Garis Panduan Perternakkan Burung Walet !!!

Today received a copy of the National Guideline from one of my blog reader.

He wanted me to make my comments.

Plan to read during the weekend and highlight a few things that will be of interest to all those who owned BHs.

The guidelines looks good for a start but nothing is perfect.

Let me go through and perhaps make my comments.

I remember being invited to be on the committee some years ago (two years ago) by Jabatan Perumahan but from the new write up there have been lots of improvements.

Let us hope that the guideline will be fair to both the Farmers and the Local Authorities.

Precise Distance Between Your Fake Nests To Those Tweeters Are Crucial !!!

One major flaw in many BH that I visited is that nearly 99%, they are usually barren. Nothing to see and used to attract those wild birds to move in.

Something like you checked into a newly opened hotel with no proper bed, no towels, so soap, no bottled water, no water heater, no Astro, no pillows, no mattress cover and so on.

So how do you expect people to come and stay?

It is also like looking at those video clips showing a convoy of Arab Mujaheddin with their camels crossing a huge desert.  You can only see those barren land and lots of sand dunes.

No trees, bushes or oasis but only sand hills.

My impression is simple.  The owner seem to have no idea about what a good BH should look like and he was too dependent on the so call "Sifu" who is also lack of knowledge on Swiftlet Farming.

Prior to this he only entered those BH supposedly owned by the same "Sifu".

Maybe they should first visit some masterpieces with specific objectives that will help to increase the nests population much faster.

A proper BH, a newly constructed, must be well equip with all the gadgets to attract as many birds as you can in the shortest possible time.

To be a successful swiftlet farmer you have very little choice but to get as much knowledge as you can about everything and if possible be precised in every actions you do with your BH.

If your new BH is barren, little tweeters, no fake nests, no VIP room, no happy hours corner, no birdshit buckets, no ammonia bags, not external sound tweeters at the back of the room and so on,  you know something is not right.

Remember about my idea of splitting your operation into 2 phases?

The 1st phase is to populate your BH with 300 nests (I love this figure) within the first 2 years.

Once the total number touches 300 nests you are now on an Automatic Gear.  You now can go to the Phase 2 mode.

During the 1st  phase my best advise is to provide what ever the birds love so that they will submit to be your tenant.  Yes give them those 90* corners, lots of tweeters, lots of fake nests (as many types as you can get your hands on), good external sound, good internal sound, good tweeters, external tweeters in the nesting rooms, VIP rooms, happy hours corner, bird shit smell from the floor, wet floor, correct humidity, correct temperature, proper darkness and so forth.  Just give them everything to them.

After you got the 300 nests, you know that every year there will be at least 1800 young birds generated internally.  As such you will no longer be dependent on those stray young birds from your neighbors.

You can now undertake the necessary steps to improve your nest qualities and its pricing. You can do this by focusing your attention in creating as many 180* shaped nests.  No more 90* shape.

Yes you can remove those fake nests, install proper corner covers, remove those bird shit buckets and so forth.

One of the most interesting item which the birds loves are those fake nests.


I love to screw as many as I can.

I will have more then one types.

Some made of plastic, some with Styrofoam, some made of sponge, some papers and some aluminum plate.

In one of my Research BH, I used both the plastic and those aluminium fake nests.

Out of the 70 pieces, those that were installed about 2-3 inches away from those tweeters seem to be the preferred property. The rest were empty with no signs of tenancies.

I am not surprised.  Just have a look at some of the pictures taken today.

The true reason why they choose those closed to these tweeters are mainly easy to reach.

Remember when those young birds first enter your new BH their favorite choice will be those tweeters.

When they reach maturity they need a place to lay their eggs.

Due to their laziness fake nests become their main target.  The male birds tend to find a short cut to get the female to allow copulation.

The nearest fake nests to those tweeters where they stayed will be their first choice.

The morale of this article is that if you want to quickly populate your new BH, try to use those fake nests.  If you use them be more precise.  Place them about 3 inches away from those tweeters (internal sound).

Also bare in mind these fake nests must be removed once the birds have used them either one or the most two times.

Harvest these fake nests and transfer them to another location or another BH.

If you are still blur about the proper use of these fake nests call 017 755 1318.

Also if you wish to enter a BH will all these special frills let me know.  There will be a small visit fee to these places.

Is Your BH Doing Well?

How do you know whether your BH is doing well or not?

I was on the telephone line for almost 45 minutes with a BH owner who just wanted to buy my Black Cloud.

At first he was just asking for the price of my Black Cloud but one led to the other and finally he asked if his BH after 3 years with only 30 nests is considered successful.

Well I gulp my saliva and told him that there must be something not right with the BH.

On the average his yearly population was only 10 nests.  Can 10 be considered successful?

I am sure every individual has his own opinion.

My frank answer was that there must be something wrong.

It might be the temperature, the humidity, the darkness, the flying path, the entrance hole direction, maybe its size or 1000 more reasons.

The best I advised him to do is to get someone with good experiences plus background who can evaluate the possible reasons and remedies.

Choose someone with some kind of professional qualification.  He must be someone  a bit elderly, with at least 5 to 10 years swiftlet farming experiences but must have with a Professional back ground.

My reason for choosing a person with Professional background is because these people will be more ethical and matured. They will think for you as a professional person and will not jeopardize their integrity.

Many so called "consultants" with no professional background tend to have no code of ethic and always tend to use short cuts in everything.

More often then not they do not have a very clear ideas of those birds behaviors, their special gifts, their liking and many more.

Remember I am not trying to belittle those with no Professional back gound but this is a safer bet for you and your BH.

Also remember you have invested so much money and you need a professional person to help you out.

One more mistake is not to insist for a black and white report after they visited your BH.  You know why?  Those with no proper degree will not know how to write !!!

