Nice To Receive A Call From A Birdhouse Owner From Penang !!!

Just a moment ago, received a phone call from one my SIFU operating 4 birdhouses in Penang and Province Wellesly.

He is a qualified CHEF (tukang masak)who channelled his business profits into Birdnest Ventures.

He owned four birdnests farms and raking not less then RM15,000 a month (average). Out of the four, one is doing very well and the others are doing not bad (according to him).

Previously he was looking at buying an Agricaltural land in Kulim, Kedah. However due to the long distance plus his new restorant he put it aside for the moment.

He also indicated that he have a few meetings with investors from foreign countries. What suprised him was that the Arabs are asking him to be their partner in this exciting business.

Overall he is a very happy man due to the fact that his birdhouses are doing well and at the same time his third restoran.

He has no regrets with his investment in birdhouse.

He is keen to venture with those who have suitable agri-land near to Penang island like in Jawi, Juru or Bertam.

Good for him and he did invite me for a sumptious dinner at his new restorant.

I feel very honoured and glad that I have such a beautiful friend who is willing to share his experiences in birdnest ranching.

Flying To Penang To Meet My SIFU Tommorrow !!!

Well I need to make this special blog to record my latest business arrangement that might bring some interesting phenomena in birdnest ranching in a large scale .

To tell U the truth, I received a call from an old friend who seem to be facinated with by swiftlet farming blog.

We met and chat about old times and later we went on about birdnest ranching.

His intention is to get his friend to do birdnest ranching is a large scale. He wanted me to arrange to see my birdhouse and other birdhouses that are successfull and raking in the nests in tenth kilo a month.

I seriously thought that he was pulling my leg but he is dead serious.

He called me this morning and instruct me to arrange for the trip back to SPatani and meet my SIFU who build my birdhouse.

Once that is completed he will arrange for the funder who is seriously looking at investing in birdhouse in a large scale.

All are set and I will be on my way tommorrow. Best of luck to me !!!

How To Be A Good Hubby Via Birdnest Soup !!!

I simply enjoy reading this beautiful article about this 24 hours loving husband who will do anything just for the sake of love.

Found at:

http://foodcrazee.blogspot.com/2005_11_01_archive.html

Title: Bird Nest Soup.

This is suppose to be delicacy for Chinese but i dont really fancy them. These edible bird's nest is supposed to be swallow's nest. Made from their SALIVA. Err.. i dont really know much about it. Do refer to here for more details of this swiftlet's nest.


All chinese girls would have heard that the nest's will make their complexion better. Is it really so ? Personally i think it should be true but unless you eat it daily....it wont help you much. *chuckle*


This site stated the health benefit of bird's nest but didnt offer any scientific fact. Lolz

Anyway, since me wife had a problem , some of you had known, she wanted to eat bird's nest. Since i'm a "Yeah Sei Hau Lou Kong" literary means 24 hrs Hubby or better known as devoted hubby, i did that for her.

Its really easy. Just soaked the dried bird's nest with some warm water and let it expand. Clean up any left over feathers ( oops! ) or debris. Drain. Place the bird's nest, some red dates ( smashed them and check if it is still ok , err... seen some with worm......yuck!) and rock sugar. Any other ingredient like hasma, wolfberry ( kei chi ) you can place them together as well. Pour in water and double boil for 2 hrs. If slow cooker, just set them to low heat and let it simmer for 2 - 3 hrs.


Amount of water depends on the amount of ingredient you put in. I place like 100 gm dried bird's nest , 30 gm rock sugar, 8 - 10 red dates with 600 ml of water.


Check the pic out for the amount of nest i put in for me dear wife. May god bless her with good health both physically and mentally.

Thailand Birdnest Apisode

Found at: http://www.thaiwaysmagazine.com/thai_article/2224_bird_nests/bird_nests.html

A very informative write up from a Thai Air Megazine:

Bird's nests? Bird's saliva?

Yes, but there's something more about it that you may not know before. Have you ever wondered why people, especially the Chinese are fond of bird's nests? And why are they so expensive? A kilo of unprocessed raw bird's nests costs 100,000-120,000 baht (1USD = around 40 baht).

Since the Tang Dynasty (A.D. 618-907), the Chinese have regarded bird's nest soup the supreme delicacy with rich medicinal properties. They drink it as a tonic to boost the function of the lungs. Here, Thaiways is introducing to you some interesting information about bird's nests.
Pacific Swift

From which species of swift do we get the edible bird's nests?
There are three species of swifts in Thailand that produce edible nests viz. the Edible-nest Swiftlet, Pacific Swift and Black-nest Swiftlet. The nests of the first two species are white while those of the last are black with feathers, dust and droppings mixed together, and are considered of low quality. Even though most bird's nests in Thailand are products of Edible-nest Swiftlets, in the east of Thailand, especially in Trat Province, most nests harvested are of Pacific Swifts.

Edible-nest Swiftlet

The appearances of nests

Edible-nest Swiftlets and Pacific Swifts build their white nests in the form of a half cup. The nests are constructed by glutinous strands of starch-like saliva of the birds. Sometimes the nests are mixed with their feathers.

Black-nest Swiftlet


Black-nest Swiftlets build larger nests when compared with the Edible-nest Swiftlets and the Pacific Swifts. These birds construct nests with their feathers which are conjoined with their saliva.
All species build their nests on the ledges of limestone caves or in the cracks of granite mountains, the height of which is more than 10 metres. Inside these caves, the air usually has high humidity.





Harvesting

The first harvest begins in March which corresponds with the mating season. The female birds will construct the nests for laying eggs. They build the nests during the night and go looking for food during the day. It will take 30-35 days to finish a nest. Thus, the excellent opportunity for the collectors to harvest the nests is by day when the mother birds are not in the cave. The harvest must be done before they lay eggs. Otherwise, the eggs will be damaged. And as a result, the female birds will no longer lay eggs for the rest of the year. However, if the collectors collect the nests too soon, the quality of the nests will not meet standard because they have not been fully developed.


The difficult and risky harvesting is
a reason why bird's nests are expensive.

When they see the nests disappeared, the mother-to-be birds, out of their instinct to maintain their species, will build a second nest. That is why after the first harvest, the collector will wait one month for the birds to construct a new nest. After the second nests are harvested, another three months will be allowed to pass before the third nests are ready for harvesting for the last time of the year in August.



The third nests are the nest where the baby birds live and grow. The reason to wait for three months is to allow time for the baby birds to hatch out of the eggs and to grow up strong enough to fly and forage. The mother birds will spend one month to incubate. After the third nests were harvested, the cave will be isolated until the next year.

Bird's nests packed for distribution

Levels of bird's nests quality

The expensive high-quality nests are the first nests harvested for the first time in the harvesting season. The bird's nests collected during this time are white and less contaminated. The third nests, are more dirty because they are harvested after the baby birds have grown up and left the nests. These nests need to be cleaned up more than the earlier ones.

Prices
The prices of the first nests are very high. A kilo of unprocessed nests costs 100,000-120,000 baht, while that of the third nests are lower. In former times, only the emperors or the well-to-do would be able to taste the genuine bird's nests. However, if we take into consideration the danger one must face when climbing to get a bird's nest, the prices are reasonable.

