Penang Island BH Visit !!!

The Pearl of The Orient.

You will be suprised that Penang Island is very active with swiftlet farming.

There are at least 600 BHs and many are having problems with the local council since when the Unesco gives a blanket proclaimation that Penang is a Heritage City.

Heritage city means those heritage buildings must be restored and turned into a kind of tourist attraction areas.

Due to this procalimation the BH owners were asked to vacate, if I am not wrong last year.

I think that is something very hard. If I were the local council I will ask the owners to modify these old buildings so that the front and the back looks like original.

The cost to carry out these modifications are high but trust me if you lay this condition, the BH owner will be willing to do so. The only thing is to allow them to use these buildings for swiftlet farming and recover the cost for the conversion.

I was told the cost to restore those external walls are not cheap. They can be more expensive then converting them into a BH. If this idea is accepted then both parties get the best of both world.

The owner get back his swiftlet farming business and the local council got those retoration done FOC. Again avery year the local council can collect a yearly License fee to run the state.

Coming back to my visit, I was engaged by Mr.L whose BH, somewhere in Ayer Itam town and was converted from and idle shop to a BH way back in 2008.

After three years in operation he managed to own three precious nests.

He told me that he wanted to give up and very shy to discuss with any friends about it. He also commented that his wife have been hard on him over the costly investments which bring in zero income. The word is " Harry I am under heavy stress please help".

The first thing that I did was to take a short tour around the house. Hmm .... the back door neighbor seem to have many birds flying around. Mr.L BH entrance hole was within their flying path but how come they are not willing to enter and stays?

Mr.L took me into his two floors BH and I think the so called "Sifu" must be totally blind or have very little ideas about swiftlet.

I was told that the "Sifu" have passed away but if you look at the good side, at least he will not cause more miseries to more newbies, I told him.

The BH was done with little knowledge about swiftlet charecteristics. Those walls that were used as bedrooms, toilets, store rooms and etc were not removed and they were too small for swiftlet to fly around.

The humidifiers seem to cause the house to be filled with fungus and the tweeters arrangements were rediculous.

The birds refuse to enter the lowest floor. There are lots that need modifications.

I told him that I am confident that I can turn around the house. Main reason being, those birds from the neighbor at the back are always flying on the top of his entrance area.

Everything inside the 3 years old BH needs to be revamped and those walls taken down in total.

Give me three weeks to get it up and three months to see a few new nests in it. I promised him.

I can see those smiles back on his face. Please go back home and reassure your wife that the BH will be back to normal within the next 3-4 months.

How To Ensure A Successful Conversion Of A Shop House !!!

I can say thay I am very lucky to be given lots of chances to enter all kind of BHs in Malaysia & Indonesia.

Everyday there will be a new person who called asking me to drop by at their sick BHs and of course I will be asked to provide the best recommendations to turn the BH around. I mean to cure the sick BH to normal or perhaps a healthy one.

With the many visits I made, I think there is a very common trends among those failed BHs.

One of the most common mistake is the lack of knowledge in getting the birds into their BH.

The selection of proper external sounds and internal sound can be classified as the number one problem.

Most failed BH owners don't really know that there is such thing as mating and colony sounds.

They played the same external sound for years. They have never set a sound library and that initial sound was the only sound that they have.

If you inspect their BH, you can see those old rooms that were used as offices or bedrooms still not taken down during the conversion operation. Main excuse being the birds love to be in rooms.

I can safely said that the main reason for not taking down those wall was pure laziness or additional labor cost to the contractor & owner.

These rooms or to be more precise partionings to me are useless unless they are not blocking the bird's flying path and with a dimension not less then 12 feet by 12 feet.

Most of the time these partionings or rooms block the flying path of those precious birds and it does not give any benefits to your BH.

It would be much easier to convert an empty shop house lot then those with so many rooms and corridors all over the place.

My frank advise is to give a free hand to your trusted "Sifu" to let him tear down those partionings and allow him to use his expertise to modify the house.

You must not put too many conditions to your "Sifu". Good example: Please don't touch these walls and rooms and pillars and staircases and etc.

It is better to say: "Sifu please do what you think best for a successful BH. Tear down all those walls if you need to."

If you are one of those who happened to have the same problem, call this number 017 755 1318 today.

Why Should They Blame Those Spirits !!!!

I confronted a number of people who have this habits, when their BH failed, of pointing their fingers to others except themselves.