So if you go so low to get advise from such a person you will have trouble to improve your BH.

Remember you will only remember 20% of what he told you to do and the rest ( 80%) were forgotten the moment he said goodbye after collecting his fees.

Once you got hold of his report you need to quickly arrange to modify your BH.  Follow exactly what he have recommended and try not to put the sound on until you have completed in total.

Before embarking, please do some audit.  Count the number of nests and maybe draw a ceiling chart to be more precise.  Place a black dot on those planks where the current nests are located. 

When doing the revamp works try not to work after 4:30pm.  Those tenants of your need to come back home to roost.

The way to go after that revamp works is to let the BH be on operation for at least 3 -4 months.  During this period try not to engage any other consultant.  Monitor the progress and change those sound if required.

A good revamp works will result in a positive growth of those birds coming in to stay.

If after the 4 months nothing happened or very little advancement you can assumed that the revamp works were incorrect.

You best choice now is to get a better "Consultant" which might help you to achieve your desired results.

Never give up but try to make the right selection of the "Consultant" from the beginning.

Don't blame any one if it does not works.  The only person to be blame is ...................................
YOU.

Well don't worry if there is a way I am sure you will find the right answers.

Keep learning and improve your knowledge.

There are lots of books, blog sites, seminars and courses that you can attend.

I am sure the answer to your BH problem is not as big at the sunk Titanic.

Dead Fish Stories !!!

Today I wanted to write about dead fish.

Ow came on Harry, what have dead fish be related to bird house !!!

 

Dead fish can actually help to populate your BH.  This was something that I learned last week !!!

Some one indicated to me that it you happened to own a BH and wanted more birds to fly near your entrance hole put dead fish near to it.

I remembered hanging a dead stingray fish near the entrance hole some time back.  It started to rot  attracting  lots of those maggots which feed on it and grew and later turned into those green colored house flies.

Maybe these flies attract those swiftlet to fly closer to the area for food???

This old friend found out that during his recent trip to the neighboring countries a BH owner told him to use those dead fish.  It must be those fresh water fish or ikan darat.

The ikan darat are more slimy and generate more smell when they rot in the open air.  Put some salt in the bucket.

Maybe ikan puyu, ikan keli, ikan sepat, ikan kelah, haruan and arowana.

Hmm very expensive leh !!! Oh no we are talking about dead fish not live one.

I have not tried but I will when I can get my hands on those slimy fish at the Selayang market.

Will let you all know if it works.

Those who happened to try please share your observations or results.

Be Happy and Don't Worry !!!!

Distorted DNA !!!

Something that worries a newbie about building his BH on an agricultural land.  It seem that Thai people are also very similar to Malaysian where they do not share their knowledge about swiftlet farming.

Hmm... they must be the same DNA with the rest. What about me?  I guess my DNA was distorted !!!


Read this email and my reply to him:

21 Jul 2010
 
Dear, Mr.Harry
 
I'm your new blog fan club. Your blog is very useful especially for new ones like me. I respect you very much for your sacrifices and kindness in helping people.
 
I'm very interrested in BH business event I don't have yet enough money to invest now . I'm Thai people, 55 year old, and have a little farm(for plantation only) in rural mountain area in the south of Thailand. I noticed that there are some swiftlets flying over my farm everyday in the morning and evening. I’m sure swiflets find their food in this area.
 
I had bought the CD test sound from a thai blog and tested for two times. There were about 50 swiftlets responsed to it. After I readed your blog I think it should be better if I use your “Duress” sound test, but normally you sell it in complete set with amplifier and tweeters. However, I would like to ask for your help if I buy only your Duress CD for reduce delivery cost of amp and tweeters, is it possible? If you are kind please tell me how much it cost?
 
My farm is very near to the forest and about 60 Km far from Suratthani Province. I’m sure there is no any BH within 10-20 Km from my farm. There are many BHs in the town but no one is pleased to tell others about how to raise swiftlets. However, I read from some Thai blogs(almost of them are consultants), some of them said you should raise swiftlets near the existing BHs in the town and it’s not suitable to do it in rural area far away, but some said it’s OK. That makes me confused, so please advise me if anywhere there are enough swiftlets response the testing sound, can we raise them or not?
 
Even though I’m Thai, different race from yours, may I learn from you and respect you to be my teacher?  
Yours respectfully,
 
G. Khanit 

My Reply:

Khanit,

Sorry for the late reply.

Well you are lucky to know how to find answers to your problems.

There is no reason why you cannot be successful if your BH is far from town.

To own a BH is town areas have their own good things but having one on an agricultural land also have their good things.

Swiftlets do not nest on those trees branches.  They need a kind of house with proper enclosure that is dark and safe for the birds to build their nests.  Once they have their nest up they will lay 2 eggs and incubate until two chicks are hatched.

What happened after that.  The mother and dad need to go out and hunt for food to feed those babies every hour or lesser. 

To rush out and rush back to carry food is better to be in an angri land and not in the town areas. That mean on Agri land the food sources are nearer as compared to town areas.

Do you see why it is better to be in away from town.

However in town their are lot of people and less trees.  As such there are lesser predators like owls, snakes, musang, hornbils, monitor lizards, squirrel, gakos,  and so on.

So those birds feel safer to be in a town areas.
However if you provide the protection from those owls and predators, u are still the winner to be having a BH in the agri land?

Hope the above give you some ideas why it is better to be on an agri land?


Harry

Weather And Temperature Shield Paint !!!

Swiftlet are sensitive to high temperature.

There was a case in Selangor where a new BH owner was so excited with the number of swiftlet that entered his new BH.

The BH he constructed was perfect it shape and location.  On the first day of official opening there were at least 300 birds entered and about 200 of them stayed overnight.