Ethics of the bird's nest concessionaires

The operators must strictly hold on to the conservation principles which aim to sustainably make the most of bird's nests. That is to utilize them for the longest possible period of time and produce the least waste. Harvesting the nests especially for the third time means that although the nests are of poor quality, they had better be collected than be allowed to decay since the baby birds have already left the nests. Concessionaires must not break the rules of birds's nest harvesting because it will lead to devastation.

Beliefs about reddish brown nests

It is believed that the bird's nests of reddish brown colour are produced by the mother birds who have to rebuild the nests for several times until their saliva becomes blood. The reddish brown bird's nests thus, are rated as the supreme delicacy rich in nutritions which gourmets will pay any costs to taste them.

Recently, many researchers have found that what causes the reddish brown colour is the chemical reaction among oxygen, iron and humidity which results in rust. Humidity also stimulates the rust to be absorbed into the nest making them reddish brown. There are actually no more nutritions in this kind of nests than in the others.



Medicinal properties

Bird's nests are believed to act as a tonic for the lungs and can help keep the function of respiratory system homeostatic. They are also excellent for boosting the blood circulation system for children, patients in recovering stage, women after delivery and the old. Bird's nest soup is praised as a superb tonic so full of benefits that it is prohibited to add cooking oil or other seasonings to it.

A research studying the bird's nest has found that it can help stimulate the process of the cell formation as well. In addition, the scientists of Thailand Institute of Scientific and Technological Research (TISTR) have found that the following chemical compounds are contained in the bird's nest:
Water 5.11%, Protein 60.9%, Calcium 0.85%, Potassium 0.05%, Phosphorus 0.03%.

Besides, in 1963, there was an overseas study about bird's nests. It indicated that the chemical compounds extracted from bird's nests effectively prohibited the process of Haemagglutination which caused the common cold and influenza.

Bird's nest sources in Thailand

In Thailand, the southern region, including especially Krabi, Phuket and Nakhon Si Thammarat, is the largest area producing bird's nests. In addition, there is another producing source in the eastern provinces such as Rayong and Trat.



How to cook bird's nests

1.Clean the nests in fresh water two to three times. Soak them in water for 1-2 hours until they are swollen. Then use forceps to remove the impurities. After that, wash them for another two times. Then, take bird's nests out of the water and leave them to drip.

2. Stew bird's nests in a pot, using low heat. The water in the pot must cover every part of the bird's nests. After stewing for 15 minutes, add rock sugar. Continue stewing it for an hour.

3. Another way to cook bird's nest is just heat it in water until it is boiling. Then add sugar and remove the heat.

4. Cleaned or cooked bird's nest should be kept in a refrigerator.

If you are in Bangkok, it is very convenient to try bird's nest soup. Most restaurants in Chinatown on Yaowarat Road serve it. And if you are in other major tourist provinces such as Phuket, you can order bird's nest soup at almost any restaurants.


Special thanks to A.P.B. Phuket Bird's Nest for giving Thaiways useful information and photos.

Interesting Questions From a Newbie !!!

Dear Harry,

How are you? I just want to ask you some questions:

1. What do the Bird normally like to eat ?
2. When I first start call the bird , if i observe that there are some birds come to fly over my farm or above my house what I should do next to make them lay egg or nest in my farm.

Thank you for every advice from you, thank you so much.

My simple answers:

Dears Skt,


Swiftlets likes to eat flying insects. These can be white ants, fruit flying ants and many other insects that fly and small enought to be eaten by swiftlets.

The most important is to lure these birds that come flying above your house to come in.

How to do that?

Well U need to place specially designed tweeters that wil attract them to want to come in and come near the sound.

Remember U need to have two types of sound. The external and internal. They are not the same.

Also your house must be condusive enought to make the bird to stay. Both the temperature, humidity and darkness must be within a condusive range.

The birds will need some time to get used to your house before they start to built their nest.

Hope the explainations given are adequate.

Harry

Beneficial Effects of Bird's Nest !!!

Another article about goodness in consuming Birdnest soup.

Found at:

In the article "Yan Wo Kao" (The investigation on bird's nest) in Monthly Mingpao Vol. 231, Prof. Y. C. Kong and Prof. P. S. Kwan (1985) mentioned that in China the consumption of the bird's nest was first documented in the ancient Chinese literature "Hai Yu" (The language of the sea) (Huang, 1536) in the Ming Dynasty.

In "Min Zhong Hai Cuo Shu". Tu (1596) stated that the bird's nest is the food of the rich. However, the medicinal value of the bird's nest was only confirmed by several scholars about hundred years later after a long history of consumption and testing and has been promoted to be a nourishing and replenishing medicine with specific therapeutic effects.

The literature of "Ben Cao Bei Yao" (The essential notes of materia medica) (Wang, 1694) and "Ben Cao Feng Yuan" (The medicinal herbs in the wild) (Zhang, 1695) of the Qing dynasty show evidence that the ancient Chinese had the belief that the bird's nests did have some therapeutic effects and were used to cure disease.

In the years 1757 to 1871, many scholars ang experts had discussed in their literatures in details the transformation of the bird's nest from an expensive food to a precious medicine.

They include the scripts "Ben Cao Cong Xin" (New Compendium of materia medica), "Ben Cao Qiu Zhen" (New compilation of materia medica) and "Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Yi' (A supplement to the Compendium of materia medica).

Prof.Kong further indicated that, according to Chinese literature, the bird's nest does have obvious healing effects to post-stage tuberculosis, gastric ulcers and bleeding of the lung. Beside, it can promote growth.

In recent years Prof. Y. C. Kong has been conducting detailed investigations on bird's nests.

Based on repeatable results of in vitro exposure experiments he has discovered that the bird's nest contain a "cell division inducing hormone" and an "epithelial growth factor" that can stimulate the growth and division of cells, thereby enhancing tissue growth, cellular regeneration and cell-mediated immunity in humans.

The investigations have provided good scientific evidence that supports the notion that the bird's nest can facilitate growth, replenish strength and vital energy, accelerate the recovery from disease and reinforce immunity. The specific animal proteins in an edible bird's nest have the following three functions :

1. To stimulate the regeneration of cells
2. To enhance cell-mediated immunity
3. To enhance the resistance of an individual to X-irradiated damage

This is the main reason why the proteins of other precious medicinal foods like the sea cucumber, abalone, scallop, and egg cannot be compared to those contained in the edible bird's nest.

The bird's nest help regulate the function of the endocrine system as well as other body functions. They strengthen the body, moisturize the skin, maintain beauty, provide energy and enhance the metabolism of fat. The bird's nests are adaptable for either sex or any age group.

The consumption of bird's nest during pregnancy can increase nutrition and improve the overall health of the mother and child and will give the infant a flexible mind. Woman consuming bird's nest after giving birth can recover more quickly and slim rapidly to help maintain their beauty.

The stomach and spleen of newborns function weakly. This can easily cause diarrhea and the loss of appetite. Feeding the newborns with bird's nest that has been dissolved in milk can improve these deficiencies. Babies that are 6 month old can be fed with rice porridge or congee containing bird's nest.

Children require more nutrition during their growing period. Being fed with bird's nests can help strengthen the body and stimulate the growth of the brain. Edible bird's nest not only tastes good but when served with rock sugar, fresh milk or oatmeal aids digestion and constipation.

