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Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Birdhouse In Penang For Sale. My Comments

Today received this email massage:

-Location about 100metre to Prangin Mall/Komtar. -40x90 SF -2 storey -Already approved by government to expand built up to 5 storey with architecture plan. -Government approved bird farm. -Started since 2005 till now, can harvest minimum 200 nests in every 45 days. -Just beside of Penang Chinese Morning Market ( Pasar Pagi). -Very high potential to do Pharmacy / Chinese Medicine businese. -Sale for RM 1.7 mil ( negotiable ) .

Is this a good buy?

I for one will not touch this due to the following points:

1) Price is a bid too high and only two storey high building. I wud go, if I have the extra cash at 600,000 only.

2) It has only 200 nests after 3 years and located in the middle of the town.

3) For 200 nest this is estimated to be just 1.7 kilo and in value is 1.7 X 4,000 = 6,800 per 45 days. Your cost to buy is 1.7 million which is a bit steep.

I believe there are many more better choices around and I am sure with 1.7 million I can buy at 5 to 6 units of birdhouses in the northern territory.

Why I Choose Birdnest Farming As To Running a Business !!!

This article was posted on NGVCommunity dot Com sometime back and I love to place it in this blogg:

Quote:

I am a semi retired man and wud like to enjoy doing something that brings good money.One important rule that everyone must follow is to get ready for your retirement years.U can start either tomorrow or much better, today.

The best is to look seriously into creating a multiple sources of income.In my case, I do take a good look at my current financial standing and what are the potential source of income(s).One of the best so far which I greatly enjoyed, with little effort, is the Birnest Farming (Swiftlet) project.

I got one and plan to increase one every year.Birdhouse Farming is unique. The main advantages as compared to investing into a conventional business are:

1) The amount to invest is low. Around RM120,000 to buy a worned down shoplot, 2 stories, and renovate to attract bird to nest. Renovation is about 20K per floor (estimated). Total outlay is RM160,000. (U can take a bank loan if U know them well).

2) Monthly utility cost(electricity and water only) is very low. Roughtly about 10-20 ringgit.

3) If U compare with a conventional business U will have no monthly fees to feed the birds or so except your monthly payment to service your loan. There are no Salaries to be paid, no EPF, no Socso, No holidays, No allowances, No medical leaves, No matenity leave, no retirement fees and no etc etc etc. My employee is actually the birds. They come into the house on their own accord. No contract and no letter of appointment. The best is that they never talk bad about you or back stab U.U let them use your shoplot to nest and the will eventually say thank U by leaving their nest for us to harvest continuously until they die.

4)U only need to check on a monthly basis on the condition of the birdcall music and water spray.

5)Once the bird start to make their nest, you will now hit a jackpot. Your income will steadily increases or multiply by 3 every year. (Note the birds will reproduce every 4 months ie 3 times a year.)Beside that your birdnest house value will start to climb in value base on the number of nest that U have in it. Let say U have a hundred nests. Each nest, rule of the thumb,will be worth RM1000. As an example.: If U pay 120K for the shoplot and 40K for the renovation of the two floors and U now have 100 nests, the value is 120K + 40K + 100 nests X 1000 = RM260,000. If the next year U have 200 nests, the value now is 260,000 + 100,000 = 360,000.No other business can multiply your asset value as fast as this Birdnest business.

6) You can harvest the nest once in every 3 months in the beginning and slowly to 2 months. The best is to start harvesting after the first year of operation. Allow the bird to settle down and breed and multiply to a reasonable numbers. Every 120 nests ie 1 kilo is equivalent to 4,000 - 7,000 Ringgit, depending of the quality and shape of the nests.

7) If you are lucky by year 5 after the 1st nest was built, U will earn about 120,000 ringgit every harvest assumming that you will harvest about 50 kilo of birdnest. This is equivalent to 60,000 a month income doing absolutely nothing.

8) U can then start to multiply the number of units to the maximum from the income U receive.I guarantee U that U will be a millionaire within 10 years of operation. This guarantee is subject to U following some petinen rules and regulations that most birdnest farmers do.

There are verious methods where you can have a piece of the cake.The best is to form a partnership with a few investors and form a venture.In this way your investment is low and the risk is distributed.

If there is anyone out there is very keen please contact me for a full working paper costing about 50 ringgit?

Unquote:

I think there are many more reasons but I believe U can also add more

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

Should I Buy A Ready Made Birdhouse

The above title is very interesting .

