Finished One Report and Three More To Go !!!

Working like a young student taking a degree course????

Yes I need to write lots of reports, recommendations, list of equipment to complete BH and many more.

Worste then a school teacher, my wife said.

I make a point to complete my trip report as soon as I finish my field trip. Of course the report are for those who pay my time visiting their new BH or failed BHs.

Recently in Kota Bahru visited a newly constructed BH but after a few weeks the birds stop entering. The owner blamed those bats hanging around those netting's but I think the BH he DIY is not suitable for those birds.

The strange thing was that his BH was just a few short meters away from John Chen's most successful BH and yet no birds wanted to enter his new BH. I am sure when they come back to roost they will fly above his BH roof top. But they did not even notice this new BH.

After about 30 minutes looking around, I told him that the whole design was out and he need to revamp to draw those birds inside.

"Ok Harry I will be very happy if you can put forward your recommendation and let Mr.E come back with the pricing."

Well that was the report I was referring to.

Writing these reports looks pretty easy however you need to be very careful not to make the BH owner curse you until your grave yard. Every thing that you recommend must be properly digested and ensure that they will work.

Every steps that you take will make or break the relationship with your client.

At the same time he might use your recommendations against you. He might report to the Police?

So to tell the truth life as a swiftlet farming blogger is not a bed of roses. They are full of thorns below those pretty petals.

This morning completed my visit report and emailed to Mr.E. Called him up and let him know that I did mailed him.

I hope by tomorrow Mr.E will download and study my recommendations. He will be the one who will do the necessary revamps on those walls, toilet, bathroom, petitioning and the pool area. I will be more on the sound system, the aroma and the selection of external and internal sounds.

The other three are for new built BHs and a DIY unit already 3/4 completed in Melaka.

Another person from Kelantan just SMS for help on his new BH which is about to be put into operation mode. He wanted my opinion before starting it.

Phew ...... I am getting busy every day but since I enjoy being busy who cares !!!!

Raub Shock Aroma And Sound Therapy !!!

Remember my Raub job in converting a "Sick" BH back to its normal self?

Today I make follow up trip to check the progress of the BH and to apply my "Shock Aroma Therapy" plus sound change.

Last visit was about 2 months ago. At that time there were about four bird shits spots.

Now the number surged to 23. One fully formed nests and about three fake nests with permanent tenants.

I was not that happy with the progress but the owner think otherwise.

"Harry before you took over there were non. I was operating the BH for 11 long months. There were nothing. Zip not a single sign of bird shits and now every time I come over there were lots of swiftlet flying on the my BH rooftop and also inside the house. The number of bird shits spots is excellent and the number of nests are improving. You have done more then what I asked for.
Thank you Harry."

Well Mr L, I was expecting double the number of nests and bird shits spots. I want you to be much happier then what it is now.

Oh yes I heard your wife died of cancer a week before Chinese New Year. Now you are looking after your three young kids and a BH. How do you find without a beloved wife?

This trip I brought along with me some new aromas and I can guarantee you that those birds will get crazy jumping in the house this evening and perhaps for a few weeks.

I hope whatever I will do today will result in more nests and bird shit spots. Trust me for I will do my utmost best for the sake of our friendship and the trust you have given to me.

So I took my things and aroma up and into the BH. Before entering the BH I stop both external and internal then switched on the nesting rooms lights. Stay about 5 minutes before making my way into the BH.

Before entering can hear those birds still inside making the keking sound. Come on please get out now. I have only two hours to finish my work.

The darkness level, when the lights were off, were exceptionally good. I feel very proud with the modifications that I suggested when I first took over. The hygrostat was working and priming the two humidifiers.

I checked the bird shit spots. There were many small patches too. The larger ones, perhaps more then 25, but will do the detail checking later.

Now let me get the aluminium ladder and start applying the first aroma onto those fake nests. This first aroma is actually a gel made of nest dust. I soaked it with warm water for 24 hours before I came over.

Got one full container and I believed it will be very useful to attract those young birds to move to the area that I selected. Balance I applied to the cement walls just below the nesting planks.

