There's An Owl In My Bukit Pelanduk BH !!!

Not a very good day when received a called about having an owl in the monkey house.

"Pak Harry, there is an owl inside our BH at Bukit Pelanduk.  Look at our CCTV camera channel 8."

That was how my evening goes.

I was very disappointed and told myself to get those owl protection system install as soon as I am back to Bukit Pelanduk.

The discovery was made just after the installation of CCTV camera system this evening.

The moment the CCTV was switched on, the owl was already inside the monkey house on the walkway.

I think this CCTV system is worth every penny.

The owl stayed until 10:00pm.

I am afraid she left her shit on the latch.

Hopefully she will not visit the BH again tomorrow.

A New Way To Get Those Sounds To Continue Being Effective & Last Longer !!!

Initially I was sceptical about a simple advise from an old friend who found a very simple way to attract those wild birds into your BH all day long.

Today after following his advise I found that what he was trying to coach me really works.

"Pak Harry I found this new method very interesting and simple.  All you need to do is to use two amplifiers for your external sound tweeters.  One you run in the morning from 7:30am till 1:30pm and the second you run it from 1:30pm until 8:30pm."

You now need a set of sounds to be used for the morning and another separate set for the evening.

Before getting those sounds together you need to find the right sounds that you know will be attractive to those birds in your area.

Get about 4-5 of those sounds.

Once you have them with you, you need to process them using any kind of sound editor software.

1) Make sure they are amplified to the same range.  U cannot have one at very low volume while the rest are at higher volume.  Try to learn using the editor software and get the right range.  Try to amplify to 150%.

2) Once that is done you need to copy and paste so that they are at least 60 minutes in length i.e each sound to be able to run to 60 minutes each.

3) Now you convert them to MP3.  If you cannot get from those free sound editor, find one using you google search engine.  Use WAV to MP3 converter free.  Download them and transform all those sounds that you have converted earlier to MP3 so that your amplifier will be able to read them.

4) Now you need to arrange these sounds in a sequence of preferences.

5) Get the four sounds in a piece of paper and try to arrange them to be played at a specific time of the day.
For Example:

Morning Set:
7:30am : SuperGold
8:30am: SuperScrew
9:30am: Super screw (copy)
10:30am: SuperIntan
11:30am: Super Intan.
12:30noon: Supergold.

Evening set:
1:30pm: SuperGoldPot
2:30pm SuperGoldPot (Copy)
3:30pm: SuperIntan
4:30pm: SuperGold
5:30pm: SuperGold (Copy)
6:30pm: Superscrew
7:30pm: Superscrew (Copy)

6) To ensure they will no be rearranged by your computer you now rename each of them using number at the front to instruct the computer to follow the folder in sequences that you wanted as follows:


Morning Set:
7:30am : 01SuperGold
8:30am: 02SuperScrew
9:30am: 03Super screw (copy)
10:30am: 04SuperIntan
11:30am: 05Super Intan.
12:30noon: 06Supergold.

Evening set:
1:30pm: 01SuperGoldPot
2:30pm 02SuperGoldPot (Copy)
3:30pm: 03SuperIntan
4:30pm: 04SuperGold
5:30pm: 05SuperGold (Copy)
6:30pm: 06Superscrew
7:30pm: 07Superscrew (Copy)


8) Now you need to set the timing on your autochanger to start the 1st amplifier from 7:30am till 1:30pm, while the second amplifier to run from 1:30pm till 8:30pm.

9) Insert the first  thumb drive to the morning scheduled amplifier and the second thumb drive to evening running amplifier.

I hope I am not making your head confused.

If you need any help call 017 7551318.

I am using this special technique for my new BH project in Bidor and since this morning, I set yesterday, the birds are continuously entering the BH until the nesting room.

Now at 1:01pm they are still a few in the nesting room.

I am impressed with this new method and I hope those who follow this advise will benefit from this new method.

If you are sure or do not have the right sounds let me know.

Will be happy to assemble one for you and let you test it for a few days. The cost is only RM800 for morning and 800 for evening.  This is a promotional price excluding thumb drives and postage.

You need to install those CCTV cameras first. Without it you will not know how effective the sounds are.

My Still Very Effective External Sound Oldies: GoldPot !!!

Among the many oldies, I mean old sounds that I have in my collection, there are some that are still as effective as those new sounds.

I was a bit carried away with so many new sounds that I recently acquired.

During one of my meeting with an old friend he make a comment that was a kind of surprised to me.

"Pak Harry, do you know that your first sound ever sold to me many many years ago is still very effective?"

I was taken back for a few short seconds and I gave him a wide smile and said:

Is that so and which sound was that?

"GoldPot." was his answer.

Hmm this sound was very old and more often than not I ignored it since there are so many new sounds in my collection.

