Ajil BH: The BH Is With Light Bulbs Inside !!!

The Ajil BH seems to be bright not because of the sun light from the main LMB but from both those ventilation holes (white pvc pipes) and special light bulbs installed inside each floor.

Look from a far those lights from those PVC pipes.

(The culprit are these white colored ventilation holes pipes)

My suspicion varies about what was in the "consultant" head when he erected the BH.

He must have come from a school of people who thinks that those swiftlet need light to fly inside a dark area.

They must have not be informed about the so call "Echo Location" ability of these special birds.

They must have thought that those birds are similar to human where without light they wont be able to fly down or enter those dark areas.

Hmmm  I wonder what other mistakes that this so called consultant made in all those BHs he erected.

The key point that we need to fully understand about swiftlet is that it have this special ability in flying inside a totally dark areas.

If the room that they stayed is too bright they will not breed and they will not erect any nest.

The nesting rooms need to be totally dark however they do need the morning light to guide them to find their way out in the morning.

So it is very important to shut those light but at the same time we must provide them with enough morning light.

Try to learn more about them if you are serious in managing your BH.

Ajil BH: New Owner Have Little Knowledge !!!

It used to be with above 50 nests however after being attacked by owls the nests number dropped to only 2.

That was what the new owner told me during my visit to inspect this rather old BH.

The BH dimension was about 20 feet by 80 feet and 3 stories high.

It has this large monkey house with its main entrance hole facing the wrong size.

After making closed inspection I listed the following points that need urgent attention:

1) This BH failed mainly due to previous owner have little knowledge about what swiftlet farming is all about.  He tried his best however his very best were not enough to pull those swiftlet inside.

2) The main entrance hole was facing the east however was not towards the birds flying home path.

3) The BH was once attacked by owls and 5 owl eggs were found on the floor after 6 months of not visiting the BH.  This uncalled even killed the BH.  The colony of 50 nests dropped to only 2 nests.

4) Beside the owl I think there were more reasons why those swiftlet were not that keen to stop by and multiply inside the BH.  After facing the owls attack the new owner decided to install a grill with about 10'X 8" holes covering the main entrance hole.  Those birds need to fly through these small holes in order to enter inside.  It in fact kills the swiftlet desire to enter.

5) The new owner who happened to be the daughter of the previous owner was with little idea on about looking after a BH with little nests inside.

6)  The Monkey house was too big and I need to suggest on how to reduce the size to about half the current size (internally).  When you have too big the size those birds will tend to play inside the monkey house and will have little interest to fly down wards.

7)  There were 3 LAL holes and they were not precisely opened.  This will cause those birds not focus in flying to the lower floors.

8) Every floor were with little partition walls in fact there was not a single partition wall on all the floors.

9) The external sound tweeters ended at the staircase area and not a single tweeter (external sound) was at the nesting room.

10)  The number of internal sound tweeters was not correct and too little.  The BH was with about 32  internal sound tweeters per floor.  Each beam to beam section (10' X 10') was installed with 4 tweeters.

11) The rough number of internal sound tweeters should be about 160 pieces a floor.  It width is about 20 feet while the length is 80 feet.  The rule of the thumb should be 20X80 and divide by 10.

12) Those 4 tweeters installed between beam to beam was at the four corners.  There were not installed facing the flying in path directions.

13) There was nothing to attract those birds to take footing inside this BH.  No fake nests and not aroma.

14) The consultant used to erect this BH seems to believe that those swiftlet need light to fly inside the BH.  He installed a number of 24/7 lighting bulbs orange in color.

15) Beside those bulbs the ventilation holes pipes were made of those white colored PVC pipe that will turned into light bulb when shone by those sunlight.

16) There was not a single wall to create those rooms for the birds to hide.  Every floor was like an open field with no partition.

17) The BH was with only two amplifiers.  One for the external sound while the second was for the internal sound.  Lack of variety to me.

18) The internal sound seems to sound like noise and not those baby sounds.  I told the owner that her internal sound was not suitable,  I changed to super baby king with no hesitation.

19) The external sound seems to be okay however the sound volume at the hexagonal and lmb mouth was not able to be increased in volume.

20) The BH was with no auto starter in the event of any lightning that do happen in this part of the world.  If lightning should strike closed by I am sure this BH electrical system will trip.

21) The timers used to run all the BH gadgets are those of manual type.  If there is no electricity for any reason the timer will stop running thus will be inconsistent.  A hager timer might solve this problem.

22) The BH floor was with no humidifier running.  I feel that the BH is badly in need of those wet system.  It can either be the humidifier or mist pump or piping system.

All the above need some kind of solution before the BH can be put into operation.