I then started to get the second aroma ready. This organic aroma I got from Kota Bahru. The smell from the black dust is awesome. I love the smell when I was pouring about one kilo into a pail. I then pour about 8 liters of tap water and stir. Before doing this I bought a few plastic containers, flat type, and pour the solution into about 5 separate containers. The smell from the organic materials was very nice as if I was the birds.

I was not satisfied with the 5 containers, which I placed at the back of the nesting room. I then decided to make the entrance areas more attractive. I told myself that the best is to mix another load and pour them into the pool area. Let the smell be vented out to the roof top.

I have one more aroma that I got from a friend from Tangkak Johore. His sister got it across to me and I brought along for the most exciting event of the day. I am dead sure that this particular aroma will make those birds crazy. Yes they did. I cannot tell this aroma's formula unless you call me for the information.

Well that was still not enough. After the aroma application I then concentrate on the external sound. I need to pull those birds on to the roof top and let them smell those cocktail that I have just applied.

I got one new sound from Kota Bahru. I called is "KB Stallion". The moment the sound was played, unbelievable, those birds were all over. The number continued to increase and many jump into the BH.

I am not very sure the main attraction for those birds. I believed the combinations but those aroma cocktail might be a very good reason.

By 6.00pm the owner dropped by and he too became so excited and started to compare between his BH and the other friends on the other row of shops.

"Harry, I think more are with us then my friend BH. Wonderful Harry."

Nothing to complain and I hope you like what I am doing.

The shock aroma therapy is working and I hope by the next three weeks we will see double or triple digit percent increase. I assured him.

Mr.L I bought a few manila white card boards and cut them into 6 pieces. I have placed all the 18 on the top of those old bird shit spots . Hopefully there will good signs when those fresh shits are captured by the board.

Let us hope for the very best.......

Visit To A Processing Centre Part 2 !!!

"Harry let me take you to the factory floor to let you see what we are doing."

"We have increased our workstaff to about 35 people and now we can easily process about 3-5 kilos a day. Processing now is not a big problem but drying them up is. I need three days to dry the process nest to an acceptable dryness level."

"Beside drying we also need to do some touch up in order to ensure that each nest looks good and acceptable to our clients. We do not use any chemicals in any of our process operation. All we need is clean natural water and human touch."

I was impressed with his explanation and I walked towards the cleaning and later moved to the drying areas. He showed me the semi finished products and also those completed that are ready to go.

"Harry we use two types of nest processing. The "Dry Processing" and "Wet Processing". Both have their pros and cons. The wet is the easiest and not much skills are required however the amount of looses are greater. Using dry processing is our ultimate motive. Each worker need to have adequate skill to carry out the job. They take a bit longer time but the looses from nest being dissolved in the water are minimal."

I was very impressed with all his explanations and I am sure to be his regular visitor.

His drying method was very simple, using a number of exhaust fans with no heater bulb or heater apparatus.

"We don't use any heaters mainly because when we use heaters, the process nests tend to change color. "

After the tour I took off for my next meeting downstairs.

Today by 4.00pm received an SMS confirming that my consignment was completed and moved to drying areas. Total number of hours spend was 4. Need at least 3 days to get them out of the centre.

Well a moment ago the owner called and asked me to work out the possibility of persuading all BH owners to process their nests first before exporting. Main reasons given by him is current stringent rules by China on importation of raw nests into mainland China.

Those who are in need of my helps in getting their bird nests process kindly contact Harry at 017 755 1318.

Visit To Birdnest Processing Centre !!!

"Harry I would love to visit any processing center to learn a bit more about nest processing. Can you arrange for me please?"

The way he used the last word "Please" was a bit too heart broken.

My answer was: I will try my utmost best but before I bring you there let me have the permission to bring outsiders into this restricted zone.

Yesterday I drop by and deliver my consignment of raw nests. I was very pleased with the new floor area and the owner have improved the output to 3 kilograms a day.

The first lesson that he did was to talk about wetness of the nests delivered. He placed a container on the high precision digital scale and pour all my consignments, about 1.5 kilos of raw bird nests.