I received this email message:

"I managed to find one completely built swiftlet house- 2 storey shop house which will cost me around RM270,000 in some where around Kedah. Now it has 3 nests inside. Is it worth it to buy? any one can advise me?"

At one time I was asking the same question and after listerning to many adviseses, I have made up my own decision base on reasons that I created myself.

My answer is as follows:

There are many reasons why U wanted to buy a ready build birdhouses.

The best reason is to expand your current birdhouses number. Say U now have one or two and you want to quickly increase by one more. U have extra cash and U are really serious of getting another one.

If U never have one yet then U have to be very sure to that the unit have a very strong chance of growing the swiftlet number.

My best advise before U buy is to conduct a few important checks.

a) Why the owner wanted to sell? If he is cash strapped and wanted to let it go quickly then there is a good reason. U shud push it down lower then 270K.

b) Conduct a bird test call. See how many swiftlets respond to the test. If there is less then 20 then it is a big risk. If U have more then 100 then there is a very strong potential.

c) Are there any other birdhouses around the area. If there are then check on their bird population flying in and out of these houses. If the number is great like more then a few hundred then it is a good potential. If these houses are also facing the same kind of low population then U better back out.

d) U also need to enter the house and properly inspect on any sign of termites trails on the walls. See if there is a potential attacks by this wood eating creatures.

e) Look on the floor of the house, can U count the number of birdshit spots on the floor. If there are more then 20 then there is a good sign.

ei) Beside the three bird nest U said is ready, make sure they are full cup, are there any other new nests, like markings on the wood panel? If there are then these are good sign of more birds in the house.

f) Examine the sound system and sound that the seller is using. If U improve these instruments and sound will U be able to improve the bird count? If U feel yes then there is a very good chance to improve the birdnest numbers.

g) Inspect the roving room. Look at the wall. Check the number of birdshits on the wall. If the number is high, ie more then U can count, then it is a good sign that there are lots of birds coming to the house but have yet to nest.

h) U need to know the history of the birdhouse. When it was constructed and by whom. Did they face some problems with the sound, bird of pray or rats, owl, snake and etc. If they did how they remove them. These problems normally affect the birds population.

i) U also need to know if the seller is having problem with the local council. Check with them and do drop by at the council and check if the unit for sale is having any problems with lisensing on so forth. If there is no problem then it a positive point.

So if you can complete the above due deligent then U can make a good decision.

The best is still to make sure that there are birds in the area. The birdcall test , I feel, is the very important point to consider before U buy.

If U need to get more advise please call me at 017 755 1318

Book: Swiftlets of Borneo Builders of Edible Nests


I was on the way back from Brunei.

At the airport, browse at this book shop and found a very interesting book called " Swiftlets of Borneo: Builders of Edible Nests"

It cost me a bit but since the cover and the contents looks very attractive I close my eyes and bought it.

The author is Mr Lim Chan Koon and Earl Of Cranbrook.

I intent to read the books before the weekend and I am sure there are lots of new things to learn from it.

I am very attracted to the book cover.

An interesting reference manual for me.

I will be using this book to alot of questions that I cud not get any answers before.

If U are keen I am willing to put it in a soft copy and sent it to U at a marginal cost of book cost plus postage.

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Received An Email From Mr BL Chia

This is the kind of daily occurance in my life.

Yes, I receive lots of emails and phone calls from those who are keen in becoming a Birdhouse Farmers.

Today when I set down infront of the computer, Mr Chia of Sungai Besar wrote, asking for my Business Proposal for Birdnest Farming.

I was very please to make a call to him ad told him what he needed to do inorder for me to email the soft copy to his attention.

He was fast and managed to talk to him about the paper plus aroma.

" Harry should we use Aroma?"

Well my answer is simple.

There are two reasons why U want to resort to us the Aroma.

First your house is new and U wud like to remove the concrete smell.

Second, if U want to lure swiftlets from your neighbours next door. Yes the aroma is a kind of bait to pull them over and stay with U. Frankly U steal other peoples swiftlet. This is the most important reasons why U shud spend that expensive lotion.

Thirdly, if I may add, the baby that were breed or brought up in the house with aroma, will eventually stay in the same house. This is because the smell makes them want to only stay in the same place. This was claimed by one of the user. It make some good sense.

He was satisfied with the answer and immediately sent the donation for me to sent to him the soft copy.

I told him that I am available for free consultations if he needed my advise.

Thursday, October 4, 2007

Frank Yap Visit To Sungai Patani Birdhouses !!!