They did not realised that when they point one finger the other four are towards them.

One good example was this guy whose BH only managed to have one nest after in operation for 2 years. According to him there is this "Penunggu" or "Spirit" or "Makluk Halus" or "Satan" or "anything you can think of" who is disturbing the birds. As such they refuse to stay.

Hmm ..... I for one don't accept this lame excuse. To me the "Hantu" or "Spirit" or who ever he is, is actually the owner himself. The blame should be himself.

He failed to take adequate steps to manage his BH properly.

He knows next to nothing about swiftlets.

His decision to elect the so called Consultant was inappropriate.

His idea about having a BH is get someone to come over and do the needful and the rest leave it to God.

He operate his BH with only one sound. The sound was only played at the entrance hole.

He never knew that there is such thing like internal and external sounds.

Even if he knows he played the same sound from the beginning of time and never even thought of changing them.

He tried some new sound but since he is so cheapskate he bought a sound called "Duress" and been playing ever since.

He keep blowing those chicken coop humidifiers non stop and his BH now turns into a mushroom farm.

His BH temperature is more or less like a sauna.

His BH brightness is as clear as a football field. If you bring in Ronaldo he can easily kick the ball using his banana kick to let the ball out of the entrance hole.

He let the contractor to open all those ventilation holes so that those toxic air pollute his internal micro habitat.

He allows those bats to fly in and out.

If there are some nests, he allows those owls to make a good meal of all those young chicks.

So how not to fail?

If I am him I will start learning from all the mistakes that I have done. I will get someone who knows the ins and outs about swiftlet farming over and teach everything that one need to know.

Basically what a person really needed to be successful in swiftlet farming is "KNOWLEDGE". Knowledge about the bird that construct their nest using those saliva.

If you want to be a good swiftlet farmer you need to think like swiftlet. You must imagine that you are being hatched in a nest and you grew up in the natural environment that was chosen by your parent. Everything around you are the basic requirements for a successful BH.

Try not to think like a human but like a swiftlet !!!!

How Important Are Those 90* Corners !!!

Just take a good look at this picture and tell me everything that you can see.

To me this is a full house. Just imagine your new BH where all those 90* corners are totally taken up?

Those swiftlet simple loves to be at these 90* corners. I have given my views before but I just wanted to again stress the important of letting the 90* corners opened. Do not place those corner covers until such time when your house has about 300 nests or above.

Just take my word for it and you will see better result as compared to your next door neighbours who covered all his 90* corners.

Just think of two BHs side by side exactly the same design being put into operation at the same day. Which one do you think will get the fastest population growth? Will it be the one with covered 90* corners or the one who opt not to cover the angle?

If I were those birds I will go to the one with uncovered.

The idea is to give what want, during the beginning stage, so that they will choose to stay in your BH. Once the nests population hit your target number (300 nests) you cover all of them with a proper corner covers.

Remember my philosophy of Phase 1 of building the nests population. Give them whatever they like, all the goodies, that can make them choose to be your tenant.........

Nicotine Tained Nest !!!

I was in an old BH with only one miserable nest after a period of 2 years in operation.

Since the house cost the owner 300,000 and produced only one nest, I told him to look at the good side of the coin. He at least got one very expensive nest (RM300,000 plus 2 years interest). I suggested to him to carefully harvest it and frame in a see thru glass. He might want to hang it in his bedroom????

The only strange thing about the only nest was that the nest seem to be smeared with a black nicotine colored liquid which I am not sure why?

I have never come across this new finding before.

It might be the internal environment that reacted with the nest and turned them into nicotine color.

Very strange and hard to explain. How I wish it was red in color.

Enjoy looking at the picture and if you have any ideas why this phenomena happen please write in the comment.

Some Explaination worth to explore:

HoBlackCloud: regarding the topic (nicotine tainted nest)may be i can shed some clue.i was a timber inspector n co-ordinator for a plywood n sawn-timber fty.the nesting plank, if i m not mistaken comes from a meranti family namely -meranti sarang punai. this type of species oozes out a purplish liquid.u just look @the bottom part with a knot that release the liquid . this is just my conclusion.

Take Good Care Of Your Nesting Planks !!!

Take a good look at these installed nesting planks and ask yourself will those swiftlet build their nest on it?

You have to be a bit more careful when you handle those nesting planks.



