The Royal Clubs Avicultura and Ornithophilia Organised Together, for the Third Time, the AVICORNI-Show, at the Utrechtse Dierendagen

AAvviiccoorrnnii 19 – 21 December 2008 Veemarkt Halls Utrecht

The Royal Clubs Avicultura and Ornithophilia organised together, for the third time, the AVICORNI-show, at the Utrechtse Dierendagen

In front of the Halls in Utrecht there is a live-sized statue of a number of sheep, made by the Amsterdam sculptor and illustrator Adrianus Johannes Petrus Franciscus "Arie" Teeuwisse (1919 - 1993). He was a member of ‘Arti et Amicitiae’ and of the Dutch Sculptor Circle.

Above and right: The working committee had put a huge amount of hours in the planning of this show. This is how the Hall looked on Wednesday morning, the 15th. The crew of helpers began putting it all together and in the evening a great part of the building job was already done. The Opening Ceremony took place on Saturday morning, beginning with 11:00 o’clock, in one of the upstairs auditoriums, and, due to an overfilled programme and many ‘important’ speakers, who all had a ‘message’, this ceremony surely ended up in the top 3 of the longest in the last 20 years.

Of course the first words were from Kor Moree, chairman of the Avicorni Show, with a warm welcome to everyone, in particular to the special guest who had been invited to open the Show - Mister H.J. Ormel from the Dutch Government, Chairman of the Commission of Foreign Affairs and spokesman for the Commission of Animal Rights and Animal Health.

Ad Taks together with Kenneth Broekman and Jan Willem Hondelink initiated the Theme of this Show: Cocks of the Utility Breeds. The cocks and cockerels entered at the show were a fine sample of the utility breeds still available in Holland. And to prove that the meat of our own ‘slow food’ poultry kept in our backyard is much tastier than the chicken meat that is offered for sale in the supermarket, three Master Cooks were invited to surprise the public with tasty bits of the North Holland Blue, the Chaam Fowl and the Volwaard chicken. And by presenting 3 cockerels of the Volwaard chicken in the Show pens, we ‘renewed the link’ with the poultry industry, just as it had been customary at our shows till some 50 years ago, before the hybrids took over. The Volwaard chickens are bred for slower growth, kept with more indoor space allotted per animal and with the possibility to range outside. Not completely a ‘free-range’ chicken, but due to the better housing and caring, the meat quality is much better that the normal broiler and also tastes a lot better, as we all could check out later. The Chairman was proud to also promote a ‘new’ utility breed at the Avicorni Show. As Ad Taks was one of the persons who had initiated contact with the Volwaard breeders, and he is also the man who has succeeded in re-creating the old Dutch breed Chaams Hoen and even had it recognised as a ‘Slow Food’ product, he was presented with an ancient book on poultry, with the words: “Ad, please express our thanks to the other initiators and the crew of helpers that made the ‘Cock Theme’ a success”. Left: Kor Moree (r) handing over the ancient poultry book to Ad Taks (l), as thanks for his efforts. Below: A view at a row of pens with various breeds of Utility Cockerels.

Left: The Chairman of the Dutch fancy Pigeon Union NBS, Hans Bulte, was pleased to see so many fancy pigeons entered here at ‘his’ Union Show, housed at Avicorni.

Right: While the many speakers took their turn, this kid crawled forward, heading for the top. (And very lively, so you’ll have to excuse the bad photo quality). On a second thought… we can clearly see his father’s hand, so he was probably ‘pushed’, as we see in more sports!

Below left: Another speaker, Hans Putten- stein, the brand-new elected Chairman of the merged Poultry Union NHDB and Rabbit Union NKB (this joint venture was to be settled officially later that afternoon) Below right: Attentive auditors; here we see (with respect) a couple of hundreds of years of breeders’ experience together; men to be proud of and cherish! Left to right: Rinus van den Heuvel, Jan de Jong, Gerard van der Kaay, (pigeon fanciers and judges) and Cees van den Burg (poultry, waterfowl and rabbit breeder).

Left: The Opener of this 3rd Avicorni Show was Henk Jan Ormel, Member of the House of Representatives of the States General and Chairman of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs. Spokesman on European Affairs, Biotechnology, Animal Health, Animal Welfare. Until 2002 he worked as a Veterinary practitioner (farm-animals, small animal surgery, zoo-animals). His ambition to join the Government awoke because of the non-vaccination policy that forced him to kill healthy animals during the outbreak of animal diseases ‘only’ to prevent the possible spread of disease.

After his Speech Mr. Ormel declared the Show Open and awarded the ‘Ornithophilia Great Award from the Netherlands’ to the Winners. Left: Jan Oostwouder was handed out the Diploma, coming with the Great Award of the Netherlands, for the Best Collection of 3 Bantams, with his pile Dutch Bantams.

