Three Units 2 Stories High with 80 Nests In One and Half Year !!!

A very interesting BH visit yesterday at a beach area in Banting, Selangor.

I was given the opportunity to enter a 1 1/2 years old BH with about 80 nests and a few new markings.

Three days ago I got this new multimeter that allows me to measure the room temperature, humidity, lux and sound level. So it will be with me during every visit.

I was impressed with the birdhouse outlay and the smell of those fermented birdshits was enchanting. They were thick and pungent. They passed my expectation.

I was not happy with those ventilation holes being all opened.

Nearly 30% of those nests have some kind of cracks and some have chips on the edges. I immediately know why. The room humidity was absolutely not right.

Took my new gadget out and zammed. The room humidity was 61.8%. Temperature was 30*C.
That was at 4.00 pm.

"Harry is there anyway to increase the nests population?"

My answers:

There are a few things that need to be looked into. Most of them are minnors but you need to look into getting your BH humidity right and lower down those room temperatures.

I know you have read my blog many times and I stressed that the humidity must be between 80%-95% RH but yours is 61.8% RH. Do something to prevent those birds from migrating to other BHs around you.

You can see those cracks nests plus some chipped off. They are serious problems because they will do lots of harm to those young birds. Yes when they grew bigger they cannot fit in the nest. They are forced to cling to the nest. If those nest are brittle, they will surely fall down and die.

If you are the parent, will you continue nesting in this kind of BH?

Get at least three humidifiers and operated them using one hygrostat to activate the machines.

Try to also use a digital timer so that you can block the machine from operating during their coming back home to sleep time, i.e from 5.30pm till 8.00pm.

Shut all those air ventilation hole except one. The one that you open should be shaft with those rubber sponge laced with some aroma.

"Anything else, Harry?"

Try to tackle this issue first then we see how those birds react. If they do well then we shall tackle the next problem.