"Harry they are already short by 7 grams."

What do you mean?

"You see the total weight after deducting the Styrofoam container is only 1,493 grams and not 1,500 grams."

Oh ya, I can see that. That mean I already loose 7 grams.

"Yes Mr Harry. But you need to see what will happen in a few more minutes"

What do you mean. Are you saying that they will shrink further?

"Yes just look at the digital number on the scale. You see the air con environment gives you dry air and more water will be suck out of the consignment. You just see what I meant."

Oh yes they are coming down. Within 5 minutes or so the gramme now dip to 1491 grams. Wow if like this I will be loosing my pants soon.

"Okay now let me tell you a bit about the consignment that I brought in. If you observe carefully they are not from the same BH. This looks so smooth and clean while this are wriggly and dirty."

Hmmm...... this guy is truly genius. I took the two nests he held and observed those comments he made. Hmm .... he might be right. Okay let me check with the guy who sold it to me.

I call the seller and asked his comment. "Yes Harry they were from two different BHs."

This is truly exciting. What else can you tell me by just looking at the nests?

"Let see, it seem that one of the BH owner used too much water while harvesting. See this curly surface of all those from the same house?"

Hmm.... I took some good look and it was true that the one from one of the plastic bag was most irregular in shape. They are wavy and not clean or smooth finish.

"Harry, some of these nests were allowed to be used for more then one time. Look at the thickness of the seat inside the nests. Thick and very dirty. Some are with fungus."

What? You mean there are also fungus attacking the nests? I thought only those wooden planks.

"Oh yeh, they do attack those nests that are in a highly humid nesting rooms especially those sitting just below the water spray either the humidifier machines or those pipe sprays. You need to let those BH owners knows that keep the humidity below 95% but not below 80% and they must be well distributed in the nesting areas."

Thank you very much for your kind advise. I am sure those who read my blog with learn from this new found information.

Mr Process Sifu, how much will I will loose after the processing works?

"For this lot nothing less then 15%. You see some of your nests are filled with those wall paint and the nesting seats are too thick. When we process the nesting seats will be removed. They will looks like these when they are process (he showed me a plastic filled with broken nests)."

Wa leow weh, I am gonna loose lots of nest's weight and money. Rugi, rugi and rugi (Lost, lost and lost). Never mind this is my quest for information on downstream activities. Lost some is alright but what I gained are the knowledge to be shared with my blog readers.

Will continue .........................

The Best "Quote" To Me and My Blog Readers !!!

"If You Have Nothing Good To Talk About Someone, It Is Better To Talk Nothing."

What would you do when you know that people keep talking back about you and start their "Hate" campaign on you?

The best is to stay away from them and keep doing what you love best.

To stay away does not mean that you are defeated but you can still focus on what you love most. Do not allow those guys distract you from your mission.

I receive several calls, emails and SMS everyday from many of my blog readers who urged me not to be offended by those "Hate" campaign but continue with my mission to write everything that I know about swiftlet farming.

"We can roughly judge a person from the way they write. I will just ignore the negative comments and concentrate on doing good & earning a living at the same time. If an opinion if given from the heart without any malice we need not have to bother too much.

Keep up the good work Harry !"

Yesterday one regular reader called me and advise me please ignore those Forum that gives very little benefits except demoralisation.

I told him that I am not a cock fighter and to join those forum will make me angry, disorientated and loose my main objective in getting towards my goal.

Remember, I created this blog with a primary objective of gathering as much information as possible for those newbies. To me there are still lots of new things to be discovered and I will try to get them. Once they are discovered I will exposed to all who are yearning for information.

I was hoping that there will be more blogger who will follow my footsteps. Main reason being there are so much to write and one or two person will not be edequate to do so.

However, if a person writes a blog, he must adhere to some disciplines or code of ethics.

One of the most important ethic is not to criticize your fellow blogger. You can voice your opinions and your opinions might not be the same. But never criticize with malice. Exposing his eating habits, what drinks he likes, which girl he likes, making wild assumptions about him is like puting his nude pictures on the web. You gain nothing by doing that but more people will be angry at you.

