The Happy Hours Corner In Subang 2 BH !!!

This was how it looks like in Subang 2 BH.

I discovered the Happy Hours Corner idea about a few weeks back and now applying the technique in one of the BH that I was given the task to revamp.

This Subang2 BH was constructed about 2 years back but was put on "Hold" by the owner.

Recently he decided to put the house into operation mode but was unsure if the house was ready.

He called for my opinion and I told him that he need to upgrade the BH with VIP room, happy hours corner, additional tweeters, replace old tweeters, a few bazookas, humidifiers, CCTV cameras and so on.

He agreed and I was asked to carry out the modification.

I wanted to experiment my theory about those happy hours corner and he agreed to allow me to create what ever that can bring those wild birds inside the new BH.

For this BH I choose the back part of the house just at the back of the staircase wall to be converted for the Happy Hours corner.

What I did was to install about 6 external sound tweeters in one zone together with those internal sound tweeters facing outward.

After completing the installation conducted the trial run and I can say that those birds were very much at home playing with the tweeters and some latch on the tweeters.

A very interesting thing to follow up next few weeks to see if those birds will stay.

An Aroma Dispenser That Can Prolong Your Aroma Canister Life !!!

If you happened to purchase those aroma canisters please be aware that there are two type being sold in the Market.

The first is suitable for the automatic dispenser while the second is for normal spray type where you will provided with a mini plastic straw.

The second type cannot be used with the auto dispenser due to the type of spray nozzles configuration.

When making your order you need to specify the type of nozzle on the canister i.e. for auto dispenser or manual spray type.

 There is another interesting information about those auto dispensers.

There are a few type of auto dispensers in the Market.

I recently discovered a type that are locally assembled and cost less then RM 25 without batteries.

This special dispenser, not only cheap but it allows you to regulate your sprays from 1 to 25 minutes spray timing.

Beside the number of sprays it gives you three timing configurations:

1) 24 hours
2)Day time only
3)Night time only

The unit have a special features that can sense the sun lighting.

A good application is when you hang the dispenser in the roving area.  Set the mode to day time and say 25 minutes interval.  Since it only sprays during the day time you will safe those time when the sun was down.

For those installed inside the nesting rooms you can set to 24 hours mode with say timing of 15 minutes interval.

I happened to keep some stock (for my own use) and if you need these auto dispenser please let me know.

The cost is only RM 25 for one and RM23 for more then 5 units ex Kuala Lumpur.

Snakes Inside Your BH : Where To Find Them !!!!

Those who never have the experience in removing snakes in their BH will never know where to locate them.

They normally will climb the wall and hide behind those tweeters.  This will be where those swiftlet will rest and the snake will make their kill.

I was recently given a picture of a snake in a BH located in Tupah, Merbok.

Have a good look at the way it coiled behind the tweeter.

If you want to avoid having these snakes entering your BH the simple rules to observe are as follows:

1) Try not to have those logs or excess planks or excess roofing materials lying around your BH (inside and outside the house).  All these items will attract snakes to take rafuge and once that happen they will creep into your BH to search for food.

2) If your BH is on an agricultural land there will be lots of these reptiles crawling around.  To avoid them from entering your fencing area or your BH you need to sprinkle some sulfur.  This yellow colored crystal will make those snakes stay away from your BH.

3) The natural way to prevent snakes entering your fencing area is to rear some Angsa goose.  The droppings of these Angsa seem to be heavy with sulfur.

Two Users Reporting About Marvellous Cloud External Sound !!!

I do not wish to bost or giving false impression about how good is this new found sound.

I got these two reports which I don't believed myself:

"Pak Harry, my Tupah, Merbok BH yesterday got at least 300 birds after using your new sound.  Thank you very much."

If you think I am lying please call this number and ask about his comment: 0124839653 Mr Koay.

The next was from Sungai Udang.

"Pak Harry with your new sound and the sweet honey those birds now entered the BH.  About 15 of them seem to hang around the place where your spray the sweet honey.  Unbelievable!!"

I think they are out of their mind but maybe it is true.

The Sungai Udang guy can be contacted at this number: :(need to call 017 755 1318 for his phone number)

Please try not to call them during the day time.  After their office hours will be better.

Make sure you ask if they are free to talk.  Introduce yourself nicely and please don't tell them that you got their numbers from my blog.  I will be dead !!!!

Two New Tasks: In Jerantut, Pahang and Singkawang, Indonesia !!!

A town from where you take the sampan ride to the National Park.

I visited the town about two weeks back.  Been asked to look at what was wrong with a three stories tall BH with many birds flying at the entrance hole but not one spot of bird inside.

The owner operated the BH for almost three months but could not determined the cause of the problem.

When the son's owner called I told him that I will be happy to look into his dad's problem.

The trip was about 2.5 hours and luckily the road from KL to Jerantut junction was linked with a superb new highway.

The moment I arrived I took a good look at the house and briefly told the owner what might be the possible problems.

The next two days I got a full report out, about 17 pages, and described the possible problems and solutions.

They took less then 7 days to call me and told me they would like me to mobilise my trusted workers to be at site soonest.

I was not ready to dash to Jerantut for the subang2 unit was still under my final stage of revamping.

The owner took the trouble to drop by at the Subagng 2 BH and have a good look at what I was up to.  Just after the short visit he push some papers for me to initial and gave me the mobilization fee.

I was a bit taken back.  I wanted to take a short rest before taking another job. Since he was so keen to start I told him that I can be in Jerantut on Tuesday with one or two of my contract workers.

I need at least three weeks to finish up the revamp works and need to shuttle up and down to KL to mobilize some of those equipment needed to upgrade the BH.

In between there might be a possibility of dropping by in Singkawang, Borneo Island, Indonesia to visit a BH in more or less having the same problem.

Singkawang, about three hours drive from Pontianak airport, is a costal town to the south west of Kuching, Sarawak.

I met another person in distress at Mid Valley KL last week and he wanted me to fly over for a three days trip.

How To Prove To The Owner That His BH Conversion Will be Alright !!!

I have never tried this marvellous test before but today I did the unusual.