What is the use of getting the factory to ensure a perfect shape and straight, dried, cut the grooves, cover them from rain, make sure no smell and so on but when it arrived at site you just chucked them on the floor without any protection?


I happened to visit a BH under revamp.

As usual the BH floors were lilted with bird shit dust as thick as two inches here and there.

Well on these shit, the newly arrived planks were laid onto.

Can you imagine what will happen when these tainted planks are installed onto the ceiling?

They will be rejected by those birds, I can assure you 100% they will not select the affected plank.

Do you know why?

It is a matter of safety to their babies. Once they sniffed the plank and smell the bird shit, they will conclude that there is another nest above the affected plank. If there is a nest directly above this spot is risky. A pile of shit from those young chicks above me will drop into my nest and kill my poor babies.

So be careful when you handle those precious nesting planks. Talk to your site supervisors and make sure they are properly stored. Please do not step on them.

Kota Bahru Trip And My Visits To Some Interesting BHs Around It !!!

Since getting involved in Swiftlet Farming, I am very fond of Kota Bahru.

The town was declared to be the Islamic Town by the state but to me she is a Swiftlet City.

Beside the town areas there are many BHs in the outskirt which I managed to climb into.

One of the most interesting was in Tumpat, about 30 minutes away from KB, where an entrepreneur is in the process of building 20 units of BHs on it.

So far completed four and two more under construction. The information given was that once the 6 units are completed they owner plan to continue with the other 14.

It will soon be a new walet central in Kelantan after KB and Kuala Krai.







I was given the task to help in bringing in those wild birds into one of the unit located in the middle of the 6 newly build BHs.

The nest interesting BH was a DIY 5 stories building located about 15 minutes out of KB.



The owner thought it was just like making a piece of cake but after 2 years only one miserable nest and that's it.

I was told that he wanted to give up but then his son stumbled onto my blog. He came to know about my trip and asked me to help in determining the possible solution.

The building looks very nice from the outside but totally empty in the inside. The owner seem to be very scared of those burglars and climbing from one floor to the other is like a death trap.

There was nothing that can make those birds event enter the lower floors.

After 45 minutes, sat down with the son and wrote my long list of possible ways that they should look into upgrading.

Most important is not to give up and continuously get me to visit stop by for possible fine tuning.

Then I was taken to a 5 years old stand alone BH located very near to Pengkalan Chepa airport.

The first moment of meeting the owner, a young man who stays at the lower floor, he looks very unsure of his BH. His comment was that after five miserable years of hoping, he don't mind to try anything new.



I entered the house and took a closer look on the interior plus those LAL.

Interesting design with the LAL hole located diagonally. The floor configuration do effect my selection of the VIP room location.

I listed to him the things that might be of interest and hopefully he will follow the recommendations made.

I tried my new sound called "PYTHON". Instantly the birds gathered on the rooftop and followed by shooting into the entrance hole.

Hmm...... not bad. I stayed with him for almost 20 minutes to watch the actions above our head. With so many birds that came and flew in, the smile came back to his face. That was the kind of face that I usually left after every visit.

I keep assuring him that there is a very strong chances to revive the house. Try to take my advise and he will get the results he was hoping for.

He happily wrote a nice cheque for my service.

Back into KB town, I visited more then 5 BHs and three were under renovation. I was given the responsibility to inspect and provide any suitable comment of ensuring that the BHs will do well once put into operation mode.

I believed if there are birds flying constantly above your BH you should be able to pull in at least a few hundred if you know how to.

The chance is higher as compared to a BH located at a place with very little birds flying above.

I was also taken to Kuala Krai to view a row of a newly erected four stories shop house of which two units will be BHs. I was told that the owner wanted my good friend to install the sound system to ensure that those sibling from "Mek Soong" BH will come and stay.



Mek Soong BH was about 1.5 km away. I can see her BH from the front window of the new shop.

Sorry For Not Updating !!!

This few days I am away visiting Kota Bahru, Kelantan, Malaysia.

This unique state, one of the 13 states in Malaysia, is the only state with very little shops that provide entertainments.

No Spas, No massage, No Magnum, No Damacai, No Bars, No nightclubs and many more.

Life here is very quite and the only place to go, at night, are some kopitiam shops and perhaps at a teh tarik spot infront of Ridel Hotel. That again will be shut down at 12 am sharp.

The capital city, Kota Bahru, is the Islamic Town of Malaysia.

