Finally The Visit Report To Sandakan Sawmill Was Finalized !!!

The owner of this sawmill in Sandakan Sabah wanted my opinion about turning an unused drying house into a swiftlet house.

I took a flight out to view the building and after almost two days with him I promised to write a full report on what can be done to convert the building.

On the second day I managed to conduct a birdcall test to see how many birds there were.

This building seems to be very long and tall.

To me if he can use half of the length will be good to start with.

He need to decide which section to be first converted and the other half he can either start later once the first shows good result.

The selection where to put the main entrance hole must be proper and with it he need to come out where will be the best location to open the LAL hole.

I gave my best opinions and told him where to erect and open the monkey house and the LAL.

The building can be turned into a two stories BH each floor about 8 feet tall.

It will be nice to come back and see the outcome and perhaps one day he will benefit from his new venture.

In Sabah swiftlet industry is still a young and with good potential.

Carey Island BH: Completed the 2nd unit !!!

After one week of works the 2nd BH was completed and hand over to the caretaker.

The first three ways was mainly to install:

1) A hexagonal tweeter just above the main entrance hole.

2) Installed 4 power tweeter around the top entrance walls.

3) Install AG 35 Piezzo tweeters on the lips of the main entrance window.

4) Install pulling in piezzo tweeters at the 1st door into the nesting room.

5) The LAL area was installed with almost 15 AG 35 tweeters.

6) Each floor was also installed with chocolate tweeters.

All the above were with separate line to ensure each line volume can be controlled from the data room.

The rest that were installed were:

1) 6 sets of chicken coop humidifiers on the middle floor.

2) 3 sets of chicken coop humidifiers on the top floor.

3) Each floor was installed with a set of mist pump.

4) Personally attended to the installation of all fake nests.

5) Installed about 15 pieces of bamboo mats.

6) Clean the BH floors.

7) Clean some of the nesting planks.

8) Sprayed the BH with Mutiara aroma.

9) Installed an owl trap.

10) Painted some walls black to minimize the light.


Hope to see a surge in nest numbers and will monitor from time to time.

Nilai BH: The Empty Shop House Was The Gateway To Enter Other BHs !!!

Received a call from a shop owner who recently purchased a 3 stories BH from a friend.

The BH was left vacant and most of those recyclable parts were carded away by someone.

The only very attractive activities that he observed was those swiftlet from the next door BH that love to come and play inside it.

After a short meeting I agreed to be at site on the next morning.

Upon arrival I realized that on the same row there was a BH that I revamped by now the owner must have lost interest.

There was no sound being played and cannot see any birds flying on the roof areas.

Anyway after climbing the 3 stories stairscase I told roughtly what can be done but reminded him about the local council stringent regulations.

If he proceed with the plan he will need to fact the council in the event that they know and paste a summon to tear down the installations.

Took some photos and I hope you all enjoy the pictures taken:

Pedas BH: Finally got the chance to enter this BH !!!

Remember this BH in Pedas which the owner wanted me to view and wanted a JV arrangements?

I finally got the chance to enter the BH yesterday August the 22nd 2016.

Nothing surprised and more or less similar to other BHs that were not populated.

The only thing which I was fascinated about was the way the nests, about 10-12 only, were made.

About 10 of them inside those fake nests made of plastic and only 2 directly on the nesting planks.

This makes me think of the followings:

1) The swiftlet specie found around this area are the lazy type and love to use fake nests to erect their nest.  The use of fake nests will allow a young couple to complete their nests within a week or two while directly on the nesting planks will take at least 3-4 weeks.

2) With this special weakness the owner should have detected much earlier and install as many fake nests as possible.  I am sure there are more that were unfortunate and could not find the fake nests at their preferred location.

Other then this special thing I have the following to say:

1) The main entrance hole was too big, about 4' long and 3' high. the amount of light entering the monkey house area was a bit too much.

2) The entrance hole was not properly finished and the tweeters around them were not well installed.  These tweeters are crucial to bring more birds into the BH.

3) There was not hexagonal tweeter installed on the monkey house roof.  To me a BH with no hexagonal tweeter will have a lesser chance to be successful.

4) The top most floor was way too bright.  When a nesting room is too bright those swiftlet will be reluctant to get married and erect their nests.

5) The biggest error were where those LAL holes were erected.  Simply at the far end of the floor which from my experiences they will have very little chance to see any nest on the ground floor.

6) There was not VIP room on all the three floors.

7) The number of internal sound tweeters were about 20 per floor.  It should have 240 pieces per floor.

8) The amplifiers used were too low powered.

9) The external sound only one.  It will be more exciting when more external sounds are played.

10) The BH seems to be very dry and the water piping need so kind of upgrades.

11) If I were the owner I will install at least 600 fake nests per floor.  The chance of trapping every couple that entered the BH is great.  The swiftlet specie around this area are the lazy type and they love those fake nests.