Right: W.J. Dongen, winner of the Great Award of the Netherlands, for the Best Collection of 3 rabbits, with his ivory Satins.

Above: B.D. Ratterman, winner of the Great Award of the Netherlands, for the Second Best Collection of 3 rabbits, with his New Zealand Whites.

Right: J. van der Salm, winner of the Great Award of the Netherlands, for the Best Collection of 3 Domesticated Ducks, with his Pomeranian Ducks.

Left: T.H.M. van de Boogaard, Winner of the Great Award of the Netherlands, for the Best Collection of 4 Fancy Pigeons, with his Kings.

Unfortunately not all Winners could be present today. For your information we give you the complete list of Winners of the Ornithophilia Great Award of the Netherlands

* Best Collection of 3 - Large Fowl, P. Schramade with Wyandottes * Second Best Collection of 3 – Large Fowl: Twan Clevers with Brahma * Best Collection of 3 – Bantams: Jan Oostwouder with Dutch Bantams * Second Best Collection of 3 – Bantams: Gerda Bouwmeester with Dutch Bantams * Best Collection of 3 - Domesticated Waterfowl: J. van der Salm with Pomerian Ducks * Best Collection of 3 - Rabbits: W.J. Dongen with Satins * Second Best Collection of 3 - Rabbits: B.B. Ratterman with New Zealand White rabbits * Best Collection of 4 - Fancy Pigeons: T.H.M. van de Boogaard with Kings * Second Best Collection of 4 - Fancy Pigeons: P.P. van der Post with Thuringian Wing Pigeons

Next, the Chairman invited Mrs. Giesbers to step forward and award the traditionally and highly valued ‘Jan Giesbers Prizes’, named in the honour of her father.

Right: Co Tersteeg from the Wellant College taking the Diploma of the Jan Giesbers Prize from the hands of Mrs. Giesbers, for the Best female Bantam in Show, his Houdan bantam pullet.

Left: Nico van Wijk, winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize for the Best Domesticated Waterfowl in Show, his Orpington duck.

Right: H. de Vos, winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize for the Best old male Fancy Pigeon in Show, his Dutch Helmet.

Below: L.H. Helder, winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize for the Best old female Fancy Pigeon in Show, his Old Dutch Owl.

Below: J.G. Mulder, winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize for the Best young male Fancy Pigeon in Show, his Nun.

Below: W.J. Dongen, winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize for the Best Rabbit buck in Show, his Satin.

Below right: Hennie Schwarz, winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize for the Best young female Fancy Pigeon in Show, his Old Chinese Owl.

Unfortunately not all Winners could be present today. For your information we here publish the complete list of Winners of the Jan Giesbers Prize:

* Best in Show, Large Fowl male: Twan Clevers with Brahma. * Best in Show, Large Fowl female: H. Asbreuk with Malay. * Best in Show, Bantam male: R.S. Gatti with Rosecomb bantam. * Best in Show, Bantam female: Wellant College (Co Tersteeg) with Houdan bantam. * Best in Show, Domesticated Waterfowl: N.H. van Wijk with Orpington Duck. * Best in Show, Fancy Pigeon old cock: H. de Vos with Dutch Helmet. * Best in Show, Fancy Pigeon old hen: L.H. Helder with Old Dutch Owl. * Best in Show, Fancy Pigeon young cock: J.G. Mulder with Nun. * Best in Show, Fancy Pigeon young hen: H.B. Schwarz with Chinese Owl. * Best in Show, Rabbit buck: W.J. Dongen with Satin. * Best in Show, Rabbit doe: D.N. van der Panne with Tan.

To thank her for having awarded the prizes for so many years in a row and always in a very charming way, Chairman Kor Moree asked mr. Beelaerts van Blokland, patron of the Ornithophilia Show, to say a few appropriate words to thank Mrs. Giesbers. Being the right man for that, he soon had the audience with him, ending the Opening Ceremony in a very pleasant way. A Stand-up Comedian could not have done it better! Board members and audience started their tour around the exhibition with a smile on their faces.

Right: Jhr. Dr. P.A.C. Beelaerts van Blokland, patron of the Royal Dutch Ornithophilia.

Left: Being a known Duck lover, Mrs. Giesbers was surprised with two boxes, containing a couple of Call Ducks and a couple of Red Crested Pochards. And of course a fine bouquet of flowers.

Below: To end this report of the impressive Opening Ceremony: a photo with the (present) Winners of the Great Award of the Netherlands and the Jan Giesbers Prize.