The number of BHs seem to be everywhere along the streets.

Many shophouse owners are turning to swiftlet farming since no one wanted to rent the upper floors.

Well from the few failed BHs visited, I am sad to say that the number of failed BHs are plenty.

I was specially flown into this city to help a friend who was given the tasks to turn around a number of failed BHs plus new ones that need proper renovation.

Conducted a bird call test on a piece of land, visited a failed BH outskirt of KB, inspected three BHs under revamping operations, stop over at 4 new BHs (2 in tumpat and 2 in Kuala Krai) for the complete sound system and renovation.

While visiting those places, I recommended the following ideas to the party who invited me over:

1) Minimize Research but focus on Helping Those who operates Failed BHs.

Most of the people that I came across will talk big about their research works that normally never works. They will try so many things and usually 99.9% never brings any benefits to their BH. The higher the frequencies of entering the BH and spending longer hours in them will makes those birds feel stressed. They might not want to elect your BH as their place to stay.

The best is to carry out those specific things that are prooven to brings those wild birds inside the house and stays. Try not to be a scientist inventing things that have been invented before.

Get the advise from someone who have with him all the proven list of things to be carried out and carry them out one by one.

2) Setting Up of A maintenance Team.

A specially trained maintenance team is badly required in most of the areas in Malaysia.

The team must be given adequate training on how to ensure that those badly maintenance BH be given a proper cleaning and improve the attractiveness to bring more birds into the house.

It will be good if the team can advise those BHs owners to improve the quality of nests produced in their BHs.

3) Pre Assembled portable cabin BH

This is something new that I have been thinking of doing. If there is a fabrication yard that can pre assemble a simple 15'X30' cabin complete with every thing that are needed to lure those birds, there will be lots of possibilities for helping those less fortunate people.

The idea is to provide a suitable affordable package for those less fortunate with idle land at the back of their Kampung houses.

If we can convince them to allow us to install these cabin close to their house and we look after the cabin on profit sharing basis, I am sure both the owner and the operator will benefit greatly from this idea.

The interesting thing is that if the BH does not works in on spot, we can arrange to move it to a new location is required.

4) Outlet Selling Swiftlet Farm Equipment and Services.

Every town that you visited you will find that it is hard to find any dedicated shop selling swiftlet farming equipment or a swifltet BH service provider.

KB do have one but the owner, I heard, have gone downstream and have little interest in helping those people with BH problems.

My idea was to set an outlet to be serve the swiftlet communities in the state.

5) Mobile swiftlet Truck.

The time have come to have a team of qualified workers that move from one BH to another to maintain BHs in the state.

A team consisting of two to three properly trained workers will greatly benefited the community.

The truck can also be used as an advertising service.

Well the trip seem to serve its purposes and I am looking forward for a more exciting activities for today.

After Having A Visit Into A BH made of 20' Containers !!!

After visually inspected the BH made of four 20 footer containers I strongly believed that this technique can work.

All you need to do is to preassemble the containers with proper insulation linings and nesting planks in a factory and once ready move them to the site.

While doing the revamping works you can send a team of workers to erect the cement posts at the site where you wanted the cabin to be put together.

I am very very confident that this can work.

I am prepared to sit down with any person who are keen to use this concept and I am sure the cost to put them together is below 60K.

This concept is not only be fast but also you also help to recycle those unused cabins.

The good thing is that you can do a very good job on the cabins internal since they are being carried out in a factory.

You can have them erected anywhere that you like, like just at the back of your house.

You need only about 20 feet by 30 feet land area.

If the footing are ready you can complete the whole house within less then a week.

Please call 017 755 1318 for any possible discussion on how to make this BH system works.

Nice To Receive Some Compliments !!!

As times goes by and you keep helping all these people who are ignorance or have very little knowledge on swiftlet farming to turn around their sicks BHs you will start to receive compliments that boost your energy to keep helping.

This morning I collected a few nice compliments. I just wanted to share with all of you who continue reading my humble blog.

"Dear Harry kok.

I am Mr Lam one of the participan who attended your seminar held on the 7 Jan 2010 monthly talk in KL Sentral.I am very new in swiftlet farming, after attending the talk I learn a lot from you so I put on practise in my birdhouse after one week I found that the bird that staying is increase. So thank you for your many advises.

