Interesting Observations That Might Teach Us Something !!!

I drove up to Ipoh then to Penang and the next morning was in Sungai Patani, Kedah during the weekend.

My first stop was in Ipoh, Perak.  Mr Lau, a newbie and my blog reader, wanted my opinion about his BH beside Tesco at Station 18, Ipoh.

I met him at Tesco and we walk to his newly completed BH.

My first impression was similar to those BHs that failed or will fail to bring those birds inside.

Not hexagonal tweeters, not enough external tweeters, not properly installed internal tweeters, the nesting planks looks like cultivating lots of fungus, no VIP room, no wet floor, no proper external sound at the back of the room.

After the short visit, I penned down my opinions with lots of sketches.  Went through with him and he was very pleased with my report.

"Pak Harry, you are the only kind in this world.  You know so much and you are so willing to share with me.  I am very glad to have called you."

"Mr Lau, I am just a normal person with a good heart.  I was born with that gift and I would like to do whatever I could to help the swiftlet industry.  You are lucky to have found my blog.  Please try to implement my recommendations your self but if you have any queries just call me."

Finished with the first task, I rush to my second BH in Paya Terubong.  I left the BH for almost three weeks and I feel something is not right with the BH.  I have a bad feeling that the wet floor is dried and the owner shut off the water pipe.

The moment I entered it was exactly like what I predicted.  There was a leak in the pipe and the owner tried to stop the leak but unsuccessful.  His best option was to shut the main pipe and wait for Pak Harry.

I managed to get my technician to tighten up those fitting and they were okay.  The wet floor was then filled with water.

Before proceeding to Sungai Patani (SP), I stayed back to view the number of birds flying above the roof top and counted the number that entered the BH.

My horror was true.  The number of birds flying around the place was less then 200.  Only 13 , up to 8:00pm, entered the BH under my care.  Quickly let the owner be informed about the difficulties in getting more birds into his BH.

In SP I was requested to perform the FH.  The owner wanted me to proof to him that FH works.

I convinced him long ago and he keep pushing me to carry out the job.

Prior to starting the job I make some interesting observations:

1) Those birds seem to be in love with the chandeliers.  They build their nest above the chandelier where those nesting plank crossings were. This behavior have something to do with the sound.  The affected chandelier plays external sound and made up of eight tweeters tied in a circle. The external sound loudness must make them feel comfortable to be near to.

2) I help my technician with the current number of nests count.  A very strange observation that I think happened in at least three BHs I visited were the way those birds chooses the place to build their nests.  They seems to prefer to choose those nesting plank crossing at the staircase where it is higher and difficult to pluck the nests.  There must be a special reason and I can only says that the high point will be better for those chick to take their first flight.  However I strongly believed this intelligent creature knows that it will much tougher for human to harvest them.

I will try to write another article on how we can use the above two observations to improve our BH.  Next article, I promise.

After the nests count I set down with the BH owner and planned out the FH activities.

Prior to removing those nests, I installed a number of  gadgets that I know will improve the nests count within the next 3 to 4 months after the FH.

First was to complete the wet floor with those plastic mat, sand, two bags of fresh bird shit and lots of water.

The second interesting gadget deployed were those waste wood corners.  Installed about 60 pieces inside and around the VIP room.

The third magnetic gadget were two kite tweeters at the entrance door of the VIP room and inside the room.

After the FH operation I applied those special aromas to make the birds feel less stress.

I am very sure that the number will increase by at least 20% but I predicted 30%.

The owner was very pleased with my hard work.  With dirty shirt, tired leg, hand and smell like shit I came back straight to KL.

I felt very satisfied and good about this latest opportunity to test my theory that FH will benefit BH owners.  The moment you carry out the operation the nest number will multiply quickly. Try to do them once a year but prior to that make sure you are ready with those items to pull them back into your BH.

It is better to get some one who knows how to carry out the job.  There will be a lot of problems if you are not very familiar with the operation.

If you wish to try let me know and will be happy to apply all those techniques to improve your nests population.  Yes 3-4 months you will get 20-30% increase.

Call me at 017 755 1318 now......