One more ethic is to help to improve the industry. Remember this industry started way back in 1880, more then 200 years but the information that we get on the net is so little. There is no place for all newbies to get the right answers. They need to be well supported. They need to improve their knowledge and reduce from making major mistakes.

Try not to write or show pictures that might raise the interest of people who can destroy the Industry. The moment these stories or pictures are taken by those people, the whole swiftlet industry will be doom.

Try not to touch on sensitive issues especially about religion, ethnic, phono or politics. They will normally cause lots of unnecessary attentions and in the end it will back fire your effort. If the issue causes lots of uncalled attention which might destroy your motive then quickly remove them.

Swiftlet farming is weired. There is no straight answers to any question. Some will says that the birds likes dark places but on the contrary there are many places where they nest in bright areas example at a hotel in Melaka called Puri Hotel. So you must not feel offended when someone gives any opinion which are not the same as yours. All you need to say is that this god gift creatures are unique and behaves differently.

The local authority are coming hard on the Industry and many people will be affected. Main cause of this new dilemma is us. There are too many birdhouse owners causing annoyance with their habit of blasting those bird call sounds. Many BHs in town areas are modified with little consideration of the total surroundings. We need to point those fingers at us but not to others.

I believed if every BH owners are considerate and do not wish to be harassed by those local council people they need to carry out the needful to reduce complains from the public. I remember talking to Mr James from www.swiftletfarmer.blogspot.com who believed that the best BH design is where the BH is in operation with little change externally and the sound used is so soft that even your neighbours do not know that there is a BH beside his shop house.

We need to reduce the bird call sound volume, keep our BH clean, make sure they blend with the surrounding, remove those smell, use better technologies in making the BH a better place for the birds to call their favorite home. The best person who we can learn from is from the master Sifu Mr John Chen. Just visit any of his BHs and evaluate his ways in making his BHs the best especially externally. They way he keep the road around his unit clean, the building walls properly painted, the low sound that he operates and he love to use top entry methods.

If you are keen to be a blogger please contact me so that I can try to assist you in your new mission.

Kuala Krai Ecopark Building Progress !!!

Those Eco park buildings are progressing very well indeed.

There were at least three to four work teams working on various parts of the project.

I can see that the new building at the far end are also up and ready for the highest floor.

Enjoy the following pictures:

EM-1 Microbial Inoculant Made In Malaysia !!!

How do you clear those awful smell from a BH full of bird shits?

The answer is to use this special bio tech enzyme called EM:1.

A Japanese technology that are locally produced.

The liquid enzyme consist of a concoction of Water, Molasses, lactic Acid Bacteria, Yeast and photosynthetic Bacteria.

The enzyme is suitable for environment control especially for animal husbandry.

You need to ferment for 3-5 days after mixing with chlorine free water at 1:20 ratio.

Those awful smell will be of the past once you apply this enzyme.

I believe this product can be used by our local council to eradicate those smell, if any, at those poorly maintained BHs.

Is It Halal Or Not Halal !!!

"Harry if we need to export birdnests to the Middle East, it is okay? Are birdnests "Halal"?"

Note: Halal is an Arabic word to classify if they can be safely consume by Muslims. They are like the FDA certificate in USA for all foods and drugs.

Hmm..... I need to come out with the most appropriate answer and must with some strong evidents.

Well in Kelantan there is this very religious man and he happened to be the "Menteri Besar or the Chief Minister" of the state. What he says or do become the dos to all those Muslim in the state and the many Malaysian Muslims.

I was made to understand that it is better to have Dato Nik's logo on your product as compared to having those Halal Logo. That whats they says.........

If he endorsed a product by talking them then it should be the best certificate to all Muslims.

Just have a look at the pictures taken at a shop in KB Mall:

Dato Nik Enjoying His Birdnest Soup

The Cup That He Endorsed. (His signature Looks like a mouse)

So what will be the answer. Halal or not Halal?

