No Sounds Means No Birds !!!

Just wanted to share something that happened to one of my blog reader who happened to experience a very unusual event.

He was on the phone with me relating his experience where nearly all his tweeters went blank.

The number of birds dropped from as many as 700 pairs to less than 100 pairs.

His agony started when his BH nesting planks with fungus.

Though there were more than 700 pairs of birds he felt that something have to be done to clean up those fungus.

Without any clue on the action of salt water with those wires he did not gave a clear instruction to his workers to stay clear of the wires (exposed connection points).

The planks were cleaned using salt water mixed with raw nests.

The raw nests was used to provide the natural aroma smell while the salt was used to prevent fungus from infesting the plank.

What happened next was damaging.

After the cleaning works he left for UK for a business trip.  He was there for about 2 months.

When he arrived home and inspected his BH the tenants went missing.

The internal sounds were almost dead.

He begin to realise that there was something unusual and how come all the birds were missing.

After some checking he concluded that those salt water accumulated on most of the connection point and with current flowing the joints were disconnected.

All of the tweeters were dead.

He quickly got into action and reconnect his dead tweeters back and within a few days the birds started to return home.

After a few weeks many more came back to populate his BH.

His conclusion was "Pak Harry, when the sounds went dead the birds will run away.  No sound means no birds."

This particular event served as a good lesson to all of us:

1) Be careful when you use salt water to clean fungus those planks. Yes you can use them but make sure your workers are aware of the effects when those salt water touches the cable connection points.

2) It's advisable to use those plastic cover on the connection points of all your BH tweeters.

3) Those birds are very attracted to your sounds.  Make sure all your tweeters are functioning all the time.  If they are not replace them.

Remember no sound equals to no birds ............

Kuala Linggi Revamp Bird House Test Run with 600 or more birds responded!!!

(Mr R showing his skill in spraying Mutiara Aroma)

After doing up the top floor and the entrance hole areas I did a test run with the present of the BH owner Mr R.

He rushed from Kota Damansara, Selangor just to be with me and help in what ever he can.

One of the thing I did was to ask him to install those water filter(s).  It seems that the water supplied via the main pipe was too dirty and will clogged the humidifier mist maker eyes.

The second thing that he did was to prepare his first Mutiara Aroma using those fermented bird shit and sea weeds.

I showed him the mixing method and how to spray the aroma on those walls.

Since he was around and those tweeters were set to play I conducted the first test run ever. The test run was conducted on 28th January 2012.

The number of birds responded was at least 400 to 600.

Mr R commented:

"Pak Harry prior to your revamp the number of birds that flew in I think was about 3 to 5 but now it's more that a few hundreds.  Unbelievable and a miracle to me."

I told him that if he did nothing and hope for the developer to provide the system he will be doomed.

The number of birds that responded to the sound was about 7:25pm.

At first there were about 3-5 birds and soon after the number started to multiply exponentially.

Out of no where they stormed the entrance area and many will attack the power tweeters installed on the walls.

Beside attacking the tweeters some will hang onto the walls.  At peak time there were more than 15 birds clinging closed to those power tweeters as if they were enjoying the vibration created by the sound.

The number of birds climbed every minute until at about 7:50.  Most of these birds entered the BH and their number started to decreased and at 8:00 pm there were about 2-3 left flying around the entrance hole.

I believed most of them entered the BH.

I estimated that the number entered were about 600 or more.

I told Mr R that he was a very lucky man.  Those birds seems to be coming from all over especially from the Palm Oil plantations and nearly all flew into his BH.

His comment was " Thank You Pak Harry".

I was very happy that those new gadgets that I invented and installed were showing unbelievable result.

I am pretty sure that these gadgets will help many others who have difficulties in populating their BHs.

To those who have BH that are not doing well call 017 7551318.

A Cave BH Under Construction In Vietnam !!!

A blog reader from Vietnam recently email some pictures showing a BH under construction.

The owner seems to have this idea that swiftlet loves cave environment.

As such he build his BH in a staggered roof system with about 12 layers.

