Termite Poison: Malaysian Made !!!

Found at : http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/2325590/Article/index_html


I came across this special article about termite poison developed using palm oil pulp. Hmm.... interesting and Malaysian made. RM600 for one house.


KUANTAN: A group of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) here has created an artificial bait from oil palm pulp which will help to get rid of termites.

The bait, which relies on natural resources, is environmentally friendly and effective to solve the termite woes faced by people. The termites belong to the Isoptera order.

Research team leader Abdul Syukur Abd Razak said the cost of producing the bait, known as Pisoptera, is low as it is made from thin layers of dried oil palm pulp.

Asked how the oil palm pulp would act as an artificial bait and kill the termites, Abdul Syukur said: "A Pisoptera will be placed on the route used by the termites. The termites will later carry the pulp to their colony.

"Once in the colony, the egg-laying queens will feed on the pulps and they will die. This will eventually bring an halt to the egg-laying process."

Abdul Syukur said UMP spent nearly two years to carry out the research with the assistance of Syarikat Mega Juara Pest Control Sdn Bhd.

"For those who purchase Pisoptera, it will show results within one and three months depending on the size of the house and encompassing land.

"The bait is also very convenient as it does not produce any smell which could cause inconvenience to household members," he told the New Straits Times.

Mega Juara Pest Control will be the sole dealer to market the product which is sold for between RM600 and RM1,000 depending on the size of the house.

"This is far more economical compared with the cost of imported pesticide which is sold for between RM4,000 and RM6,000," added Abdul Syukur.

Ball Park Cost To Upgrade Your BH !!!

During my last visit to a 4 years old BH I was asked about the budget to upgrade the house.

I entered the house and make a careful inspection on everything that I feel were not right.

"Harry, so what will be the damage? I mean the cost?".

Very interesting question.

Well when your BH is not showing any sign of improvement,I mean increase in nests numbers, it is high time for you to consider the upgrading works.

Before you consider this you need to allocate some kind of budget for the upgrade.

Depending on the things that you wanted to carry out you must have enought for both the things that you wanted to carry out plus additional sum for things that you forgot to include initially.

For an old BH that you just bought you might consider a ball park figure of 5% of the purchase price for minor works. In the event that you wanted to redo the whole house, major renovation, how about 10%.

Use this ball park figure to convince your bankers or your partners before you proceed with the purchase. If you cannot get this amount then it is better to stay out until the amount is made available.

Let assume you buy over a BH for 300,000 with about 50 nests in it. 5% of 300,000 is just 15,000 while 10% is 30,000.

By spending 15,000 on those minor renovations you might be able to double the nests within 6 to 8 months. If you doubled, from say 50 nests to 100 nests, you gained by 50,000 since you BH now is worth 300,000(cost of purchase) + 15,000(minor renovation) + (50X1000)(increase of nest number multiply by 1000 per nest)=365,000.

Not a bad deal but again what happen if the number of nests did not show any movement?

Well if you have make the right move before buying the unit like conducting those birdcall test, close to a successful unit, lots of birds flying on the top of the unit every evening, the house is okay except no proper sound system and so forth, you have a very strong chances to increase the number.

However if you blindly buy the house without making any proper investigations, you might be doom. It is your fault for doing stupid things and refusing to listen to Harry's advise.

So if you wanted to buy a BH and you have very little knowledge on what to look for, just call Harry (017 755 1318).

He might have some ideas on what to look out for and ask him to bring those birdcall gadget.

He is very crazy with swiftlet farming and don't be suprised that he will crawling all over your BH. You will surely shake your head on what report he will eventually come out with.

Birdhouse Water Pressure Low !!!

You might want to know what I did to increase the water pressure in my Apartment.

For the past months my wife have been complaining about low water pressure. While you do your laundry plus flush the toilet, you will be getting dripping water while you are taking your bath.

We took the matter with the Apartment management. They said that the low pressure should not happen. All the rest of the Apartments have not complained on the water pressure.

So they came out with a suggession to change the water meter to a brand new unit.

The reason given was that the meter have been there for many years and there is a strong potential that the valve at the water entrance hole is clogged up with debris.

I was curious and told them to go ahead.

The plumber was on the dot to make the changes.

He removed the old meter and installed a brand new unit.

You will be suprised what happened next.

