My Sincere Reply To Why A New Birdhouse Is Still Empty After 6 months.

"Hang On Baby" : I would like to share the following email that I received just a few hours ago and I hope the person who sent me this email will allow me to share with those who are facing the same problem.

Quote:

Dear Harry,

I am an avid fan of your blog. I am very happy to note there is somebody out there, who would gladly share his knowledge. Let me first introduce myself. I m a young medical doctor in government service in Kuala Lumpur.

My father who is still living in my hometown in Johor had started a swiftlet farm 6 months ago. He has constructed a swiftlet farm above a shophouse and over the time he has managed to attract some birds flying above the farm.

However my question is,:

1.The farm still could not attract some resident switftlet. The swiftlet that built and stay in the farm

2.Although there is a lot of swiftlet circling in the sky and some entering, I have yet to see any form of bird nest building in the farm.

3.Is 6 months too short of period, or do I need to still wait for some more time?

Please kindly advice and would like to really meet you in person to share your knowledge.

Thank you,

Unquote:

With all my heart I replied to him as follows:

Quote:

Doc,

I am very delighted that U love to read my diary (blog) about swiftlet farming.

People like U appreciate the beauty of my writing but there are some who are just the opposite.

With regards to your father's birdhouse in Johore I personally believed that the 6 months period is a bit too short to make any good conclusion.

Good example, during my last trip to Sungai Besar, I visited two birdhouses who were not doing well for more then 1.5 years but in the 3rd year he now have more then 200 nests. The trouble is that he his still not happy. He expect 400 or more.

It is normal that a new birdhouse will not be very easy to get birds in and start to build their nests. These are some reasons plus explainations that might be good for you to remember:

1) A newly built birdhouse is filled with various kind of smell that the birds do not like. The cement, the wood, the paint and even the smoke from those who built the house (assuming they smoke while working).

2) Swiftlets are a kind of wild animals that will not simply run into a new house without ensuring that the place is safe for them and their family. They need time to get use to the place before the can even think of building their nest.

3) Six months is a bit too short. Give at least 12 months or better still 24 months.

4) Make sure that every time you visit the house you check the floor for their birdshits especially below the tweeters. They normally like to crowd and rest at the tweeters. These are indication that the have started to stay and it is a matter of time when they will start making their nests.

5) U must try to enter the house on a schedule basis. Not too many times but perhaps once in 3 weeks and do not bring too many people inside the house. The human smell/aroma you leave behind after the visit might not be a good aroma for the bird.

6) Do not allow anyone to smoke inside the house when you visit the house. The smoke smell will cause more stress to the birds.

7) You might want to change the sound (external only) every six months. This will bring in more new colonies in.

Before you jump into any conclusion just be patience for a least 6 more months. If there are already sign of birds coming in then it is already a plus.

Beside the above 7 points please ensure that the nest rooms are adequately dark (2 lux), temperature within 26* to 28* Centigrade and humidity of around the 80% - 90% range.

Hope my advises are good enought for now but I wish you will continue writing to me on the house status to gauge the status.

Bye. Happy New Year to you and family

Humbly yours,

Harry Swiftlet