The owner wanted my ideas on how to make the BH more attractive to those swiftlet and I hope I will be able to put into a short report for her.

In the mean time please enjoy these photos:

When Those Chains Were Too Close To The 90* Corners !!!

While busy chatting on WA a bird house owner posted a picture showing that those ideas of using chain were not working.

He wanted to tell me that this beautiful idea cannot work in his BH.

I quickly told him that he installed those chains wrongly.

If you want to see it works it must be free standing and must be away from those 90* corners by about 2-5 inches.

He argued but I told him calmly that what I saw was not so.

The only way to proof to him that his workers installed those chains wrongly I quickly submitted to him a few pictures on how those chains should be installed.

Upon seeing those pictures he calm down and apologize for being so stubborn.

What I wanted to do was to help him to reduce those odd shape nests that fetches lower price.

If every harvesting operation your nests are 70% odd shape while only 30% are full cup you should start looking at installing these chains.

They are very cheap and if you install them properly your will be able to reduce your odd shape nests to only 30% or less.

The rest 70% or higher will be full cup.

Best of luck to all of you.

Jeram BH: Started Sound System Instalation !!!

The owner of this BH keep chasing me to mobilize my staff over.

He seems to be over excited to give his dead BH a new life.

I have been delaying my trip since my workers were tied up with the revamp operation at Bandar Baru, Kedah BH.

Yesterday managed to mobilize my workers and started to carry out the planned scope of works.

This BH was put into operation about 3-4 years ago however due to lack of knowledge the BH remained closed to empty.

The owner DIY his way through and makes a number of gross mistakes.

The moment he did these mistakes no birds dared to venture inside the nesting rooms.

They only enter the monkey house and they will immediately rushed out.

He did not understand what when wrong but suspected the use of gunny sacks to damp his BH floor was the caused.

I was asked to carry out an inspection and discovered a number of gross mistakes he did and asked him to reactivate his monkey house entrance window.

Prior to this he shut the monkey house and ventured into top entry system.

I told him to clean the floor and also his nesting planks.

A few partition walls were erected and I think he did his best to pleased me.

Once he have all these cleaning and walls erection done he keep ringing me to quickly move my staff.

Managed to explain my situation and he waited until I arrived.

Yesterday was there with two workers and instructed them what to do so that we can reactivate the dead BH.

First will be to install some working lights on the walls.

Then we installed the mist pump piping.

Today will start the installation of internal and external sound tweeters for the highest floor.

I stayed late to watch the flying home path.

Unfortunate because only about 30 swiftlet flew above or in front of this BH.

They were flying from south east to north west.

I need to use this flying home direction to direct the new LMB hole and the bazookas.

Once ready will get cracking on those external sound tweeters.

Will keep inform on the progress.

I need about 4-5 days to complete.

Bandar Selama BH: Another Sad Case Of A Failed BH !!!

Another community project involving 33 farmers that put so much hope in securing a regular income dashed away.

No one know what to do and the task was given to the farmer's association to tackle.

This BH was erected about 4-5 years ago nearly the same as the unit at Bandar Baru Kedah.

I am not surprised if the same contractor was awarded the job.

Some said that it was given based on political connection and not swiftlet knowledgeable contractor.

The final result seems to be the same as the Bandar Baru BH.  After 4-5 years no nest.

Some one mentioned that there were three but all the three couples left the place in a hurry.

What I discovered seems to pin point the lack of knowledge about swiftlet.

1) The main entrance hole was facing the palm oil trees and not the flying home path of those swiftlet.  This must be due to tying not to face the tweeters to the office area due to noise pollution.

2) There was not a single external sound tweeter on the roof of the monkey house.  No hexagonal tweeter or power tweeter or bazooka to lure those wild birds to the BH.

3) The flying in path from the lmb to the nesting rooms was not correct.  The contractor simply erect something that meets his specification but not those swiftlet.

4) With the current lmb position the LAL position was not correct.  If you need to get your tenant to stay downstairs you need to guide them there and not let them do what ever they like to stay.

5) The BH room temperature looks okay but there were water leaking all over the floor.

6) The contractor did not installed any external sound tweeter inside the BH nesting room/  They stop at LMB area only.

7} The internal sound tweeters were little and at the same time were facing all over the place.

8) The nesting planks looks being covered by white dust more or less fungus/

9) The planks were arranged well with lesser gaps.

10) Only two out of four amplifiers were working.

11) There was no gadget to auto start the power supply if strike by lighting.

12) I am not sure what internal and external sounds were used inside since there was no eletricity supply during my visit.

Take a look at what I say above and make your own judgement.

I will be putting a report to the rightful owner and see if they accept my recommendations.