During last trip back to Sungai Patani, I live in Kuala Lumpur, Encik Frank Yap of Kulim came to visit my birdhouse.

Before I took him to my birdhouse, I scheduled viewing of other birdhouses in the Town of Sungai Patani and Merbok.

The 1st that I showed him was at Pekan Lama. There are at least 20 shophouses. The best is a two rows of shops that are three stories high. The ground floor were rented out while the 1st and 2nd floor belongs to Dato Beh. Total number of shophouses affected were at elast 18 units. Dato Beh is a famous elected representative to the Kedah state assymbly.

We took some pictures and look at the bird enterance holes at the back of the shop lots.

The next that I showed was a 7 stories building located just opposite the largest Indian Temple at Pekan Lama. This tall building is owned by my SiFu and there were lots of swiftlets circling the top of it.

After snapping a few photos we continued our journey to Pekan Baru , Bakar Arang.

The first for us to visit is the pekan baru industrial estates. There were six rows of double stories factory lots. Nearly 40% of the about 100 lots were converted to birdhouses. Lots of birds circling above and lots of birdcall music in one industrial estate.

We them proceed to anew shoplot just about 5 minutes from this Pekan Baru located just beside the Sungai Muda river.

This particular row of shop houses once belongs to Caymen Island Pt. They went broke during the 1997 recession and a classmate of mine bought the land and built two rows of birdhouses.

These units looks very new and well look after with a 24 hours security guards. The enterence doors are made of solid steel.

After viewing and snapping pictures we proceed to a remote piece of land in Merbok where I showed Mr Frank a single unit, three stories high dedicated birdhouse. The unit was build by a Soya Source factory owner.

It looks good. Good hight and well designed. The height of each floor is more then 12 feet. However the unit is yet to be compleated. No electricity meter being fixed and the sound system is yet to be installed.

Mr Frank was very excited and I told him if given the options this is the most ideal birdhouse concept. U built on an agricultural piece of land, away from housing estates and local council wrath.

After snapping more pictures, I took him to my own birdhouse at Laguna Merbok area. Showed him the construction of the ground foor and upper floor.

Showed him the nests and he was very excited on the number of nests available.

Encik Frank was a satisfied birdnest tourist and with all the pictures taken he will be happy to sent some to me to be loaded onto this blogg.

More to come ....

Wednesday, October 3, 2007

How I got Hooked on Swiftlet Farming !!!

I am very pleased with what happenned the day I met my wife's classmate.

I am married to a Chinese girl from a small town called Sungai Patani (SP), Kedah.

I set my eyes on her when she was sweet 16 and I was then 17 years old.

We met during a picnic trip to a Beach in Kuala Muda. She was so cute that I will never forget the moment I sat my eyes on her.

Well coming back to this Birdnest matter, I was asked by her to accompany for a lunch gathering at a Seafood Restoran in SP, about four years ago. My wife was about 50 years old then. The food, that day, was good and three of her classmates were there with their spouse.

Sitting beside me was a tall guy named Mr D and I asked him what is he up to? His answer: Birdnest Farming !!

Wow, what a weired type of job, I said inside my heart. What the hell is this guy trying to say? As far as I know birdnest are just twigs, or grass or clay full of shits. This guy must be mad or Kuku or Kurang siuman.

That was really the beginning. I was very curious on his nature of business.

He was very persistent and keep talking about how good is his business. He do nearly nothing but every month harvest these "white Gold" and sell at a profit.

By late afternoon I was invited to take a free tour in SP and allowed me to entered two of his birdhouses. He got more then 10 units in SPatani alone.

It was unbelievable. It shocked me to know that there are more then 600 birdhouses in SP.

From that day I got so facinated and arranged to purchase an old and worned down shoplot at about RM 120,000. He arranged for the loan and of course he took the trouble to renovate the lot at a very attractive price ie RM 30,000 for two stories high.

The shoplot situated along the old road just after Sungai Patani town toward Bedong. This unit belong to an Indian owner who bought it at RM150,000 but never managed to rent to any body. The unit was in bad shape and all windows were broken and glasses taken away. Actually it was ab abandoned shoplot. Been there for almost 10 years.

He was ready to sell it at a lost and we managed to squeeze the price to RM 120,000.

Minor problems was the connection of the electricity and water. There was not electricity and water meters. All were stolen.

After settling the outstanding bills and re register got all back to operational condition.

The unit roof was not leaking and the toilets were functioning.