For youngsters, always consuming bird's nest can enhance metabolism, strengthen various body functions and reinforce immunity. Besides, it can also smooth the skin and maintain eternal beauty. People, who are highly stressed and are busy in study and work can alleviate tiredness, relieve spiritual pressure and recover body strength through always consuming bird's nest.

Bird's nests are also beneficial to people who have just recovered from illness, who are old and weak, who suffer from asthma and who are always catching the cold or influenza. A regular diet of bird's nest can help alleviate the trachea, smooth breathing, benefit the control of asthma, expel phlegm, recover vital energy and extend longevity. It is particularly effective to those who have sleep disorders, bronchitis, coughs or hangovers. Bird's nests also show obvious therapeutic effects to help moisturize and replenish the lung and clear away intestinal heat.

A Beautiful Idea On How To Choose Birdhouse Builder plus Guarantee of Having Birdnests !!!

The cost of building a two stories high birdhouse (20' X 70') is estimated to be in the region of 100K to 250K.

I am pretty sure that this is a lot of money and everybody who wanted to spend this amount will want to be assured of having bird nests in their birdhouse.

So how do U choose the right contractor who will build your birdhouse and will assure that there will be bird nests within 6 months?

I came out with these beautiful ideas:

1) Firstly U carry out a birdcall test on the piece of land that U wanted to build the birdhouse. Make sure that the number of swiftlet responding to the test is more then 100 birds.

2) Once U have a positive birdcall test, get two or more consultants to visit the same site and let him do the test using his own birdcall music. This test is just to let him see for himself how good is the birds population.

3) If his test is good, then I am sure he is willing to build one with a slim risk of failure.

4) Ask him to submit a quotation and his payment terms.

5) Upon receiving his quotation, U have the right to modify the terms to make it more to be in favors of U.

6) Call him and tell him that you want the payment terms to be modified such that U will only pay 80% while the balance shall be paid based upon Birdnest population in the new house.

Example:

If his quotation total is 200K, U will pay him the first payment of 10% upon award, 20% upon building material at site, 10% upon structures are up .

Once the building is completed U pay him another 20%. You pay him 20% more when the music are run and the birds are seen to come into the house.

Balance of 20% shall be paid based on the number of nests being build in the house within a period of 6 months. For every nest build he is entitled for a payment of RM1,000.

Every month U and him will make a birdnest population check. U enter the room with him and check on the number of new nests being build. A new nest is defined as at least a half cup size. If the first month there are 5 nests, U pay him RM5,000 (5 X RM1,000). Mark these nests with color marker for your easier differentiation during the next month scheduled check.

The next month U again together with him will visit the rooms and check on the new number of nests being built. If there are another 5 new nests, U release another RM5,000.

U continue doing this until the 6th months.

If within the agreed 6 months the total number of nest built is 40 , he gets what he is entitled, which is equivalent to the 20% balance. If the number of nests are less then 40 then he loose the balance. Fair and square.

Note: A new nest must be half a cup size and nothing less.

If you adopt this suggestions, I am pretty sure U will have 40 nests within the first 6 months upon compleation.

Any comments ??????

Now My Wife Is Facinated With My Swiftlet Ranching Hobby !!!

It is great to know that your better half is showing a keen interest in your hobby in bird nest.

I have to admit that I went into bird nest farming without the knowledge of my dear wife.

My main reason being, if she came to know about it she will kill me !!! Serious, I know she is dead against any kind of investment which she thinks is a waste of money.

During my last trip back to my and her hometown, Sungai Patani, she admitted that she knows about my birdhouse project. It was through one of my staff who secretly told her.

The first thing that I did was to say sorry for not telling her earlier but my good reason being, since my parent are no longer alive, I need to have something to do while back in my home town.

Well by using my sad and sympathetic explanations she seem to accept my excuse. She says that it is okay as long as I do not put too much money into it.

Well I told her that the monthly bill is just about RM 21 (10 for water and 11 for electricity. Well that sounds very low and reasonable to her.

While talking about it she made gestures that if the house is full of birds we should invite her farther to visit the house. Hmmmm ..... I think it will not be that easy and that soon. It might take maybe another 5 years, I told her. I do not know how long her father will stay alive? He is now crossing 80 years old. He he he.

Well the best news to me is that at last she came to know about my private and confidential project by her self. I have been keeping away from her for almost 3 years.

I was just afraid that she might make me drop the project and it will be a shear waste. But now I am delighted and happy that she accepted it with a open mind and blessed my hobby. Wow what a relief.

Well, to all those who are in the same line please believe me that it is a real relieved when your love one accept something that is so dear to U.

Shima/Mizan: One New Swiftlet Farmer In the Making !!!!

Today is another good day for me especially in my involvement in swiftlet farming.

I was busy in the morning with my document imaging business and someone wanted to meet me in Puchong, Selangor. So picked up a friend and proceeded to Puchong.

Just before I arrived, there was a call from a Lady. Wow, now I think I am very popular with swiftlet farming.

Her name is Shima and she wanted to talk to me immediately about my bird nest experiences. Told he to meet me within 30 minutes at IOI mall.

After my other meeting, Shima walks in with her hubby, Mizan.

Our introduction was short and briefs. She told me what she wanted:

“Harry, my father has a piece of land in Merbok, Bedong, Kedah, about 2 kilometers from the sea front. He wanted me to look at building a birdhouse on that piece of land. What is your best advice?"

Firstly, I told her that for what ever reason she has, the most important thing for her to do is to conduct a birdcall test. A bird call test will determine the viability of the project. If the test resulted in a sizable number of birds, more then 100 birds, then she can go to the next step. If the result is poor, less then 20 birds, she need to opt either to redo the test by using a new birdcall sound or test it on the next day, perhaps this time in the morning. If that also failed, then she has to either abandon the idea or do another test with another bird call sound.

The impression that I wanted her to understand fully is that there is no use to build a house when there is no tenant to come in and stays. I stressed to her that there are so many failed birdhouses just because they did not carry out the bird call test.

Assuming that the birdcall test passed with flying colors, now she needs to proceed with the next step. I told her to visit the nearest local council and talk to the officer in charge on building bird nest house on her father's agricultural land. Let the officer advise the rules and regulations that need to be followed.

Once that is cleared with no hiccup, she should now look into getting a proper design expert that can view her piece of land, the size, shape, type of land and direction of the sun.

It would be very though full if the land be properly utilized where the first house be situated at the right corner and any future expansion will maximize the utilization of the rest of the land.

I also stressed that for the first house make sure the direction of the sun comes into the front of the house not the side. This will reduce the square area of the wall absorbing the hot sun.

Minimum size should be 15 feet by 40 feet and at least two stories high.

To reduce cost they can consider using rejected bricks that are not suitable for normal houses.

Internally, the roofing materials she should try to use Meranti planks that are already built with special groove for swiftlet to grip when resting or building of their nest.

On the ground floor they should consider to build a small room that will allow them to use as store for sound system placement and storing of ladder, boxes, and harvested nests.

While doing the wooden roofing, wiring works must be properly done to ensure that electrical cable are laid to ensure that those tweeters will be ready to be connected to the amplifier plus DVD players.

The bird entrance should be placed on the roof top. There is no need to make any roof but a flat roof type with a dog house swiftlet entrance and a water pool.

