A Very Special Day While In Melaka !!!

Today I considered as a very special day.

I got a call from someone of whom I respect so much as the Swiftlet Farming Industry player.

I was with Mr.Sh in Melaka waiting for his electricians to turn up to fix those tweeters, hexagonal tower, electrical shock fence, the humidifiers and many other.

Suddenly a call came from SP.

"Harry this is Dato B and when are you coming back to SP?"

Yes Dato, how are you. I am so surprise to receive your call. I might be in SP on this Saturday and Sunday. Yes what can I do for your Dato.

"Please drop by in SP and call me. I would like to know more about your ideas. Let us have a cup of coffee."

Yes Dato I will be truely honoured.

So I have to skip other plans but to meet the one that I admired so for long and have never been able to sit together to talk about swiftlet farming.

I hope this weekend meeting will be a memorable one.

Aroma: Choose One Or Perhaps Try All !!!

Today I am in the mood of writing about how to generate you own aroma for your BH.

Before jumping into any conclusion, I just wanted to say that these are just ideas and no guarantee that they will work.

Before you try please be careful not to harm you BH.

1) Throw Some Swiftlet Eggs On The Wall.

This is something that is possible. I was made to understand that many BH owners in the neighbouring countries are using this technique.

Just think of this. Most BH that were burgled, with all those eggs thrown on the floor, will be quickly filled with nests within a few short weeks. Most BH owner claimed that the nest number will increase by at least 10-20%. Do you know why? Because of those broken eggs !!!

In the neighbouring countries (cannot mentioned on my blog) this method have been practise for donkey years. What they did was to harvest those nest with eggs and immediately throw the eggs onto the walls. The effect was said to be very productive.

I do not recommend you use your BH eggs but try to buy them from the market and do the necessary. You need about 20 for one floor (20'X70'). If you cannot find them how about substitute the swiftlet eggs with burung puyuh bird egg?

Note: I do not guarantee anything but U might want to try.

2) Use Sea Cucumber laced with Ammonia Powder.

I received a call from a friend staying in JB.

"Harry I came to know that there is a very successful consultant based in Klang who use sea cucumber laced with ammonia powder. They put the dead sea cucumber in a container and laced it with ammonia."

Are U sure?

Hmm so so.

So if you want to try better think twice.

3) Ferment Those Birdshit !!!

This is something natural and original. Take about 5 kilos of fresh birdshit and mix them with tap water, about 5 liters or more.

Let the birdshit ferment for a few days and once ready filter for the water.

Now you are ready to splash to the BH wall. Before you do that it is recommended to mix with some fish oil.

Hmm ..... they sound very delicious like those tuak from the coconut tree.

Oh yeh please do not drink those birdshit water.....

All the above are for your knowledge and there is no proof that they can bring those birds into your BH.

If you choose to opt for any one or all Harry will not be responsible if anything should happened.

However if it works please let me know.

How To Start Your Aroma Application Experimenting !!!

Many people asked me on how to select the right aroma for their new BH.

There is no right answer for it but you might want to try experimenting yourself.

Main factor is that there is no one aroma that can be effective in all locations, as every body thought off.

I have experimented with a few and the results are not that encouranging until today.

It is quite similar to those external sound. They can be good in one
place but they might give very little effect to another location which
might be just a few blocks away.

So you cannot blame the fellow who sell you the aroma but you can do
something that can cut down your cost of experimenting.

My best recommendation is to try something that is cheap and if they
work then stick to them.

For example:

Why dont you read all those articles posted in the duck egg swiftlet
special and try to figure out what aroma can and will do to a BH. Go to http://groups.google.com/group/duck-egg-swiftlet-special/topics?hl=en&start=

After you have finish reading all of them, you might get the idea what
is the cheapest way to start with.

Yes, use the duck egg. Buy let say 5 eggs (about 70 sen a piece, get
the greenish colored shell), remove those yellow york and collect the
white in a container.