Mr.Harry. Please let me know the next monthly talk in KL or when you coming to Sarawak for seminar or giving talk on swiftlet farming. In Sarawak the birdhouse is still very new compared to West Malaysia. Can you send over the mating internal sound to me as I want to try in my new birdhouse..
Thank you and regards"

Then an SMS from another student:

"Hi Pak Harry, I am Ng from BM. I turned on my new BH yesterday using your black cloud. The response was pretty good. I saw at least 80 birds circulating on the roof top in the morning and evening. Can also see a few of those birds attempt to enter the BH. After some few seconds in the roving area they will fly out. Is this normal in a new BH? My roving area is 22'X18'X30 feet. Is this too big? I would appreciate if you can enlighten me for this doubt, thanks in advance."

(My answer: The roving room is too big plus the fact that the new BH cement smell must be very strong. You need to mask the cement smell with as much fresh birdshits which you can lay you hands on. There is a strong possibilities that you have not place those tweeters playing those external sound correctly or you might have forgoten to install them. Yes the only way to pull the birds into the nesting rooms is to install a number of tweeters playing the external sound from the entrance hole until the back walls. Try to follow the above and if you continue facing the same let me come over to inspect the possible problems.)

Then a phone call from Alor Star, Kedah:

Hi Pak Harry, I would like to inform you that I have a 100% success in all my four + one BH for a good friend. All in all I got this super special Sifu who is willing to share all his knowledge with every body in good faith. This Sifu whom I am referring to is this person who I am talking too now. Thank you from my heart.I am very glad to have known you.

(Sorry I have to cry while writing this part of the article)

It is nice to know that your contribution to the Industry is well received and I am very sure those who attended my Seminars learned much more then any other courses they have ever attended.

My hope is that I will continue with this activities and it is nice to be appreciated.

Appreciation is something that is not expensive. However it has a profound effect to the person who received it.

I again would like to thank you very much for those who appreciated my contributions.

My First Visit To A BH Made From Recycle Portable Cabins !!!!

I used to listen to stories from some friends about BH in "20 footer Portable Cabin".

One told me that it was his first ever visit to a portable cabin BH that makes him what he is today. "Super Crazy" birdhouse owner, he now calls himself.

Today I happened to receive a friendly call from the owner of a Portable Cabin BH owner.

At first I thought he was joking but after asking a few questions I think he was very much in need of my technical expertise.

I quickly told him that I will be on the way to his BH, somewhere in a place called Segantang Garam, near to Kampung Bujang, Merbok, Kedah.

The moment I arrived I could not helps taking as many photographs that I can. This was just an amazing moment in my swiftlet farming history. I at last managed to step into a BH made of Portable Cabins. Unbelievable but true.


The owner seem to be wearing those mariners uniform. I took a wild guess and I was right. He works on a floating storage vessel for MISC.

Well since he was facing some problems with the unit, I quickly took a walk around the cabin.

There were four units of cabins two stacks, two units per floor.

The total dimension was 8+8 X 20 feet with height of 8+8.

His main problem was that the house after being operation for more the one year, only managed to trap one couple (1 nest).

Was given a short tour in this unique BH.


I told him all the crucial and minor problems. The BH is in a very terrible state. It was not sick but critically ill.

First and foremost the entrance hole positioning was incorrect (not located properly and facing birds going out to find food), the top room was too bright and those nesting planks lacks crossings and using of a metal plate was not suitable.

Again I told him that the person whom he engaged in this project have not ideas what those wild birds are and what they wanted before they decide to stay.

After about 45 minutes of chatting with him I told him that I will get a proper report to get the BH back to its purposes.

He was very glad and wanted all the medicines that I can quickly prescribed. Well what can you expect when a patient is critically ill.

Please enjoy viewing all the pictures taken.

Those who would like to visit this unique BH please write to me so that you can tag along during my next treatment trip. There will be a small fee for you to learn new things.

You Can Double Your Nesting Areas If You Know How To !!!

This article have something to do with how to double your nesting planks surfaces.

Nesting planks are essential in any BH. This is where those precious saliva are pasted on by those wild birds.

In Malaysia our only choice is to use of 6" wide 1" thick red meranti wood. The 6" thickness is mainly due the high temperature, above 29*C, and the 1" thick is because any thinner will cause the wood to vibrate when birds land on the wood.

The most optimum method to install this 6" wide planks is to apply the 1.5 feet by 3 feet box rule of the thumb.