She asked: " What are the list of things that we need to install in the birdhouse?"

As far as I know these are the essentials:

1) A good sound system complete with tweeters, amplifier, music players (2 sets) and a set of birdcall sound for external and internal usage.

2) A good outlay of wooden roofing for the bird to built their nest. Use suitable wood that are ready with grooves if possible. Avoid 90 degree corners.

3) A humidifier for each floor connected to a sensor what will allow the room humidity be regulated.

4) Place a fluorescent light on each floor to be used only during harvesting of nests.

5) A tool set for harvesting inclusive of a ladder to reach the wooden frame, scrapper to harvest the nest and torch light. Well I also keep a plastic container with tight cover to keep harvested nests.

Her next question was: “How much is the cost to build a birdhouse?"

Well this is a very tricky question. My answer is, it varies from one individual to another. Depending on the size of the house, the height, the material used, the sound system that were selected and the wood that U used plus the consultation fee, it can be around RM100,000 to RM250,000.

Her hubby quipped: “Harry, can we build the house using wood?'

My answer, there is no reason why U cannot however U need to make sure that the area U built is not infested with white ants. The room temperature and humidity might be a bit difficult to control and at the same time the wooden structure is easily breakable.

Well I guess the one hour with them have been very informative and I am sure they need more back up information soon.

Good luck to both of them and I looked forward to hear more from them.

Who knows, one day they will be a successful bird nest farmers!!!

My Farmhouse Visit Dated November 22nd 2007

I came back to my home town to attend my F-I-L birthday and took the opportunity to make a visit to my birdhouse.

It was not very far from my house, 15 minutes the most.

Main intention was to check the house, sound system and to install those Styrofoam that I have been accumulating since two weeks ago.

Upon reaching the house I make some checks outside the house. Everything looks good. No break-ins, no sign of people damaging the doors or the walls.

Also check the main water meter and electrical supply. Everything looks good.

Pick up the electricity and water bill in the postbox. The electricity bill was RM 10.47 and the water is RM 10. Total bill to pay was RM20.47.

At about 10 am entered the house via the back door and check the sound players. They are running fined and make me feel very happy.

After looking at the small room and check the sound, went into the ground floor of the birdhouse.

Open the entrance door and saw the floor are with lots of bird shits spots. A very good sign. The more the bird shit spots the better it is.

Shown my lights on the places about the spots and there they are.

Checked the number of bird nests on the ground floor. They looks okay. Not much changes as far as I can remember. The number is the same.

Moved to the upper floor and checked of any new sign of bird shit spots. There were no sign of new bird making nests.

The sound system looks and playing okay.

Once finished my checking works, I started my Styrofoam fixing exercise.

First I switch the fluorescent light on.

I choose the lower floor but choose three locations that I wanted to try. Moved in the tall ladder and started fixing using a heavy duty stapler gun which I bought a a bookstore in Kuala Lumpur.

The procedure was very simple. Climb the ladder and place the Styrofoam onto the wood panel. Take the gun and place it on one top hand corner of the Styrofoam and trigger the gun. It shoots with a bang. I did the same at the other corner. Each Styrofoam, I used only two bullets.

There were more then 20 strips that I fixed per selected corner. I choose three corners.

I hope the trial will work and by next visit will check if there are any new nests at these three corners.

Best of luck.

If it works for me, it will work for U ????

Latest: Investment In Birdnest Processing

This email message came to me yesterday from by dear friend who wanted to start his birdnest processing center in Pahang.

I am trying to do some fine tuning of the profit margin that I grossly over estimated:


Hi Harry,

Refer to our tele-conversation,

Please be informed that we are wholesaler of bird nest and at same time, we also provide processing and we do our own farming.

Do to our wholesale volume much higher than our farm production, therefore, most of the time we have to buy from other suppliers i.e. indonesia, malaysia and thailand. Wholesale margin not as high as retail but we are talking about volume of sale. Therefore, for malaysia office, yearly turnover close to 1000kg.

Beside we sell processed bird nest, we also sell unprocessed bird nest (Raw).

In my previous email, i have mentioned about the cost of processing and also the price that we are selling. In order to make better profit, we and you have to control the cost of raw material.

Processing fee incl. vacuum packaging with 500g each pack (460g add moisture to become 500g).

House Nests
white Rm800/kg
yellow Rm700/kg
red rm500/kg

Cave Nest
a. Red nest Rm500/kg
b. White or Yellow Rm700/kg


Our wholesale price for processed birdnest are as below (rm/kg) (based on indonesia nest)
Cookie Broken Corner CUP
a. White 3100 4200 5000 5700/5800
b. Yellow 3100 4200 5500 6300
c. Red 3100 4200 5800 6700

Example : For white nest

Assuming u can get raw white nest (cup) at Rm4200/kg full dry. + 800 process = Rm5000
assuming 1kg white nest u can get 860g MIN. after process AND we sell at Rm5800***, that mean the gross margin is m800. So may be we can buy from u at 5400 or 5500.

You may feel that the margin is low, ie only few hundred rm BUT wholesale is talking about volume. secondly, let say u make rm300/kg as compare to total investment per kg incl. process is rm5000 = 6% return x times of turn over per year, it could be more than that.

OR may be u can consider use Indonesia coloured nest (yellow or red), i'm sure the margin is better. The raw material u can either buy directly by yourself in indonesia OR buy from us. as long as u know the processing fee and also my selling price, then u can start to work backward for the profit.

ALWAYS remember, wholesale refer to volume of sale not margin per kg.

Pls feel free to discuss with me, if u have any queries. Thanks

Regards,

Looking at his explaination, I conclude the followings:

1)The margin is around 800 to 1200 per Kg.

2) If the same money is utilized for 6 times a year, U can earn 6 X 800 per kilo per year.

3) The coloured nests can fetch a better margin.

4) If we can find our our buyer then we can sell at a better price but if not we have him to buy from us at wholesales price.

Article From Sunpower Wellness

Origin of Bird's Nest

Edible bird's nest first appeared in historical records of the Tang dynasty in China, during the reign of the Empress Wu(circa 626-706). From the historical annals, it shows clearly that edible bird's nest was already a highly-prized delicacy in the palace more than a thousand years ago.

Swallows and swiftlets



Bird's nest are produced by swiftlets. These birds are from the same family as the common swallow, but they are smaller in size, averaging only 9mm in length, while swallows can grow up to 17mm. Another difference is that the tails of swiflets are shorter with feathers that are rectangular in shape, while swallows have a longer tail and feathers that shaped like scissors.

Swiflets are found predominantly in south-east Asia, in countries like Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and Thailand. Small colonies of swiflets may also be found in some remote areas of India and Sri Lanka.

Constituents

Swallows make their nest from grass and mud, and their nest are certainly not edible. In contrast, swiflets make their nest using their saliva, therefore the highly valued edible bird's nest are actually the dried saliva of swiftlets.

Chemical analysis of edible bird's nest reveals that the main constituents are water-soluble proteins (~60%), moisture (~10%), and traces of fat, carbohydrates, calcium, potassium and sodium.

Benefits

The benefits of taking edible bird's nest are still not scientifically proven, although it was claimed that it contains elements which can stimulate cell growth and are beneficial to elderly people recovering from illness.