My SIFU started the job after paying him RM10,000 as deposit and the rest was paid on milestone basis.

The birdhouse was ready within less then 3 weeks.

The electricity and water was reconnected and we started the operation by switching the sound system.

Till today I cannot forget the experiences both how I met my wife and this birdhouse guy.

The good thing that happened was that I have just started a new life with an investment that have the potential of A Million Ringgit returns every year.

How about you? Any chance of joining the Millionaire's club????

If U are keen just drop a line to : harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Revised Business Paper On Swiftlet Farming !!!

Today received an email from Encik Zamri from Selangor requesting for my Business Proposal Paper on Swiftlet Farming.

The paper was written and compiled in year 2003. About 17 pages complete with forecast on the number of bird nest projected and some beautiful pictures of birds in a birdhouse.

I have revised the paper to make it more presentable.

The total content consist of the followings:

1) Introduction
2)The Origin of Bird nest.
3) Introduction and Background report.
4) Swiftlets in Malaysia.
5)Technology Experiments
6)Condition suitable for Swiftlets.
7) Anticipated Production of Bird nests
8) Budget Cost of Building and Renovation.
9)Payback Period.
10)Why Bird nest Farming?
11)How To Be a Bird nest Farm Owner

The paper is suitable for those who are new to Swiftlet Farming and those who wish to apply for bank loans.

For these purpose I ask for a donation of RM150 to be deposited in a nominated account.

As as today there have been more then 45 people who have benefited from the paper.

If U need one please email your request to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com with Title: Swiftlet farming Working Paper.

Tuesday, October 2, 2007

Met One Johorean Who Is A Newbie in Birdnest !!!

Today, at about 10 am I took the trouble to meet this guy who came from Johore Bahru, Johore.

He took his wife and a young kid to visit KL and call on me to discuss a bit about birdnest farming.

I was very pleased to spend about 2 hours with him and his wife at Mega Mall, Starbuck coffee house talking about birdnest farming.

His name was Mr Sulaiman.

His plan was to convert an agricultural land belongs to his wife family to Birdnest Farm.

I welcome him to KL and started my introduction about myself and how much I have been doing my work on birdnest farming.

It is very clear that since he is a Bumiputra or son of the soil, he is entitled to get a loan from either the bank or Majlis Amanah Rakyat (MARA). As far as I know there is a loan available for birdnest farming.

I told him that he shud firstly do a birdcall test on the piece of land and make sure he snap some photos indicating how many birds are responding to his test. He shud do at least three time at a different time of the day for at least one or two weeks.

Once that is done he can decide whether it is a good place with good source of birds or not.

I told him that if the number of birds responded is below 20 it is not that good but if there were 100 birds then this is a gold mine.

The nest step is to get the exact plan of the land and see how to develop the land for an agriculture project. I stressed to him that the piece of land shud be properly used to prepare for short terms and long terms plans for birdnest operation.

For short term he shud look at doing his birdhouse in combination with other activities like rearing of fish using fish cage.

If there are lots of extra land he can plant some of the recommended plants that can produce insects that are food to the swiftlets.

Trees like Lao Gondang (ara trees) and Lamparo is good to be grown around the birdhouse.

Other things that I stressed to him is that, nowadays with the sophisticated technology available your chances to be successfull is much higher then to fail in birdnest farming.

Most birds will come into your birdhouse as long as the house is well located, well designed and the sound system is well designed.

To add more to that, there are aroma that can attract these birds into your birdhouse.

Use them carefully and U can be successfull !!!

An Advise That Was Well Appreciated !!!

It is nice to know that your opinions are well received and appreciated.

Not long ago I received a call from an avid birdnest follower who wanted to start his birdhouse in Tapah.

We have a very long talk and I gave him some valuable tips on how to start his farm.

Immediately after the long conversation he sent to me this email:

Quote:

Thanks for your advise.

All the while we had been doing wholesaling & processing of birdnest. Our product mainly come from Indonesia, Malaysia & Thailand.

We had invested a bird nest farm in indonesia and it's taking care by our Indonesian chinese partner (which damn far away and not convinient to visit).

Since we bought a shop in tapah, therefore we plan to start this farming. We will soon venture to buying the agriculture land at nearby area. Our company name Asia BirdNest.

Our processing factories in Pekan, Terrenganu & Indonesia. We will soon set up another factories in KL. So should you need to process your bird nest, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Beside, we also buying & selling malaysia nest, if you interest, please do not hesitate to contact us.