Make your own conclusion.

Two Truely Good Friends Who Grew Up To Be Swiftlets Millionaires !!!

"Harry I would like to share with you this interesting story about two good friends who started their swiftlet farming by sharing the expertise of the more experience buddy."

Well I am sure we can learn something from this duo relationship.

"This guy befriend this experience BH owner. What he did was to ask his "Sifu" to let him know where will he open his new BHs in any locations. His method was to open one just beside his Sifu BH. He in fact place the entrance hole side by side his Sifu's BHs.

When those birds starts entering his Sifu BH they accidental will enter his house. The birds are not aware that they entered the wrong house. No matter what they continue to multiply in his BH. This was shat he did and now if his Sifu is successful he too will benefit from those wild birds."

He now owned more then 100 BHs and considered to be one of the most successful BH owner in Malaysia.

For the benefit of those enthusiasts, the "Sifu" was John Chen and his disciple was Dato Beh.

THE SIFU

The above story was told by a prominent BH consultant in Kota Bahru by the name of Mr.O.

THE DISCIPLE

The morale of the above story is if you know someone that is very experience and good in the swiftlet industry you might want to follow his footsteps. You get a BH beside him and make sure your entrance hole is beside his.

The moment he brings in those wild birds, the will accidental enter yours. No matter what, make sure your BH is in a tip top conditions.

That how good friend should behave. Help each other and never kill one another.

Interesting Trip To Kota Bahru and Kuala Krai Kelantan !!!

A very interesting field trip to Kelantan.

If not because of the non stop rain pouring from yesterday afternoon till today's evening, the trip might have been more interesting.

One of the best observation was those birdhouses belonging to Mr John Chen of Sarawak. I was made to understand that he owned more then 80 BHs and nearly all are doing very well. In Setiawan and Manjung he owned at least 10 BHs. All are in fact doing very well. Some says that his monthly harvests is in the multiple of10th million.

It seem that Mr John now is moving his investment attention to Cambodia. A new, virgin and exciting markets.

Another observation that I wish to share with all is the quality of cleanliness around John's BHs. They are tip top clean, with all the walls painted and anchored with security on full time. The volume of sound played are very soft not like others.

Each of his BH will be with a family apartment for his caretaker to stay and most of them are Sarawak origin. I don't blame him because he is from Sarawak.

While doing the walk around the BH met a lady who owned a BH just beside John Chen's unit.

She owned a sizable building which currently house the Smart Reader educational system for young kids. A pretty lady and I have a pretty long chat with her.

SMART READER CO OWNER IN KOTA BAHRU. HER BH ARE THE THREE STORIES ABOVE THE SMART READER.

I asked her how was the Smart Reader lessons been doing to those young birds occupying the three floors above her training center?

She answered: "Harry all those young swiftlets are very well behaved and intelligent. He he he...."

Must be the smartest swiftlet colony in the country, I told her.

It seem that she met Mr John Chen on many occasions with her husband. A very nice gentlemen and John was offering her with a very good offer for her to part the nice building but she refused.

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BH OWNER IN MALAYSIA MR JOHN CHEN.

Currently she do collect a sizable harvests every three to four months but nothing compared to John.

Hasliza, how much is John harvesting?

"Harry I am not sure but I think might be a couple of 100Ks or a million" she answered. "Main reason being John's building is pretty fully occupied. I am just getting the spillover of those young birds."

"Harry any thing that you think I should do to accelerate the population?"

I am not very sure since I haven't finished doing my inspection of John's BH but I think you should follow John's entrance hole configuration. His is using the top entry and yours is side entry. You see your main target are the young birds from John's BH. If they are familiar with top entry then you should make them feel at home by using the top entry design. I am not asking you to shut the side entrance hole which you are having now but try to make another entry.

"Okay Harry you make a good sense and I will look into that. Thanks you for stopping by."

At 4 pm stop at one new BH which have difficulties in getting those birds in. The shop house was about 50 meters from John BH. I told him with his close proximity to John BH there is no need to consider the flight path any longer. His main aim is to get his BH in a tip top condition in order to attract those 300% of young birds every year from John's BHs.