Traditionally it is believed that bird's nest can strengthen the lungs and pancreas to prolong life also in slowing down the aging process. It is especially valued by ladies for its reported properties of making the skin delicate and glow radiantly.

Found at: http://www.proliver.com/orofbine.html

Medical Abstract: Allergy To Edible Birdnest ???

This is something that we do not want to know but it happen.

In this world there are people who can be allergic to their environment like pollen, cat's fur, grass, chicken, fish, sea food and many other things.

This report is the first time where a Malaysian girl is allergic to Birdnest.


Found at:http://www.fujita-hu.ac.jp/JSCD/all_folder/text_folder/edjurnal_vol.12_no.3.html#Vol.12.127-129

Quote:

Case report
A Case of an Anaphylaxis of Edible Bird's Nest

Tomoko NAKADA,Takahito YAMANISHI,Kazuhisa FUJIMOTO,Seiji KAWANA

Department of Dermatology, Nippon Medical School, 1-1-5 Sendagi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8603, Japan

Correspondent : Nakada T
Accepted for publication : May 10, 2005

Abstract

We received report, the case of a 26-year-old female Malaysian student. She ate egg sandwiches and a homemade dessert containing bird's nest. Five minutes later, she developed erythema with facial swelling and nasal obstruaction. We considered that her symptoms were due to an anaphylactic reaction to food.

We performed skin prick tests for egg sandwiches, bird's nest and berries of the matrimony vine. The patient showed a positive reaction to bird's nest. Allergy to bird's nest has not been reported to date in Japan.

However, there is a report indicating that bird's nest in food is the major cause of anaphylactic reaction in children in Singapore.

We presumed that the number of cases of food allergy to bird's nest may increase in Japan as a result of diversification and globalization of eating habits.

Unquote:

Well this might be due to cave birdnest with contamination from the cave wall secreation????

Research: UTM Research on BirdNest Cleaning Technique !!!

Found at: http://www.cepp.utm.my/rnd_bird.php

I stumbled onto this interesting topic:


Research abstract

Edible bird’s nest or “Yan Wo” is a salivary secretion during breeding season of a male sea swifts.

This sticky secretion is regurgitated to form the bird’s nest. In modern and ancient China, edible bird’s nests are considered nutritious and therapeutic.

At present, Hong Kong is the largest official consumer of bird’s nest, with the annual consumption of USD 25 million.

Malaysia is the third largest raw bird’s nest producer after Thailand and Indonesia. However, little research has been carried out in bird’s nest cleaning method which hamper the growth of the industry.

The harvested bird’s nest consisted of sand, feathers, egg shell and other impurities. The conventional cleaning process is by separating the large feathers from the nest matrix with a pair of forceps.

The fine feathers are removed by floatation technique using vegetables oil. The conventional method result in a considerable wastage (30% w/w).

In addition, the used of bleaching agent to clean the material caused nutritional lost. Therefore, an efficient and safe method for bird’s nest cleaning was developed.

The method allows reduction in processing time and high recovery of the edible bird’s nest. The new process involves dissolution of the harvested bird’s nest, filtration and freeze drying.

Finally, purified and dried bird’s nest was obtained. The process is expected to reduce the cost and consumers are able to procure a valuable nutraceutical product at a lower price.

With this new developed technique, bird’s nest can be used as an intermediate material for the natural high quality nutraceutical such as Epidermal Growth Factor.


Invention
- An efficient and safe method for bird’s nest cleaning has been developed.

- The method allows reduction in processing time and high recovery of the edible bird’s nest.

- The new process involves dissolution of the harvested bird’s nest, filtration, precipitation and freeze drying. Finally, purified and dried bird’s nest was obtained.


Benefits of the project

- The process is expected to reduce the cost and consumers are able to procure a valuable nutraceutical product at a lower price.

- With this new developed technique, bird’s nest can be used as an intermediate material for the natural high quality nutraceutical product.

- Reduction in processing time and High recovery (30-45%) of the edible bird’s nest.

Unquote:

I think the idea to come out with a scientific method to process the birdnest is brilliant.

I was inform that one of the biggest headeach in doing processing job is the amount of kilo lost after the process job. Depending on the type of raw birdnests, U might loose as high as 2 out of 3.

U might gain a bit due to the wetness but the total lost is considerable if U do not have experience workers and the right equipment.

This research done by UTM is a good and marvelous.

There shud me more research done on many other aspect of birdnest breading, processing of raw nests, transformation of these valuable nest into medicien and many more.

We should talk to Tan Seri Dato Mohidin Yassin to perhap provide suitable grant for this kind of research for Malaysia.

Styrofoam Nests: I Will Be Installing Lots Of Them This Weekend!!!

I will be going back to Sungai Patani this weekend. Have an important work to do at my birdhouse. At the same time attending Father's-In-Law Birthday.

One of my main objective is to install as many styrofoam fake nests as possible in my Birdhouse this weekend.

My idea is to place the stryrofoam strips at one corner of the ground floor and the balance at the upper floor.

Last few weeks have been collecting these styrofoam used for my nasi lemak meals and cut them into small strip of 5 inch by 1 inch. I have at least 50 of them to be installed.

Bought a heavy duty staple plus bullets, the bigger size, so that I can easily fix them on the wooden roofing.

Hopefully by my next trip, the young birds will be able to use them as their place to built their nests.

For your information young birds who have little experiences in building any nest before find that these fake nests allows them to get the confident in building their first nests. There were many sifus who recommended, especially Pak Hen Mulia, in using this cheap and easily available materials.

At the same time I wud like the house to be fully occupied. Currently most of my tenants prefer to nest at the lowest floor at the back of the room. This might be due to ideal temperature and humidity.

They tend to cluster together and do not want to built on the higher floor or other corner/parts of the ground floor.

I need to lure these young birds to start their nests at these inhibited areas.

There is nothing wrong to try and will monitor it's result.

Harvesting of Birdnests: My action in August 2007 !!!

Sometime in August 2007, I felt very angry with my tenant (swiftlet) staying in my birdhouse.

What really happened was that I was on the impression that once the birds lay their eggs, hatched them, take care of the babies and once the baby birds flew away, the nest are mine and I can harvest them.

Well, well ,well I was wrrrrrooonnngggg.

The bird actually recycles their nests. They reused the nests and lay a new clutch of new set of eggs.

I was a bit mad and feel being cheated. So I was a bit furious, angry, cheated and disgusted. So I did the thing that I should have not done.

Yes, I harvested all nests in my birdhouse with eggs plus the empty one. I have no choice but to do it.

I actually plug those with or without eggs. I lay off those with babies.

I remembered sharing the experiences with members at SMC on September 1st 2007:

"Dear Members,

I do not feel good today for I did some harvesting of all those nests
that were recycled by my birds.

Well, U see I have been tracking these nests built in my birdhouse for
quite some time.

Whenever I visit I will record the nest populations based on fully
developed nest and those with half cups and marking.

After giving lot of time I observed that these birds are recycling the
old nests.

Every time I come in they are either with baby birds or
eggs. Only one or two are empty.

So I did what I have decided to do i.e. to harvest all those with eggs
plus empty.

Those with babies are spared. I keep the bird eggs. (Can it be boiled
and eat?)