I'm going to back to KL this week, should you in KL, please feel free to give a call. I'm going to Penang next week end, hopefully can make a trip to sg petani.

BTW, glad that your so openly disclose some tip to us. Frankly speaking, we came across many farmers that stingy in sharing information. If you are bird nest lover, i strongly suggest to visit bangkok, i can show u the temple that full of bird nest without any instruments.

Anyway, Thanks.


Unquote:

I was very happy that I have served one more birdnest farming anthusiast from Tapah.

His name is Mr Ho.

I wish him best of luck and I hope to visit his hometown soon.

Monday, October 1, 2007

What is so Good about Birdnest Farming ???

To those who are not familiar with Birdnest farming their opinion will be more towards nuisance especially those noise from birdcall sound and perhaps the smell of the bird shit.

To those who are fond of Birdnest farming, they look at it as a goldmine ready to be tap. U taps this precious white gold from the wild. Yes from these wild swiftlets.

Each grade A Birdnest can easily fetch around Ringgit 50. Just imagine that U have a birdhouse and every three month U can harvest 1000 nests? Well it is not much but let me multiply that with RM50: RM50 X 1000 = RM50,000 per harvest.

What happen after that? After each harvest the number of nests will increase by about 5 to 10% every three months. Can U imagine 5 years after that 1000 nests that you harvested? Yes it will multiply exponentially to a figure that I do not want to calculate for U but try to use your mathematical genius in U.

Do U know that the farmer do close to nothing except visit the birdhouse once a month to check on the birdhouse sound system and the humidifier and of course do the harvesting once every 3 months?

If U look at the yearly world market consumption, for year 2006 the value of Birdnest traded world wide was estimated to be 13 billion Ringgit.

Malaysia exported the most RM300 million the same year.

Where and what other business can be so easy and with very little investment like Birdnest farming?

If U compare between the conventional business and Birdnest farming U see these differences:

a) In Birdnest business U own a property and U modify or convert the shop lot (two stories 20’ x 70’) to be a birdhouse. This will cost you in the range of about RM 150,000 to RM 200,000 investment. You actually buy an asset.

b) Once that is done your monthly utility (electric and water) bill will be about 15 + 10 = RM25 a month. If you run a conventional business, your utility bill will be at least RM 500 to RM 800 a month. You have three to four wall mounted air-conditions, ceiling fans, lighting, toilets, copy machine, three PCs, printers, door bell, fridge and so forth that suck your electricity bills and water bills.

c) Your employee is actually the wild birds and they come in and stay on a volunteer basis. They are not paid with any salaries. You are free of payments to the EPF, Perkeso, Training Courses, Medical Leave, Public Holidays, Mother Died Holiday, Father died holiday, Kid Going to School, Wife Give Birth holidays, Pull Teeth Holiday, Kid Is Sick Holiday, In Laws In Town Holidays, Anak Kawin Holiday and so on. The birds volunteer to stay in your house and make babies. Before they make their babies they need to build their nest.

d) Once the babies are big and fly away, we can harvest the nest and immediately after harvesting they will build a new one.

e) We just harvest and sell to ready buyers and you are paid in cash. No need to send invoice and chase after payment.

f) These wild birds breed three times a year. So if in the first year you have 100 nests in your bird house the next year there will be have a total population of: 300 (new birds) + 100 (old birds) = 400. If these 400 breed three times the following year U will have 1,200 + 400 = 1,600 nests. What about the following year and the year after that? They will continue to grow until your house is full (Subject to the house condition and how U take care of the house).

g) In a conventional business, every employee that you employ is actually a burden. For every bird that stays in your house, it is an asset. The moment you employ a worker, you are required to take care of him as if he is your son. If you do not the authority will punish you for not performing your obligation as a good employee and can bring you to court and put you behind bars. The birds that stay in your house will never take you to court????

h) The property that you own will escalate in value at an incredible rate which you will never ever get from any other property investments. It will be based on the number of nests that are available during the transaction. Each nest is worth RM 1,000. Example if your birdhouse have 1000 nests, your birdhouse now command at the minimum 1,000 nest X RM1000 = RM 1,000,000.

i) Birdhouse farm will allow you to make money not only from the nests but also the bird shit, the eggs, the baby birds and the knowledge that U gain from looking after a birdhouse. There are people who are willing to buy these items and nothing is lost.


So U sit down and do nothing except harvest the nests every two to three months without too much headache.