Okay, let me check on his comment.

This week I decided to put it back into operation and observe how true was my friend's comment.

I applied it at noon time from 11:30am until 1:30pm.  This will be the worse time of the day.  Very little birds around and if it can bring in those birds than it is true that the sound is still effective.

Well well well.  After two days of observation my conclusion is "True"

There will be always a few couples that will enter the BH and they will go to the back room most of the time.

I am very happy that it was still as effective as before.

The true lesson to this particular article is that don't throw away those oldies.

They might be still be effective if you know how to use them.

To those who would like to have a small clip of "GoldPot", my oldies, please email your address.  I will send about 30 sec clips and if you wish to purchase the sound let me know.

It will be only RM200 for the first 5 person.

Super Bully Syndrome !!!!

I remembered an article I wrote about one year ago about a strange phenomena where a BH owner find it hard to accept the fact that his BH only has one miserable nest for more than two years.

He did not suspected anything strange but could not understand why there were no new tenant day by day.

After being so angry with the performance he captured the only couple who stayed in his house and eliminate them.

What happened next was something unusual.

The next few days he got new tenants that keep multiplying nearly everyday.

What he initially suspected was true.  The couple that he killed were a king bully that chased away any new visitors who came in to inspect the BH.

I thought that story was a myth and never bother to use that in any of my seminar.

Today a blog reader wrote to me about his similar experience but this time he saw what really happened in a BH using those CCTV camera.

This was what he SMS to me today:

Quote:

Pak Harry, thank u so much because from your blog I learnt about this strange problem.  My uncle informed me after I asked him to observe one swiftlet.  This bird is a loner and a bully.  It tend to chase vigerously any new visitor about 15 birds that tried to enter the BH for inspection. It will continue chasing until they leave the BH. What shall I do with it if I should catch the bully?

Unquote:

I told him to "kill the bastard" (Oops Sorry for being so hard).

The lesson from this is clear.  If you have a few nests and they are not multiplying then there must be some possibilities that there is a serious big bullies in your BH.

Try to monitor those current tenants and see if they are chasing away those new potential tenants/visitors.

Once you have determined that they are chasing away your new tenants you need to think of getting them out of your BH.

I term this empty BH as "Super Bully Syndrome".

What About Getting A High End Amplifiers !!!

{ A gentle reminder: Before reading this article please remember to check out on all the advertisements found in this page.}


If you own your BH, I think you should be intelligent enough to know what are the key element to ensure your BH is well designed and equipped with the best equipment.

Among the many gadget in your BH the most important, to me, will be the overall sound system.

You should be well aware that your sound system and the sounds you played is the heart of your total investment.

If your consultant or contractor provide you with the cheapest amplifiers, tweeters and poor cables quality you will find that your neighbours are doing well while your BH looks very sick.

In this article I wanted to write something about the BH amplifiers.

During one discussion with some blog readers and friends we talk about the overall sound system.

My question to them was, what do you think we can improve in the overall sound performance in a BH?

We might think only the sounds but what about the tweeters, amplifiers or even the cables.

What I did was to focus on amplifiers.

Currently most of us are using those low end amplifier types.

The cheaper the cost of these amplifiers the lower quality of  it sound produced since the processing card inside the amplifiers are low cost.

The lowest cost amplifier that I used to come across is the RM 200 and below range.

The Medium will be about RM 400 while the high end will be about RM800.

Do you think this is good enough to challenge our neighbour sound system?

I brought this matter to a good friend and he agreed with my comment.

Can we have a higher quality range at a price of about RM3,000 to 6,000?

Will this price range will be too much to compare with the number of birds that it can bring into our BH?

If you allocate say RM 6,000 to the most important part of the whole house (about RM 400,000), which is about 1.5% of the overall cost, it that too much?

I believed the time have come for all to consider my point.

If you can find something that will enhance your sound quality to the optimum and it can supercharged your BH you better make the right decision.

Within one week my good blog reader called me to visit an audio shop which have an interesting range of high end amplifiers that you will never believed.

I managed to view the product and told myself that this was what I have been looking for.

My plan now is to allocate a kind of research fund to get one for research purposes.

The product I am thinking about is the ONKYO latest model.

The price is reasonable but very steep to those who do not value good quality sounds.

We need to wake up and try to overtake our competitors.

Have a look at one of the pictures provided.

A very stylish looks and able to play your Marvellous Cloud with a USB port provided.

We tested the unit with MC and I was surprised to listen to a kind of water flowing sound on the background.

I have never detected those background sound before but this amplifier makes me feel that we are doing the right thing.

The only set back is that this is a home theatre unit that can provide enough signal for about 8 to 10 tweeters.

Hmm..... maybe we can use for those external sound tweeters.

Addicted To My Blog !!!

