best colony shall be presented.
Soon on PIPA:
Jürgen Jung, Ebertshausen (D) part II – completing the most impressive pigeon colony of Western Europe