I just hope that my action will not do any harm on the population.

For record purposed the total number of nests increased by 25%. "

There were many members who told me that what I did was wrong but you know what happened after three weeks?

There were more new ones came out and those that I removed were back at the same spots.

I was very pleased with the outcome and maybe I can learn something about good harvesting methods. Maybe I was lucky!!!

My personal views on house bird nest harvesting are:

1) Once U have birds building nests in your new birdhouse, let the number grow to a reasonable figure. I think the best is to be at least 20 nests.

2) Once you have 20 nests, you can now tag them with colored tapes. Use white for new, green for those with eggs and red for those with baby birds. U need a ladder to climb and check if there were eggs or empty. Those with babies can be easily seen.

3) U should visit your birdhouse every 3 weeks for checking and harvesting works.

4) U can now start to harvest those nests that were marked with red colored tape. Remember they must be empty i.e. no more babies staying in the nest.

5) Once U harvest U can now retag the nests as per the colored tape. Those nest with eggs but now with babies shall be tag with red, with egg(s) green and those without any tag before white.

6) Make a new count of all the nests and record them in a log book. How many are white tagged, green tagged and red tagged.

7) The harvested nest should be kept in a container that is dry and covered from air.

8) U can now either sell to the buyers or keep them until U have a sizable quantity or cook to eat?

I hope that the tips given are well taken and useful to all birdhouse owners.

If it is useful, use them during your next trip your birdhouse.

Nest Building: How Long Does It Take To Built One ??

How long do you think a new nest takes to be built?

The answer is 30 days (on an average).

From "Swiftlets of Borneo" ( my reference book), the author observed the followings:

"For the white nest swiftlet, it takes 30 days on the average from the first deposition of nest cement at the start of the breeding season until the nest reaches a sufficient size to hold the eggs.

From this point, another 7-10 days may be needed before the first egg is laid. If the nest is removed before the lay, the birds immediately begin rebuilding a replacement nest on the same spot.

If it is taken when eggs or young are present, there is a delay of 10-14 days before fresh saliva is deposited again.

The rate of deposition of replacement nests is faily uniform within a colony, but the delay before a new clutch is laid varies greatly."

For those who are having their own birdhouse, the good news is that immediately after you harvest, new nests will be build by your tenant (swiftlets).

The best recommendation is to tag the birdnest with colored sticker. U should target those that are without the babies. Those with eggs or babies should not be removed.

Main advantage is that U allow the birds to breed to the maximum. As such the number of birds will multiply at a greater speed. This will eventually allow your birdhouse to be fully occupied and at the same time U harvest only those nests that are not occupied.

U must also be aware that the bird will normally built a new nest on the same spot immediately after U harvest the used nests. During harvesting try to leave some birdnest marking so that the bird can locate where they will start rebuilding a new one.

If U do not harvest the used nests, the birds will recyle and lay a new clutch of eggs.

Please refer to my next article on what happenned when I harvest the birdnests in my birdhouse !!!!

Investment: Opportunity in Birdnest Processing ?

Today something happened and it might change my mindset of how to turn RM 200,000 to more then RM500,000 within 6 months.

I received a call from a Dear friend who is dedicated in Birdnest business.

He called from Bangkok and told me that his bird nest processing shop in Pahang is set to take off this coming month.

He was looking around for raw bird nests to provide the raw materials to his new shop.

He is also willing to provide " contract work" to anyone who is willing to invest in buying the raw bird nests and let his shop to carry out the nests cleaning job inclusive of vacuum packing.

Once packed, the items shall be sold by him at his standard Market prices.

Assuming that a kilo of raw nests is about RM3,500 /kilo plus his processing fee of 500/kilo this will be equal to RM 4,000/kilo.

He can easily sell to the market at RM6,000 to RM7,000 a kilo.

The profit margin is around RM 2,000 to RM 3,000 a kilo or RM2,500 average.

Since he can handle about 50 to 60 kilos a month, your total investment to purchase these raw bird nest is about RM 200,000.

The total kilogram at RM 3,500 is 57 kilos.

If the profit margin is RM2,500 (average) a kilo, you can easily net in RM140,000 a month.

Within 6 months U can easily earn a total of RM140,000 a month X 6 months = RM 840,000.

Well I might be a bit grossly on the calculation but it is not impossible.

So if anyone out there are keen to be an investor why don’t U send me an email to make some enquiries? Send them to: harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

This might be a new source of income to you while waiting for your birdhouse to bear nests? The same amount of money will immediately produces an income and the waiting period is much shorter. (Remember, it take at least 3 years to get a good harvest from a birdhouse investment?

I recommend this to any new investors for as long as the process nests are already having ready buyers.

Note: The above are just my tabulation based on the current market plus input from the bird nest processing center owner. They are subject to changes if any. I do not guarantee or make any commitments that the figures are right or confirm.

Ranching: In Indonesia Swiftlets are Hatched and Breed by Human !!!

They are becoming like Chicken Farming.

Yes, this is true and interesting.

All this while, we were looking at getting them from the wild, however the technology is available to incubate their eggs and hatch them in a control environment.

Once the eggs are hatched, human will feed the young birds by hand and they will never leave the farm any longger.

See This Video in Indonesian Language:

http://liputan6.com/news/?c_id=3&id=140593


U never know, what new things they will invent next !@@@@@

Interesting: Birdnest Fungi Looks Just Like Birdnests !!!

I was working on by blog and saw this interesting topic that is "birdnest" but in another form call "Fungi".

The Birdnest Fungi Description:

Of the several types of fungi that grow in our yard, the most unusual looking is the birds' nest fungus (Cyathus stercoreus). This little mushroom grows on bits of wood (mostly the mulch that I put around plants) right out in the open. Of course, like almost all the fungi around here, it needs a good rain to get it to fruit.



When the fungus first emerges, it looks like fuzzy bulbs with a white covering over the top, about 1/3 of an inch in diameter. It then splits open at the top to reveal the "eggs," which are actually the peridioles containing the spores. If all goes well, these are knocked out of the cup by water drops and eventually release their spores. The open cups are about 1/2 inch wide so one must look closely to see the details.

In one more article the following description catch my attention:




Cyathus novaezelandiae is an example of a Birds Nest Fungus. In the photograph you can see the egg-like peridioles in each fruiting body. The cups of the Birds Nest Fungi have a somewhat leathery consistency and each peridiole has a hard outer casing, within which there is a mass of spores. The cups vary in size but generally are between 5 and 10 millimetres in diameter.





In the case of Birds Nest Fungi, the peridioles are knocked out of the cups by raindrops. When a peridiole lands somewhere - it sticks. In some genera of Birds Nest Fungi the peridioles have sticky surfaces, but that's not the case in the genera Crucibulum and Cyathus. In these genera the peridiole has a long tail and the end of the tail is sticky and adheres to any surface it comes into contact with. The photograph shows some tailed peridioles from a specimen in the genus Cyathus. Each peridiole is about 2 millimetres in diameter.


My advise to all, if U should come across these fungi, please see how similar they are with the white gold birdnests. Never to touch them,they might be poisonnous ?

A Very Tricky Question: Is Cave Nests Safe To Eat?

I was ask about this tricky question yesterday.