I never realized that my blog is very addictive.

Two days ago two of my blog readers dropped by to purchase a bottle of my Insect Superlure.

"Pak Harry, we are very happy to read you blog and it is so addictive.  Once you logged into it you will keep reading it as if nothing is more important than reading the rest. Everyday I need to read your blog before starting my day."

I have to reserve my comment but to those who are new please be aware of this comment.

"Pak Harry's blog is very addictive. More dangerous than those cocaine."

Beside learning so many interesting new things you will realized that there are many hidden motives in my blog, I told them.

The most important is the willingness to share.

All these while this special business is kept secret from the public.  Many who are successful refuse to let even their own blood brothers to share their secrets.

No one wanted to write about their discoveries or techniques to lure those wild birds.

They keep to themselves and once they hit the bucket (die) those secrets will be kept with them in the grave.

So why don't we start sharing those secrets?

I believed that my writing will encourage more people to start their own blog and tell about their discoveries.

Let us share all these special discoveries.  Those who would like to learn can perhaps contact you and you can charge a small fee for your time and knowledge.

One other topic that he was very fascinated was on the Phase 1 and Phase 11 concept on running a BH.

This two phases is my own idea and it came to me about two years ago.

When you put your new BH into operation you will be totally dependent on those young birds from the sky or from your neighbours or those caves. Your BH is new and empty with no tenant or nest inside.

This will be Phase number one.  You need to work hard to get your BH to be populated as fast as possible. To get those new or young birds inside to say "I do" you need a proper strategies to lure them into your BH.  One of the best strategy is to read Pak Harry's blogspot and perhaps attend his Swiftlet Farming Seminar.

Once you BH have a reasonable number of nests, example 300 nests, you can now go to Phase 11 mode.

You need to focus on how to make those young birds that were generated from those 300 nests inside your BH to stay. There must be some methods to make them to stay with their parent.

Think about all the techniques to get them back once they fly for the first time on their 45 days after hatching.

Every year, if you have 300 active nests, your have a total of 300X2X3=1800 young birds.

This 1800 new birds is equivalent to 300% of new potential tenants.

Try to focus in getting at least 50% of the 300%, I mean let 250% run away but retain 50%,  to stay back and be your tenant.

Work out on all the strategies to lure those young birds to come back and stay with their parent.

If you have no idea, why don't you attend my Swiftlet Farming Seminar?

I have some interesting ideas which will make your mind blow.

Come for my next seminar in November 2011.

To register just remit the payment , RM1500, into CIMB bank 14300000226109 under the name of awesome swift enterprise and SMS to me the remittance slip to 017 755 1318.

Those who are from Vietnam, you can just write to me for seats confirmation, send your names, and you will allowed to pay at during registration.

An opportunity in a life time to get ready to walk into this new and interesting business.

White Coloured Birds In Johore !!!

I met an old friend who wanted to share some interesting new developments that might be of special interest to all my blog readers.

This special friend have this attitude of sharing his findings and will go very far to give what he has.

A very rare person but I was lucky to have met him yesterday in Johore.

1) First about his white coloured swiftlet.

He showed two pictures of white coloured birds that was captured inside his BH.  They can now fly and were seen returning home every evening (using CCTV camera).

If you have white coloured swiftlet, your BH will be very successful with full house, according to many people.

Well let see if they do bring more birds to my BH, he replied.

2) I got a few new sounds that come from my Sifu.

This was what I came for.  I know all those sounds that he introduced are special.  He usually will     processed the sounds and make them as clear as possible.

The best was that he tested them one by one to ensure that they are good and effective.

Three external and one internal. To prove that they are good he accompanied each sound to a video clip.

I will be testing all the four sounds using those BHs that are under my care.

Will come out with some special names if they are as good as what he said.

3) The use of hexagonal tweeters.

His method of operation is to run two different set of sounds on two separate hexagonal tweeters.  The front tweeters shall be running the same external sound played at the entrance hole and inside the house while the second one he used another set of sounds that runs every hour.

Every two hours there will be sound for one hour and the next hour it will be switched off.

4) Use of Bird shit water, Salt and Gunny sacks.

A very strange formulation that he find to be working very well in one of his BH.  What he did was to prepare a pail of bird shit water and add salt to it.

Once done he will soak those gunny sacks for about a week or so.  Once the sacks have those unusual smell he will lay them on the floor of his BH.

Every time he visited the BH he will throw more salt and wet those gunny sacks.

It seems that after trying for about six months, those birds prefer the room with gunny sacks as compared to the others.

5) A new perfume with palm oil base.

Something unusual that he discovered when he visited a neighbouring country.

He was introduced to BH aroma made of palm oil.  The come in a thick solution and to activate the aroma you need to add palm oil cooking oil.