I showed the BH owner at Subang 2 that those birds do come in by having him inside the house when I played the external sound.

This BH owner, Mr. O,  found my contact number via my blog about two months ago.

He called and we met at KL Sentral, Kuala Lumpur.

He sound desperate but after the short meeting I understood that he was not sure if he can start his already converted shop house into BH at Subang 2.

Well my sincere advise to him was let me give my professional opinion by dropping by and inspect the 2 years old converted but not operated.

After the visit I told him that if he go ahead without any modifications, he can get about 1 nest a year.

I gave him my 17 pages report and told him to read all my professional observations and list of recommendations.

I told myself that within 2 days he will call and ask me to help to carry out the revamp works.  Yes, precisely two days he called and told me to meet and collect the 30% deposit.

I know what makes him convinced.  My report was so details and my recommendation plus sketches were amazing and unbelievable.

After one week of work I told him that the house was ready to launch today.

He came over with his Partner and was very excited to see the birds in action.

Well I told both of them to station themselves at one corner of the VIP room and enjoy the actions.

I switched the external sound (New Found Sound) and within less then 5 minutes those wild birds entered the house and were circling at the Happy Hours Corner just in front of them.

The sound must have excite those birds and they entered and were not bothered with the present of the two owners in the room.

More then 10 birds were flying around at one time.

I look at both of them and told them that this event tell you that the house is okay and the birds can come in and enter the target zone, the VIP room.

This technique will be my use in all future BH conversion.

If you have problems with your BH not nests for many months or those nests stop multiplying just call and let me turn around the BH like the one in Subang 2.....

Call 017 755 1318 or write you quiries to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

A New External Sound As Good As Black Cloud !!!

To those who have purchased and use my external sound called Black Cloud, you might want to know that there is a new sound which I tested and proven to as good as the former.

I was invited to visit a newly build BH in Sungai Udang, Seberang Prai recently.

During the visit I was asked to test any good sound that the owner have not purchased from me.

While looking at my list I decided to use one new sound that I ignored and never conduct any test.

Well it took less then a few minutes when those birds came in a big crowd to the entrance hole and many entered the house.

The owner was stunned and I was also infatuated with the result.

"Hey Harry this sound is Marvellous and I think it is as good or better then your Black Cloud !!!"

I was very fascinated with this new found sound hidden in my closet.

I called it "Marvellous Cloud".  My advise to those who have purchased my Black Cloud, you need to get this Marvellous cloud into your sound library.

I will selling this sound soon and I hope the price offered to all will be affordable.

Those who are keen to have a short clip please let me know.  Only 20 seconds for you to hear evaluate whether you already have one in your collection.

Call me at 017 755 1318 to know the price before you are too late !!!

My Visit To A BH In Gurun Kedah!!!

This is a typical BH located in the middle of two  row of shop houses with about  five successful units.

The number of birds hovering above the unit were constantly plenty however the affected unit was closed to empty.

"Pak Harry I need your advise to bring those wild birds into the house and stay."

It was a pretty tiring weekend when I drove more then 800 kilometers just to visit more then 4 BH that have some kind of problems in getting those wild birds to stay.

The Gurun BH unit was a typical failed BH.  After operating for about 1.5 years the house was closed to be called empty.  Only about 10 nests and never multiplied.

I took the troubles to climb up to the roof and stayed there for about 20 minutes in the scotching heat.

Looking at the entrance hole direction plus evaluating those nearby successful BHs I told the owner that the hole were not facing the right target.  It was also too small.

First I told him to relocate the entrance hole.  Face it towards the direction with little blockages and towards a few successful BHs.

Make sure the hole is larger, perhaps 2.5 feet by 4 feet. Install adequate external sound tweeters at the hole and maybe include one hexagonal tower on the roof just above the entrance hole.

Inside the roving room he need to find ways to lure those birds to fly downward.  The best would be to install a water pond plus a suitable number of external sound tweeters.

From the roving into the nesting rooms I told him to enlarge the entrance door.  Perhaps relocate the entrance hole too.

The big problems lies in the way those nesting rooms were constructed.  They are opened wide with nothing in it.  No VIP rooms, very little number of tweeters, no fake nests, very little crossings, too bright, warm and a few more issues.

I am sure if the house is properly revamped those young birds will move in.

After the 45 minutes visit I hand written those things that he needed to do and hopefully will follow up with a proper report.

This is a typical BH with little success.  The BH can be said naked and with little accessories to make those young birds excited to stay.

Note:

Full 20 pages report plus more then 10 sketches submitted to the owner and he was speechless with what I asked him to do.

He need to use his brain more then getting those uncrupolous consultants to mess up his BH.

Sungai Udang BH Visit !!!

Been away during the weekend.
Traveled from KL to Gurun Kedah and back towards Setiawan to Kuala Lumpur.

I was asked to visit two BH in operations with different types of problems.

1) Sungai Udang, Seberang Prai.

The owner was pretty upset when his new BH was not showing any bird shits signs on the floor.  Only three months in operation and zip nothing was happening.

I was asked to drop by and take a good look on the possible reasons.

During the first 10 minutes I did some inspection outside the BH and it looks fined to me.  Well finnished with bright yellow color and with orange stripes.

The front part there seem to be an extension and the contractor opened the hole in the middle of the wall.  Hmm... this might be the problem.

I then entered the BH from the lower floor up to the first and then to the top most floor.

I don't actually like the way those tweeters were installed and there were so many types of tweeters.

There were no VIP rooms and the number of tweeters were not many.

Overall they looks okay but not let see the data room.

The owner selected the swallow sound ss99.  Not a bad choice however the equalizer settings were not right.

The sound he was playing pull those birds however the birds number of birds attracted to the entrance hole were not many.  Most of the time the pop in less then 3 seconds and out the come.

I told the owner to let me try something with my latest finding.  I inserted the new sound "Magnificent Cloud" and within a few seconds the entrance hole became the hole of fame. The number of birds multiplied to more then 50 and many entered the hole but stayed a bit longer then 3 seconds.

Okay what else can be done?

Let me try my "Sweet Honey" potion.  I went upstairs and started to spray on the walls and the entrance door s.