I turned the kichen tap on, the bath room water and flush the toilet. It seem that the were lot of improvements. The bathroom water runs to it's full strength.

I am suprise that it works.

So if you do experience low water pressure, either at home or your BH, try to change those old water meter and see what happen.

Harry My Newly Installed Tweeters Are Not Working !!!

This morning while on the computer, received a call from a blog reader from Segamat, Johore.

"Harry, need your kind advise. My tweeters are down and worse they are giving out a kind of sqeeky sound. What do you think is the reason?"

I check a bit more about his BH background and he poured out his stress. Ai ya so many thing to do and need to learn more from sifu.

I told him that he is lucky to have Harry around. He is so generous with informations and never turn down any call.

"Ya ya ya, I know that that is why I alway call you".

He started operating his two floors BH about one month ago and everything was fined except during his recent trip he observed that the birds seem to migrate to the lower floor. All of them vacated the upper floor.

He suspected that the sound on the upper floor causes them to move down. He indicated that the sound now seem to be sqeeky and might have chased the birds away.

He uses the ordinary cheap tweeters and he could not remember the type of amplifiers and the player he is using.

Hmm..... I need to crack my head to figure out what are the possible causes of his sqeeky sound.

1) Poor signal generated by his amplifier.

I pointed to him that this might be a possible reason. He need to check on the quality of sound immediately after the signal leave the amplifier. He can check this by connecting a tweeter to the amplifier in his data room. Test and see what kind of sound it is giving out. It that is the cause, he need to change the amplifier or perhaps the player. I told him to move from using cd to using memory card.

2) Not enought power to the tweeters.

If you data room is at the lowest floor, there is a possible chance that the power from the amplifier to those tweeters at the far distance receive too little power. So he should consider to pull a new cable from the amplifier and make a new connection to the terminal end of the sound cable. Cut the present connection in the middle.

3) The tweeters connection to the sound cable were haphazard.

If you look very carefully at those sound cables, they come in a pair of wires. The two cables are attached to each other. One of the cable is with a blue color line while the other is plain.

Similarly if you order the tweeters from a certified electronic shop, they also will supply your tweeters with cable of a similar nature. One of the cable is with the blue line. Normally they will attach a capacitor to regulate the signal received and to lengthen the tweeter's life. The blue colored cable will normally be attached to this capacitor.

When you install the tweeter onto the wooden planks, you must ensure that these cables are installed accordingly. The blue from the tweeters must be connected to the blue line bringing in the signal from the amplifier. You must never install them haphazardly.

If you do that, you will have problem with the sound quality. (This advise was given to me by the sifu who own an electronic shop in Klang).

4) Chose the right Tweeters and amplifiers.

I remember reading an article about a BH owner who suffered almost 3 years with no birds coming in his house to built their nest.

After consulting a few sifus, he decided to bite the bullet. He upgraded his sound system using the high end tweeters and amplifiers.

After a few short months, his BH seem to show an immidiate turn around. There were more birds and he claimed that his bullet bitting did not damage his teeths. Now he can smile wide.

The issue here is about the choice of the tweeters. If you wanted to try, try to visit any shop that sells tweeters and get the sale person to play any birdsound on both the cheap tweeter and the expansive tweeter. Listen to the sound they generated. Make a guess which one is better? Choose those Motorola quality sound tweeters.

If you think the cost is too high, how about mix them with a few of the low cost but the majority the good one? But remember if they break down, the cheaper one, it will still chase those birds away.

Too bad if the above advises are not useful to you and your BH. Who knows, you might be facing the same problem soon.

Just keep the above informations in mind and once you face similar problems, start using the above informations.

Past the 100,000 Visitor Hits Mark !!!

I just wanted to thank all my blog readers for being so kind to read my blog.

This week the number of hits accummulated passed the 100,000 mark.

I am very proud to pass the number and my achievements so far have been very encouranging. I started blogging seriously about swiftlet farming sometime in October 2007. I took less then one year to hit the 100,000 mark. I am truely proud to have achieve the figure.

My initial objective in starting this blog was just to initiate something that can help as many newbies in getting as much informations as possible about swiftlet farming.

With it I do hope that I can contribute something to the industry thus reducing the failure rates.

I was hoping that this so called "Private and Confidential" business can be more exciting if someone will be daring enought to expose the do and don'ts about it.

I was also hoping that if I can start, the rest will follow my footstep in this same field.