It will last for a very long period of time.

There are at least four different odours and I am sure one will be suitable for your BH.

I can't wait to have all of them for my BHs.

6) A sound player with more than 6 sounds.

He also discovered some new gadgets that will allows you to lock about six sounds into it.

Once locked the sound will not be able to be copied by any person.

This will be something that I wanted to look at.

7) Three Pin Plug with temperature and humidity sensors.

A new and interesting gadget that you can just plug onto your electrical pin and connect to your humidifiers.

Once set your humidifiers will run on the setting.

This new gadget can help to control your BH humidity and temperature and at the same time reduce your power consumption.

A New Aroma Formula Using Catfish Slime: Mutiara LeLe !!!

Something unheard of but a very interesting and new idea.

Yesterday I visited a BH in Lekir, Perak.  Two BHs side by side located in another palm oil plantation.

The first unit was based on the tunnel design and the second was one of the 45* sloped LAL.

Both are not doing well with very little nests in them.

The owner wanted me to drop by for a small chat about his BHs nests population problem.

Once arrived he showed me around and asked for some advise on what can be done to improve his nests count.

I was kind enough to tell him a few things that he should try and I am sure he will implement a few of those ideas.

Once that was done, I asked him for any new things that he tried that got special attention from those swiftlet.

"Yes Pak harry, I remembered at one time I use those slime from catfish (Ikan Keli). I bought about 20 of those medium sized  life fish and keep them inside a container.  After a few days I will harvest the water from the pail.  I than mix with those fermented bird shit water and sprayed them on the wall.  Unbelievable, the number of birds entered the BH was so many and my Indonesian workers thought that we have hit a jackpot."


Hmm... this is something new and unheard off. The smell of fish might be the reason why but who knows.

Let me try and evaluate the formulation.

All these while I thought we should used fish oil but not those slime from catfish.

Well there is nothing wrong with the use of fish slime.

I think this is something new and we need to conduct some research on the use of catfish slime.

What say you?

If you wish to try please don't blame me if it does not work.  If it works please share the result with me and my blog readers.

Insect Superlure Is Directly Causing The Increase of Swiftlet Entering A BH In Kuala Krai !!!

{ Before reading this article please remember to check out on all the new advertisements found in this page. Who knows they might be useful to your BH venture.}

"Pak Harry, since applying your insect Superlure my BH is becoming the centre of swiftlet attraction.  You won't believed the number of swiftlet entering my 2.5 months old in operation."

The exact word from a newbie who recently used my insect Superlure at his new BH.

His BH is somewhere in Kuala Trengganu, Trengganu, Malaysia.

He started his first bird house by converting a three stories shop house into his dream BH.

I remembered meeting him and his wife at Royal Selangor Club Bukit Kiara branch about 2.5 months ago.

Well what he wanted from me were those external and internal sounds.

After putting the newly converted BH into operation with marvellous cloud and superbabyking the number of bird shit spot were increasing steadily.

From three to seven and that was when he introduced my insect Superlure.

What he did was to send his son to KL and picked a bottle of the concentrate.

Once in his possession he called to know how to activate the liquid.

"All that you need is to get a 5 litres container and pour all the concentrate into it and top up with normal water to get the 5 litres quantity.  Before you shake them well please get about 4 spoonful of dish washer, preferably Glow with lime formula, and add to the mixture."

Apply to anything that is closed to the entrance hole of your BH.

Within a few hours he called and informed me of something very interesting.

"Pak Harry, wow your insect Superlure is really powerful.  Before I can even spray at the entrance window there were so many insect attracted to the solution.  I need to quickly rush up to apply the concoction."

What he did was to soak the prepared solution and wet a towel, yellow coloured, and hung it outside the entrance hole about 2-3 feet away.

He did not make any report until today.

"Pak Harry you will not believed what happened after applying your Superlure.  My BH suddenly become like a Five Stars hotel. At least 300 birds came in this evening alone."

I was a bit taken back and insisted to know more from him.

"Pak Harry, I will be entering my BH tomorrow and will report to you the status of those bird shits spots on the floor.  Since the Superlure is so effective I planned to hang at least three more towels soaked with your Superlure."

I did asked him this specific question:

"Do you think it is because to the insect or it was the aroma it produced?"

His answer:

"I feel it was the insect however I will make more observation if the aroma it produced might be the true reason."

"Pak Harry please feel free to come over to Kuala Trengganu so that I can show you my BH with many unique designs.  The walls are covered with those syntactic grass and my BH door is made of cold room door.  The first in Trengganu and perhaps in Malaysia."

I think I will make a short trip next weekend.

My Test On Those Insect Superlure !!!

(A clean piece of yellow towel soaked with Insect Superlure)

I conducted a kind of test to see what happened once the insect Superlure concentrate was activated and put it on the wall.