The number of bird shit spots were excellent but suddenly they went missing.  He was surprised with the sudden change and later found out that his internal temperature was at 34*C.

It seem that during the hot spell his BH was not properly protected with no zinc roof and the two large walls were facing the hot sun directly.

He was very frustrated and with little choice he covered his BH with a roof and all the side walls were covered with those orchid farm plastic mat.

Using those high end data logger he certified that the room temperature were below 30*C.

Put his BH back to operation mode and the birds are now coming back.  Within two short months he manage to see more bird shits spots on the floor.  Most of the spots were increasing in size which told him that they are staying.

His main regret was loosing the first 6 months for not taking appropriate actions to minimize the BH from those heat.

Yesterday I was with a BH owner in Sabak Bernam.  On the way up he was telling me about this special paint from ICI Dulux.

I asked what is so special about this product.

"Harry, the paint can reduce the heat on the applied surface by 5*.  Just imagine if the external surface is reduced by 5* your internal surface might will be much higher."

Hmm... I told myself to check on his claim and yes ICI Dulux claimed the same.

Go to:

http://www.icidulux.co.in/weathershield.jsp
Quote:

Dulux WeatherShield

Dulux Weather Shield is a revolutionary new exterior paint, which can reduce the surface temperature of walls by up to* 5 degrees Celsius, keeping your homes cooler and more comfortable. The Solar reflectance index (SRI) of this paint is double* compared to regular exterior paints, reducing the heat build up inside the house.

• Keeps your homes up to 5 degrees cooler
• Tested by Centre of Energy Studies and Research(CESR)
• International quality pigments that resists fading
• Superior resin that resists cracking cracking and peeling

* up to 5 degrees cooler surface,applicable to select shades only,for more details please refer to the weathershield shadecard or weathershield exterior colour guide

 Surface Preparation :
Ensure surface is thoroughly clean, dry and free from all loose dirt, chalk, grease, fungi, algae and flaking paint. This can be achieved by brushing with a wire/ stiff coir brush, followed by water jetting if required. For areas severely affected by algae or fungus, application of ICI Pre-Treatment Coat is recommended. Fill up all minor cracks and defects with cement and sand mixture in the ratio 1:3. Avoid application of putty or filling compound while painting an exterior surface.


Priming :
Application of putty is not recommended. In case of freshly plastered walls, apply one self priming coat or one coat of ICI Exterior Acrylic Primer or WeatherShield Alkali Bloc after thinning with water in the ratio of 1:1 by volume. For best performance self priming or WeatherShield Alkali Bloc is recommended.

Finishing :
Apply two coats of WeatherShield for normal, sound surfaces, with 4-6 hours between coats. 3 coats may be required in case of darker colours. For parapet walls and horizontal surface, minimum 3 coats is recommended for best performance.

Thinning :
Thin 2 parts of WeatherShield with 1 part of clean water by volume.

STIR THOROUGHLY BEFORE USE

Unquote:

You need to contact your hardware shop to check for its pricing but roughly I was told of about RM220 per 5 liter tin.

It can last for 15 years.

Remember this is one of the many alternatives. Before choosing this painting alternative please look at the overall methods to reduce the high temperature.

How about putting a zinc roof with styrofoam layer to protect direct sun hitting the top deck of your BH?

Can you make the zinc roof over hang to be longer?  This will reduce the number of hours that the sun can hit the wall surface of your BH.

What about using those orchid farm plastic mat?  This might last about 3-5 years. But it does work

What about a double wall configuration from the beginning?  In between there will be a air gap of one brick filled with cool air or polyfoam?

You can also consider the use those encapsulated rook wool to cover the inner surface of the building. I have used this before and it does not cost much.

Shud You Be Worried If Those Birds Are Not Building Their Nests All Over The House ???

One big question being posted by many BH owners to me during my visit is about nesting places in their BHs.

"Pak Harry how come those birds are building their nests inside the room and nothing outside here?"

I normally assured the owner that let them be where they are because once the preferred areas or rooms are filled the colony will eventually extend their nesting areas that are closed to the it.  Just make sure that those areas are dark.

Your main objective should be how to get 300 nests in your BH and not where the nest should be build.

Once you hit the 300 nests figure your BH will on an "Automatic Gear" and you will no longer be dependent to your neighbor's BHs to get those young birds.

Your BH will now generate at least 300 nests X 2 babies X 3 breeding cycle per year = 1800 (300%) new baby birds a year. If 50% of these 300% babies stays back with their parent you are already on the right track.

If they prefer to stay at one corner of the nesting room, let them be.  You need to understand why they choose that particular corner of the house.

Maybe the empty areas are too bright or dry or too closed to the roving area and the entrance hole.

Usually they will prefer to start their nests further away from the entrance hole and if you create a room, VIP room example, they will choose that areas/rooms.

Once these areas/rooms are filled, they have little choices but to start building their nests outside or closed proximity.

Soon the nesting areas will moved towards those areas once emptied since they have limited choices.

The best thing that you should think or planned is get the population up to at least 300 nests and let the birds decide where they wanted to stay.

Unless you can master the technique in using internal sounds to lure them to which ever part of your BH.

You can if you learn about their weaknesses.

Keep learning and I am sure that you will get to the bottom of this weir birds if you keep on learning about them.

Best of luck to all those who read my blog.

The Two New BHs In Sabak Bernam Were Doing Alright !!!

Today I make a trip to Sabak Bernam with the owner of two BHs I converted about three months ago.

The owner was on the way to Singapore but wanted to visit his Mom in Sabak.  I was asked to accompanied him to Sabak so that we can inspect the progress of the two BHs.

After three months we found out that both units were doing pretty well but the one with the top entry was better as compare to the side entry.