The structure is build inside a kind of factory with covered roof to prevent direct sunlight shinning on the BH directly.

Enjoy these pictures:

Waste Wood Corners With Half Curved Corner Covers!!!

I have transformed a normal waste wood corners into something new.

My main idea is to create additional type or place for swiftlet to build their nests on it.

With this new invention the birds will have the choice of building their nest at 90* angle, on the top of the half curved corner, two additional spots for the 130* nests areas.

Yes from a two nesting spots on the conventional waste wood corners we now gives those birds four.

What you need is a piece of normal left over nesting plank about 6 inches long and a curved corner cover cut into half.

Nail the curved corner onto the waste wood cover and install onto your nesting planks.

Choose the perimeter areas as your main target.

You can use this technique on a single waste wood corner or you can use two curved corners on on waste wood.

The next idea is to deploy the half curved corner covers on those nesting planks crossed points.

The idea is to create an additional location for those birds to build their nest on it.

Have a good look at these pictures and try them out.

Edible Figs Fruit Tree From A Nursery !!!

These pictures were taken two days ago when I was in SPatani.

During the holiday managed to have a good look at a young fig tree planted in a pot.

This young tree is doing well and all the leaves are new.

It seems that when it was first planted all the old leaves dried and shed away.

The new leaves looks fresh and big.

You can also look at those young buds young leaves growing on the top.

I have not decided where it will be planted but there are a few people who have called to buy it.

I need to work extra hard to get more young trees so that I can help to propagate the trees to more swiftlet BH s.

To those who wanted to purchase the tree please let me know so that I can arrange to plant more ....

Best Wishing For The Chinese New Year !!!

To those who celebrate Chinese New Year, I would like to wish all the very best and let us hope that the year will see some solution to the dwindling price of nests.

I was make to understand that by April 2012 the price will be back to its normal range.  However please do not expect too much.  It might not be true but you never know.

Well now let us talk more about swiftlet farming.

I received many Chinese New Year greetings and among all these two were exceptional:

From Vietnam:

Dear Sifu Harry,


It was your help that make it possible for me to succeed in swiftlet farming.  The dual entrance BH now have more than 60 nests and nest markings just after 3 months in operation.


Thank again Sifu,


Wishing you and your family a safe, happy and prosperous new year.


Sincerely yours,
DN

Another interesting message from Ulu Langat.  Remember this guy who was with me on NTV 7.  His name is Mr Mohammad Yakoob. He was the one who said that if his BH does not work he will turn it into a Karaoke lounge:

Pak Harry, after 3 months of not disturbing the BH that we put into operation this is my report.  The top floor was with 65 bird shit spots and about 18 nests.


The middle floor was with about 30 bird shit pots and about 10 nests.


The lowest floor was with about 15 bird shit spots with 3 nests.


What do you think of the result?


Happy Chinese New Year to you and Family.

My answer to him was this simple:

"Do you remember the number of birds that responded to our bird call test? There were only about 120 birds that turns up.  If you equate the number of nests and bird shits I think you pull nearly all of them."

"Your BH have done well my friend and now we need to look at how to fine tune the BH."

For this coming week I will be busy revamping a stand alone BH in Kuala Linggi and I hope this BH will perform better than the Ulu Langat BH.

To those who planned to build their own BH, please accept my invitation to join and learn how to revamp a BH.

Call me and I can assure you that you will gain lots of benefits from this hands on training.

Call 017 7551318

Super Pheromone Working Well In Sabah......

"Hi Pak Harry,

Saya suda pernah membeli 2 botol pheromones dari Pak Harry tahun lepas. Ia sangat berkesan digunakan di dalam rumah burung saya, pada masa ini banyak new markings boleh dilihat. Jadi saya ingin membeli lagi 2 botol pheromones, adakah harganya masih sama RM 220? Please advise, tq.."