Within less that 10 minutes there were at least 30 those big fruit flies.

(In less than 10 minutes the invasion started)

A very interesting result and I was very impressed with the result.

Today I took some time to try something that I have never done before.

(Look at their size?)

Yes to conduct a test to proof if those so called "Insect Superlure" will attract those wild insects.

What I did was to pour the whole insect Superlure into a container and top it up with plain water to get it to be 5 litres in quantity.  Prior to shaking the mixture I added 4 spoonfuls of soap solutions to activate the Superlure solution.

Once that was done, I took a towel, brand new yellow in colour, and soak it wet with the bit of the activated solution.

What I did after that was to hang the towel on a wall closed to a secondary jungle near my office at Subang 2.

Within less than 10 minutes there were at least 30-50 those big fruit flies that were around and on the towel.

A fantastic result and I could not believed my eyes. It works pretty fast.
Remember the test was carried out at noon.

Have a good look at these pictures and clips.

The manufacturer claimed that I can get more by hanging the towel at night.

                  (Also at the bottom of the towel)

Unbelievable but it is true.

You will not know if you do not try yourself.

Unique and interesting to get your hand on it.

The cost is only RM 90 (promotional price) ex Kuala Lumpur and you get about 1.5 litres of concentrate that you can add about 3.5 litres of water and 4 spoonful of washing liquid.

Call 017 755 1318.  Limited stock !!!

Read my next article about how using this Superlure a BH owner in Kuala Trengganu got more than 300 birds over his rooftop.  Before that only 20-30 birds.


Today the same owner reported that he increased the number of towel soaked with Superlure and the result was awesome.  More than 500 birds this time around.

A Simple Air Ventilation Fan For Your BH !!!

(Remember to check at those advertisements found on this page)

If your BH is new and you wanted to apply those expensive aroma you cannot allow the air be constantly displaced via those ventilation holes on the wall.

If you continue with it your aroma will last less than one day.

So how do you control the air intake into your BH?

The best is to install a kind of ventilation fan that will suck in those cool air in the morning.

I was at my regular electronic shop and found this new fan that was designed for BH with those 4" ventilation holes on the wall.

Have a look and maybe you might want to have a few just in case.

Figs Tree With Lots Of Ripe Fruits !!!

This is something which proved that those figs fruits do bring lots of fruit flies around the tree base.

I was on my way out to KL and remembered that I need to plug about 100 pieces of ripe figs fruits to be send to Sabah.

I told myself which tree will gives the most number.

You see with the excitement about figs trees I can easily locate trees that are matured with fruits and those that are pretty young.

Most of them are in Kuala Lumpur city centre.

With this GPS in my mind I proceeded to this special tree which I know have lots of young fruits a few weeks back.

Now it should be ripe enough to be harvested for their seeds.

The moment I step just below the tree I was overwhelm with the number of ripe fruits rotting away below the tree.  If was more than half a ton.

There were at least another half of a ton on the tree about to ripe and falls to the ground.

Those that can fall to the ground will roll down while those that squeezed it between other young fruits their will be stuck on the tree.

Once they ripe and start to rot those fruit flies will move in to breed on them.

They were in the thousands.  Lots of them laying their eggs and sucking those fermented juices.

There are many other insects such as ants, various types, house flies, cockroaches and etc.

This seems to be the way figs trees helps the surrounding.

It bare fruits and the fruits will help those figs warps to multiply.

Once they are ripe they will help to encourage other insects to multiply.

A very interesting cycle of life and I still believed this is the best tree for your BH surrounding.

To those who have never seen a figs tree, please call 017 755 1318 for a short tour.  You may pick as many fruits as you like.

{ Before finish reading this article please remember to check out on all the advertisements found in this page.}

A New Sound Called Super-Blue !!!

( If you happened to read this article please check out the advert on this page)

A new sound recently discovered and being tested in Bidor, Perak.

I named it as "Super-Blue".

So far after more than 2 weeks it seems to be attracting lots of swiftlet to the BH rooftop.  Most of them will fly inside the entrance hole and will make tour into the nesting rooms.

Based on the number of birds attracted to the sound (flying on the rooftop) and many of them will enter the entrance hole, I will be adding this sound into my list of effective sound soon.

Let us hope that this new sound will be our latest sound to be as a collected item.

Those who would like to help in conducting test run please let me know.  I need about 5-10 person from different part of the country to participate in this evaluation exercise.

The cost during this trial period is a fraction of its sales value to cover the cost of sound, USB thumb drive and postage. The sound will be protected from any duplication.

This will be a golden opportunity for those who wanted to expand their sound library and getting new sounds at a fraction of its cost.  Trust me.