The two showed no signs of bird shit spots on the floor three months ago.

After reducing the high temperature with heat shield paint plus installation of exhaust fan in each unit, the temperature must have came down.

What I was not happy about was the floors was too dry.

Most of the bird shit spots were inside the VIP rooms, as expected.

Upgrade the external sounds and move some wires around.

Overall I am pleased with the results.

What the BH needed badly now is a set of new humidifiers that can increase the room humidity and reducing the room temperature.

The owner was pleased with the outcome and after finishing our visit plus his meeting with his Mom, I drove him back to KL.

Before leaving did a last minute check on the rooftop birds circling.  Just perfect.  Lots of bird playing around the entrance hole.

I feel very relieved but need some follow up in improving the number of bird shits spots on the floor.

Did My Medical Check Up After A Long Journey !!!

Yesterday July 22nd was my 58th birthday. Happy Birthday to Me.

Unfortunately I was on the road, started at 6:30am from KL to Kuala Pilah, N9 then to Merlimau, Melaka and by 5 pm I was in Johor Bahru. I came back and reached KL at 11:45pm.

After meeting a good friend who owned a number of BH in Kota Tinggi area, I drove home to get my self available for my medical check up the next morning.

That was how I spend my Birthday, no candle lights dinner with wife or kids but was away meeting a few people who wanted some help with their swiftlet farming projects.

Today I have decided to take a good rest and hopefully my tired and sore body will be back to normal.

What I know for sure was that I am very fortunate to be what I am.

I have spend some 7 years in Swiftlet Farming and 3 years now on full time basis.

Wrote a nice swiftlet farming blog with extra ordinary information about that precious bird and have given  a number of seminars attended by almost 300 people.

Make so many friends all of whom seem to enjoy with what I am doing.

So far I wrote about 1700 articles and recognized by many in Malaysia, Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia and Indonesia.

My blog hit now reached 450,000 mark and increasing every minute.

Have done some research about swiftlet's behaviors and wrote a lots of interesting ideas on how to make those wild birds to stay once they entered a BH.

There are still a lot more things to be done and I hope one day we will discover the perfect method to populate our BH.

Hope I will continue writing and conducting those Seminars.

It will be nice that those ideas that I have posted in my blog will become a special design in all successful BHs in the region.

For this year I plan to carry out some new ideas:

1) Wanted to write a book like "Swiftlet Farming For Dummies"


2) Wanted to get all the good articles in my blog into a manual about 300 - 400 pages.


3) Wanted to start a website called "harryswiftletfarming.com.my".  This website will be more organized and full of information and services that will help newbies.


4) For the next 12 months, I would like to make at least 12 new discoveries.  One per month.


5) Have two new BH on a JV basis with my blog readers.


6) Organize one seminar per two months in Peninsular Malaysia.


7) Need to organize one seminar in Sarawak & Sabah once every three month.

8) Need to discover at least two new sounds (external or internal) that will help those who have difficulties in populating their BH.


9) Need to discover the most effective aroma for new and old BHs.


10) Will keep writing as long as I discover new things.

11) Will create a kind of video clips on some of the common "Q&A".

Best of luck to me and to all my blog readers if you have something for me to achieve my goals I will be very happy for all the contribution given.

You can help by perhaps extending your secret formula on the aroma or you latest gadget discovered or your new sound you have discovered and so on.

I would be also happy if I am invited to visit those BHs that are doing well.  Maybe will make a story of how the owner started, his hardship and how he managed to be successful.

So if you are kind enough to help please email your details to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Raw Birdnests Water Shock Treatment !!!

When someone ask my frank opinions about the use of Aroma in their BH, I tend to be a bit different from the rest.

I strongly believed that if you are pretty new in this area before you opt for any man made aroma it is better to consider the use of natural aromas.

Man made aromas can be a disaster if you are not careful when using them or you applied them to the wrong place or you mix them wrongly and so on.

Just imagine you apply an ammonia based aromas onto your nesting planks?

I remember sometime back when a new BH owner who happened to apply some man made aroma in his house and suddenly all his tenants ran away.

If you are a new comer to the swiftlet industry, I strongly recommend that try to master on the use of natural aroma first.  Once you have mastered the natural things then move up the ladder to making those advance aroma prescribed by those who have been successful.

What is natural aroma?

If you close your eyes and imagine that you are a newly hatched swiftlet in a very successful BH, what do you think the surrounding air are filled up with?

Most probably those poof from you mom, dad, neighbors and some friend who happened to stay for the night.

Those shits on the BH floors will be stronger if the floors are wet.

What else do you think will be added to the air?

How about some rotten eggs smell?  Well sometime due to some reasons the eggs fell down to the floor and it starts to rot.

What above the smell of some dead birds on the floor?  This can be something rotten but it is also add some additional flavors in the air.

What happened if a few of the nests fell down and got soaked with the water?  The saliva tends to be very smelly if soaked in water.

We can also observed that during mating period there will be lots of feathers on the floor.  What if they are also soaked and wet?

All in all I am of the opinion that the natural aroma is a must in any new BH.

One thing that I can assured you is that the use of natural aroma cannot go wrong.  They happened naturally and they are the products of those birds.

Get as much as you can and arranged them properly inside the VIP room.  If you wish to get some to be wet you should try to spread some around the humidifiers. Before doing that maybe place a layer of plastic to allow you to remove them once they are no longer smelly.

I have prepared a few gallons of raw nest water, fermented for a few weeks, to be applied on the floor, walls and ceiling of my Rawang BH.

The idea here is to see if this shock treatment will be attractive enough to those wild birds. 

Once completed the floor will be laid with as many bird shits in the house.

I have ordered about 20 bags of bird shits to be use as the perfect aroma.