It seem that someone on the net indicated that due to the direct contact between the saliva and the cave wall, there is a very strong possibility that the minerals from the cave rocks will seep into the nest.

Come to think about it , it is logical.

Good example is how red colored nest happened in the cave. The actual color of the nest were white but due to the wetness of the cave and some minerals seeping onto the nest textures and react with the saliva, it turns red.

If in the even the cave minerals are contaminated, then the nest will also be contaminated.

If this is the case then it is much safer to eat nests from birdhouses.

For as long as the house owner follow good birdnest house farming atics, his product will be much safer then the cave nests.

After 16 Months I have 400 Birds and 130 Nests, Am I Successful?

Mr Tay of Sabah asked this interesting question sometime back:

Hi,

I am Tay from Sabah,
My birdhouse (2-stories) wooden,
about 2000sq.ft per floor,
started on march 2006..now oct 2007..
presently have about 400 birds,130 nest,

I have harvested about 1 kilo so far.

Can this project be termed successful?
or just average only?

A very demanding question I wud say.

He takes only 17 months to house 400 birds and he have 130 nest. On the top of that he have already harvested 1 kilo. I assume 120 nests being harvested.

My answer wud be Yes you are the lucky one and the number is very encouranging.

What I wud like to comment is that he is having a wooden house. Most people are talking about building their birdhouse made of bricks and cement. This will cost much higher then a wooden made.

As compaired to cement birdhouse, wooden birdhouse are quicker to be built and easier to manage.

However a wooden house might be seceptable to termites and of course easier for buglars to break in.

I think if U built them on your own piece of land where U can keep a close eyes on it, it will be okay.

The key question is get as many birds as possible into the house and make sure they built those white gold for U.

LATEST FROM TAY:

Hi,Harry.

Thanks for your comments.
I am Tay who posted the question.
The reason the bird house was built of timber is that I renovated from an Old Unused house.
Two set-back for a Timber Bird Hse.One..termites problem.
Two..heat from zinc roof.
Well I manage to overcome them.
Well as of this week, this Hse has more than 520 birds & about 220 nest.
One thing I learn..if one want to increase Birds population,...stop harvesting until you have the population you want.
Regards,
TayGS.

Thank U very mcuh Mr Tay for your kind information on the birdhouse of yours.

You are doing well friend.

How To Own Your First Birdhouse In The Shortest Time and Minimum Financial Outlay!!!

There are a few ways in having your own birdhouse in a quick, cheap and yet it is yours.

The main idea is to go on a Join Venture basis with a few friends of relatives.

If you are a newbie, the desire to own one is very strong until you just could not wait for a new day. You have this sleepless night, thinking about how can you own one with minum investment and little risk? So the idea of having a Join Venture (JV) between 2 to maximum of 5 people will be the best recomemdation.

These are many of the advantages that you will get but there are also some set backs.

Main advantages are:

1) U can own one fairly quick. This is because once, say the 5 of you, have agreed to a JV, you can set up a company and each will contribute their portion in buying the first birdhouse.

2) The amount of investment required is very little. Assuming the total cost is RM 250,000 each will only invest RM50,000.

3) Your exposure, if the project do not take off or failed, if any, is minimum. 50K is less painfull as compaired to 250K if U be on your own.

4) In the event the group chooses to use a new method to lure the swiftlets into the house, example spraying the aroma, the cost is share by the 5 of U. This is again not that painfull.

5) U now have your own birdhouse where U can learn as much as U want to. U can visit the house as often as U can and monitor the progress yourself.

6) Once the birds starts to built their nest U will eventually share the income between the 5 of U. U now can hold and taste the fruit of your investment much faster as compaired to on your own.

7) The JV Company can later morgage the birdhouse for a price higher then what the JV purchased and used the money to buy a few more birdhouses. In this way the JV can easily have more then one unit in a very short time.

However there are some negative points that need to be awared:

a) U need to get to know all the parties first. U need to meet all of them and get a lawyer to come out with the working relationships and how to share the piece of the birdhouse harvests.

b) U need to set up a JV company that will be owned by the 5 partners. Each shall be evently sharing and contributing the cost of buying, construction, modify and legal cost.

c) Each time U want to visit the birdhouse, all members must be informed or at least two of the partners must be there. This is to avoid any possible mistrust.

d) When there is a harvest, all proceed shall be equally distributed. This might be very small in the first 3 to 5 years. Once the house do well the income will be tremendous.

The most important is to select the right partners and a leader of whom U can trust and rely in getting the birdhouse organised.

I believed this is the best option for those who are new and wanted to learn on the chellanges of building a birdhouse.

The opportunity is great and I am sure there are many who are keen to opt on this arrangement.

If U are serious and interested kindly email me or call me for a discussion.

As at November 14th, 2007, I have already two persons who have make the commitment and we are looking for three more.

Harry

Latest: One more person from Indonesia have confirm his interest to be a partner.

Now we need two more. First come first serve basis.

Borneo Post: Swiftlet Ranching, Is It Legal ?

An interesting article from Borneo post September 7th 2007:

Found at: http://isarawak.com.my/cmsis/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=459&Itemid=37

CHIRPINGS of birds produce a soothing effect. But the euphoria could just as well turn into an ear-splitting cacophony if the sounds of our feathered friends get magnified manifold… like being played over a loudspeaker, for instance.

The sunday post learned that some shops in the city had been converted into swiftlet-nesting areas and decided to investigate.

It was said the top floors were equipped with sound systems and speakers that amplified the calls of swiftlets as a lure. We found this to be very true at a shop near Matang.

Even before our car could turn into the junction, loud chirpings rang through the air. Automatically, we turned skyward, expecting to see flocks of swiftlets but there was none.

Instead, on the top floor of the shop was a wide square opening with speakers fixed on its sides.
It is learnt this “bird attracting” activity has been going on for quite some time as the people living nearby appear quite used to it.

But a few were still curious as to why we were aiming our cameras at the square opening.
One even joined us for a few minutes, looking as though he had found a reason to view more closely the building he had been passing almost everyday.

“It’s so noisy, right?” he asked.

This man told us chirpings over the loudspeakers had been going on for quite some time. Yet nobody knew who owned this swiftlets nesting area.

Is it legal? For starters, it’s creating a ruckus to the nearby residential area and secondly, with cases of the perilous bird flu having been reported in the region, where do the swiflets figure in all this?

East Malaysia Birds’ Nest Merchant Association (BNMA) deputy president Jesse Tang has this to say: “The State law under the Forest Ordinance states that swiftlets ranching is illegal.”

However, he added that at this point, it has yet to be determined whether or not swiftlets ranching should be legalised.

The guidelines, he stressed, were not comprehensive and “have yet to be updated and improved to take into consideration the swiftlets ranching industry.

“Another thing is that wild swiftlets are protected species but what about those in the urban areas? How are ‘urban’ swiftlets to be categorised?” he asked.

He said this conundrum had arisen because in West Malaysia, swiftlets ranching was considered legal since the birds were no longer classified under the Forest and Wildlife Law but Jabatan Perkhidmatan Haiwan (JPH).

Tang said he understood the State’s Ordinance on swiftlets was to conserve and protect the species but what most people failed to realise was that swiftlet ranching was actually doing more good than harm to the birds.

He claimed ranchers were doing their part for conservation by increasing the population of swiftlets.