Translation:

Hi Pak Harry,


I bought 2 bottles of pheromones from Pak Harry last year.  The pheromone is very effective inside my BH and right now lots of new markings can be seen.  As such I would like to buy 2 more bottles, pheromone, and is the price still the same?  Please advise, Thank you" 

The exact words from a very satisfied user of those Super Pheromone.

I remember bringing the item to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah by hand during my trip to deliver my talk about swiftlet farming organized by Putri Swiftlet last year.

I met her and handed the items.

I told her roughly how to apply them and Hola it seems that the pheromone works well with her BH.

Now she is asking for more of the items to continue with the success she is experiencing.

This kind of result is good for our research in finding what can be used to increase the number of BH.

I plan to see her personally this February 2012 and perhaps ask her to take some photos to share with all my blog readers.

I am hoping that there will be more people getting the same result with the pheromone.

While in Kuantan, Pahang I used two cans and conduct some king of experiment by spraying them onto those fake nests.

I hope the research done will bear good result.

If the method I did gives good results, I will give all of you the method I did.

Just keep your fingers crossed and pray that it works as predicted.

Another Poorly Designed BH In Karak !!!

I was about to reach home at Jalan Duta, Kuala Lumpur when a BH owner called for some help.

He sound very depressed and wanted to talk to me about his 9 month old BH located in Karak, Pahang.

The best was to meet me so that I can perhaps understand his situation.

I drove to Kajang, Selangor where he make his call and in no time he poured his problems.

What I can say was "Give me the opportunity to visit the BH and access the situation both external and internal.

This evening I took a one hour drive to Karak and after about 10 minutes drive deep in a Palm Oil plantation I saw his problematic BH.

From outside the BH looks okay but the moment you entered the BH you can immediately understand the problems.

He indicated that the BH was put into operation in August 2012, about 5 months back.

There were some traces of bird shit spots on the floor however most of them were not solid.  It looks like most of them have left the BH.

The external sound was not running or with proper volume, I told him.

The biggest mistake was the positioning of the entrance hole area and the Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL).

The two should be closed to each other but the builder make a poor decision.

The nesting planks looks whitish in colour and I think it was not those red meranti, which I love to have. The wood must be either dirty, covered with fungus or discoloured.

The ceiling planks arrangements where not the same on the third and the rest of the floors.  The third floor was with single step while the lower floors were with three steps.

The number of tweeters deployed were reasonable but there was no cluster tweeters.

There was only one type of piezo tweeter.  The contractor used the no brand 2"x5" tweeters for internal and external.  You cannot pin point which is which.

The entrance hole at the monkey house was a bit too low.  I would like it to be about 2 feet higher and on the left hand side.  Currently located on the right hand of the Monkey House wall.

There was only one entrance hole.  I prefer at least two holes.

All the three nesting rooms were opened with no partitioning or VIP room.  I insisted to have at least one VIP room per floor.

The amplifier used to play those internal and external were those cheap and low quality type.

There was no hexagonal tweeters used at the roof top area.

You can see why those birds were not interested to stay in this 360,000 ringgit BH.

He needed my expertise and I promised him that I will try to transform the BH into it's real potential.

My promised to him was to bring in at least 30-50 bird shit spots within the first month of operation.  These bird shit spots shall be a sure signs of nests within the next 3-4 months.

I hope I can turn around this BH and ensuring that his investment will result in some income.

Bernama report this three days ago.

The requirements here seems to be the ignorance of Nitrite in bird nests.

Asking for 0 part per million is closed to impossible since they are neutrally form.

It is hope that a mutually agreed level will be announced soon so that the price of bird nests will be lifted to a more profitable level.

KUALA LUMPUR: Starting this year, local companies exporting swiftlet nests to China are required to obtain three quality certifications before their products will be allowed to enter the republic, according to Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Noh Omar.

He said the quality certifications were the Veterinary Health Mark (VHM) certificate issued by the Veterinary Department, the Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) certificate issued by the Malaysian Communication and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) and the health certificate issued by the Health Ministry.

The three certifications are aimed at ensuring the quality of the Malaysian swiftlet nests would meet the standards set by the Chinese government, he told reporters after opening Malaysia's first Authentic Bird's Nest Depository and Trade Centre in Puchong near here on Monday.