Those who are pretty new to swiftlet farming, try not to indulge with any foreign materials yet.  Try the natural aroma first and slowly try to move to the next level once you learn more about the word AROMA.

Remember I am not against using those man made aroma.  What I am trying to prescribe is try the natural aroma first and then slowly learn more about those man made aromas.

You must know how to apply them, where to apply, how to mix, when you should apply and so on.

As for the natural aroma, you just lay them on the floor.  Nothing to be worried about and your BH is in the safe mode all the time.

An Interesting Lesson From A Retired Veterinary Officer !!!

Yesterday I was in Kuantan inspecting a 5 months old BH with no traces of any bird shit spots on the floor.

The owner was very concerned with the progress and asked me to take a good look on what was wrong with his new BH.

Entered the BH at about noon and after about 45 minutes inside I listed the possible upgrades that he should carried out.

This particular BH was in an industrial area and there were at least 20 BHs all around the areas.

I told him that since his BH was surrounded with other BHs, some were doing very well, he should focus his attention on how to capture those young birds generated, quarterly,  from his neighbors BHs.

The biggest error was the lack of knowledge on swiftlet of the contractor whom he entrusted with the construction.

Externally there was no hexagonal tweeter to pull those young birds over.

Internally the floor was very clean spotless with no bird shit on the floor.

The VIP room concept was no where to be seen.

The room darkness was not to the required range.

Very little tweeters in the nesting areas.

The nesting planks were bare.  No extra gadgets to lure those birds to come and stay.

And there were a bunch of other minor issues which I penned down for him to follow.

While waiting for 5:00pm he took me to the Royal Golf Club for tea.  With us there was an old friend of his named Bala.

Bala shared some interesting stories about his experiences with animals.  I came to know that he retired a few years back after serving the Veterinary Department as its Head in Kuantan.

"Harry I used to be in charged of Pig Breeding.  Female pigs usually have 10 tits.  That mean they can give birth to as many as 10 young suckling per breeding season.  So what happened if they suddenly give birth to 12?  Usually the youngest 2 will die of starvation. The only way to keep them alive is to get a foster parent.  But if you take the 2 and put them with the foster mum they will be killed immediately. So do you know how to make the foster mother accept the 2?  Bath them with the foster mother urine.  Immediately after being bath and dried, the 2 will be accepted by the foster mother."

I think this is something that we can learn about animals behavior.

One of our big mistakes in preparing our new BH is that we tend to make it cleaned, so cleaned that you can sleep on the floor without thinking twice.

BH floors must be tuned to be as a BH.  It must not be too clean and dry.

There must be some fresh bird shits, maybe in a few 10 - 15 bags, plus ammonia bicarbonates (2 bags minimum) and make sure the floor are wet.  Remember it must be wet and not flooding wet.

In this way your BH will be similar to those cave environment or perhaps like a successful BH in your vicinity.

Think about this cross fostering of those 2 extra pigs and use your common sense to bring more of those wild swiftlet into your new BH.

At 5:00 pm we came back for sound selection tests.

I pulled out nearly 20 of my best sounds and surprise, surprise and more surprises.

Among the 20 external sounds only three gave some kind of effectiveness.  The three were not the usual sounds but those that were not effective at all in other areas.

This tells you that there is no such thing as an internationally accepted sound.  Most sound can be very effective in one location  but not at other locations. Some can be effective in a BH in the same location but not at another BH nearby. Similar to aromas I guess !!!

This particular place, from my opinion, was due too many BHs around and each BH have their own external sounds.  Who knows some might have purchase some sound from Pak Harry. They must have got used to some of those very effective sounds from my collection.

So get started with you sound library and collect as many bird sounds as possible.

Met With A Sound Engineer !!!

I was busy with a BH renovation and revamp works in Rawang yesterday.

Received so many calls and visitors too. 

Tried to be nice to all but sometime you need to be patience with all those who call or dropped by. 

So far 20 visitors came and I think I need to make them pay for disturbing my working hours???

Any way the best were these two events:

1) Phone Call from Teluk Intan 4 stories BH, 5 years with 6 nests.

"Hai Pak Harry, ini Mr H.
I just came back from Teluk Intan and I am so happy that after your professional revamp works, there are many new bird shit spots in both the front and the back VIP rooms. Saya bayak happy sekarang and thank you for your help.  Now I am more confident with the BH."

He sound so happy and I am glad that his shattered dream is back on track.

It is nice to know that those that we tried to help managed to get their life back.

The only thing that was disturbing him was the sound at one of the four entrances seem to stop and go. 

Well I suggested to him that I will be available this Sunday to take a trip to correct the error.

2) Visit by a Sound Engineer !!!

"Pak Harry, my BH is in Kota Bahru and after reading your blog and spoken to you I managed to turn around the house and you know what I am a rusty sound engineer but I have come out with a new way of pulling those birds from their normal flight path to my BH.  I used a bird sound that have a wave like features where it sound loud in the beginning but it volume slowed down within a few minutes.  The sound will repeat itself and in this way I can pull the swiftlet towards my BH."

Wow, a very interesting sound arrangement which never come to my mind.

"Beside the above, I am also designing a new technique that allows a single source sound being push to different directions using a diamond shape material."

Another wow from me.  I am impressed with his new inventions but I told him that it will be very nice if one day he will mass produce those invention and allow me both to try and sell them.

He promised to me that he will get a sample for me to test and this will be something new that will help to improve our BH management.

Those who would like to consider trying the two ideas please email me your name and address. Use this email address: harryswiftlet@yahoo.com.  Use this as your heading     Re: Interested in Trying the New Sound Inventions From KB.

A Malaysian Made It To The British Open 2010!!!

Danny Chia scored the first for Malaysian to compete in the British Open.