Now see what happened.

"Oh my god they started to enter and coming deeper into the house.  They now stays longer then 10 seconds and nearly all that came to the entrance hole will zoom in."

'Wow Pak Harry you are really good."

My conclusion was that he need to start looking as using new sounds that can push the birds deeper into the house and pull them by those "Sweet Honey".

What happened after four days:

HI Harry,

    Just completed the BH renovation + external tweeter installation. The entrance now face West and located at right hand side. 

After your visit, Aroma spray did play the part here to lure the bird in, I used Black Cloud + aroma (during yr visit) + change some of the amplifier setting, within 4 days can observed 4 Bird shit spot at top floor and 1 spot at 2nd floor. 

This is encouraging result ! No doubt can seen a few bird dropping spot, I have taken your advise to open the entrance at side (west) and let the bird counter clockwise in + S turn to 2nd entrance, I have changed the external sound to Marvelous Cloud, the result still excellent. 

I have received the aroma and all installed at strategic location. 

At 6pm - 720pm, many birds circulate and went in for longer period and many went into 3rd floor, 2nd floor dive down may need further finetuning as none dive down yet, thank you for your magic touch that lure the bird in and went into nestling, really appreciate all your help !

Visited A Five Years Old Telok Anson BH with 6 nests !!!!

It is sad to visit a BH ideally located but with only 6 nests after being put into operation for almost 5 years.

Yesterday, in between my busy scheduled, agreed to visit a four stories stand alone BH in Teluk Anson.

The owner find it very hard to understand why those birds refused to take resident in his BH even thought every day there will be at least 100 birds on the roof top.

He already engaged two consultants to revamp the house but the nest population went into the reverse gear. Every month the number keep reducing (from about 30 nests) and stop to 6 until yesterday.

Location wise was perfect. A stand alone, closed to a wide Perak River, four stories, about 500 meters from Teluk Anson main town.

About 80 meters away there was one successful units with about 10 kg a month output.

Looking at the various aspect of the BH, I told the owner to re look into the followings:

1) Top Floor to be totally dedicated as the Entrance and Roving area.
2) He should look adding one more entrance holes to make the BH as dual entries entity.
3) The flight path from the entrance holes to the targeted floors must be smoother and shorter distances.
4) The two entrance hole shall be operated with two separate sound system playing different sounds.
5) The current sound system should be replaced with something that can be easily replaced or perhaps modern.
6) The House was filled with so many unwanted rubbish and he need to remove all of them.
7) He need to focus in doing up the 3rd & 4th floor.  The lowest and 1st floor can be activated once the 3rd floor are occupied.
7) Those partitioning were not proper and he need to relocate them.
8) Two VIP rooms can be located at the end of the floor.
9) A Happy Hours Corner can be deployed in one of the larger sized VIP room.
10) The number of external and internal sound tweeters need to be increased and properly relocated.
11) He need to use specialized aromas for the house.
12) The LAL do need be reconfigured and those tweeters were not properly located.
13) The hexagonal tweeters were not functioning.
14) The external walls need to be covered from direct sunlight.
15) The To entrance opening should be laid with a pool.  Make sure to leak proof the pool area.
16) Focus on the the 3rd and the 4th floor to minimize the revamp cost.  Once the number of birds are plenty then move to the 2nd and ground.

After the visit, tested a few new external sounds, and these new sounds (Pandora 2, Extreme 4, Indra, D'President and Fabulous Call) seem to pull lots of birds over.

All in all the BH can be turned around but he need to look at the recommendations that I hope to finish soon.

Garbage Truck Free : Rules Your Day !!!

One day I hopped in a taxi and took off for the airport.

We were driving in the right lane when suddenly a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us.

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by just inches! The driver of the other car whipped his head around and started yelling at us.

My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy. And I mean, he was really friendly.

So I asked, 'Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and sent us to the hospital!' This is when my taxi driver taught me what I now call,  'The Law of the Garbage Truck.' He explained that many people are like garbage trucks. They run around full of garbage, full of frustration, full of anger, and full of disappointment. As their garbage piles up, they need a place to dump it and sometimes they'll dump it on you. Don't take it personally. Just smile, wave, wish them well, and move on. Don't take their garbage and spread it to other people at work, at home, or on the streets. The bottom line is that successful people do not let garbage trucks take over their day. Life's too short to wake up in the morning with regrets, so ... Love the people who treat you right.   Pray for the ones who don't.   Life is ten percent what you make it and ninety percent how you take it!   Have a blessed, garbage-free day!

A Positive Results From Someone Who Follow My Advise !!!

Some are willing to follow my advise but many are scared to.

There are so many people out there and many refuses to accept new ideas in getting more nests in their BH.

They prefer the conventional ways and any new techniques are taboos and cannot give results.

During my talk in Kota Kinabalu, I bravely mentioned about forced harvest technique.  On the next day it was brought up at Low Yat Forum saying that I am cruel and I am not right.

Well those who followed seem to have a totally different stories.

One called me and told me that he did at three of his BHs and to his surprised one of the unit produces a 70% increase in his nest population.  The other two was about 25%.

He called and said:  "Thank you Pak Harry.  I owed you one.  Please come to my town and I will give you the best dinner in town."

Yesterday I received this note from a person who asked for my advise.

He followed exactly what I wanted him to do and this was his reply:

Dear Harry,

Remember it was U that encouraged me to do force harvest through our e-mailing. 

I did follow your instruction and is very happy with the result.

If not for the disturbance of the owl , may be the result even better.

That i had told u the circumstances tru msn lately. i just harvest the nest, 81 altogether from 56 to 81 , that comes to 40% +.

  THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR UR PRECIOUS ADVICE.


I feel glad that he got what he was after.

My reminder to him was not to over use the force harvest. The best is once a year and try to do during the flying off time.

The Spiral Sound Platform Technique !!!

What do you think is wrong with a BH where those birds keep entering the opening, entrance hole,  but within a few seconds they rushed out?

One second they flew in and the next second they flew out.

Another interesting but similar was a BH owner who says: "Pak Harry they number of birds that enter the entrance hole were so many but there were not a single bird shit spot on the floor."