The ranchers provided a conducive environment for the population to grow compared to the wild where deforestation and poaching had affected the birds’ population, he noted.

Moreover, ranchers would not harvest the nests if there were eggs or hatchlings in them and since the ranching was done in a properly designated area, it was easier to monitor compared to the dark caves, he explained.

“We don’t have to climb 30 to 40 feet to check if there are eggs or hatchlings in the nest. Here, we can wait because the growth rate of the swiftlets population is important to us,” he said.
The eggs take 20 to 25 days to hatch, depending on the temperature.

Tang assured that the association would discuss further with the ministers concerned to find an intermediate solution to permit swiftlets ranching in the State.

He said shutting down the ranching areas would jeapardise the swiftlets’ population as the displaced birds would migrate elsewhere if there was no place to nest.

“Swiftlets stay with their nests for life if the breeding site is conducive.”

“Presently, there are 500 swiftlet ranches throughout the State, some of which are owned and operated by our members,” Tang disclosed.

He advised intending ranchers not to simply renovate their shops or homes but wait for the ruling on swiftlets ranching to be updated and changed before making such an investment.

He urged them to fully understand the regulations first.

The two most prominent species used in the bird’s nest business are the Black Nest Swiftlet and the White Nest Swiftlet.

Ranchers prefer the White Nest as it’s made up mostly of the birds’ saliva — so it comes out clear. Whereas the Black Nest consists of both the birds’ saliva and feathers.

Asked to compare the home-cared birds with those in the caves, Tang said it all depended on the buyers.

He said ranched swiftlets were “more natural” given that their nests were built on dry wooden planks.

Those in the caves built their nests with minerals and salts from the limestones, he added.
Here, Tang was quick to add that this did not mean the nests from the caves were not good — rather it depended on buyers’ preference.

When it came to pricing, he said both type of bird nests cost, more or less, the same.
It’s therefore no surprise that the bird’s nest business is a lucrative one — the current price for a kilogramme is about RM5,000.

According to Tang, a rancher can probably get 100 birds to nest in the first year but harvesting will normally take place only in the second or third year when the number of nests multiply to about 500, allowing the ranchers to harvest up to three times per year.

He said a rancher could get well above 10kg per year.

He believed the price of birds’ nests would move up owing to global demand and the fact that only a few countries were producing this special delicacy.

“The availabiliy of edible birds’ nests are confined to lower Thailand, West Malaysia, part of Indonesia — Sumatra, Java and Bali — Sarawak and Sabah. This means we are exclusive producers.”

He said even Japan and China were keen on producing bird’s nests but could not even though they had the market.

Tang felt Malaysia should take advantage of this, saying: “The Thai government funds swiftlet ranching and West Malaysia is also enjoying this — so let us reap the benefits too.”

There was no denying the industry would have to be regulated but it must be done in a way to help it grow positively, he added.

Interestingly, the total export of birds’ nests from Indonesia to the world was equal to half of the total export of palm oil from Malaysia, he said.

“And the area used for the birds’ nests industry is less than one per cent of that for palm oil — so we don’t need to clear land but would still get almost the same income.”

On the volume of Sarawak’s birds’ nest exported, Tang said it was difficult to specify because a lot of the nests came from caves and not many from ranches, making it difficult to monitor.

Yet, what’s known is Indonesia produces 90 per cent compared to the 10 per cent from Sarawak.

Indonesia will also buy birds’ nests from West Malaysia for export, given the former’s low labour costs.

Tang, however, believed Malaysia’s birds’ nests were of better grade as the weather for the industry was much kinder here.

Moreover, he said, the houses across the border for swiftlet ranches were quite old, more traditional and less conducive.

“Even if we came into the industry late, we adopted higher technology more easily. So in aspects of control and management, we are at an advantage.”

Tang said the association hoped to help the ministers concerned draw up guidelines and provisions for swiftlets ranching in the State.

It was also willing to act as the industry’s regulator, he added.

“It’s not like poultry farming where we can shift the livestock whenever we want. But we certainly can’t ‘discuss’ this shifting around with the soaring swiftlets.”

On the environment, Tang said based on a JPH study in West Malaysia, swiftlets were “positive” birds and a plus point to humans.

He said swiftlets actually removed insects — some which were not quite visible to the naked eye — from the air, acting as sort of an atmospheric filter.

“Furthermore, since swiftlets fly around during the day and roost at dusk, they also help to get rid of mosquitoes.

“They are balancing the effects of ecology. Research has shown that places with a lot of swiftlets also record a low number of aedes mosquitoes,” Tang said.

“The birds’ droppings also does not pose much of a problem given that they are normally found in the nestling area and not outside. So the councils need not worry about cleaning up.”

According to Tang, swiftlets do not normally land on roof tops or roads as they tend to fly up to 1,000 to 2,000 feet above sea level.

“These birds are also said to be the last an the list of disease-carriers. So far, there have not been any case to show swiftlets are bird-flu carriers,” he said.

Birdnest Anti Aging Serum Made In Malaysia !!!

I have no idea that there are a products that uses birdnests to act as an anti aging serum.

While surfing found this interesting article that I would like to share with all readers:

Quote:

Dimension Eureka:

Bird-Nest Serium is 100% extract and made from raw Birdnest, which helps skin healing and prevention of wrinkles.

We have 2 products in our range:

1. Anti-Aging Serum extract from raw High Grade bird nest, this eureka serum delivers nutrients directly and effectively with in minutes once applied.

A person who use it will acknowledge a health skin complexion.

Research shows that every 100g of dry bird-nest contains 49. 9g of water-soluble protein (including Amido Nitrogen, Monoamine Nitrogen, Non-Amino Nitrogen, Arginine, Humin, Histidine, Lysine and Cysteine) , 30. 6g Carbohydrate (Glycoprotein And Mucin) , 4. 9g Iron, 2. 5g Inorganic Salt (including Potassium, Sodium, Calsium, Magnesium, Sulfer, Phosphorus, Silica and other trace element) and 1. 4g Fiber.

The energy contained in 100g of swiftlet nest is 345kcal. When Eureka Bird-Nest Serum is applied it will help prevent and diminish further wrinkles formation and maintaining a younger youthful skin.

2. HGM-Anti Aging Cream the Cream is rich in Glyco protein, Amino Acids and Mineral Salts that help builds skin collagen for healing and prevention of wrinkles, giving a new youthful and radiance skin. With Vitamin E build in, well known for Antioxidant that protects skin from harmful radicals and Water loss.

This exquisite Anti-Aging Cream gives skin a healthy and vibrant look, not only that it also accelerate cell growth.



Unquote

Well what else can birdnest be made to the good of mankind ?

I am very happy that the Malaysian are very innovative in producing new products for the ladies.

What about for those handsome men?

I wud like to apply too......

Latest as at November 15th, 2007.

I received this email from the Marketing guy of the Serum:

This is KNY here ,I would like to inform you that the serium I have
is in development stage and getting the international health
certification.

It has not been approve yet by malaysia goverment but
Japan is approving soon.

The serium comes in few form some are for skin
care and some are use to replace antibiotics in the near future its
still in RND .



do keep in touch .

Well well well. It is a very refreshing to know that they are about to be approved by those countries and I hope Malaysia will be one of the first few.