Spend about 30 minutes to evaluate the internals and it's entrance hole. Told the owner what to do and where to relocate the entrance hole.

Since he has very little idea about swiftlets, I have little difficulties to convince him on the best ways to bring those birds into his BH.

I promised to provide a proper write ups on what he needed to modify. Once accepted those modifications works can start by next week.

FRONT VIEW OF JOHN'S CHEN BH IN KOTA BAHRU

SIDE VIEW OF JOHN CHEN'S BH

Crows Can Save The Human From Cronic Illness !!!

All this while we have this notion that crows are of no use to human being.

They eat anything in the garbage cans, they shit everywhere, and they even eat all those young birds if they find their nests.

I was surprised when a Herbal scientist told me that currently there is a scientific evidence that the enzyme produced by crows to digest those awful food that they usually eat can be used to cure diseases in human bodies.

The study was said to be going on and hopefully within this few months there will be some results from it.

I can assure you that everything that are on this planet do have some reasons.

The best is why God sent us those swiftlets?

The answer is with all those who are involved with swiftlet farming or bird nest processing.

Yes they are for us to harvest and sell to those Chinese who love to drink their delicious soup.

But remember to use the income generated from those bird nest properly and be kind to those poor.

Crows Are Scared Of Swiftlet Birdcall Sound !!!

The moment the bird call sound "Duress" was played all the crows "Cabut".

This was something that happened a few week ago when I was showing a newbie on how to operate the bird call gadget.

I was at Taman Tun Doktor Ismail with Mr.Dil. He was a newbie from the area and have some plans to conduct some tests in Pekan Pahang.

We met and I brought a brand new gadget for him. Before handing over the gadget I suggested that I show him how to operate the unit.

We went to his car, which was parked below a tree full of those black crow.

The moment duress sound was played all those crows flew away from the trees. I was unsure why but the duress sound must be irritating to their ear and makes them take covers.

It dawn upon me that if all the trees that are used by these crows are fitted with some tweeters and everyday the sound are programmed to run between 7.00pm till 10.00pm the Bandar Raya can easily scares the birds away.

A very interesting idea and I hope our KL Mayor will take note of this interesting method to shoe away those pests.

Low Frequency Radiation Hazard From High Power Voltage Electrical Lines !!!

This article was obtained from: http://www.expressindia.com/latest-news/health-hazards-of-high-tension-wires-hc-issues-notices/322723/

Chandigarh, June 13

Taking strong note of potential health hazards posed by high tension cables, a Division Bench today issued notices to the State of Haryana, Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited (HVPNL) and Haryana Urban Development Authority (HUDA) on a Public Interest Litigation filed by the residents of Faridabad.

Advocate Hemant Bassi, counsel for the petitioners, submitted that high tension electricity cables release electromagnetic field radiations. The higher the proximity to the high tension wires, the greater is the risk of exposure to low frequency radiation, the counsel added.

The residents filed the writ petition against the Haryana Vidyut Prasaran Nigam Limited’s proposal of setting up high tension cables adjacent to their houses in Sector 14 and 15, Faridabad, thereby exposing them to sustained EMF radiation.

The verdict in the case will be significant as it is likely to impact electrification plans in the entire country.

Based on results of research conducted in other countries, the counsel highlighted:

* Some countries in Europe have issued legislation and regulatory policies specifically addressing power lines and extremely low frequency EMF radiation

* A majority of European countries have adopted the Commission on Non-Ionising Radiation Protection guidelines on low frequency electromagnetic radiation in their own polices

* Some countries have also set up zones where maximum exposure levels are reduced, like around schools and parks.

EMF radiations

The counsel for the petitioners submitted that sustained exposure to EMF radiation may result in:

* Breakdown of DNA in cells, which may lead to increased incidence of childhood leukemia and cancer in adults

* Decrease in the number of White Blood Corpuscles

* Affect the electrical rhythm of brain waves resulting in depression, insomnia and chronic fatigue.