If you follow this recommended nesting planks orientation you will be able to get not less then 5 nests per square foot, on the average, when your BH are full.

Are there any ways to double or triple the total nesting areas.

For an example: If you use the standard configuration of a single row of 6"X1" planks with 1.5'X3' box orientation in a standard 20'X70' shop house you can get a total of 5600 nests (when full).

How about doubling the nesting areas so that you can harvest 11,200 nest using the same building size?

You can if you spend a bit more money to change from a single 6"x 1" nesting wood to a set of 8"X1" wood with 2 pieces of 4"X1.5" planks.

The idea here is to use a two tier configuration so that the babies inside the nests that are above will not drop their shits to the lower nests.

The configuration will look something like this on those walls:




On the ceiling the sandwiched planks will looks something like this:



You might need to extend the nesting planks boxes to about 2inches X 3 feet.

Just looking at the configuration you know that the total surface areas for nesting will be doubled.

You might loose a row for each beam to beam section but if you are smart the number of rows will be the same.

Just imagine with some additional wood and time for installation your BH now is more or less doubled then the earlier method.

Yes you now have a BH which will increase the potential number of nests to be harvest from a mere 5600 nests to 11,200 nests (if totally full).

The only set back is the cost of the wood and the time taken to put the wood in place.

Each of the 8"X1" plank is about RM 3 per foot as compared to just RM 2.40 per foot for the 6"x1" planks.

The two 4"X 1.5" thick wood is about RM2.35 a foot.

On the average the total cost of those nesting planks will be 3 times more but the total surface areas is equivalent to having a two units of 70'X20' shop house.

Just think of the benefits and I am sure this idea will be something good for your future planning.

For me it is a matter of choices. I would make it compulsory inside the VIP rooms. Other location are not compulsory.

You might want to think carefully and I think it make lots of sense to opt for this simple configuration.

I am using this double stacks system for two BHs in Klang and most probably in two more at Sabak Bernam.

Please take note that the wood needs to be specially ordered from the factory since they are not commonly used. If you wanted some let me know. You need to calculate the total footage required and place your order. Call 017 755 1318 for footage calculation or order.

The Choice Between a square and a rectangular shape tweeters !!!

I might have touched on this subject matter but if I do I would like to say that I might have forgotten.

From the many bird houses that I have entered and inspected, there are some distinct differences if you use the rectangular shape tweeters.

The shape of a rectangular provide you with very little space to mount it correctly.

You only have one option that is to screw only one of the four openings onto the nesting plank. The sharp end gives very little resting space to accommodate a loving couple.

Look at this picture which I recently took:



To me this orientation is not very conducive since you do not encourage a couple to rest side by side when they come in for the first time into your new BH.

I prefer the rectangular tweeter of 2"x5" in size. My main reason being the tweeter can be easily mounted with two screws embedded into the nesting planks using two of the four holes.

Have a look at this picture:



If you install using the 2 inches section on the nesting plank, you actually limit to only two birds to sit next to each other.

To me this the preferred method since no others will joint the couple. The chances of your spouse to be hijack by another male is minimum.

One more think that you must clearly understood is the heat generated by these tweeters when there are current flowing to the base. I am very sure it will be warm at night. The warm makes the birds better during a cold wet season.

The best location to mount the rectangular tweeter is 3-5 inches away from a 90* corners. There is a very good reason for this precise orientation.

You see the birds after staying in your new BH for a couple of weeks will not mate until they are 100% sure that it is save from any predators, the house is cool and humid.

Once they decide to mate they will need to build a place called nest. Normally they will choose the 90* corner or just above the tweeter which they have been occupying. The distance of 3-5 inches is ideal for this young birds.

Remember if they should occupy the 90* corner just to the left or the right, the tweeter will be open for a new couple to call their first home. This will ensure that the same tweeter will be used for the second time. This time this new couple will have the tweeter top or their base at the back as the best place to build their maiden nest.

If you place your tweeter just below the 90* corner, the tweeter can be used only once.

Just have a good look at this picture:



So the lesson from this article is to think carefully where to install those tweeters in your new BH and what is the best shape for those wild birds !!!!!

I think I am a bit too crazy to come out with these minor issues. Well to you it might be minor but to me I called it "Precision". You cannot take chances. Remember we need to understand what they prefer and we must to give it all to them.