He not only made it but also went to the final rounds.

To all Golfers in Malaysia, this rare achievement is a very proud moment.

For more read this article:
Found at: http://www.thesportscampus.com/201007186282/golf-news/danny-chia-caps-memorable-british-open-with-final-round-70
Malaysia's Danny Chia signed off from the British Open with a solid two-under-par 70 in the final round on Sunday and hoped it would create the spark for a second career victory. The 37-year-old, who made history by becoming the first Malaysian to make the cut at St Andrews, shot four birdies against two bogeys at the Old Course in relatively calm conditions.

His four-day total of two-over-par 290 put him ahead of the likes of Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter of England, European captain Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and former Masters champion Zach Johnson.

As with the third round, Chia ended his round in style, producing a superb par at the challenging 17th Road Hole before driving the green on 18 for an easy two-putt birdie for his second sub-par round of the week.

Chia said: "It was a mixture of everything today. I left a few short putts out there. I hit the ball decent and conditions were much easier, it was probably the easiest of four rounds. This week, I controlled my emotions really well. I didn't get too upset with myself after making a bad decision and I think I took a lot from out of this week. It's a huge confidence booster for me."

He will head home on Monday and subsequently refocus his energy on the Asian Tour, with the Brunei Open on his radar later this month. Chia is desperate to secure a long overdue second title following his lone success at the 2002 Taiwan Open.

"From the start of the year, I've been striking the ball quite well and I've been looking forward to every event. This will boost my confidence. To play on the world stage and compete with world class players and in tough conditions, I didn't find myself any different from them," said Chia, who is expected to win approximately £11,000, half of which will count towards the Asian Tour's Order of Merit.

"It also shows that I am learning to play better in links courses. My preparation was good for the Open and the shots that I practiced back home, I managed to pull them off over here. It was satisfying."

For the first time this week, Chia hit the fairway at the 495-yard 17th hole, which has claimed many victims this week. He pulled his approach and missed the green but produced yet another wonderful recovery which nearly went in for birdie, much to the delight of the galleries.

"I couldn't make up my mind on how to hit the second shot. I was trying to fly it onto the flat area of the green and run up the ball but my caddie said it wouldn't stop. It surprised me and I then chose a different shot which I couldn't visualise in my head and hit a bad one. I got lucky as it missed the bunker, and then I hit a very good chip which nearly went in," said Chia.

He will compete in the Brunei Open later this month and plans to use his British Open success as a launch pad to better things. "However, I have to make sure I don't force myself to perform. I think in the past, I have done that and put the weight of expectations on my shoulders. I need to not push too hard and simply let things happen.

"Winning my second Asian Tour title is always on my mind. I always ask myself that. But this week has been a confidence booster for sure. Sometimes, you need luck to win. You just can't push it too hard," said Chia.

Unwind Those Cables From The Inside !!!

If you happened to carry out your wiring of tweeters in your BH please be careful with those cable rolls.

The trouble with these two core cables, they tend to jumble up and cause unnecessary waste of time to untie those knots.

I got into this trouble many times and I realized that it was my stupid mistakes of not using my head.

My advise is to use the wire end in the middle of the cable roll. The shape of the roll will remain in tack until you finish using all of them.

Avoid using the outer end. Using the outer end of the wire will cause the whole roll to muddle up and I am sure you will be spending a few long minutes to unwind them. You feel frustrated and feel so stupid.

See this URL just to be sure of what I am trying to tell you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a51RT0NkJMM

A New Insulator Materials: Encapsulated Rockwool !!!

One latest discovery is a new insulation material that is made of rock wool encapsulated inside a aluminium sheet.

I was introduced to this product by a blog reader from Kemaman.

I quickly visited the manufacturing plant and order some for a BH with temperature problems.

The encapsulated wool measures at 2.5 meters X 0.575 meters X 50 mm (8.2 feet X 1.9 feet X 2 inches).

It was nicely packed inside a white plastic cover.

Each roll is about 39 ringgit ex Kuala Lumpur.

All you need to do is to identify where the heat is coming from and place this insulator material on it.  Suitable for those walls facing the hot sun or above your false ceiling.

You can reduce the house temperature by about 2-5 degrees Centigrade if properly used according to their sales brochure.

Remember you must identify where those heat are coming from and once you have identified you insulate them one by one.

Tackle the top floor first then attack the lower floors.  The biggest culprit will be the ceiling, the second will be the walls facing the evening sun and the next will be those walls facing the east.  Those that faces the North and South will be with the least problem.

Remember your BH temperature should be within the range of 26 - 30 *C.  If they exceed 30*C, especially when it goes up to 33* to 35*C your new tenants will vacate your BH if they have not build their nests yet.

To those older tenants with nests, you can be rest assured that those young birds will not stay.

You will have a kind of stagnant nest population.

This new materials are simple to you and you can DIY but make sure you have a helper.

If you need any help to procure the materials let me know.

Call this number 017 755 1318 or email your request to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Use Slanting Roof Technique To Guide Those Birds !!!

You need to treat them like a young child  going to school early in the morning.

I remembered very well when I took charge of sending my two sons to catch their bus to school. You see the our house was not on the bus route to Subang Jaya. So I need to send him to Bangsar every morning until I got tired of doing so.

The most horrible was not to miss the bus but to toughest was to get them to take their morning bath, dressing up and have their breakfast.

The youngest lad was the most difficult.  The moment he finished his hot bath and you are getting the second one to be ready he will be back on bed, sleeping. You need to wake him up again and he will try to find the best excuse to not going to school.

"Daddy today is the Agung birthday and is a holiday, no school daddy."

To him everyday is an Agung birthday or a National Day or Chinese New Year and will find any available excuses not to go to school.

