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AA vviissiitt aatt SSyyttzzee ddee BBrruuiinnee iinn SSaass vvaann GGeenntt ((NNLL)) Text and Photos: Nico van Benten You can’t take the risk to make an unexpected surprise visit to Sytze, and that is not because you are not welcome, it is far from that, for a real in depth visit you have to fit in his work schedule. He works on shifts as a process operator at the chemical company Cargill Benelux LTD where they produce i.e. glucose and modified starch for the food industry. The company has established in Sas van Gent, so Sytze can almost walk to his work from where he lives, certainly the distance that we had to travel to come here in Dutch Flanders, was a lot longer. I can imagine Sytze’s hesitation to take a position in any governing board of a National club or breed organisation, as it would always take a long time to travel. But now however he has agreed finally after many years of asking to take up a position on the board of the Specialty Club of Beauty Homers, a club that celebrated its 60-Years Anniversary on October 19th in Apeldoorn, which is a round trip of 500 kilometres from this part of the country. Living here in Dutch Flanders, he has the advantages of a wide and rural surroundings, where the inhabitants feel like being almost Belgian because of the location, being so close to the Belgian border and in the eyes of the rest of the Netherlands, they are always ‘the other side of the river Schelde’. Sas van Gent has ap- prox. 4,000 inhabitants and is a part of the municipality Terneuzen since 2003. The industrial impor- tance of Sas van Gent, positioned to the canal Gent-Terneuzen dates from the 16th century, when the lock (Sas) was made in the Gent- Terneuzen canal. Right: This painting has a place of honour on the wall in the living room. This couple of Exhibition Homers was painted by Jan Hatzmann. Note the appropriate background, the Tower bridge. Left: Standard drawing of a blue checkered Exhibition Homer. Painted by Johan Lentink. Sytze was born in Enschede on April first, 1955. His father managed a sewing work- shop but also loved change and in 1970, after several removals, he decided to find his luck with his family in Sas van Gent. Sytze was always attracted to animals; since childhood he has been surrounded by animals and when he was 5 years old he already had his first homing pigeon that he kept in an orange box. He got this pigeon from his brother, who was taking part already in racing the pigeons. Later Sytze had all sorts of birds, such as parakeets and canaries. In 1976, Sytze married with Corrie and they had a daughter. Soon the garden of their house was filled with all sorts of pigeon lofts and other animal houses. In 1980 and 1981 he participated in the racing game with his Pigeons, but eventually this hobby demanded too much time and was changed for canaries, Bouviers and German shepherd dogs. Right below: A head study of an exceptional beautiful head of an Exhibition Homer. Tight lined head shape with fine nose wattles and beak. Note the perfect eye colour and matching eye ceres. In 1990, when he was 35 years old, Sytze decided it was time to build his own house. Thus he did so and it took him two years, giving the inside a special finishing touch. After the completion of the house, suddenly Sytze had much more leisure time with the house complete and for the garden some plans where made. He was offered a complete stud of Flemish Giants rabbits in the wild hare colour, on the condition that he became member of the local animal fancy association and continued the breeding. That has lasted 5 years, but then he was troubled with a slipped disc, as a result of which he had to stop keeping those Flemish Giants rabbits, as being too heavy. In the meantime he had, however, come in contact with the organised fancy hobby. Left: Young Exhibition Homer female from Han van Doorn from Middelburg. As it happens there are two top breeders of Exhibition Homers in Dutch Flanders. This animal gained 96 points on the show in Brugge in 2007. Photographer: Johan Opsomer (B). At Sytze’s, the Exhibition Homers came in 1994. He purchased 2 couples from Tony Hamelink, but he had no luck with them, because they didn’t produced any fertilised egg. In those days there were hardly any breeders of the Exhibition Homer in the Netherlands, thus he went with three hobby friends to the well-known German Pigeon market in Wassenburg, where he bought for 150 German mark a splendid Exhibition Homer hen, which was perfect in type, stand and head shape. In the eyes of the Dutch fanciers this price was very high, but he had to make an investment to improve further. The next year he returned to Wassenburg and succeeded to buy a suitable red Exhibition Homer cock bird. In the five years that followed he only had ONE young with that red male. Nevertheless these two pigeons were the last birds he ever bought. Eventually he built his current line entirely with the first Exhibition Homers from Tony Hamelink and the two German birds. Right: Exhibition Homer cock bird from 2006. So far winner of 2 honorary certificates and winner of the Jan Giesbers Prize on the National championship show of the NBS at Avicorni 2007. This photograph was taken by Sytze de Bruine during the Delta show 2007. During the last years he succeeded in perfecting his Exhibition Homers and many prizes were won. Looking for a new challenge he now is expe- rimenting with colours. He already achieved good results with the blue grizzle colour by using hybrids of Show Homer x Exhibition Homer crossings, from a Belgian breeder named De Pauw. Other breeds and animals Meanwhile Sytze also keeps some other breeds, which got his interest, such as the Kassel Tumbler. These are very shy birds, especially if strangers step into the aviary. They fly like kamikaze pilots trough the loft. He also has an important collection of American Show Racers, with a lot of quality. Left: In a separate loft Sytze has a splendid collection of American Show Racers. You can also see some white Homing Pigeons and Kassel Tumblers (red and black). Right: White Dwarf Hare is another passion of Sytze, together with the Dutch Dwarf Lop. Finally a number of white Homing Pigeons; these have free flight and they are trained to find their loft coming from several directions. Remarkably fact - according to Sytze - was to see that homing from the south, east and west gave absolutely no problem, but flying back from northern direction seemed to be an extra problem for the white homers. When he saw them free flying in the north direction, it lasted considerably longer before they were back on the loft. The intention is to make these animals available to people who want to release some pigeons at a wedding ceremony. In another barn Sytze still has a number of rabbits: Dutch Dwarf Lops and white Dwarf Hares. Right: Show Racers in black and indigo chequer and in dominant opal colour. Below: Kassel Tumblers in red and yellow. Rather shy birds but very beautiful. Above and left: Three photos of the same Exhibition Homer, proving the difficulty to view and judge the head correctly. The Exhibition Homer in the photo above seems to show some gullet, but this point cannot be judged in the hand. The wedge- shaped skull can be judged by holding the bird in the hand, and in this photo its seems to show some slackening. Right: Excellent feather quality and beautiful broad flight and tail feathers. Breeding It is unfortunate that the Exhibition Homer males at breeding time can become rather aggressive if the female is not willing to mate. It is certainly important to observe the couples after putting them to- gether. Because of this Sytze already lost some females. The males peck their females till they are bleeding in the neck and on the head. They can mutilate the female in such way that they can never be exhibited and it can even lead to the death of such a female. Left: Sytze already reached some results in his attempt to make a blue grizzle Exhibition Homer. The solution was found in separa- ted caging of such a couple in an exhibition cage where they can see each other. But with no way for the male to damage the female. After some days they could be placed together without any problem. Right: One of the best birds of Sytze, a beautiful blue chequered male. From mid- February up to mid- June the Exhibition Homers are allowed to breed, and the eggs that are laid later are taken away. During the years he learned that the best youngsters are always the ones that are born in April and/or May. Left: Head of an Exhibition Homer seen from above. Note the narrow nose wattles and the feather bristles, growing almost up to the point of the beak. This gives a clear view on just how short the beak is. Normally he breeds 50 to 60 youngsters from his Exhibition Homers per year, but this year he lost quiet a number of young pigeons, which died without any reason from one moment to the other. Lab test of the droppings did not result in a possible reason for this.

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