So what can be the possible reasons for such thing to happen?

I visited my of these types of BHs and my findings seem to zoom to the improper use of external sound tweeters.

Those birds that enters your BH were attracted to the sound you used to lure them from a far.

It is not that they love your BH per say but they were attracted to enter the entrance hole just because you played an attractive external sound.

The moment they entered the entrance hole they will passed those tweeter's base and will suddenly will lose the soothing sound that they came for.


What do you think those birds does when they loose the sound that they love to hear?

They will turn around and come out of the entrance hole.  This, I believed, is the real reason why they entered for one second and flew out within the next second.

So how can we solve this in and out problem?

Well you need to re look at those external sound tweeters arrangements to get those birds to continue they flying moves towards the far end of your BH.

You need to think of a way to install those external sound tweeters in a kind of stations and consistent in distances so that once the birds passed the first tweeter the next will take over the luring function.

If you can get this idea right I am sure those birds will enter and stay much longer then one second.

I was in Ayer Tawar Perak during the week end and visited a sizable green BH having more or less the same problem.

The BH was well designed and located below the flying paths. On the roof top they have a massive water pond that were well kept and those birds loves to come for a dip and sip.

The entrance into the BH was facing the wrong direction and the path into the various floors was a big shaft, 25 feet by 25 feet, top to bottom.

Those birds entered the house, according to the owner, but they will fly out as fast as they entered.

I make a very careful observations and I found that there were no follow up external sound tweeters on the tunnel's walls.

This could be the possible reason and I advise the owner to perhaps look into installing a spiral sound platforms that might help to pull those birds downwards.

The idea is to install the platforms as such that the tweeters on the platform will attract them to come lower and lower until the base of the tunnel.

This, hopefully, will help in luring the birds, at least into the tunnel.

If you need help to understand the configuration of this spiral platform technique please call 017 755 1318.

Those Things That I Discovered Part 1!!!

There were many interesting things that I discovered and wrote in my blog.

If you can duplicate those discoveries and apply them to your BH, I can safely say that you are on the way to your financial freedom.


Let me list them one by one and perhaps it can refresh your memory:

1) Use of "Fake Nests".

    I discovered this after attending a course in Pulau Kapas, Trengganu in 2008.  That was the first course I attended not as a participant but as a speaker.
   The main speaker was from Indonesia, Pak Hendry Mulia, and he gave a few interesting ideas on how to multiply those nests in your BH. One of topic was on the use of styro foam materials as fake nest.
   Then again you can use anything beside those Styrofoam.  Use can use those papers, wood strips, steel bar, coconut shell and many more.
  Nowadays you can but those ready made cup plastic or rubber fake nest that you can easily screwed onto the nesting plank.

2) Use more Internal and External Sound Tweeters.

   Most birdhouses, especially those that failed to produce good results, are in general installed with just the basic equipment.  It is like the contractor wanted to quickly finish the job and make as much profits as he can.
   One of the biggest mistake is to install as little tweeters as possible. 
   During one of my birdhouse inspection visit in Ipoh, I was told my the owner that his BH is not occupied by those birds after operating more then 6 months.
  The moment I entered the house I asked him to count the number of tweeters he installed on the ceiling and then I ask him to count the bird shit spots on the floor.
  His answer was it matched.  So I told him that you have a full house.  My idea was why don't you install more tweeters in your BH?  Is it too expensive?

3) External Sound Tweeters at the far end of the Nesting room.

  This was something that I never thought that important but it is.

 If you see bird shit only at the roving areas then you should try to install at least two external sound tweeters at the back of your nesting room.

During one visit to Muar, Johore, one BH owner who invited to his BH told me that before asking me to come over he followed my advise.  "Pak Harry your idea on the external sound tweeters inside the nesting room works.  I have been having lot of problems before but now I proved your theory right."

4) The Creation of VIP room.

VIP room was something which I discovered during many visits to BHs.

It seem that those birds love to stay hidden in a room as compared to nesting in the open.

Last year while in Seberang Prai, a BH owner wanted to show me his 8 months old BH.  From the outside the activities on his rooftop was marginal.  When we entered the BH, we still found very little activities in the roving and the main hall.

The moment we entered a room at the far end, we were shocked.  There were at least 200 bird hiding at the back of the house inside room.

Again in Rompin, Pahang, the same thing happened and it make a very good sense to create at least one room in your BH.  This room I termed as VIP room.

5) The "Happy Hours Corner"

This was my latest discovery.  I came face to face with those birds flocking at those rows of tweeters inside the VIP room playing the external sound.
I stumbled into this unusual phenomena in a BH which I am looking after just last week.
When I took charge I rewired the whole room but due to this odd shape corner I decided to put tweeters to play external sound inside the VIP room.
The number of birds flocking in this area was fantastic.

6) The Black Cloud External sound.

I vividly remembered the day I bought this sound from a guy who until today is still supplying me with new sounds.
In the beginning I was never attracted to the sound but after getting a few test run the number of birds responded was unusual and the best was that nearly every person who used the sound says that it was very good.
This was when I coined the word "Black Cloud".
Until today it is still one of the top sound in my collection.

7) Use Different wires for your VIP room.

Again this new discovery happened when I was asked to check a strange behavior of birds that suddenly flocked at one corner of a three stories BH.
The moment I entered this BH I slowly walked towards the area crowded with birds(about 50 plus birds).
 I stood below them and realized that that ceiling area there were sound while the rest of the BH was without any sound.
My conclusion was that swiftlet loves to stay in a group.  They feel safe in numbers.  Having those tweeters with loud sound makes the birds believed that there are many of them in that corner.
The lesson here is that if we know how to capitalized in this sound usage we can actually make those birds stay where ever that we wished to.
We can now plan where they should stay.

8) Soundless Humidifiers.

I was introduced to this soundless humidifier a few short months ago.

In the beginning I was not fascinated with what it can do.  Yes it is very quite and better then those chicken coop humidifiers.
Thing changed when I was shown the nests produced under the influence of soundless humidifier.