What we hope for is that they will continue staying and helps to populate our new BH.

If You Can Build Your BH Near A Signboard Pole !!!

Have a look at this video clip which I took while in a town in Malaysia.

The time taken was about 9-10pm in the evening.

Those bright lights shining onto the advertisement brings in lots of insects.

When there are insects there will be birds eating them.

Most of them were Martin but there are a few swiftlet.

Hmm.... maybe you might want to build your new BH just beside these advertisement poles.

Think about it and it make lots of good senses.

How Come They Prefer To Build Their Nests On Fake Nests !!!

Fake nests are normally recommended when you wanted to harvest those clean nests with babies or eggs.

Very rarely people realised that fake nests do help to quickly populate your new BH.

I have visited many BHs and it seem that young birds prefer to use the fake nests as their platform to start their new nest.

There are a few possible reasons and the best reasons that I can think of are:

1) Easier to hold onto while you start a new nest.

The protrusion of these fake nests, especially Styrofoam type, helps these young birds to cling to when they carry out their nest building operation.

2) They might think the fake nests were old nests.

One thing for sure is the feeling of safe building a nest on a used nest. These young birds feel more secured when then recycle old nests. When searching for a proper place to build their maiden nest, in pitch dark room, they protrusion give them the impression that the place will be the best place to build a nest.

3) They can build a nest at a much faster rate.

Building a nest directly on a nesting plank needs a much longer time as compared to on a fake nest. The Styrofoam surface makes their much work easier using lesser saliva.

No matter what possible reasons we can come up with the truth is that fake nest can be very important in populating your new BH with young birds.

My advise to you is to look into installing at least 2 per 10 square feet.

Place these fake nests closed to those tweeters.

If you are smart you can easily populate your whole house in no time...

Use these simple gadget wisely.....

New Swiftlet Sounds For 2010 !!!

I would like to announce that recently I managed to collect a few good sounds.

Most of them are provent to be very clear and never been in my collection before.

Those who are keen to enlarge their sound library I think it will be very good to add them into your collection.

The name of all the eight are:

1) Indra Internal
2) Untung Internal
3) Golden External
4) Forever External
5) Guruh External
6) Tenaga External
7) Melody Sakti 1 External
8) Melody Sakti 2 External

The sound will be sold at only rm 300 each.

If you purchase all the 8 there will be a discount of 15%.

The proceed from the sound sales, 10%, shall be donated to a few charitable organisation.

From my point of view this is a very interesting collection and while to purchase them you are also helping the needful.

Those interested please call (017 755 1317) or email to my address (harryswiftlet@yahoo.com).

Harry I Found A Bird Died Clingging to the BH Wall !!!

What can be more interesting when you enter your BH and found a bird died on the wall.

This morning have a cup of coffee with one of my blog reader. He wanted to purchase a few units of the soundless humidifiers.

I was very generous to allocate some of my precious time just for him. I know he wanted to chat a few interesting things about his new BH in Rompin, N9 and at the same time dig some information about swiftlet farming.

He was very lucky because I kind of like his company.

Well we have the following to talk about:

1) Why I found a bird died hanging on the wall of my new BH?

He found one bird died literary stuck to the wall. What do you think happened Harry?

My guess was that the bird must have her claw stuck to something on the wall. Once they cannot untie themselves they will die. Die of starvation and dehydration. Birds needs to eat and drink regularly. If they did not eat for two to three days they will die.

I mentioned to him about a similar incident in one of the BH in Kepond where the baby bird got her leg stuck to the nest. The nest must have been very brittle, lack of humidity, and broken. The bird's leg got stuck to it and she died hanging to the nest.

2) Sharp objects in your BH, be careful.

If you enter your BH you need to check for any type of sharp objects that might hurt these precious birds.

These sharp objects can be sharp nails, staple gun bullets, those condenser pins on your tweeter's base, the tweeter connectors and etc.

Our precious bird cannot effort to be injured. If these sharp objects should piece their body or more often their wings they will not be able to survive. Injury will let to death in animal world. Very rare they can survive due to the fierce competition in searching for food and mate. Once you are handicap you are doomed.

Try to remove or cover these sharp objects.

3) Do not spray those corrosive aromas liquid onto your tweeters.

Most of those aromas that you apply to the nesting planks are corrosive. They are salts and can be a good electrolyte.

If you happened to spray onto your tweeters some might get attached to the electrical parts where the current from your amplifiers flow through.