12) Nearly all 90* corners were installed with corner covers.  I think they should be taken off and perhaps cleaned and installed with those triangular shaped fake nests.

13) The three floors should be water proof.  There is a good chance to attract more birds to be its tenant if the floor are kept wet.

14) Most of the nesting planks are covered with those spores/dust.  I think a cleaning operation will do a lot of good.

I have put the above ideas to the owner and hope she will read it and get back to me for the best way to move forward.

Call me if you own a BH and is not well populated.  My number is 0177551318

You will be very facinated with what I can see as compared to any other so called consultant which you call them to inspect your BH.

Inside A BH In Tawau !!!!

There are many ways to wet the floor of your BH.

Main reason why you should wet your BH floor is to attract more young birds to enter your BH and be your permanent tenants.

Wet floor will also help to attract your owned young birds to return back as soon as they take their first flight of their live.

I have be pushing this wet floor idea and this was what I got from an innovative BH owner.

"Pak Harry I came out this this simple and very cheap idea to wet my BH foors"  he claimed.

What he did was to collect free water from a nearby stream and stored them in a 200 gallons container.

From there he will used a pump, timed to run two times a day, to push the stream water to the top floor and subsequently to the other two floors using those black pipes.

To wet the floor he inset a number of plastic's nozzles used by those fertigation farmers.

A very brilliant idea.

Simple and effective.

While I was with him he showed me how effective the system was.

What he did was to run the pump one tooth of the timer twice a day.

I warned him of possible flooding but his answers was too monitor them continuously.  He stayed near to the BH and can detect the flooding when it happened.

The most important is to wet the floor but not to flood them.

He installed the piping system just about 2 weeks ago and the effect on those birds are yet to be seen.

I assured him that he will one day see something strange.

Usually your birds will refuse to leave home, I told him.

Since he seems to see so many of my ideas works inside his BH he trusted me 110%.

I will be happy to see more nests withing the next few months.

Tawau BH: What Happened When Your BH Is Designed With The Right LAL Placement???

I was invited by a BH owner from Tawau to see what can be done to multiply the total nests number.

The first time I was taken to this BH I was not allowed to enter the BH.

At that time, two years ago, the "Consultant" he engaged hold the door keys and the owner himself was asked to stay out.

This time the keys were with him and he wanted my opinion on how to improve his BH.

The moment he opened the door to enter the ground floor I was taken back to see lots of bird shit markings on the floor.

He confirmed that most of the nests were on the ground floor (about 50%) and the rest were on the other two floors.

I was not surprised after looking at the way the two LALs were opened.

This BH is similar to another BH located somewhere in Bruas, Perak.

It has the same LAL placement and the nests distribution is similar to each other.

The only different is the morning sun direction.

There must be some good reasons why more than 50% of the BH nests population are at the ground floor.

I am very sure that there is a very strong relationship with how the LAL holes were opened.

With the right alignment any BH will stand a very high chances of pulling those birds to the loweest floor.

Those Figs Trees At South Garden Eko Park !!!

Make some effort to stop at the swiftlet garden in Sedili, Johore.

Was very impressed with the figs trees that I supplied about a few months ago.

They were planted along the road towards the South Garden, Eko Park.

They looks very healthy and I hope will grow well.

If well looked after they should start fruiting within 2.5-3 years old.

Enjoy these photos:

Sedili BH: Three Years Ago Was With Only 2 Nests !!!

I was called by this Sedili BH owner asking for my help to stop those owls from entering his BH.

I remember writing about his BH some time ago.

Read this post: http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.my/2013/10/sedili-bh-after-operating-for-1-year.html

When I first entered this BH was with only 2 nests after almost 1 year and 4 months into operation.

I am very glad that this BH now has changed and the number of nests jumped to almost 500.

I am also glad that I was the person the owner chosen to upgrade his BH.

I took almost 3 weeks to change the inside and outside.

Now with so many birds he wanted more if I can help.

The first thing I told him to do is to stop the owl attacks.

If they continue to do so his BH will be in a very bad situation.

The nests number will plumb and there will be no new birds prepared to venture inside.

So I installed two owl traps for him inside the first room after the LMB hole.

The next most important will be to wet his BH.

I can see that the floors were very dry and not attractive to lure those young birds to return home.

With almost 500 nests I told him to focus in getting those young birds that were hatched and raised in his BH.

Every cycle there will be around 1000 young birds.

If he can find all the ways and means to bring them back home he will be populate his BH in a very short time.

These young birds tend to migrate to other BH if the BH is too dry.

I keep telling him to wet the floor and the wall.

He might want to perhaps water proof the BH floors and install any kind of water flooding system to wet the floor.

He need to make sure that there is no cracks on the floor since it the water should seep in and wet the lower floor his nesting planks will be destroyed.