I was very fortunate to be invited to be a regular speaker at GAHP seminars (Thank to Dr Redzuan).

My current wish is that, those who started to follow my footstep will be responsible and follow a proper guidelines to ensure that there will be no misunderstanding between all blog writers.

We need to support each other in helping the industry. We cannot criticise fellow bloggers for the sake of gaining popularity.

I was reminded by one speaker during GAHP seminar that it is very important to report things that bring progress and not distress.

Right now, safety in birdhouses is a very important issue to me. This week a fellow birdhouse owner died when he fell down the LAL. Last week a blog reader called me to inform me that he fell and broke his leg in his BH. I feel very terrible and do not want to see more dead bodies in any birdhouses.

Once again I wish to thank all my blog reader for regularly visiting my blog.

Thank you, thank you and thank you very much.

What A Splendid Achievements !!!

I have two handsome sons. The eldest is currently working as a property agent in KL and the youngest is in Melbourne, Australia working in an ICT Company.

I have to say that I am pretty proud to be their father.

Both have been very well mannered and well behaved.

Just yesterday the eldest was crowned at the Champion in a Contest conducted my a Popular Men Magazine called "Men's Health".

It seem that he tapau (won) 5 out of 7 titles and got hold of a very expansive watch as the main prize. He felt like being Micheal Phelps of America in the swimming events in Beijing Olympic.

There were 20 participants and just imagine when you pau five of the seven trophies. I can imagine how sick I will be if I am one of those 19 contestants.

The judges who did the selection and I am in no way part of the selection committee.

Well the good thing is that the overall champion is my son. Well he is very handsome and very much like the father, he, he he.....

Now I told him to perhaps look into something new like acting...

I remember pretty well when he acted as the hero (Chris) in a popular stage show called "Miss Saigon" when he was at Kolej Tuanku Jaafar.

Interesting Observation In Taman Seri Manjung Baru !!!

On my way back from Kedah to KL I took a detour to Seri Manjung, Perak.

The idea was to make some observations on Seri Manjung birdhouses and how they are doing.

I was very lucky to have a few of my blog readers were looking forward to meet me. They have a hidden agenda. They wanted me to take a close look at one of the BH that they purchased a few hours ago.

We met at one of the electronic shop in seri manjung and proceeded for lunch. All these three are x Navy.

After a good lunch I was taken to their newly acquired BH. It was not that bad but the number of nests were not that encouranging. The aroma smell was none, the humidity and tempreture sensors were none, no humidifier around,all the ventilation holes were opened, Tweeters at the entrance hole was only two, Two entrance holes, Not lights being install on the roof areas, No additional sound on the roof, the house use only one sound (internal sound for both the external and internal), number of tweeters were too low, the type of tweeters used were those for the external, the direction of tweeters install were haphazard, some areas were with no sound or even tweeters, upstairs too many walls, the data room consist of only one amplifier and there were a lot more that were not right.

To my suprised, that even the BH was not a five stars, the number of birds in the house was about 200 (I was given the opportunity to enter the house at 9pm).

Just imagine if the house is upgraded to a Five Stars BH?

I need to make a special report on what they should do and hopefully before the end of the year the nests number will increase to perhaps 100.

As for Seri Manjung BHs, I am amused with the number of BHs in this small shop houses area. In total there were about 14 rows of shop house. Each row there were about 12 shops. So the total is in the region os 168. Out of this half were converted to BHs.

The most successful belongs to a person Named John Wang (not sure the last name). A three units shops and using the top entry both on the upper and lower floors.

The number of kilograms per month was said to be around 20 to 30 kilos.

I was very curious and wanted to observe the number of birds coming home to roost.

During most part of the day, the number of birds flying around the entrance holes were not that many. Sometime I wonder if it was true that the house produce that much of nests per month.


Well you should see when the time draws near to 8pm (sundown). At around 7pm you can see the crowd starts to come back. The number grew by the minutes and at around 7.35pm to 7.50pm the place were full of birds jumping straight into those holes. They acted like a huge suction pipe of a vacuum cleaner.

It masmerised me and I just could not take my eyes out of the scene.

While that was happening I took note of which directions the birds were coming back. It seem that they are coming from all directions. Amazing and increadable.

Since they come from all directions you can imagine the benefits derived from those who convert their shop houses to BHs.