Within less then one week the part will be corroded and snapped thus will cause the tweeter to dysfunction.

If you think that I am telling a lie, just try to spray on your tweeter (at the back portion). See if what I am telling you is wrong.

4) What Do You Think Are The Best Aromas For Your New BH?

This question always pops out during most of my discussion with people in the industry.

My frank, very frank answer is you close your eyes and imagine that you are a young birds just hatched from the egg. Remember you are in a BH with 1000 or more nests on the same floor.

What do you think the smell of this house? Where are they coming from?

Yes the answer is simple. By natural the aroma that will make the birds feel at home is to smell those things that are on the floor. Good example:

a) Bird shits rotting

This will be the most abundant in any successful BH. Both the parent and those young chicks will excrete their shit onto the floor and within very short hours they will start to rod and expel lots of ammonia.

b) There will be some eggs that fell down from the thousand nests.

Eggs will be the second type of smell that will provide their decaying aromas. Remember not chicken or duck or ostrich but swiftlet eggs please.

c) Dead baby birds.

How many times that you enter a BH and found young birds sprawled on the floor? Most of them will die and rot. The smell from their body decomposing might also be a good aroma for your new BH.

d) Bird nests.

You will be surprise that bird nest do fall down if the house is too wet or too dry. Once they touches the floor and if the floor is wet they will also produce a kind of awful smell that will form a part of the BH aroma.

So this will be something that you can consider. My suggestion is to allocate those broken nests from your own BH or buy from a BH owner and soak them. You blend them up and ferment for a few days. Once they begin to smell bad take them into your BH.


Okay now please open your eyes.....So you now begin to understand the best aromas for your BH.

If you think I am wrong please let me know.......

Recycled Nesting Planks Do Attract Young Birds !!!

While visiting one of those birdhouses, I saw this piece of plank nailed to the nesting plank.

I asked the owner what was this special outfit was all about.

His answer proved my old theory that if you recycle or transfer those nesting planks from your old BH to a new house the plank will be the chosen spot.

The plank must be with those nest markings.

The owner took a section of his nesting plank, about 10 inches long, with marking and screwed onto the nesting plank.

Within less then 3 weeks the young birds started to use the marking.

This was one of my many theories which I have been saying for quite some time.

If you have the opportunity to get those old nesting planks with nest marking use them. This is my sincere advise and I proof to you that it works.

Less Then Five Days In Operation, More Then 20 Fresh BS Spots !!!

The Kerling, Selangor BH was reactivated on the evening of Friday Jan 8th, 2010.

Prior to my involvement the BH was very sick with only two nests after more then 2 years in operations.

I remembered receiving a call by one of the owner's sibling, last December, asking me to drop by. He came to know about me after reading my blog.

I came over and was asked to diagnose the possible reasons why the house was not performing to their expectation.

As usual the list of wrong things were very long and I put forward to the sibling one by one.

Less then one week received a follow up call asking me to provide the cost to turn around the BH.

Well I plucked a figure from the sky and told them how much it will cost them.

What they did was right. They did not bargained and asked me to proceed.

Myself plus two helpers took about 18 days to revamp the house. I told the owner that the new house will be my "Masterpiece".

I created a VIP room, the Bubu entrance hole and those specialised sound arrangements.

I also make sure the VIP room were filled with those special aromas plus four soundless humidifiers.

After only five days in operation I dropped by to install those timers for the humidifiers.

I was very suprised with the number of birdshit spots on the floor. There were not less then 20. Most of the spots (over 14) were in the VIP room. This was what I predicted. I felt relieved and things are as per my expectations.

Immediately called the sibling and showned him the five days results. He was very happy and I think wanted me to consider expanding my service to the other unit beside it.

Facinating and I think this "Masterpiece" will have her new nests very soon.

I need to keep the momentum going and make sure those birds keep entering the BH continuosly.

The birdshits need to be stirred and the fresh supply of those aromas are applied regularly.

The "Tongkat Ali" external sound seem to be doing a good job with this project.

Every visit in the evening I can see a number of those birds sticking onto those walls closed to the external tweeters.

The most crucial was my arrangement in the used of those amplifiers played at different time slots and multiple sounds.

Have a look at these birdshit (BS) spots pictures:














If you have a sick BH and wanted to turn around please call 017 755 1318. No guarantees but let me try to help.