You can stir the white and get a brush to apply at one selected area
where you think the birds will be interested to built their nests.
Yes close to the tweeters and possibly near to those corners. Apply
the egg white by soaking the brush (1.5 inch wide) and make a swipe to
about a spot of about 1.5 inches by 4 inches length. Once you have
done one then you make another one. Finish all the 5 duck eggs
application and get some brown box paper and place below the nesting
plank where you have just applied those whites. If those birds
should occupy the area, there will be some signs (birdshits) below on
the brown paper.

Do the inspection every week.

If there are signs of birdshits, your experiment is working. You
should straight away go to the market and buy more duck eggs (make it
10 eggs this time). Repeat the application on the same spots and
extend a bit more.

Remember "do not be greedy". Do them phase by phase.

If there were no signs of any birdshits, then you need to look into
what is the next cheapest method to start a new experiment.

I suggest the birdnest soup.

Call your good friend who owned a BH and ask him for some broken
nests. Say that you want to experiment with bird soup.

Pay about 30 ringgit or so and start doing the boiling like what was
mentioned in the duck egg special.

After slow fire boiling for one hours with the feathers, you need to
pour into a container and cooled it in a fridge.

After that take to your BH and apply the soup similar to the above.

Follow the progress fo about three weeks.

If they works then you need to call your friend again and buy a bit
more for making a new batch of birdnest aroma soup.

Do the same and apply to those same spots and perhaps expand the area phase by phase. DON'T BE GREEDY.

If again this soup also failed, then you need to go a buy a new aroma.

This time you might want to start with your own formula or buy some products, ready made,on the market.

There are many and I am sure you know what I am saying.

If you are still blank, call me at 017 755 1318.

I sincerely hope you will find the right aroma that suits your
location and BH.

Happy trying and don't blame any one if it does not work. Keep trying
and I am sure one day you will find the right aroma......

A Bit About Aroma In Your Birdhouse !!!

In a birdhouse or cave with lots of swiftlets nesting, there will be a lot of bird shits on the floor.

These bird shits will normally undergo a normal decomposition cycle where bacteria and bird shit insects will turn the shit into Guano or fertilizer.

During this decomposition stage there will be a number of gases emitted in the house. These gases are made of ammonia (NH3), Hydrogen Sulphide (H2S) and carbon dioxide (CO2). Both NH3 and H2S are very smelly and aromatic to the birds. Their smell seem to be an attraction points for any birds to stay in a BH.

This is mainly due to their nature since hatched into the world. Just try to imagine that your are a young bird just hatched from the egg. The moment you are exposed to the atmosphere, you are already breathing in those natural aroma in the house or a cave. You cannot open your eyes yet but your nose sniffed those pungent smell from your mummy's and daddy's shits.



So it is very common that when these young birds would like to feel peace and safe, they prefer to choose a house with strong bird shit decomposing smell.

This is why you need to consider applying adequate aroma materials to your new birdhouse. You can normally used a real bird shit, feace powders, bird nest processing water, specially blend liquids, hormone that are specially ready to use and etc.

Some are applied to the floor while there are some applied to the walls and not forgeting those that can be applied onto the nesting planks.

To ensure that these aroma last for at least one month, my advise is to shut all those ventilation holes but open those strategically located holes.



Aroma application have these specific functions:

1) To a brand new house, they can be used to remove or mask all those unusual cement, wood, smoke, oily and welding smells.

2) To an old BH these smell will create the original atmosphere duplicating a house with lots of birds staying in it. As such you make the birds feel save and peaceful.

3) To make the nesting plank smells as if there are many nests being built on them. This will cheat the birds to feel that there are many other birds in the house and he is not alone to start a family.

4) One of the most important function is to let the smell exit the house via the entrance hole(s). Close all the ventilation holes and open only a few strategically located holes allowing the air to sweep the aroma from the rooms to the bird entrance holes. The moment the wild birds smell these fragrances they will be very curious to enter the entrance hole(s) and perhaps make a decision to stay.