These birds seem to fly in into other BHs and they seem to be willing to spread the wealth with those around the most successful unit.

Hmm..... I was wondering how can one be very successful to capitalise on such a scene.

My opinions (I might not be 100% right) are as follows:

1) Get one that is very closed to the successful unit.

2) Make sure the path taken by those birds, maximum traffic flow, are just above the unit.

3) Use the exact type of entrance hole(s) used by the successful unit.

4) Make sure your BH is tuned microhabitatly to be similar to the successful unit, internally. ( How do I know the inside of the succesful unit? Use your imagination my friend. Just imagine how much shits there are on the floor and how smelly is the whole house)

5) Use the same type of sound like his if you can. (Harry how to copy his Sound? My question: Do you need some rocket scientist to tell you how to do it?)

6) Look at the external lighting used on the successful BH and copy exactly like his.

7) Install a CCTV camera to monitor the progress of the house.

8) Look at all the ways to increase the number of birds circling above your BH. It there is a will there is a way.

9) If you can draw them up on the roof, why can't you pull them into your BH? Do something. Find the right combination of sound and the aroma to lure them in.

10) Once they have entered and stay in the house, you now need to excite them to mate. They will only start building those precious nests if they start mating !!!

11) Do not leave it to GOD to turn your house to be the best BH in that area. You need to work on it.

Well I hope you got my points and dare to be different.

If you are not sure then why can't you call Harry (017 755 1318) the crazy guy in town who seem to know everything. He either know too much or the most crazy guy in town.

Fatal LAL Accident In Trengganu !!!

Dear all,

I received a call from one of my true blog reader who wanted me to report on this fatal accident where a rich man with many successful BHs died after falling thru the bird's LAL (Lubang Antara Lantai).

Please read this email:

Harry,

In Terengganu yesterday (15th August), a retired businessman fell to his untimely death after falling into his LAL from the 3rd floor. The LAL was formely where the lift used to be.

He broke both his legs and later succumbed to internal injuries.

Many a time, people take safety for granted. In can never be emphasized enough that safety should be the FIRST priority. Hence, would appreciate if you could post this in your blog.

1. Never enter BH alone. Always use the buddy system.
2. All voids should have some kind of a barricade, preferably with metal of wooden bars to prevent accidental access
3. Lighting, using a low-wattage or dimmed bulb where death traps are present is a must and must be switched on during visits.
4. For staircases, hand rails must be installed.
5. Never use speaker cables as AC power supply cables to minimize potential electrocution ( I have seen this done many times)
6. When joining electric wires, make sure they are properly insulated with waterproofing tape where water is present

Above are only a few suggestions. More can be added to the list.

SAFETY is always number ONE.

Good job and keep up your blog.

Regards,

Andy

I feel sad about his news and there is no reason why you should die by silly mistakes of not putting proper protection in your BHs.

Make safety as one of your most important part of any BH that you design.

More New Development with MY SP Birdhouse !!!

The last time I was home there were only three birdhouses around mine. Now it is becoming very crowded with three new units just infront of my backdoor BH entrance.

Getting pretty crowded but may be better for all. The reason being the more the better it will be for those who are knowledgable as compared to those who leae it to god.

The missing front roller been replaced.

Got my caretaker to install a CCTV, one camera only.

It is fantastic. Can see those birds flying in and out all day long.

I need to get a counter to manually check the number of birds entering from 6 to 8 pm.

Maybe need two counters. One coming in and one leaving.

Applied those love portions and splashed some duck eggs white with birdshits on the wall.

Hmm I wonder if it will work.

Will still be in Spatani until temorrow everning before leaving for Ipoh. Planned to be in Setiawan on Sartuday Morning.

Latest News: My Blog Reader Fell Down From His BH LAL !!!

I was on the telephone with a blog reader named Mr OOi of Penang.

"Harry, this is Mr.Ooi of Penang. Remember I call you asking about those Birdcall Gadget?"

Oh yes Mr. Ooi I remembered but since I did not received any call from you after that I thought you have decided not to proceed with the purchase.

"Harry, you know what happened after that day? I broke my leg after falling into the LAL. Luckily it was only one floor steep. If three floors I might be dead by now."

I am so sorry to know that Mr.Ooi. I hope you are okay now?

"Well I was out of the hospital and I am lucky to be alive. Harry I want you to tell about my falling down from the LAL. Tell those people to be very carefull when they visit their bird house. Make sure they know where the LAL is."