Those swiftlet are very much similar to your young boys or girls.  You need to be gentle and encourage them to enter the your BH and gives them no excuse of not entering the right windows leading to the nesting rooms.

In my newly revamped BH in Rawang, I have decided to erect a slanting false ceiling from the second entrance hole to the nesting room entrance hole.

It will look something like this sketch:

The whole idea is not to give those swiftlet any excuse not to fly down into the nesting room.

The moment they enter the main entrance they will fly down towards the entrance hole leading into the nesting rooms.

After completing the roof I did a number of tests.  Yes, they seem to get my message.

Once they entered the tunnel they will fly downwards and enter the opening leading straight into the nesting room.


For a much clearer pictures have a good look at the following pictures:

National Guidelines Given A Nod !!!

The Malaysian Goverment finally approved the National Swiftlet Farming Guidelines:

Read the following news from The Malay Mail found at:

http://www.mmail.com.my/content/42809-govt-announces-new-guidelines-swiftlet-farmers 

Govt announces new guidelines for Swiftlet Farmers
 
KEVIN ONG
Monday, July 12th, 2010 14:40:00

KUALA LUMPUR: After much debacle, swiftlet farming finally has a standardised set of formal guidelines along with a core plan to oversee its development which is expected to produce RM5 billion in revenue by 2015 for the country.

Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar, said swiftlet farming shall be industrialised as it has a high market value and is profitable.

"The Cabinet has been briefed on the new standards and procedures and has dutifully approved it," Noh said in a Press conference held at the Farmers Organisation Authority headquarters in Damansara this morning.

He said in order to achieve good results, the core plan for the swiftlet farming industry will highlight several important aspects such as research and development, widening the market and proper funding to encourage those who are less fortunate in the industry.

"Besides that, the core plan will also concentrate on disease-free swiftlet products as strict guidelines will be imposed on swiftlet farming premises.

"The Department of Veterinarian Services (DVS) has been appointed by the government to spearhead the swiftlet industry. It has developed a registration system for swiftlet farmers on their website www.burungwalit.com.my" he said.

Noh said this new website is fully operational and it is standardised and eases the registration process for applicants.

"After the application is sent, officials from the DVS, the Department of Environment and other relevant government bodies will inspect the proposed farming premises."

The cabinet has also proposed a 'one-stop agency' involving relevant government bodies in all states to further help ease swiftlet farming applications.

Interested applicants are advised to register their premises before the application window closes by end of this year.

The DVS will provide each swiftlet farm with a Radio Frequency Indentification (RFID) to assist in identifying the location of the farms which are required to be far from residential areas.

Noh added that part of the core plan is to create productive workforce in the swiftlet farming industry.

"Since most of the swiftlet products we export are raw and unprocessed, standard procedures in the processing line can not only help us make the best of our resources but also provide job opportunities."

With a market price of RM7,000 per kilogramme, swiftlet farming captured the attention of many businessmen in Malaysia.

Illegal swiftlet farming carried out through the aid of abandoned buildings and structures in residential and commercial areas has caused a government crackdown.

In April this year, the state government of Sabah has imposed a ban on swiftlet farming. Since then, major cities of Ipoh and Johor Baru have followed.

Swiftlet farmers believe tests and studies on the birds have disputed allegations that the birds were disease carriers.

Sawn Timbers And Their Smell !!!!

This two weeks I have been running up and down to Rawang to finish up the revamping works on a BH.

During one of the morning, I received a call from my worker who stays somewhere near Rawang.

"Pak Harry, I got a big problem. There are so many birds inside the house and what should I do?  There are at least 50 to 100 birds inside and I would not like to disturb them."

My answer to him was to shut the sound and open all the light so that he can continue with his job. Time is running out and we cannot effort any delay.

I rushed to the work site and manage to catch a glipse of at least 10 more inside the house refusing the leave.

I took my worker for a cup of coffee and asked him what he thinks the possible causes of so many birds inside the BH while under renovation.

"Pak, I think it was the smell of those wood that I cut for the partitioning works in the house. Yesterday I cut a lot of  those sawn timbers."

While listening to his answer my mind keep flashing exactly the same thing that another friend was telling me.

It seem that during the time when you start installing those nesting planks there will be lots of birds either on the rooftop or at the entrance hole and if you are lucky they will fly inside the house.

This strange behavior might be something that we can use to lure those birds into the BH.

What if we cut those left overs wood or nesting planks and stack them in a bin.  If you can place a small fan at the bottom of the stack.  Use a digital timer to activate the fan perhaps from 9.00am till 11.00am and 4:00 pm till 7:00 pm.

I am sure if my theory is right there will be lots of birds coming into your BH.

And She Didn't Get That Part Wet,Yet !!!

She went to bath and she got her nickel wet,
She went to bath and she got her nickel wet,
She went to bath and she got her nickel wet,
But she didn't get that part wet, yet !!!

The above was part of my 2nd college (UM) song that I used to humm when writing this blog.

Well what is so special about " She didn't get that part wet, yet!!"

I was trying to compile all those BHs which I entered with lots of water on the floor, not until flooding but  wet and slippery.

When I first visited a BH somewhere in China Town Kuala Trengganu, about 3 years ago, I need to lift my pants up.  If not they will be soaked by those bird shit laced water.

Recently in Kuala Lipis I saw the same thing where the owner was happy with having his BH floor pretty wet.

Another unit was in Sungai Patani, Kedah.  I visited three weeks ago.  All the floors were wet.

Then at Raub, Sungai Ruan, exactly the same.  The BH floors were also wet.

So what?  You might asked.

Well one very strange observation was that all these three BHs were with lots of tenants.  The first was with about 600 nests, the second was about 200nests, the thirds was with about 250 nests and the fourth was with 350 nests.

