Rusty Iron Nesting Planks Hanger Favourite to Swiftlets!!!

I might be too observant during a visit to a very successful BH in Perak.

This particular BH, two stories high, must be about 4 to 5 years old and the birds population must be about 8 to 10 thousands. The number of nests, according the owner, is plenty. Actually he lost count. There were just too many to keep track, he said proudly.

One of the very strange thing that cough my eyes was where those birds built their nests.

Yes most of those 90* corners seem to be their favourite. They prefer the planks nearest to the walls. They tend to avoid the middle part however whenever there are those steel hangers that are used to hang those heavy wood planks to the ceiling, the birds built their nests. The whole row of where the iron hangers were located there will be a nest. Very weired and strange.

Mind you all those hangers are made of iron and pretty rusty.

So what can be the reasons why the birds love this piece of rusty metal?

I think it is the smell of the iron oxide that attract those birds to built their nest there.

Or maybe the protrusion area caused by the hanger attract the birds there.

Or maybe the coolness of the metal surface attract these wild birds !!!

Well there can be many other reasons but to me I surely want to use this unique behaviour to my advantage.

From now on I will recommend the use of rusty iron hanger for all my BH or to those who engage me as they "Sifu". If those hangers are brand new, dip them into a salt water bath before you install them.

If you happen to learn something from this article, I am sure you wish to try. If you the result obtained is similar please do not forget to give me a tinkle.

Received this special comment from Mr GHO:

Rusty iron? Will that intoxicating those nests? Are they safe for consumption, ultimately?

Frankly rust is iron oxide. During those days when we consume piped water they are actualy contaminated with rust. Those pipes do rust and being drag by those water into our house. We cook, bath and drink not knowing that they were being contaminated by those iron oxide.

If they are toxic then many must have died. Only recently the Govenment enganged those water contractors to replace them with new pipe. The renewal were mainly to stop the lost of water due to leakage and not because of health reason.

As for your BH, you use the rusty iron only to attract those birds. Once they have built their nests and the numbers exceed your target numbers (say 500 nests) you can remove all these gadgets that you introduced just to lure them to built the nests.

The BH owner in Perak indicated to me that he removed those parts that are in direct contact with the rust iron before selling them.