According to the fact that it is the 3^rd generation of my family who breeds pigeons and that I, myself, have been surrounded by pigeons since my early childhood it is not really amazing that I have discovered the love for pigeon breeding as well. I have always had a special interest in the black and black splash Jacobins which, besides other breeds, have settled my father´s and grandfather´s loft since the early 60´s. As the grandchild of the many years standing chairman of the local pigeon and poultry club, it is needless to say that I had been a member of that club since I was six years old. When I decided in 1984, aged 15, to deal more closely with pigeon breeding, there was only one possible breed for me: Jacobins. It was not a hard decision to freshen up our stock of about 20 jacobins in black and black-splash with some new birds, and to enlist the Special Association of German Jacobin Breeders. No sooner said than done. I was able to purchase a breeding-couple of black jacobins from Eugen Frey which founded the basis of my breeding back then. Additionally, I could get a black hen from Wilhelm Geßner and a black-splash cock from Hans Haab. From Helmut Lütkemeyer, who meanwhile had to give up Jacobin breeding due to health reasons, I also got valuable breeding material through the years. 1984 was the first year I bred and banded Jacobins for my own, without the help of my father and grandfather.

It was at the 38^th Bavarian Poultry Exhibition 1987 in Nuremberg, when a young black-splash hen could get V 97 points, the best mark available, for my loft. Two further HV 96 points for a black young cock and a black old hen made it a real success.

Another climax of my very young career in those days was the Special Jacobin Show in Hockenheim in 1992. A black young hen achieved V 97 points and the SV-Band (Ribbon of the German Jacobin Club). An HV for a black old hen and a black-splash young cock rounded off the result of this exhibition. This was my first best mark at a special show of the German Jacobin Club.

While my stud was genetically exhausted in this times, some other breeders had succeeded in breeding the current, modern type of Jacobin by taking advantage of US-imports. These imported Jacobins, which all originated from Edmund Bachmann from Pontiac/USA, were, of course, used for their own breeding. In Germany it was almost impossible to purchase an original import Jacobin between 1991 and 1992. If anybody had been able to buy a F1-Jacobin one was mostly disappointed by the offspring, as those birds splitted off in all possible varieties. It was Dieter Bernges who gave me a red hen, hatched very late in 1992. She was the offspring of original imported red Jacobins. What should I do with a red hen? Of course, I crossed her with the blacks. A black cock and a red hen lead in the F1-generation already to black hens and red cocks. These red cocks, crossed with a black hen lead to black cocks and hens, but also to red cocks and hens. This way I could make a progress with the blacks concerning the modern style and type of Jacobins.

In 1995 I could achieve another V 97 points and the SV-Band (Ribbon of the German Jacobin Club) with a black young hen from my old stud at the Special Jacobin Show in Hockenheim.

The coming years turned out to be difficult. The black and the black-splash Jacobins stagnated. Hadn´t there been the red hen which in the meantime proofed its outstanding genetic abilities with a red cock from Eugen Vaneerum-Dauer from Halen/Belgium, and another red cock from Jakob Held. She was not only the co-founder of my red stock but, much more, helped me to forget the dissapointment about the stagnation of the black and the black-splash ones.

That is how it came about that I could achieve an HV 96 points for a red young cock and a red old hen at the Special Jacobin Show in January 1996. Both were a direct offspring of the red hen from Dieter Bernges, and so was the red old cock which achieved V 97 points and SiFi-Band (ribbon) at the 46^th German Pigeon Exhibition in Sindelfingen in December 1997.

Since then, the red colouring has settled my loft as well. It was in 1998, when I could purchase the first import Jacobin. Would you believe it? An eight years old black cock from Edmund Bachmann´s breeding which had been successfully used by many German breeders. That I could purchase that bird was only thanks to the fact that Jürgen Waldenmeier wanted to part with his black-coloured stock. This cock, crossed with a black hen of my own breeding, gave me eight young birds, from which one met my requirements. In January 1999, this young cock could achieve a 3^rd place in the class of black young cocks at the 1^st European Championship of Jacobin Breeders in Hockenheim. However, my flags were kept flying by a red hen which won the class of the red old hens.

In January 2000 I had the possibility to travel to the USA where I visited the National Pigeon Show in Milwaukee and met two of the leading Jacobin breeders of the USA, Edmund Bachmann and Jim Ecker. Of course, I had made provisions for that and got the neccessary import-licences. Finally I returned from the USA with eight import-Jacobins. As in America only the colours white, yellow and red were common, it was evidently hard to find useful breeding material in black and black-splash. That´s why, since then, a mealy-red-splash cock and a yellow hen from Edmund Bachmann have served the crossing with my blacks. The crossing with Jim Ecker´s red imports resulted on the one hand in outstanding red young birds and, on the other hand, in kite young birds. This colouring is not recognized in Germany but, nevertheless, can be crossed with yellow-, red- and black jacobins. The mealy-red-splash cock AJC-1969-99 is to bring in its, in my eyes, nearly ideal qualities to the black colouring. This will surely be a long and hard way. Already in the first year, the yellow hen gave birth to a black hen which could win HV 96 points and SV-Band (ribbon) at the 119^th German Exhibition of Young Birds in Hanover, in January 2001. The already mentioned black cock succeeded in the black-class in Nuremburg in December 2000 after he had achieved V 97 points with Honours at the Special Jacobin Show in Hockenheim one year before in January 2000.