Little Insects That Can Float On The Padi Field Water !!!

I was very curious on those insects produced by those Bagan Serai padi fields.

Set on the edge of the field and did some investigation.

All I can see was these small flying insects that were like those house flies but very small and they can float on the surface of water.

They were very light weight and can float like those water flies.

While floating they will chase after their partner to mate.

Once mated the female will lay their eggs onto the water surface.

If at any one time the number of these insects is in the thousands they can be a good food source for those swiftlet.

Have a good look at some of the pictures and video clips taken.

We should have the technology to produce these flying insects.

If we do we have very little difficulties to populate our empty BHs.

Enjoy these pictures and clips:

One Of The Best Located BH In Bagan !!!

How ideal is ideal ?

I mean what can be an ideal location for your BH?

My prescription is where there are plenty of birds flying all over and around your BH even when there are no sound being played.

I never believed that there is such a location but I was wrong.

I was given a new challenge to furnish a two stories BH located somewhere in Bagan Serai Perak and this particular BH was in a padi field.

The nearest residential house was about 1.5 kilometer away.

After getting my workers settled down at the BH, they chose to stay in, I found a small hotel for the night.

The next morning after buying some food for my workers I was at the BH.

The view was astonishing. There were more than 500 birds flying low just above those water in one of the padi field just beside the BH I was working on.

The number grew and at peak time there were at least 2,000 swiftlet flying above the patch and the BH.

Amazing view and I could not asked for anything more.

My workers could not stop coming out to watch those swiftlet.

"Pak Harry, even with only internal sound those birds will come inside."

I could not answer them but share the excitement with them.

"How I wish the house was ready with those sounds."

To those who have never seen such a wonderful sights please call me and I am sure you will be able to experience the wow experiences.

On the other side of the canal there were some "Bagau" that were having some feast following those tractors ploughing the field.

Have a good look at these pictures and video clips.

Hope all of you enjoy these beautiful pictures taken with my canon camera.

A New Kind, Solid State, Sound Amplifier In The Market !!!

All these while I thought amplifiers for BH are those Karaoke sets that are big and bulky.

The can cost you about RM 300 to RM5,000.

On the average I will choose the type that will cost me around RM600 -RM1000.

But recently I discovered something new and all in all it was due to operating BHs with solar generated power.

Most of the time those amplifiers are powered by AC current and very rare these karaoke sets are build with dual power drives.

If they are the electrical consumption will drain your solar batteries within less than a few days.

One new discovery is this special amplifier as big as those portable hard drives.

It has two volume knobs and a slot for those micro 1cm by 1.5 cm memory card.

I was a bit reluctant to use it but now getting used to using it.

The BH in Karak and Dungun, both with solar powered system, are using them and let us hope they will perform as good as those karaoke amplifiers.

I ordered a few more and one unit is currently under my closed observation at Kepong BH.

A very fascinating new gadget, compact and not that expansive (below RM400).

The product have at least 6 months warranty.

The product supplier was very sure that one unit can connect to almost 400 piezoelectric tweeters running your internal sound.

So far the sound produced seems to have no problem attracting those swiftlet.

A very interesting discovery and if it can last for a long time, I think this will be the product that can change the swiftlet farming industry.

Main advantage is its light weight, compact and easy to install.

You can carry one hundred in your car since it is so small.

Your cost to ship via post laju will be minimal.

I will install more of these amplifiers and observe its effectiveness.

Who knows it might be better than those bulky Karaoke units.

Remember this is something new and I must say that it can be the future amplifier that you might want to consider.

If you should ever use them please try to evaluate and report to me how effective it is.

Tsunami: You Won't Like To watch this Video Clip?

Let us pray that this will not happen again.

The monster waves were just unbelievable. The whole community was wipe out within a few minute




A real video clip on how tsunami wave kills so many people in Japan.

We should be always great full that we are leaving in a country with little earthquakes and tsunami prone.

A BH In Bagan Serai Perak !!!

I must say that this two stories BH located in the middle of a Padi Field has the best location for a BH.

You know why?

The number of swiftlet birds flying around the BH from early morning till noon was more than 2000.

Those birds must be there for some reasons and what I can observed was that they were flocking onto one particular rice field that was recently being sowed with padi seeds.

The seedling were about 5 inches tall and the water was about 2-3 inches deep.

It seems that this particular rice field, located next to the affected BH, was producing very small insects that attract those swiftlet to fly closed to the water surface.

For as long as there are food the swiftlet will there for the whole day.

(An Insect that can float on the water surface)

I am sure for how long those insects will continue to be produced but the fact is clear that water do have its advantages to be around your BH.

The point here is BH location.

Have a good look at the sky just above the entrance hole.

With no sound system being installed we already have hundreds of birds flying just above it.

Try to view this video clip:

Don't you think this will be better as compared to a location where there are no birds flying in the sky the whole day long?

I called the BH owner to inform him about how lucky he was and told him that it will be very good to start those insect generating system to be a part of his BH.

His answer was: " Yes I have decided to follow your advise to extend the five foot path for the insect generation."

Having an insect generating system that is well taken care will be generate those flies on a continuous basis.  This will eventually help to get more birds to the BH even after those insect from the padi field stop producing.

The more the birds fly around and above your BH the more the chances to bring them into your BH, I told him.

It might be tedious and messy in getting or preparing those insect food every 10 days but if it can help to populate the BH, why not?

I hope to given the opportunity to design a simple insect generating system that will cost very little and it has to produce as much insect as possible.

Let's hope that the owner will engage my service to start the insect generating project.

The outcome will be shared with all those who happened to visit this blog.

If you wanted to learn more about insect generating system please email your address so that I can invite you to join the fun.

Another video clip showing some of those birds flying just above the water surface:

At the back of the BH there is a canal about 15 feet wide and during the evening lots of birds finding food plus having their evening tea.

Have a look at the two video clips:

Latest News On The Effectiveness Of Super Pheromone !!!

Received this email a short while ago from Vietnam:

Dear Sifu Harry,

Super Pheromone has proven its effectiveness in Vietnam. Many BH owners have tried the aroma.

Most of them have positive responses just after a short period.

The box i hand-carried last time is almost sold out. I would like to order one more box.

An interesting development to give all of us the confident about this new nesting planks aroma in the Market.

So far this product seems to works well in Sabah, Sarawak and Vietnam.

No one from Peninsular or Indonesia have make any report on its effectiveness.

I am looking forward for more people to use this product and report to me its effectiveness.

Remember we need to work together to find the best gadget or aroma to populate our BH.

If you have found any other products that are effective please write to me in details so that we can continue sharing with the rest of BH owners.

Submit them to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

A New Research On The Use Of Causurina Leaves Fake Nests !!!

Something new and rarely heard of.

Fake nests made from plant leaves.

The plant I am referring to is the Causurina tree or Pine tree.

The leaves are needle shape and I wonder how their are tied or glued to take the shape of those bird nests.

If your favourite past time is to swim at the beach I think you can see lots of these trees at the beach front especially in Penang, Malaysia.

The product was said to be suitable to lure swiftlet use them much better than those made of plastic or foam.

My current plan is to test about 200 pieces and see how they perform.

Just ordered and expect to receive them this weekend.

Once received will take lots of pictures and post on this blog.  Let see how the leaves are tied or glued to each other.

They will be used both in newly renovated or build BHs or old BH with existing nests.

As you know the use of fake nests is more or less help to quickly get your BH visitors to be your tenant in a very short time.

If you have lots of birds inside your BH and they are not making any attempt to start nesting you might want to install some of these products.

My key research using this Causurina leaves fake nest is to lure those young birds to stay inside the BH where they were hatched and raised.

I might spend most of these Causurina fake nests on this particular purposes.

The idea is to place two pieces of these fake nests just next to all those nests that are having babies in them.

If this technique works we can proudly says that we have discovered another new technique that will help to quickly populate out BH.

Will make some observation and if there are any positive developments will report in this blog.

If you have some similar research or test works please send your report with pictures to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com.

I will be happy to post your report for the rest of BH owners to learn from it.

Let us share our findings and increase or chance of becoming a successful swiftlet farmer.

Waste Wood Corners : Never Under Estimate !!!

I have tried using those waste wood corners in almost all my BHs under my care.

Never under estimate its usefulness.

You will be surprise how much those swiftlet love building their nests at the two 90* corners and also on the plank itself.

I have been monitoring the progress and my conclusion is more or less the same as those fake nests installed.

The rule of the thumb is that the percentage of waste wood corners being occupied is about 30%.

Those who have not tried, please have a look at these pictures and decide for your self.

My idea is to provide new strategies and gadget which are not difficult to make and it works.

Please try to prove me wrong .

A Stealth (Warship) BH With Four Monkey Houses !!!

An interesting designed BH with four monkey houses and at least eight entrance holes.

She looks like those stealth warship in Star Wars.

While shuttling from Jerangau to Dungun I saw this very interesting BH with four of its corners build with monkey houses.

From far it looks very weird but the owner must have spend a fortune to erect this three stories about 120 feet long by 60 feet wide.

I was very curious and turned into its compound to take some pictures.

I never seen this design before but to those who wanted to erect one I think it is better to have both the monkey house and the top entries.

I was not able to count how many birds entered the BH but I think the wall should have been properly completed.

Most of walls were not plastered and exposed to the hot sun.

Enjoy viewing these pictures:

A Good Example Of BH Being Build Without Proper Swiftlet Knowledge !!!

This article is something to do with a BH that was build by the owner with very little knowledge about swiftlet farming.

The final outcome is a BH that is orientated wrongly and the birds have to be forced to turn 180* to enter the nesting room.

Let us learn something about this mistake and to those who stumbled onto this article try to take some time to learn how not to make the error.

Remember how important is the flying path?

If you have decided to build a BH on a piece of land, you must take some initiative to learn those basic things that are very crucial to get those birds to quickly populate your BH.

First is to ensure that there are adequate number of birds that responded during your bird call test.  Try to get as high as you can.  


Second you need to make serious observation on where those birds are flying home in the evening.  If there are more than one path chose the one with the highest number of birds taking that particular path.  The chosen flight path will determine where the entrance hole should be precisely facing and its location. 


Third important parameter will be the sunrise and the sundown.  Knowing the sun's path can help to orientate your BH walls not to face the sun directly.  This will help to reduce the internal temperature.


The fourth point to me will be the proximity with any water sources.  The nearer the better.  If there is a lake on your land try to locate your BH closed to it. Your tenant needs water every day to drink and to find food.


The fifth point shall be where is the Walet central.  Walet central is just any BH areas where there are lots of birds are currently staying.  Use those Google map and cross the locations of these so called BH with a lot of birds which are producing those baby birds which will be your feeder. Main purpose is to have some ideas what are the resources that will help you with your BH.


The sixth point shall be the road leading to the piece of land.  It is suitable for those heavy vehicles to reach the location to supply those cement, bricks and sand.  They weight a few metric tons and if the access road is not fit you will later have to fork out lot of money to upgrade the road.


The seventh point will be the power source.  Where are you getting the electricity to run the BH.  How many poles do you need to erect and each will not only cost about 400 - 600 a piece but also the cost of those cables and labour.

The eight point will be how far is the land from where you are staying.  Try not to have is more than 2 hours drive from your home.  You will get very tired visiting the BH every weekend if it is too far.  Worse is when there is a power failure or problems related to the BH and you need to rush there to correct them.

For this particular BH which I am now being engaged to install the sound system, I discovered lots of things that the owner should have avoided.

All in all he was not swiftlet savvied.  He did not have much knowledge thus his first have many mistakes.

He make the mistakes and I got myself in the middle to find a way out of these uncalled errors.

One good example is the orientation of the BH. The monkey house was not build at the front facing the flying path but at the opposite end.

The next issue was the entrance hole that was totally  not facing those birds.  The building orientation is so screwed it is difficult to make those birds take the proper flying path into the monkey house and into the nesting rooms.

Well there was some plus points.  The birds flying path is precisely above his building.

I took some trouble to observe them one evening and counted the total number of birds that flew above or close proximity to the BH.

So you can learn from this article that it is better to gather enough information before going ahead with your dream BH.

Try to avoid costly errors by taking those short cuts.

 He should have attended a few seminars and get the right informations before going ahead with the construction.

Swiftlet Eco Park In Dungun, Trengganu !!!

More and more swiftlet Eco Parks in the making.

This time I manage to stumble while installing those sound system in Dungun, Trengganu.

The first Eco Park was situated along the Jerangau to Dungun (Lintang-Tok Kah road).

There were at least 7 units and all were huge.

Managed to snap some pictures and I hope this eco park will do well.

The second eco park is called Bandaraya Walit or Swiftlet Town located along Kg Wa to Jerangau road.

The project was said to be owned by Dato Gulam Fazillah.  At first I was told by my guide that it belongs to the Trengganu King but he was wrong.

Someone who read my blog SMS to me the real owner and the name of the road where it was located.

Sorry for the wrong information and thank you to the person who SMS to me the right information.

One very interesting about this eco park is that there are a number of grass fields that were said to be for those horses.

There were at least 3 BH completed, 4 about to be completed and 3 more under construction.

Lintang-Kok Yah Eco Park

 Bandaraya Walit Kg Wa to Jerangau Road