"These quality certifications must be adhered to in order to meet the strict requirements set by the Chinese government after they agreed to accept swiftlet nests from Malaysia last year.

"However, the Chinese government has also required that only bird's nests with zero part per million (ppm) of nitrite are allowed to be exported to the republic," he said.

Noh said it was very difficult to obtain swiftlet nests with zero nitrite level, but the ministry was hoping that the Health Ministry could set a minimum and acceptable nitrite level for the issuance of the certification purposes.

The minister said the company which obtained the three quality certifications would be allowed to use the "1Malaysia Best" brand on their swiftlet nest products, but they also had to identify a strategic partner in China to ease the trade and monitoring process.

"Their partners in China will also be required to promote swiftlet nest products bearing the brand of '1Malaysia Best' as the ones having the best quality and safe for consumption," he said.

Meanwhile, Health Ministry Food Safety and Quality Control Division senior director Dr Noraini Mohd Othman said the swiftlet nest products containing high level of nitrite could pose a threat to human health and could also cause cancer.

"We will announce the acceptable level of nitrite in swiftlet nests after the ongoing discussion between our experts and their counterparts in China is concluded," she said. - Bernama

Revamp Works At Kuala Linggi Is On !!!

Take note that the revamp works on a BH at an Eco Park closed to Kuala Linggi river is confirmed.

The owner was pretty excited to inform me that he wanted me to mobilize to site by tomorrow Jan 20th 2012.

My response to him was simple.  You just let me have the keys and I will do my best to arrange to be on site as fast as I can.

Remember this particular BH is in an Eco Park and it was the first to be put into operation.  There are already 4 more about to be put into operation.

I was told that there will be another 30-40 more lots that are ready to be erected with the exactly the same designed BHs.

I was not surprised with this owner when he took me for a visit, two weeks ago.

After the short visit I told him that it is very common that the developer will do the minimum just to me the contract obligations.  He need to revamp if he wanted to see faster results.

There was nothing special inside the BH and if he continue as it is he will suffer terribly for a very long time.

Since there are many modern gadgets, sound system, accessories to lure birds into the house and expertise from experience BH owners, there is no reason why he could not upgrade the BH condition.

I think he was very lucky to have discovered my blog and understand the important of making the birds better prepared to stay in front of his neighbours.

I will do my up most best to turn his BH to be the best among the rest within the area.

That was my promise and I hope to keep it for a long time.

Tomorrow I will pack the first load of items plus my workers to move to the location.

Will start work during the weekend even during the CNY.

He wanted the BH to be up and running within 3 weeks from mobilization date.

What a challange.

Those of you, especially newbies, you should grab this opportunity to come and see for yourselves what I will be doing.

Come and join me and I am sure you will learn a lot of stuff that never been tough before.

There will be a small fee to learn these interesting tricks.

Call 017 7551318 to book a seat.  Maximum 3 person only.

Roxbrough Fig Trees At UKM, Bangi Campus !!!

Today, January 15th 2012, I was given a short tour to view at closed range of a Figs tree whose fruits can be eaten.

The taste of the fruit is closed to those hairy peach fruit.

Some people said that by eating the ripe fruits you will be able to purge those worms out of your stomach.

The leave can be turn into tea and it can cure high blood pressure (what they said).

This morning my wife and me was invited to view a number of these figs trees located inside University Kebangsaan Malaysia at Bangi, Selangor compound.

I was pretty excited to have a close range look on the 15 feet high trees.

The best was that all the trees were fruiting and some are ready to be harvested.

I plug three of those ripped fruits and ate them after proper cleaning being done.

The fruit is quite big and they tend to grow on a special branch that seems to be for fruit growing only.

Have look at these pictures and enjoy the view.

I have taken some branches and put into nursery mode.

Those who have never seen the tree can come to KL and I will be very happy to show the tree.

Come and enjoy a Figs Tree Tour.

Call 0177551318 for more details.