If you are selected, remember if your are selected, you need to arrange to install at one of your BH and observe the number of birds attracted to your rooftop.

If you failed to comply to the evaluation criteria in providing a report, you will be removed from the list.

It will be very nice if you have those CCTV camera on your rooftop and inside the BH.

If your BH is new, you might want to carry out these observations:-

We need to know the estimated number (the highest during peak time)  that comes in the early morning (7:30 am - 9:00am) and in the evening (6:00pm -7:00pm)?

We need to observe how long it will stay effective?

We need to know if they enter the entrance hole.  Do observe if they fly directly into the roving area or just playing at the tweeters?

Once they flew in, do they fly into the nesting rooms (VIP rooms)?

How long do they stay inside the VIP room?

The most important is the outcome in the evening.  Do they return to the BH and stays?

If we can determined these characters if all these points are positive, we have a high chances of getting our BH easily populated.

Not many BH owner is willing to share their findings but if we do it in a collective manner we can be sure of getting the right information for each sound.

Please help me to conduct these test.

To qualify you need to firstly owned a BH and fitted with those CCTV cameras.

Link the CCTV cameras to the internet where you can observe the activities in you BH from your PC at home or your mobile phone.

Those who have no monitoring system, I suggest that you install one and once install come and joint the evaluation team.

I will try to supply a new sound every three months at a small fraction of the purchased price.

Please email your interest to:  harryswiftlet@yahoo.com and use this title:  Super-Blue Sound Evaluation.

Please include your full name, address and contact number.

Once received I will provide you with the details on how to be a member of my evaluation team..

I will list the names of those selected on my blog site.

Get Ready With Some Fishing Net !!!

It is not for those fish in your fish pond but for those flying foxes.

This morning received some very disturbing news that flying foxes are carnivorous.  They have recently developed this appetite for swiftlet flesh.

One BH owner in Gua Musang, Kelantan indicated that he got some video clip showing how two of those flying foxes entered his BH and chased those poor swiftlet.

They caught these poor birds and ate them. They only eats their body and left the head and legs.

"Pak Harry, today caught three and more to come.  So far the number of dead birds are getting lesser. They have sharp teeth and eerie. "

"I will try to send you their trapping technique video clips and this will proof that they do eat swiftlet.  My advise to all BH owner is to start having those fish net for possible use."

I wanted to laugh but I think his advise should not be ignored.

Once caught try to remove them from your BH and hang the net somewhere until the fox die.

Try no to get bitten by them.

According to Astro History Channel, the Nipah virus ( a very deadly disease)  , was from these flying foxes.

They eat those fruits and later trash some part eaten to the floor and later consumed by those domesticated pigs.  Their saliva, with virus, spread to those pigs and later transferred to human being.

Just imagine if you are bitten by them !!!

Well not all flying foxes carries this virus but who knows.

Note: Flying foxes are protected animal, by Malaysian Authorities.  So if you kill any please do not declared it worldwide.  I mean don't put on the internet.  They will be after you.

Questions and Answers !!!

This article I wanted to post some interesting questions and my personal answers to a selected email send to me recently:

This one from Singapore:

Dear Pak Harry

I have a bird house in Indonesia, and it is about one year old. Now the house has about 50 birds. Is this considered as successful? Also, with your esteemed opinion with regards to China currently clamping down on the import of bird nests, do you think this is going to be a permanent issue which we need to face for a very long time?
Thank you.

 

My answer to her:

Kat, The number game is subjected to many factors. If your BH is in a prime area with lots of birds flying above the BH, 50 is low. If your BH is in an area where there are little birds, 50 is good. But from me it is better to look at how to multiply them like 100% a year. There must be a way and you need to learn how to get the right formula. Maybe you should attend some seminar or read more books, get a qualified sifu to visit your BH so that he can tell you what is wrong with your BH, get a good set of sounds, change the sound system, improvise the vip rooms, get the floor wet and so forth. If you want your BH to have lots of birds you need to be alert and get the latest technologies into play. Harry As for her second question I did not managed to answer since there is a new article about China birdnest market. As far as I know the appetite for edible bird nests in China is the same.  Very little are affected. The only thing is the clamping of those nests that are high in nitrate. The Chinese wanted to safe guard their people and they have the right to prevent any fatality.  The only way to enter the market is to get the right products that are cleaned and free from nitrite. The Malaysian government is working with their Chinese counterpart and I am sure there is a way to make sure that nitrite contamination can be minimized. Good example is to certify that the process centre follow a strict health and cleanliness rules and all products to be ship out to China are certified free of Nitrites and Heavy Metal.  This have been a requirement before and they might need to be modified to ensure that the chances of contaminated products are not exported to mainland China. I also have spoken to many exporters, they are not that badly affected. As long as your products follow the export guidelines you will enjoy the same high value.