I fell very sad over this 2nd time I came across people falling off into the LAL. Last time I was in Kulim when the Bangladesh boy fell down infront of me.

Beside that I sincerely believed that have a three stories LAL tunnel is not a very good idea. It might be a death trap.

Just imagine Mr.Ooi falling down into a three stories LAL. I am sure he is dead by now.

So fellows, please make the right decision. No dead bodies please !!!!

Those who wanted to check on Mr.Ooi condition please call this number : 0124206884

Hope you can learn something from him directly. Try to call him during office hours please....

Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL) Selection !!!

Last night went to visit an Apartment in the Golden Triangle with lots of Serinti.

The apartment is somewhere on the top of the hill close to those collapse building sometime back.
I am sorry for the residents who have squash as their hobby.....

At first I was taken to the car park. I was not surprised with the number of Serinti staying on most corners of the ceiling.

After a few minutes that, I was taken to the Squash Courts (two of them).

My my my .......




Frankly the Serinti have taken over the two courts. There were at least 500 of them. You can imagine the shits on those wooden floors.





Anyway after taking some photos, I was invited to have a session of teh tarik...

"Harry, what is the best for a LAL in a new BH built on a piece of Agricultural land. The house will be 30 feet by 90 feet and will be 3 stories high?"

Frankly there are many ways that you can design them. There are two that I have observed. Each has their pros and cons.

First is the direct tunnel, from top to the bottom floor at one end of the building or in the centre.

The other is via the staircase and they are built in a ziz-zag manner.

Both are okay but I would prefer the ziz-zag staircase design. My main point is that you allow the birds to fly from one floor to the other before they settle down to a chosen location. Normally the staircase can be just about 2 feet and the LAL be extended by 6-8 feet. The length can be 10-12 feet.

Also for a young bird, first time to fly, will have the chance to fly from one floor to the higher floor before taking off to the sky. If they are weak they will be able to rest along the way.

One more point is that the total saving of nesting areas is at least 64% as compared to a tunnel type. Normally a tunnel will need about 15 feet by 15 feet hole while the ziz-zag you only need the most 8 feet by 10 feet = 80 feet. 15X15 = 225 x 2 floors= 450 less 80x2 floor = 160 equals to 290 square feet. So your saving is 290 square feet which is approximately 29 square meters or 290/450 = 64% savings.

One square meter can bring in one kilogram of nests, if your BH is totally full, you will gain an estimated volume of 29 kilograms per harvest. If one kilogram is RM4000 you will gain at least (4000X29) RM116,000 per harvest. You are looking at One Hundred and Sixteen Thousand Ringgit Per harvest?

So why must you choose the tunnel type?

Well there is nothing wrong with the direct tunnel, if given a choice, I would prefer to locate the tunnel in the middle of my BH. My main reason is that when they are at home they can fly around from one floor to another without a hitch. The tunnel provides them the path to be a friendly neighbor.

It is up to you to choose the best option. Both are alright.

I showed him a couple of BH designs that I have visited and are very successful.


LAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THE STAIRCASE IS JUST 2 FEET WIDTH. THE HOLE IS EXTENDED BY 6-8 FEET WIDTH.

Chicken House Advance Cooling System !!!

You might want to see what I saw during the MAHA Agriculture Exhibition in Serdang.

One of the most exciting product that I came across was this chicken farm cooling system called Komfort Kooler System. You might want to consider this if your BH temperature is making you real crazy.

The idea is to blow air onto a water dripping perforated corrogated box. Once the air passed through the box, it will be cooled and helps to drop you BH temperature. The corrogated box is not something normal. They are very tough (I touched it) and comes in one foot width and 6 inch thick. They are interconnected like a honey comb.

For more details please visit this website: http://www.cumberlandpoultry.com/english/komfortk.html

The local agent is at Plot 68, LPM, Prai Industrial Estate, Penang under the name The GSI Asia Group Sdn Bhd.

If those chicken coop can be so sophisticated why can't the birdhouses be the same?

Kampong Choh Perak Bird Houses !!!

I have a few more photos that I took during my last trip to Setiawan.

On the way home I stop one more time at Kampong Choh and snapped as many pictures as I could.

This is just for the sake of my sharing with all my beloved blog readers.

I hope all of you do enjoy looking at them.