  I was shown two pieces of nest before and after.  The crystal cleared white colored nest was unusual and fantastic. I was totally convinced that this is something good to the industry.

9) The Baby King.

The most powerful internal sound that not only make the birds to stay but also activate them to mate.

The sound can be used as external sound too.

10) The proper positioning of LAL.

The Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL) is where the birds migrate to the lower part of your building.

To me a good BH design is where the birds will start their nesting on the lowest floor and not on the top most floor.

To achieve this your LAL positioning need to be properly chosen and wide enough .  My discovery about this is to place the LAL just after the entrance door between the roving area and the nesting room. 

Your key criteria is to ensure that 100% of the birds that enter the BH must pass above the LAL whenever they fly inside or out of the nesting rooms.

11) The Angle of flying down to the lower floors should be 45* and not 90*.

When you construct a BH with many floors, you first mission is how to get those birds to fly down to the lowest floor smoothly without sharp turnings.

I came to the conclusion that the best method is to arrange the LAL on the various floor to be slanting so that the birds can fly downward at 45*.

By this method you also allow enough light to shine to the lowest floor.  Remember birds needs light to find their way out of the house in the morning.

Try not to opt for ziz-zag design.


12) Face the Entrance Hole To The East.

My preferred direction of the entrance hole is towards the morning sun.  The reason being the birds when they wakes up in the morning use the morning sun to guide them out of the house.

If your BH entrance hole face the west, those birds will not stay at the lowest floor.  This is due to the fact that they tend to wake up late and has little food out there.

I have personally answered questions from people who called and told me that their BH seem to have nests mainly near to the roving areas.

I told them that your BH entrance hole was facing the West.  In second the owner will tell me " H0w the hell do you do that? You have never visited my BH before!"

Yes staying closed to the roving areas will allow them to wake up early and rush out for food as early as possible.  Staying further away from the entrance hole will make them to wake up late everyday.

13) Use the 4 meters by 4 meters room size rule.

Most people do not take any notice of this 4 meters by 4 meters rule.

The birds when turning need enough space to turn.  If those rooms are too small they have difficulties to maneuver and might hit the walls.

Once they hit the walls they will hurt themselves and normally will die.  In the wild you cannot effort to be sick or injured.

So when you design your BH make sure the 4 meters by 4 meters rule is adhered to all the time unless not possible.

14) The size of your BH main entrance hole.

The entrance size do play a major role in enticing those birds to enter your new BH.

When designing the entrance hole you need to allow not only three birds to enter at one time but you need additional room for those tweeters.

If you placed two tweeter, one each at the sides, the space taken will make the hole very small.

Too big will land you with to much air flow and to much light.

My recommendation is to use the 2.5 feet wide and 3 feet long.  This should be the minimum size.

15) External Sound Playing time.

How long should the external sound to be played?

I came to the conclusion that you need to start the external sound as early as the dawn breaks and you may want to add one to one and the half hour after sundown to shut it off.

In Peninsular Malaysia you should start somewhere at around 6.45 am and shut at about 8.30pm.

It seem that there are always late comers who happened to know that in the last hour of sunlight there are lots of insects in the air.

16) Be precise on what sound to play at what time of the day.

This is something that I discovered.  If you wanted to extend the effectiveness of your precious sound, you need to use them only at the peak time.

What is a peak time?  Well the answer is just observe the crowd at the entrance hole and you will get the answer.

All that you need is to schedule the sound to be played at those peak hours and the rest of the time play other sounds that you consider as pretty good but not as powerful as the main sound.

17) All Sounds Must Be Profiled and lengthen to 1 hour duration.

To ensure a smooth transition from one sound to the other you need to profile all sounds that you collected and keep in your sound library.

If you profile them, using suitable software, you can assured yourself that every time you change those sounds there is no sudden volume variation at those tweeters.

18) Use Anticlockwise Design.

When your use those monkey house design on your roof top, try to place the entrance hole to the right hand side of the wall facing the flight path.

I discovered that most of them tends to make anticlockwise turning during any of those bird call tests.

On the average about 60% will turn anticlockwise will the balance the opposite.

Try to avoid putting the entrance hole is the middle of the monkey house wall.  I assume that your monkey house is 4 meters by 4 meters in dimension.

19) Using Forced Harvest to Increase your Nest Population.

I discovered that many BHs that were burglarized tends to multiply the nests by at least 20%.

There are no specific reasons why but the core issue is that the nests tend to increase substantially.

My idea is, if you wanted to increase your nest population, you might want to conduct a force harvest at least once a year.

Try to choose the right timing to minimize the loss of eggs and those young babies.

20) Trans Location Technique.

This special technique, if you can master the breeding of those baby birds, can be a very important weapon to populate any BH that are not having enough nests in their BH.

The method was successfully carried out in Sabah and there is no reasons why it should be ignored.

There are people who are currently breeding young birds and all you need to do is to buy them when they are at 43 days old and release them in your BH.

If you get 10% of what you released, it is good enough.  Do 10 times and you can get 100%.

Tough When You Are Trying To Help !!!

Today started my day with picking up my helper to follow me to visit two of BHs that need some modifications.

The birds entered but after a few weeks never returned, according to the owner.

Well I brought with me a new bazooka attached to a single bullet tweeter and installed at one of the house.  After the installation works observed how effective it was.

Very encouraging and I would like to make a full report about this special gadget soon.  Let me use it for a few weeks and monitor the house nests population increments.  If this gadget can brings in more birds into the BH why not?

Also opened the doors into the VIP room bigger.

Told the owner to give a few more weeks for some results.

Came back and finished a few visit reports and answering so many emails.

The most difficult were those who happened to already start their BH construction then ask for your opinion.

"Kepala Pusing" is my description of the problems they have.  Some without any sketch of the BH but some with 3D figures that are full of errors.

There were a number who wanted a check on their current sounds and again they are using two in one.  The external on the left and internal of the right.

It makes you confirmed how bad their knowledge are.  The more that you try to help the more you feel that what ever you do were never followed.

To those who wanted to build your dream BH please be a bit more serious with your project.

Make sure you get all the plans and drawing done properly and perhaps an experience swiftlet sifu to confirm that they are okay.