Bird’s nest scare has not spoilt China’s appetite

As reported by the Star and found at: 

http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/9/14/nation/9491290&sec=nation


Something that we have been waiting for:

IPOH: Recent reports of high nitrite content in some bird's nest products from Malaysia have not affected demand for the delicacy in China.

Producers in Malaysia, however, need to practise strict quality control to restore the confidence of consumers in China, said Xu Yu Fei, vice-mayor of Wenzhou city in the republic's southeastern Zhejiang province.

She admitted that consumer confidence in China had been “slightly affected” following the reports.

“Local producers need to redouble their efforts in promoting their products in China and to prove to consumers their products are of a high quality,” she said.

Xu was speaking to reporters after a business matching and dialogue session between local businessmen and their counterparts from Wenzhou here yesterday.

She said local producers needed to improve the sales and marketing of their products, adding that consumers in China were now more careful when choosing bird's nests.

Recently, the Agriculture and Agro-Based Industry Ministry sent a team to China to allay fears over reports of nitrate poisoning from Malaysian-produced bird's nests.

Following the scare, the Health Ministry told owners of bird's nest processing premises to register their business with the ministry by Oct 1 to help it regulate and control product quality.

Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai had said food items exported to China would have to be certified by the ministry and the Veterinary Services Department.

From Very Far He Turned Up Precisely On The Dot !!!

"Pak Harry, I am very happy and grateful to be able to meet you in person. I have been following your blog for many months and dying to meet you and at last I am here in front of some one whom I admired very much."

His name was Mr Tan from Batu Pahat, Johor.

He was very early and waited for me patiently.

All in all he wanted to personally meet me in person and learn about Mutiara Aroma.

I was very touched with his enthusiasm.

"I came to KL last night and put a night with my relative.  It was worth every minutes to be here with you.  You have taught me many things and it was you who help me in silence."

I feel so honoured and very happy for him.

I never realised that my blog has inspired so many people but I keep telling him that my main reason was to spear head the term "Sharing".

Before I started blogging about swiftlet farming, very few people wanted to share their experiences.

That was in 2007.  Now we have many who followed my foot step.

If we have more people who are willing to share I am sure we can learn more from all of them.

Each of us have our own speciality or gift.  If you used them to help the industry it will help all of us.

I have been doing this for many years and so far I have no regrets for all the time spend doing the research and reporting them on my blog.

My objective is still the same.

"I wanted to reduce the swiftlet industry failure rate by about 3-5 %."

This objective is still clear in my mind and no matter what people say or stab me from the back, I will stay to that objective.

I will continue doing my research on any new things that will help to improve the industry and I hope one day I will have everything that can make any BH a success.

All you need is to follow the list of things that I have discovered.

As at today the following can be useful to all who wanted to get more birds inside their BH:

1) Make sure the location you choose have a lot of swiftlet flying over it both in the morning and evening.

2) Make sure you determine the precise flying path direction in the evening.

3) You BH entrance hole must be facing the flying path.  Put the main entrance hole at the front where the birds are flying home.

4) You need consider opening a secondary exit hole facing the east.  This will allow the morning sunlight to enter your monkey house.

5) Locate your LAL (lubang antara lantai) at the spot where most of the birds (100% if you can) will fly above it both during coming into and flying out of the BH.

6) Introduce the VIP room concept.  This will be where your tenant will stay.  Every floor you need to have at least one room.

7) The sound system is the heart of your BH.  Make sure they are carefully selected and suitable for your BH.

8) Choose the right external and internal sounds for your locality.  Test them before using.  A good external sound will pull all those swiftlet to your entrance hole.  A good internal sound will prevent those birds from flying out the moment your external sound is switched off at night.

9) If you want the birds to enter your nesting room you must install enough external sound playing tweeter to guide them from the entrance hole to the nesting room.  Do not assume that they will enter but put your effort in luring them into the nesting room.

10) Look at proper using of both chandelier and kite tweeters.  They can help to keep those birds from flying out. Learned how to use them effectively.

11) Install enough fake nests to help those wild birds to start their family.  Once they used these fake nests for two breeding cycle remove them.

12) Give what they love to have.  If they love 90* corners give some, it they like 130* corners also give it to them.  If they like tweeters also give them.

13) Keep your nesting room moist all the time.  If you can install those wet floor system.

14) Avoid entering your BH too frequent.  Make a schedule but for a new BH try to stay out for at least 3 months unless really necessary.

15) Beside the internal environment, you need to also look at the surrounding.  Try to put some effort to plant trees that can produce insect.  Also make some water pond(s) around your BH.

16) During the phase one you might want to run an insect generating barn.  Have it somewhere near the entrance hole.

17) Condition your BH with Mutiara Aroma for at least 4 -6 consecutive days.  There after every 3 - 4 weeks once.

