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.
2 comments:
Mr. Harry,
I am in the stage of gathering information on BH and found your writing very informative, thank you very much. can you explain what you mean by VIP area in a bird house? and with your innovative "Double Stacks System" what is ideal room height and size.
thank again.
aji.
Aji, I think U are very fresh in swiftlet farming. U need to take more of your time to learn the best techniques in getting those birds into your BH.
The VIP room is an area at the back of your nesting area. Normally at the far end further from the entrance hole to the floor where the VIP room is going to be constructed. U just need to build a partition minimum 12 feet but better is U can push to 20 feet away from the back most wall. It is where the birds will start to build their nests.
The double stack is nothing more then three wood stack on each other like a sandwich where there is a piece of meet in the middle. The room shud be minimum 7 feet. Good luck to U
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