Even better if you get at least two sifus to give their opinions.  One head is better then one.

Remember you need those drawing done because one day when you are required to submit to the local council they will insist on these drawings.

Be more participative and do not allow your contractor to do every thing without your input.

In the afternoon received a call from one BH owner who wanted me to revamp his BH in Subang.  Shortly after that a guy who wanted to meet up to talk about his solar technology called.

This Friday need to visit a new BH in Bentong that will be completed and need some imput on the sound system.

The weekend need to be in Sabak Bernam to inspect a BH then to Setiawan/Ayer Tawar to visit a BH that is not doing well.

On Sunday need to drive back via Taiping to meet up with someone who wanted to show something interesting that he installed in his BH.

A New Discovery : "The Happy Hours Corner" !!!

I am sure all of you are looking forward for something new that can helps in getting those birds to stay in your new BH.

There are not many people out there who are willing to share their findings and we need to get our act together for the sake of the Swiftlet Industry.

This was the latest discovery that was discovered today during one of my BH visit.

Remember about my idea of creating the VIP room?

My idea was to create a secluded room on one of the floor that will give the birds the right humidity, temperature and darkness.

This idea if you follow exactly to what I described in my articles before it to be will divert those birds entering into your new BH to stay and build their nests.

You need to install as many internal sound tweeters as possible and these specially designed (preferable bullet type) tweeters shall be wired as such that you can control the volume independently. Rough estimate is the number of corners times two.

The room shall have a partitioning, floor up to the ceiling with a door not smaller then 2.5 feet.

To lure the birds into this VIP room is to ensure that you mount at least two medium sized tweeters playing external sound on the door plank, 6 feet from the floor.

Inside the VIP room you also need to install at least two medium sized tweeters for the same external sound played at the door.

This is where the Happy Hours Corner was accidental created.

I took charge in the tweeters installation in a BH located in Kepong about 5 months ago.

Due to the odd shape of the VIP room, there was one small corner that could not fit my plan.  Due to that I decided to install about 10 tweeters facing the entrance door but perpendicular to the rest of the tweeters in the room. (Please double click on the picture to enlarge the picture attached)

These 10 tweeters, located at this odd corners, I wired them to a single line and connected to my external sound amplifier.

I was just curious to see what will happen if I play only external sound for this special part of the VIP room.

Today during my visit, for maintenance, I saw something that I could not believed my eyes.

The number of birds hanging on those 10 tweeters were many, much more then on those internal sound tweeters.

I believed that they were so attracted to the external sound I played and wanted to stay there forever.

I now will call this special zone as "Happy Hours Corner".

This new discovery, if properly installed, will ensure a high percentage of those birds to stay and becoming your permanent tenant.

From today this special Happy Hours Corner shall be in all my BH design.

Patented and no one should copy this beautiful idea. He he he he .........

I will be presenting this idea on how to use the Happy Hours Corners in my next monthly Seminar in Kuala Lumpur. All you need to do is to attend the one day seminar and you will get the precise details on how to design and to install in you own BH at no additional fee.

A new discovery and you can now reduce your failure rate instantly.

This new finding shall be yours if you follow the right steps of selecting corner and install the external sound tweeters correctly.

Very Crucial: Positioning Of External Sound Tweeters !!!

I just arrived from Jerantut, Pahang after a visit to a newly build BH on an Agricultural land on the outskirt of Jerantut town.

Last week was contacted by a newbie who can no longer see the sadness on his father's face when his 300K newly build BH was not having any birds inside.

Though the house was recently put into operation mode, they sense something funny when there were  so many birds visiting the entrance area but the number of bird shit spots inside their BH were just too little.

I was asked to drive down to Jerantut and make my observation and provide solutions.

Well, since I happened to be free,I accepted the offer but first I need to drive more then 2.3 hours from KL.

As usual the things that I discovered were nothing new:

1) It was very clear that the contractor or consultant who erected the BH was in a rush to complete, put it in operation and then never turn up to fine tuned the BH.

2) The building structures were well done but his knowledge on the precise positioning of  the hexagonal, external and internal  tweeters were not seen. This is what I told the owner, not many contractors can be giid in everything.  If they are good in construction they might have difficulties to understand how to fix those sound system.

3) Due to  a rushing job and with very little knowledge on those precious swiftlet characteristics, the consultant place those tweeters, especially external sound, wrongly.

4) The BH was bare with only those basic equipment.  Something like wearing just a pair of stocking and underwear but no shirt and pants.

5) No external sound tweeters inside the BH except at the LAL. This was the main cause why those birds refuse to enter the BH.

6) There number of internal sound tweeters are normal but he tend to be happy with those cluster tweeters.

7) All those 90* corners were covered with corner covers.

8) No fake nests being installed on any nesting planks in the BH.

9) The BH was not masked with enough ammonia gas (bird shit smell).  The cement smell was too strong.

10) The LAL positioning on the higher floor to the 1st floor was too far from the entrance door from the roving to the nesting room.  The sizable gap allows those birds to jump Que and not flying above the LAL.

11) The contractor opted for a ziz-zaz  LAL positioning pattern.  To me this design is not suitable and difficult to populate the lowest floor. Better to go straight at a 45* angle from top to the bottom floor.

12) There were a few half partitioning structures on each floor however the reasons for constructing the partitioning were no meaning.

13)  The contractor installed a few chicken coop humidifiers and the power source to activate all the humidifiers was via a humidity controller.  I was surprised that the setting was not proper and the plug used was on the wrong point.

14) The amplifiers used was not properly chosen.  The volume knob to control the left and right volume level was on the "Balance" mode.

15) The contractor have very little knowledge on the BH sound engineering.  He got this notion that the external should be played, internally, for 24 hours. As such he installed two amplifiers to fit his believes.

16) The temperature sensor shows a maximum temp reading of 34*C.  This was very disturbing.  I took it as if he must have carried the temperature hygrometer outside and forgot to reset.

17) There was only one external sound to be played daily and no other sounds were provided to the owner to substituted if they become in effective.

The above are nothing unusual.  I would say that nearly all failed BHs shows exactly similar characteristics.