My close observations on the nesting planks I can see that those nests were not only big but crystal white.  All the four gives the same results.

Those wet floors must have minimize those dust from flying into the air.  Yes those nasty dust are stuck on the floor.  The lesser the amount of dust in your BH the cleaner the nests will be.

Recently I brought the wet issue with another BH owner in Setiawan.

He told me another very interesting story.

"Harry, one day one of my BH was flooded.  It was due to one of those water pipe to the humidifier got detached.  You know what, when I entered the BH it was with so many birds which I never have before.  I took little notice and have no idea that they were in due to those water on the floor.  The next visit after the floor dried up, the was no one at home."

There must be some relationship between water on the floor and those swiftlet numbers on your nesting planks or flying around you.

I am of the opinion that wet floor is something that those birds loves. It could be those high humidity it created or the aroma from those bird shits soaked in the water. What ever it is, I can safely says that if you want to bring more birds into your BH get those floors wet (not flooding please).

Before doing that make sure there are no cracks or water proof the floors first. If it leaks those water will seep to the lower floor and will damage the nesting planks below.

If it leaks you will have a disaster down there.  The nesting planks will be soaked and those mushroom (fungus) will start to grow on them.  Remember those birds hates fungus spores.

Be wise and make sure you are safe before using this special idea.

Best of luck to all those who happened to read this special tip or secret.

My plan is to conduct a small research at Rawang Country Home BH.  I will get one of the floor wet why the other will be normal.

Let see which floor do they prefer.

If You Wish To Kill Those Spiders Try Fumakilla H2O Spray !!!

If you wanted to kill those spiders inside your BH try to use Fumakilla H2O spray.

This was something which was discovered by one of my blog reader.

"Pak Harry, I wanted to share something strange that happened to my BH."

This was the first part of my telephone conversation with a new blog reader from Perak.

"During one of my BH visit I used those water based aerosol insects spray, to be exact Fumakilla H2O, to kill those spiders.  I was surprised that after the spraying works I saw many birds entered my BH. It was never like that before and it happened just after the spraying operation."

"What is your opinion?"

Wah liow weh, I have never come across about this new aroma from Fumakilla Texchem.

This is something strange and I do not know what to advise. I am speechless !!!

From my point of view if the water based aerosol is per his explanation, we can now have a new set of aroma which we can easily purchase from Tesco or Giant.

No need to buy any of those high priced canisters spray or portion or pheromone.

However I am of the opinion that if you wish to try, be careful and do not go overboard.

Try with a small volume and see if this new finding is effective as per claimed.

The person who exposed this new finding has a title : J.P. (Justice of Peace).  I don't think he would like to share something that is not true.

So if you happened to be visiting a supermarket please get a can and try at your BH.

We need something that can cut out monthly maintenance cost of our BH.  This might be the right answer.

If it does not work don't feel bad about it.  At least you are brave enough to try something new.  Just imagine if it works???

Kelulut Breeding Might Be Good For Swiftlet Food Supplement !!!

Something that caught my eyes when I was visiting the Sagantang Garam containerised BH.

There was this flock of kelulut nesting at the tip of a bamboo pole.

The size of the bees is just nice for the swiftlet mouth.

Just click on this URL link to enjoy the beauty of nature:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7xH9xikvik

Something In Kuala Lipis BH That I Wanted To Write About !!!

During my Pahang rendezvous I was invited to have a look at a BH owned by Mr Y.

Mr Y is a young man who operate a sundry shop items whare housing.  He love swiftlet farming.  Currently owned two BHs one in Kuala Lipis and the other in Jerantut.

He is a self taught person.  After a nasty experience with a wrong "Sifu" he decided to learn himself and managed his two BH on a DIY basis.

What I can see in him is the urge to learn with nothing to be shy about attitude.  He was very pissed with his "Sifu" and decided to manage the 2 BH himself after a disastrous result under the so call consultant.

He served the net and stumbled into a few blogs and started his journey to learn.  The strong point about him was to be nice with those blog readers and persuade them to answer all the relevant points which will help him to revamp the two BHs on his own.

I remembered talking to him nearly everyday at one point.

What ever that he learned he applied them. From there he will keep the momentum to improve his BHs nests population.

I can confess to all that he bought nearly all my good sound and he is a good bargain hunter.

 Everytime he purchase those sound he will remember to squeeze for a free offer or a good discounts.

I was allowed to enter his BH for a few short minutes and I was impressed with the number of birds inside the house.

He indicated that the high temperature inside the nesting room was his biggest set back.  To combat the high temperature he push lots of those mist, using a couple of those chicken coop humidifiers, in the house.  When I entered the house was so misty and wet.

To cool the water used by the chicken coop humidifier he wanted to use those cooling plate recycled from those broken fridge.  I told him to make one for me.

What I found interesting about his BH were:

1) The number of tweeters at the entrance hole was plenty. His reason being he cannot effort to loose the sound.  If one failed there will be another 14.  Yes he installed more then 15 pieces of tweeters like a train coaches.
2) The number of tweeters were reasonable and these tweeters were very effective.  Those birds seem to love building their nest all around those tweeters.  Some on the top, some at the bottom and at their sites.

3) He tried a few types of corner covers one of which was the aluminium plate.  What he did was to combine the installation with wood corner covers.  Hmm the wood will fill the gap.
4) He installed a few fake nests and all were occupied.
5) His main problem was the fungus on the plank.  His solution was to either to replace the whole plant or place a layer of alumminium plate with grooves.  It seem that it works well in Jerantut.
6) The floors were wet all the time and that might be a very good reason why all his nests were crystal white.  The wetness helps in reducing those dust from air born.

Best of luck to him and thank you for the nice lunch at House of Jelawat Restaurant.