You have to be very care full not to apply those aroma made for the walls and the floors onto those nesting planks. They have to be carefully used and not to apply wrongly. Ask your suppliers to explain to you in details.

How and what are Aroma made of?

This is something that you need to find out yourself......

If you do not know where to get the information, please sort out with Harry at 017 755 1318 ...

This Harry knows too much and he just love to share them with you .......

Latest from a new birdhouse owner who started Harry's Aroma Theraphy (HAT):

Quote:

Hi, Harry,


Thanks for your e-mail,

Just to let you know that since the last time we went to my birdhouse to do aroma therapy the are some improvements.

There are now 7 permanent large patch droppings and many scattered ones.

(scattered ones means that they are there but have not fix on one spot yet).

Compared to only one large patch when we last visited.


Thanks for everything.

Mr. A

I am very glad that I made one more person happy.

For more informations about my last trip to this particular BH please click on this: http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.com/2008/02/trade-marks-in-kuala-selangor.html

Hope you enjoy reading and learn as much as you can ....

Home Made Aroma

I was very adventurous in birdhouse farming.

One of the thing that I came across was making your own aroma. This might not be fullproof but nice to try.

U take a few broken nests that U plugged from your own birdhouse. Shred them and put into your kitchen shreeder machine. Mix with some water and shread them until they form a thick slimmy liquid.

Once the nests are shreaded and ready, place it in a clay mug or vast. Add about 3 to 4 liters of water. Let the mixture ferment for at least one month.

Note: It will be very smelly so keep it in your birdhouse store area if possible. Not in your house please.

Once fermented, for the one month, scoop about a liter of the water and test it by splashing it to a bush and observe what happen. If there are swiftlets they will be swaming the bush in no time.

If it does not work, add one liter of water to the vast and let it be fermented for another month.

Do the same test and see the result.

If the result is good then U might found the portion that U have been looking for.

For those who are free to try, add other liquid like fish oil, duck eggs and etc. Who know U might find the love portion.

A friend of mine from Trengganu was telling me that he did nearly the same but he use nest collected from a cave. The result was awfull. The swiftlets nearly raided is banana trees to pieces.

He is cock sure that it works.

No Pain No Gain !!!

Three Years With 30 Nests.

This is something that I would like to discuss for today's blog.

I received this email today:

Dear Harry,

I am Ching from Pahang, Kuantan. I own a swiftlet house for 3 years, but only 30 nest, consider is fail.

I observe the baby swift do not turn back once it mature.

Am interested in your CS Mating Potion, would appreciate if you could inform me the supplier's detail. Hope it will help...

Personally I think Mr Ching nest count is a bit on the low side after 3 years in operation.

Since we do not know the main selection criterias when the location was selected , I assumed that Mr Chin did carry out what I called birdcall test before he made his decision to proceed. A birdcall test is a test where U play the sound using tweeter connected to your music player at the location for about 45 minutes to check on the number of swiftlets available at the location of interest.

A birdcall test is very crucial before U make any decision before U purchase the Agri land or the shoplot which U wanted to converted to be a birdhouse.

The test will give the investor a kind of gauge whether there are lots of swiftlets around or not. By just looking around, U might mistook that all those swiftlets that fly around are the right one. The test will only attract the type of swiftlets that will built the edible-nests.

Only after U do the birdcall U will realised that those birds are not. If the response is above 100 swiftlets (estimates) then the choice is good. Below 20 swiftlets U should not go ahead or perhaps U should retest the call at other time or the next day. If it is still below 20, it is advisable to abort the project. If the respons is between 20 to 100 what shud U do?

So now you have made a mistakes or your birdcounts is not to your expectation. What would be the next steps?

I have the following suggessions which U should condsider:

a) Try to change the swiftlet call music.