If you have something similar to the above, I would say that you will soon have to get Pak Harry to come over to reconfirm the exact similar situation.

After visiting, a good mother's day dinner and the next morning roti chanai breakfast, I quickly wrote a report , about 10 pages, to the owner.

Beside the above, I the following interesting events that I would like to share with all my blog reader:

1) There was a stand alone BH about 500 feet away from the visited BH that plays "Duress" sound everyday.

2) I managed to view a very successful BH in Jerantut.  Took some video clips.  The number of birds rushing into this BH was very interesting.

3) While conducting the sound tests, another BH owner just a fence away, walked up and greet me.  Are you Pak Harry?  Yes I told him.  He confessed that he reads my blog everyday.  Pak Harry Can I purchase the "Baby King" from you.  I got many birds inside but they refuse to build their nests.

I hope the above write up gives you interesting things to learn.

I am very happy to be of service to the two BH owners.  I will be submitting a full report tonight.

If you wish to read this report, you can.  Just donate RM50 to a nominate account the report is yours.

Small Group But We Have A Good Day !!!

The Seminar at Sentral Hotel, yesterday, went well.

The number of people attended was not many but we have a wonderful time together and managed to visit a BH in operation in Kepong KIP.

Most of the participants were from East Malaysia.

The seminar started at 9.00 am and we visited a BH at 11.00 am.  Came back for a buffet lunch at the hotel.

After the lunch break we covered a few interesting topics that were new and interesting.

Well the participants were glad to be given the opportunity to visit a BH in operation.

All in all they got what they came for.

A Newbie From Sabah, A Way To Learn !!!

There is nothing better then to get one unit of the bird call gadget to learn about those wild swiftlets.

I was recently contacted by a newbie from Sabah, Malaysia and he was very keen to learn as much as he can about swiftlet farming.

After some email exchanges I told him that the best thing to do for the beginning is to get a unit of the bird call gadget and carry it around in his car boot.

He was so serious and followed my sincere advise. The very same day he remitted the money, RM 750 (4 Tweeters type), and I couriered a unit to his mailing address.

The moment he got hold of the gadget he wanted to go straight to those lands that he wanted to purchase.
I told him to hold on. Get some basics on how to properly use the gadget.

My recommendation to him was to go to the nearest BH and conduct a small test in one of the car park (open car park).

"You need to at least learn the correct way on how to use the gadget. What you need to do now is to insert the power cord into your car cigarette lighter. Switch on the car battery and observe gadget.

There will be some numbers on the digital screen and that shows you that the reader is working. Now switch the MP3 amplifier on and you will see a green light.

Okay put the "Low" knob to lowest and the "High" knob to about 3.00pm. Put the volume to zero first and slowly increase the volume.

Put the gadget on your car roof and look what happen above."

You need to now do some work.

1) Count the number of birds that come over and circle about your car
2) Look at their body size and the overall length of their wings of tip to tip.
3) Look at their feather's color. It is black, brown or any other color and do they have sany spot at the back of the body?
4) Where are are coming from?
5) Do they fly, the majority, on clockwise or anticlockwise
6) Do all of them stay put or after some minutes they flew away?

After about 20 minutes you may shut the gadget off. Now look where those birds will fly to.

Only after getting this first rehearsal you may want to proceed with the those lands.

Well not bad, he now seems to be learning very fast. Read this email just received this morning:

Quote:
Hi Harry
The bird call gadget worked fine.
I have tested the gadget near a birdhouse In Penampang. The birdhouse is a 2-storey shop house with 2 bird entrance holes at the front and 2 at the back of the shop house.

The swiftlets came after the gadget was on and the numbers increased. I could not count the number of birds because I was in between 2 rows of shop houses and the swiftlets appear to be more adult size.

They flew in anti-clockwise and some would swoop lower towards our car where the gadget was.
The 1st test was carried out near a friend's house on top of a hill abt 8km from KK city. It was abt4.45pm. and after a rain shower. There is a lake abt 1km from the test area which is hilly and with a fair bit of trees.

Even before switching on the gadget, there were a few swiftlets flying nearby. After switching on, more swiftlets came and it was abt 30 birds. They seem to fly in from a NE to E direction (which was direction of the Crocker Range mountains.

The swiftlets flew in an anti-clockwise direction and above trees level. I noticed that the birds were of small size maybe not full adult size.

The 2nd test was carried out near an abandoned paddy field next to a river with plenty of trees near a secondary jungle. It was abt 5.40pm and abt 6-7km from the 1st test area.
I noticed there were some big birds flying on and off.

After switching on the gadget, some swiftlets appeared further away from us. I think it may be due to the bigger birds flying around.

The birds appear to come from a NE to E direction.

We then proceeded to go to the direction where the birds were seen and coming from. This was abt 1-2km away and we did our 3rd test.

The 3rd test was also near some abandoned paddy fields but there were some vegetable farms nearby with houses and an area with some trees. It was an open area and the time was abt. 6.10pm.

As we arrived there were already swiftlets flying overhead but not near our car.
We switched on the gadget and more birds appeared and some seem to come from a NE to E direction ie. from the hills direction.

There was some 30 or more birds and they flew in an anti-clockwise direction.

The birds were bigger and more adult size compared to Test-site 1. Some birds swooped down lower towards the car where the gadget was playing.

Will carry out more tests in more areas and do further comparison.

What else do you think I have missed out during the tests.
Rgds.

Unquote:

Those who wish to start your journey into swiftlet farming, my sincere advise is to follow this person foot steps.

He is doing the right thing and in this way those unscrupulous "Sifu" will not cheat you that easy.
You can test anytime and anywhere that you wanted to.

Every test you conduct teaches you something new.

The more you learn about them the better you will become. More focus, more knowledge and make lesser mistakes.....

Extra Two IR Lights For Clearer Pictures !!!

If you happened to use CCTV cameras in your BH and the pictures taken are too fuzzy what will be the best alternative?

I was looking around for some new gadgets in KL and saw this "Battle Star Galactica Space Ship" shape camera.