The rest of the things looks okay except he now need to harvest all those nests that were occupied.

I pointed out to leave the two screws every time the fake nest was removed.

If he remove all, with the screws, the will be a very high percentage of bird will move to other location.

The screws can be removed during the nest harvesting of the newly formed nests.

Strange Behavior: Swiftlet Eggs Removal Captured By A BH Owner !!!

This can be strange but there must be some explanations.

This BH owner happened to install a CCTV camera inside his BH.

He installed them because he wanted to know why on many occasions the eggs went missing.

It was a big mystery and he was hoping that he can find out the answer.

There were a couple of things he observed by this strange act by a bird removing eggs from a nest seems to attract his attention.

He posted in a WA group and ask for explanations.

"Why did the swiftlet removed her own egg?"

What came to my mind are the following possible reasons:

1) Those 2 eggs have expired or could not hatch even after the incubation period.  The couple sensed that their eggs have problem to hatch so they might have removed their egg so that they can start laying a new set of eggs.

2) My next theory is that this nest was taken over by a more dominant couple who wanted this corner of the BH very much.  They took over and quickly remove the old set of eggs.  You can see that just after the egg removal she begin to repair the seat inside the nest.

3) My next theory have to do with the accidental touching by the BH owner.  He must have touched them with his bare hand and his sweat must have come in contact with those eggs.  Once the bird returned home and smell something odd she will remove those eggs.

4) My next theory have to do with the eggs was not hers in the first place.  There are people who will replace the real eggs with other eggs taken from another nest.  There are people who have asked me to buy large size swiftlet eggs.  They wanted to populate their BH with a new and bigger species.  Once the mother realized that those eggs were not hers she will quickly remove them.

5) This next theory might be a bit odd but it is not a laughing matter.  The male is a sex maniac.  What he did was to remove his own egg in order to get his spouse to be on the heat again.  Usually female swiftlet will get "on the heat" when they have nothing to do.  Example once their babies took off within 10 days they will lay the next clutch of eggs.  Which mean two days after those babies left the female will be on the heat again.

6) One of the group member think that it might be due to the high temperature.  The owner have yet to reply on this issue while I am writing this article.

You might have you own explanation but it is interesting to learn more about their behaviors.

Jerantut BH: These Will Be The List Of Works Before Relaunching !!!

After 2.5 hours drive from Kuala Lumpur to Jerantut, Pahang I was glad to arrive at the BH site safely.

I was received by the BH caretaker and waited from about 20 minutes for the person who wanted me to view this BH.

I was told that the BH was completed in 2012 but after a few years into operation it was abandoned.

Mainly due to lack of idea on how to prevent attacks from owl, monkeys and the blown away roof.

There was no budget allocation too.

During my short inspection I came to the conclusion that this BH is a high potential BH.

Its location is perfect and the surrounding is simply a breathtaking.

If the owner allows me to revamp I think it will be populated within less then 6 months about 100-150 nests.

This is mainly due to its location especially above a hill facing a wide opened spaced cultivated with grasses.

However the BH need some specialize revamp works.

1) The rooftop need to be cleared from those wooden trusts and roofing materials.  Perhaps it can be applied with some leak proof paint and covered with heat insulation materials.

2) The main entrance area if I can I wanted to change from top entry to monkey house type of entrance.  The best is to erect a few brick walls and cover the top with a simple roof materials.

3) The main entrance hole direction will be dependent on the birds flying home path.  At this junction it will be towards the East.  This is mainly due to a BH that was very closed to this BH.  It is located on the west side of this building. 

4) The roving area and the turning area need to be precisely constructed.  I need to cover all those windows that were opened on those connecting doors but will open a suitable door where those birds should enter the nesting room.

5) To populate the ground floor an opening is required at the turning room.  The opening should be as big as the rood size.

6) The nesting room on the top floor will have at least two VIP rooms while the lower floor will be with at least one.

7) Nesting planks need some kind of additional woods to be installed.  The 4'x4' boxes should be reduced to 2'X4' size.  Every box need an additional cross nesting plank wood to increase the nesting areas plus 90* corners.

8) There will be some work to be done to cover the current LAL hole that was wrongly located and too big for a BH.  Once converted I need to install a number of new nesting planks on the ground floor.

9) One very crucial operation that I think should be carried out it to water proof the top floor.  Once this is done the chances of water leaking to the ground floor will be minimized and I can wet the floor.

10) The water pumping system need some kind of upgrade.  According to the caretaker the water pressure seems to be a bit low and a booster pump is required.

11) All those old tweeters need to be replaced and installed with special tweeters of my choice.  Might try a new tweeter that is supplied with special noise reduction.

12) All those old amplifiers need to be upgraded and replaced.

13) The best sound will be selected to replace those old sounds.  I plan to install at least two external sounds and one internal sound.

Looking forward to start the revamp operation.