This is the best and the cheapest option.

Go and scout around for any new or improved birdcall sound (extenal) and do some trial run. Get at least three new sounds. Borrow, steal or buy them. Play the new music for at least 45 minutes. Observe before the playing and while playing. Count the number of birds responding to the new sound.

After 45 minutes, stop the sound and let it be without any music for at least 30 minutes. U then play the second music and do the bird count again.

Do the same using the 3rd new sound and do the counting.

Once U have got the result, choose the one that brings in the most birds to your roof as your new sound for external call.

I read in a forum where a person who face similar problem. He bite the bullet and invested in the latest sound system which cost him a fortune. After the installation he have no regret.

So relook at the sound system U have installed in your birdhouse both the ststem and the sound.

b) Check your house Internal Temperature and Humidity.

Take with U a temperature tester plus humidity tester. Do the test at different part of the birdhouse. Upper floors and lower floors. Do at every corner and center.

The humidity and temperature must be right to be condusive for the birds to breed.

If the temperature is to high (above 28 deg Celcius) then U need to ventilate the room. If the humidity is not right (90% to 95%) U need to reset your humidity making machine.

c) Use Fake Nests.

There are a few reasons why U shud consider using fake nests.

The most important reason is to allow the young swiftlets that have never build a nest before to quickly use the fake nest for breeding. This will allow your house swiftlets population be multiplied much faster.

If the fake nest is located at any remote location in your house, these young swiftlets will easily move to that location. Example U have all the current nests in the lower floor and U wud like to have some on the upper floor, U put the fake nest only on the other floors. Place them nearest to the tweeters and see how it works.

Pak Hen of Indonesia recommended the use of foam strips as fake nests. The foam he is refering to is the meal box that U buy your nasi lemak in the morning. Clean the box and cut them to strips ( 1 1/2 inches by 5 inches) and staple on the wood planks.

d) Use of Aroma.

This is something that U shud do if you are willing to pay for it. The aroma treeatment is expensive and must be strictly followed it application methods. The cost per liter is estimated to be in the region of RM600 to RM800 per liter.

The product will produce result if U apply them properly ie how much to be applied per application and how frequent it should be applied.

As far as I know these aroma can be obtained from various birdhouse equipment suppliers like Crystal Swiftlet, Eka Wallet and Nest Tech.

The best suggession is to get all three Companies to provide the relevant quotations and the application procedures.

Also try to get some reference users from them for U to talk to, to learn how they apply and what are their results.

I hope my suggessions given are of use to Ching and any other readers.

If U still need to know more please send your email to iaexcel@yahoo.com or call me at 017 755 1318.

Using of Aroma Theraphy

This is something that I am very keen to do but have yet to make up my mind.

I hope it will materialised soon.

I read this write up by a guy from East Coast:

All in all, I purchased about 100 litres of CS Mating Potion and sprayed the solution according to the timetable given to me by the poeple my supplier. From my observations over these last few years, the mating potion actually works. Many swiftlets from other farms that flew into my new farms when I had turned on the swiftlet sound tended to stay and breed within my farms very quickly and stopped going back to their old ones.

The visiting swiftlets really like like the aroma from the mating potions. At the same time, after every breeding cycle, I go into my farms and spray the mating potions all over so that when the baby swifts leave my farms to fly off, they will not be able to get used to any other farms that do not spell like mine. It's really working so far, as I see alot of baby swiftlets returning to my farms in the evenings.

I know this strategy sounds devious, but it's free competition right? Also, one good thing about supplier, is that they assured me that they have a company policy not to sell the mating solution to any farms within 5 km vicinity of mine. As long as this policy doesn't change, I'm quite confident that my farms will continue to grow and update.

With this remard I think there is a very strong reason to use the theraphy.

It will not only attract other birds to move over from your neighbours but will also make the babies to come back once they start their flight out of the house.

Hmm.. I will do myself during the next trip back home....