Hmm .... It surely looks very unusual and upon closer inspection I seem to realised that the camera comes with two additional IR lights at its side.

I told the shop owner to link it up and show how sharp the pictures from it.

He was very kind and proceed with the instruction.

I can see the different.  Those that are with no IR and with standard IR light were not as sharp as this new set.

I bought a set and looking forward to install in one of those BH that I am looking after.

The price is about RM350 a unit ex Kuala Lumpur..

For more information call 017 755 1318 or email you enquiries to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

The True and New Generation of External Birdcall Sounds !!!

I was looking forward to something new that might or perhaps will be the standard of all BHs in Malaysia.

All these while those so called "Sifus" or "Consultants" will advise us that we need to play only one external sound from the break of the morning sun until sunset.

So we blindly follow their "stupid" advises and keep hoping that those birds will enter our BH and will take up their residency in it.

The moment the house was put into operation mode, we will be visiting our BH nearly everyday to see the so call birds actions infront of our BH entrance hole.

On the first day those birds seem to crowd around  the external tweeters.  Some will rush in and some will rush out.  Looking at those birds movement makes us very happy and adore our "Sifu".

Well after a few days the number of birds playing at the entrance hole keep diminishing until one day we find that those birds are no longer attracted to the same sound being played over and over again.

Then we called our "Sifu" and told him the diminishing "Phenomena".  He response is simple "Don't Worry They will be coming back." or "Sorry I am not free to attend to your BH."

Frankly those birds did not come back and we starts to get very worried.  "What the hell is happening. How come no more birds flying around the entrance hole?"

Okay since our sifu is no longer giving the right solution we need to turn to Pak Harry !!!

Pak Harry, my BH have been in operation for almost 6 months but there is no birds attracted to the sound any longer.  Do you have a solution?

Well this is one of the reason why we need to find a suitable solution.  There will be lots of new BHs having a similar problem but until today we have no specific solution.  The only solution in hand now is to change to another good sound.

Yes that can last for another a few days.

Is there a better solution?  We need something that can last at least 6 to 8 month or better still one year.

I strongly believed that there are but most of us tends to always look at the negative side of any new inventions.

I have recently introduce the sound Auto Changer and setting of multiple sounds to be played at precise time of the day.

Not many wanted to even ask for more information.  They think that it is too expansive and cannot work. If you compare with the cost of your BH (say RM250,000) and the Auto Changer plus those 4 new generation sounds (about RM5,000) is about 2% of your overall cost. This is a very low investments which can brings in more nests then any other BHs in your area.

I think you should take a shot at it and I can bet with you that your BH will be far superior to your next door neighbors.

I have started to test at a few locations and with a few fine tuning I think my neighbours will feel the heat.

My latest compilation of precise time sounds are on the way.  Currently already completed 9 sets of beautiful medley that plays from 6:30 am till 8:30pm. I called them as New Generation External Sound. Each with at least 5 effective sounds arranged as such those birds will not get bored with the sounds.

The New Generation compilation is suitable to be used with the sound auto changer gadget.

The list so far is as follows: 1) Sri Sabah 2) SriSibu 3) SriPahang 4) SriMelaka 5) Sri Terubong 6) SriSeremban 7) SriGantang 8) Sri Merbok 9) SriJerantut. Each is RM950 only

All you need to do is to set your digital timer to run from 6:30 am and stop at 8:30pm you have a peaceful day ahead.

For a more effective method, my advise to you is to consider having the auto changer as one of your BH gadget.

Birdhouse Aroma: Canister Type !!!

A newly introduced aroma in canister spray can.

I never thought that one day BH aroma can come in canister and smell like a normal perfume.

All this while you need to put on a proper attire plus mask to prevent those faulty smell aroma from depositing on your body when you carry out the spraying.

With this new technology it change the whole arena.

The canister looks similar to those aroma cans that you use to freshen your house rooms, office or toilets.

If you are the innovative type you can actually insert the can into a spray timer that will spray your VIP room on an interval of say 5 minutes.

Each canister can spray about 2,800 times and you need to replace the can once empty.

Using this canister type will make aroma application much easier and more practical.

You can hang the timer with the canister in it anywhere in the house but must be about 70cm below the nesting planks or 90 cm away from the entrance hole.

To make it more effective you should try to install about three canisters inside the VIP room and one in the main hall plus one more in the roving areas.

The only setback is that it is pretty expensive, about RM 190 per canister and limited stock.

I hope to try this new and brilliant idea.  If it works why not.

Remember we cannot simply give up if there is not birds coming to stay in your BH.

If you are keen to try some please call 017 755 1318.

Three Interesting Events & Messages !!!

Among the many things that happened during the week I need to record the followings:

1) Swiftlet Farming Guidelines To Be out By Week After Next:

I was invited to have dinner with SWIFIN President.  He was in Kuala Lumpur attending an AGM of Malaysian Swiftlet Association at Sunway hotel.  According to him Dato Beh reassured all those who attended the AGM that the guideline will be tabled to the cabinet this coming week.  

2) Trans location For Sabahan.

This is something interesting received from a blog reader who resided in Tawau.  He confirmed that the Translocation operation were successfully carried out in Sabah.  He happened to visit the BH that performed the Trans location exercise.

More encouraging is that all Sabahan birdhouse owner can use the service of the Sabah Wildlife Department to get not more then 50 baby birds each per year.  You need to get yourself registered with the department and wait for your turns.

3) Reused Of Black Cloud Sound.

A BH owner in Kepala Batas, Seberang Prai, wrote to me about his recent discovery that happened at his BH.

He used the Black Cloud sound about a few months earlier but not very encouraging.  So he decided to used the Tongkat Ali and the other sounds instead.

However this weekend he switched to Black Cloud and he was surprised with the result.  Read this:

Quote:

Hi Pak Harry,

I have retested the Black Cloud this morning, the response is seems to be a lot better as compared to a few months back testing result, the birds seems to response well to BC now, just wonder why now different, anyway I have now hooked up BC to my external sound and will check out the result in a mth later, I must adjusted something right at my amplifier, can see quite many birds entered the BH and this has not happened before ! Just for sharing, thanks.

Unquote: