No Matter What You Do There Are Those Who Hate You !!!

I have been blogging about swiftlet farming since 2007.

Well let me tell you nearly everyday I need to sit down in front of my computer and write something.

Anything which I feel can teach my readers something about swiftlet farming I think will be great.

I know many of you who read my blog have gained so much without paying a single cent.

However there are some who seems to be very angry with me for blogging.

What do you think these people are so irritated with me?

I do no harm to any one.  Blogging is something that I love to do.

What I wrote so far have something related to my experiences in swiftlet farming.

Have I been criticizing other bloggers?

Have I been criticizing the Government?

Have I been talking bad about any individual?

One important code of ethic for us as blogger is to try not look low upon others.  If we can we need to help them with their blogging.

I remember teaching James Chong with his first blog site.

Well on the bright side I do have many readers who told me that they can only start their day after reading my entry every morning.

Yesterday received this special note from Trengganu.

"Pak Harry, for the moment my BH nests numbers have improved from 200 nests to 400 plus nests.  I would like to thank Pak Harry for all the knowledge I learned during the recent Seminat at TH Hotel. Pak Harry I have Zero knowledge about swiftlet farming. All these while no one wanted to provide me with any advice.  Some will only tell very little however you are different.  You gave me from A to Z.  Yes you provide everything without asking anything back.  Please keep doing this so that all those who own BH will know how to improve their BH."

At least this person appreciate my small contribution.

I queried from him what have I done for him?

He told me that after listening to my Swiftlet Farming Talk at TH Hotel Trengganu he applied many of my ideas and immediately the nests numbers shot up.

Hmm as far as I can remember the Seminar was pretty recent.  May be about 6 months ago.

How the hell did the nests number jumped by 100% within 6 months?

There was another guy who email me his personal engagement with a BH belonging to his family.

Please read this (I remove his name):

Dear Pak Harry,

My name is RN from Bukit Jugra, Banting , Selangor.

For your information I am among your silent blog follower. Thank you very much for your invaluable  sharing of knowledge. Your knowledge  and contribution to the country shall be recognize and acknowledged by our government.

Currently I am just taking over my farther birdhouse as nobody in my family willing to take care due to time constraint. I just came back from Sabah after almost 3 years giving my service there.

The bird house has to be revamped as the bird nest after 3 years running is less than 50. The revamp work, i have to do by myself. Slowly and in progress, I blend your input sharing into my revamp work. God Willing hopefully it will getting better.

The lacking now in my revamp work program is the sound. Current external sound i assume is not attractive anymore to call new guest as it was not changed for the last 3 years. The same goes as well to the colony type of internal sound.

Therefore I am interested to have your tested proven successful sounds internally and externally.

Very much appreciated if you can suggest several recommended sounds for my collection.

It will be helpful if you can indicate as well a good price deal.

I am willing to share the responds of the bird once using uncle sounds.

I plan to use new sound after revamp work is completed.

Just want to share here, my father birdhouse is strategically located about 1km radius from Bukit Jugra, Sungai Bandar, surrounded with shrimp farms and oil palm and in the path way of the swiftlet searching for food.

Thank you in advance for your prompt feedback and again for you knowledge sharing.

Thank you,

Best regards,

RN

I told him to do his best and if he need my help just call me anytime when he feels he have some problems during his BH revamp operation.

He just wrote back to confirm purchasing two of my four best sounds.

I hope he will be doing OK with his BH.

Belara BH: How To Activate Nesting Planks With Cockroach shit Markings !!!

(Badly contaminated nesting planks by cockroaches)

One very common predator which can harm your BH are those cockroaches.

During daytime they remain hidden behind your nesting planks.

When night falls they will start to hunt for food.

Usually they will be eating your bird's nest.

They will chew until your nests will be with holes or half eaten away.

Belara BH was also facing the same problem.

I managed to kill almost 200-300 of them.

The best method is to get a canister of Ridsect with long straw nozzle.

Hunt for those cockroaches hiding points and spray onto those spots.

You will find many running out of their hiding place and jump all over the place.

I am not surprise that they will start running onto your leg and enter your pant.

One of the most serious consequences of having them is when they shit on your precious nesting planks.

Those planks will not be easily populated by your swiftlet.

I found a good method how to hide them,

I used the bamboo mat that was purchased from a shop in Java.

The 6 inch wide mat can easily be stapled onto the planks.

Have a good look at some photos taken inside the Belara BH.

Belara BH: A Mini Crocodile Visited The BH.

A very rare scene when you see a monitor lizard that is so big.

While resting saw this big lizard trying to find  his way out.

The size makes me compared it with dragon lizard of Commodore Island.

This was not the only thing that came by.

One day there was a female wild pig passed by the BH fence.

Enjoy these pictures and video clip:

Belara BH: The Installation of Hexagonal Tweeter and Cutting Of Roof Extension !!!

(A spiderman on the rooftop)

If your BH is without a hexagonal tweeter, my advice to you is to get one now.

For Belara BH, the first thing that I asked my workers to carry out is to install a hexagonal tweeter.

It must be directly above the main entrance hole and about 2.5 feet - 3 feet above the monkey house roof top.

For Belara the best position is above the apex of the two roofs.

The height chosen was about 2' 10 inches.

Immediately after its installation I insisted that the roof extension about the main entrance hole to be shorter.

Main reason being to get a much wider flying areas of those birds when they approach the hexagonal tweeter.

You will boost your BH exposure by at least 4 times as compared to not having one.

The Belara case is one of a good example.

The moment the external sound is played for the first time you can see those birds flying at the back will start to fly towards the BH.

They used to pass by at the back and was never interested to fly to the BH since there was no external sound pulling them over.

Now all the sides are with external sound.

A sudden change in sound distribution and obviously there will be a sudden surge of birds coming over the main entrance hole.

I noticed that they not only arrived in bigger numbers but many will attack the hexagonal tweeter.

Every bird that came to inspect the BH on a daily basis will increase your chance of hooking them as your permanent tenant.

I did the same at Bukit Besi a few month back and right now the flying path of birds to that BH is coming from 360 degrees.

It used to be only on the front side of the building.

Trust me on this and try to assemble one and quickly install at your BH roof top.

Have a look at some pictures taken when the tweeter was installed.

Also when those asbestos roofs were cut and removed.

Belara BH: Let Me Show You What I Did At The Entrance Hole !!!

Try to compare before and after the main entrance area being revamped:

(Old View)

(New View)

(Latest with light bulb)

Try to look very careful at the many changes done to the main entrance hole area.

1) The hexagonal tweeters was installed;

2) The roof extension was reduced from about 2 feet to only 10".

3) The main entrance hole was extended from 3' X 2' to 3' X 4'.

4) The number of external sound tweeter around the main entrance hole used to be 2 pieces.  Now with 12 pieces.

5) If you observe carefully there are two mini bazookas that I installed to make those birds become excited.  Zoom and find it.

6) The light above the the main entrance hole used to be florescent 2' long tube but now round bulb.

7) I also installed owl spikes on the main entrance hole wooden frame, bottom part.

So you think that to modify means very little thing to do?

If you need my expert opinion about your BH call this number 017 7551318

Belara BH: Let Me Show You More Video Clips Taken !!!

Please enjoy these clips taken during the revamp operation.

Every evening those birds will start marching into the BH.

For better view please enlarge the clips:

(Morning when we chase them out of the BH to start work)

(Number of birds before the installation of hexagonal tweeter)

(After the installation of hexagonal tweeter)

(View from the side)

(View from the back.  They do attack the hexagonal tweeter)

Hope you all enjoy these clips.

I just wish that they will become the BH permanent tenants.

If you have a BH with similar problem call 017 7551318 or write a message to me at harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Belara BH : New Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL).

Immediately after installing those external sound tweeters those birds started to fly into the lower floor via the new Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL).

It was nothing to shout about but I was pretty sure this LAL makes life easier for those birds.

Now they can take a short cut as compared to prior to having this new LAL.

I am sure during the first few days or maybe weeks they will be adopting this hole as compared to flying out using the old path.

Usually they will be guided out of the BH by those morning light.

This time the morning light will be coming from the new LAL as compared to before.

Once they use this new hole they will normally use the same path when they flew out in the morning.

Some might still use the old path but eventually all will use the new path.

What I predict after having this new LAL, the lower floors will have a higher percentage of nests.

Let me monitor and confirm that what I predicted comes true.

The new flying in path to the ground floor wiht New LAL hole opened:

The old flying in path with no new LAL hole

Belara BH: Opening Of A New LAL (Lubang Antara Lantai).

On my very first time entering the Belara BH I saw how bad the Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL) was located.

LAL holes are opening where those birds will fly down to the lower floors immediately when they entered the BH entrance hole.

A wrongly located or too small a size will make it very difficult for those wild birds to populate the lower floors.

The exact problem was with the Belara BH.  Those birds entered and populate the top most floor the most.

They cannot find they way down because its LALs were not properly located.

The moment the BH was handed over for revamp operation I pinpointed where a new LAL to be opened and I got my worker to hack the floor and make is big.

What I plan to do was to induce those young couples to fly down ward to the lowest floor the moment they entered the monkey house.

The hacking job was tedious and dusty due to the fact the floor were using those cement mixed at the mixing plant.

Beside those cement the floor was reinforced with those wire mesh (thick steel rods).

Once done the perimeter were smooth finished using cement mixed with sand.

On its top my worker covered with a piece of plank.

On these planks a number of external sound tweeters were installed.

Have a look at the pictures taken during the hacking, removal of the steel bars and once it was over with.