18) Use more of those cluster tweeters.

19) You must know how to block the sunlight from shining into the nesting room.  The best method to check it the light is adequate or not is to stand in front of some thing about 2 feet away and you cannot see it.

20) Never install a pond on the top of your BH.  Once it leak, your BH is doomed.

21) Make sure your BH is not infiltrated my those owl.  Once they entered or worst still when they move in as your tenant, your BH will be in a disaster state.  2/3 of your swiftlet will be gone in a matter of weeks.  If you remove the owl, you need to reactivate your BH from ground zero.

22) You BH internal temperature must never be above 31*C.  You need to plan carefully to minimize the heat from the sun.  Try to adopt the 2 walls and cover your roof with a layer of roofing.

If you wish to learn me come and attend my seminar this November 5th 2011.

This Is Not Possible But Maybe !!!

"Pak Harry, I have some problem with my BH.  During my last visit to my BH I found a number of swiftlet with no body but their head and legs.  What can be the culprit?"

This was posted to me by one of my Seminar participant last Saturday at One World Hotel.

I was very sure it might be those rats.

I asked him to set some trap inside his BH.

At the same time I told him to hang some net, maybe those bat?

After returning to his home town he send me this with the title:  I caught the culprit?

Just look at what he send to me:

I was a bit surprised.

This looks like a flying fox.  They normally feed on fruits and insect.

I am not very sure if they feed on swiftlet.

If anyone out there can confirm that flying fox do eat swiftlet please email to me at harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

If this is true, you better start fixing some nets around your BH.

Latest as at September 15th, 2011:

The sad news from the person who send the fox picture is:  Yes It Is True.

The flying fox which we always assumed that are not carnivorous is carnivorous.

The owner of the BH indicated that he got with him some video clips to confirm the actions how two of the foxes chase after those poor swiftlet and eat them.

I am waiting for the clip to be shared with all those who have never seen one.

The sad thing is that we have to add one more animal onto our list of predators.

The signs on the floor is when you see lots of dead birds with no body but only their head and two legs.

More Parties Came To Learn How To Prepare The Mutiara Aroma !!

More and more blog readers are learning on the method to prepare the Mutiara Aroma.

Yesterday there were two parties and today one more.

So far I think a total of 12 BH owners who came to learn the basic and I hope they will, from thereafter, know the technique and thus will help to develop their own formula.

My normal introduction will be to explain about the use of aroma in general and how I discovered the formula.

It was a friendly visit to an old friend who owned and operated a few successful BHs in Penang.

During one of the meeting with him he explained about his new BH treatment method that can make the BH be activated.

"Pak Harry, I have been doing this BH reconditioning and I think you should consider using this idea in your future BH revamp operation.  The idea is to prepare a home made aroma using seaweeds and apply it in a sick BH for about 4-6 days.  After that it will be on a monthly basis."

Upon returning home I started my first mixing of the aroma and applied to a few BH under my care.

It works well and why not share the formula with others.

That was the history and I am glad that many who learned to use this aroma making methods are enjoying every minutes of their BH operation.

Beside using the seaweed you can also use those sea cucumber, sotong, fish, duck egg and etc.

The method is basically to have the base liquid ( fermented bird shit water and raw nests water) and add it with those smelly water that will make those wild birds entered and stay longer.

Today a BH owner from JB will be in town and I have to go now.......

If you wish to learn more let me know.

Call 017 7551318

Latest: M'sia tightens rules over bird's nests

 KUALA LUMPUR - Owners of bird's nest processing premises have been given until Oct 1 to register their businesses with the Health Ministry in a move to regulate and control the product's quality.

"At the moment, the premises are only registered with the local authorities, not with the ministry," said minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai, adding that the Chinese Government had expressed concern over the high levels of nitrite contained in the nests exported to the country.

"China is taking the issue very seriously," he said at a press conference here yesterday.

Liow said the Government had agreed that any food item exported to the China would have to be certified by the ministry and the Veterinary Services Department.

"We will take action against premises that do not register with us by Oct 1," he said, adding that they could also be fined up to RM10,000 for not doing so.

Their registration forms can be obtained from the state health department, district health offices or online at fosimdomestic.moh.gov.my.

Liow said the processing premises would be given until the end of the year to implement the food safety assurance system or be fined up to RM10,000 (S$5,000).

He said operators could choose from the 1Malaysia Food Safety Scheme (SK1M), Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) or the Good Manufacturing Practice, all of which were endorsed by the ministry.

He said the SK1M, which is free of charge, was implemented to assist small and medium entrepreneurs.

"To date, 64 companies have already obtained the SK1M certification."

Found at:

http://www.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne%2BNews/Malaysia/Story/A1Story20110911-298827.html