Miniture Sliding Door To Prevent Owl !!!

Been receiving a number of emails and SMS on how to prevent Owl from entering BHs.

You need to look at various options.

The best is to employ a license gun keeper to shoot those predators. But this might not be good enough after he goes home for his lunch or rest.

The other option is to use a grilled entrance hole. The grill must have opening of not smaller then 10 inches in length by 8 inches wide. The birds can fly in easily during their flight home but those owls will not be able to.

What about installing a sliding door with grill like the above picture taken while I was in Sedili?

Looks need and simple. The owner installed a timer to shut the entrance hole at about 7:30 pm till 7.00am in the morning.

Of course you might want to combine all the above with those electrical fencing and sharp nails on the latch or entrance areas.

Most important is to ensure that those owls will not be inside your BH.

The moment they stay inside your birds population will drop drastically. Almost 60% will be gone within a few short weeks.

How Nice To Own A BH In Your House Compound !!!

You might think that I am talking nonsense or getting to crazy about these swiftlet farming. Imagine you have a nice BH just beside your house.

This might be my dream but someone have done it. The idea to have one just beside you is like having your own bank with money being deposited by those wild birds.

I saw this uniquely designed BH and the owner said to me that he can sit down every evening at home sipping a cup of coffee and watch those wild birds coming to stay. In the afternoon there will be other birds that are new to the house playing at the hole entrance.



On rainy days there will be lots of actions. New and old birds keep flying in and out of the entrance hole and you feel so good to see them.

"Pak Harry I am on of those lucky guys but one day who know you might have one yourself."

Inside me I keep wishing the same. Maybe when I hit a lottery or some money fallen from the sky.

I think those who are going to retire and have plenty of excess land in their back yard should opt for this beautiful idea.


(The nice view from your house verandah.)

Kondo BHs In The Making In Kota Tinggi !!!

I remembered looking at a BH built as a Kondo at a town called Endau, Pahang.

The developer have a kind of a weired way of selling their units.

They build the BH somewhat like a low cost flat and sell them on the basis of per title.

It was very much the same when you buy a Kondo in town. Each unit will have their own entrance hole.

If you are on the top floor you will be the lucky one but those at the bottom will have lesser chances to populate their BH.

If the owner have very little knowledge he will find it hard to populate however if he is good with those ideas he might be able to be a better owner.

While leaving Mr.T house I saw this newly build kondo and Mr.t confirmed that the same developer of the Endau kondo is building the BH here in Kota Tinggi.

Interesting to know if the BH will be successful. The only plus points are:

1) The Kondo is very closed to a river

2) The distance from town (walet central) was just about 1.5 kilometers.

3) The developer guarantee 30 nests within 12 months or owner can return back the unit.

Pekan Sedili Blue BH Visit !!!

While in Pekan Sedili, Johor, I was given the opportunity to enter a 1.5 years old BH with about 800 nests.

My main aim was to have a good look at the dual entry concept that I believed will greatly helps in getting your BH populated much faster then using only one entry type.

This blue colored BH was about 36'X 100' and three stories high. The house looks like a school with proper windows and steel bars.

Located very closed to the Pekan Sedili, Johor surrounded by a few residential houses.

The owner placed the entrance holes in the middle part of the building. According to him this design will minimise those noise pollution. Yes I think it does.

The fenced land area was about 0.5 acres. The excess land area was planted with mainly sweet potatoes.

Ground floor a caretaker have a small room together with the data center.

Once you enter the BH, the floor were pretty full of birds inside. That was at about 11.00 am in the morning.

Make a short tour on the ground floor and then the owner quickly took me to the higher floors. I was very fascinated with the number of partitioning he put in.

His views might not be the same as others but most important was that it works. There were lots of birds in the whole house.

The biggest mistakes he admitted was to adopt the two tier nesting planks arrangement system. According to him the two tier will cause many of the lower tier contaminated with droppings. This will eventually cause the birds to avoid building their nests on those affected planks.

One more set back were those corner covers located at the lower tier. Those birds seem to like building their nest on the top of the corner covers. This will make the shape not attractive.

Mr. T now have decided not to use this double tier any longer but go for 4 tiers condo on the walls areas.

I have a very good looked at the dual entrance concept and I am amazed with the whole idea.

They do bring in a lots of those wild birds.....

Visited Kota Tinggi and Pekan Sedili, Johor !!!!

For the sake of swiftlet farming I drove all the way to Kota Tinggi Johor meet someone who can be considered the father of swiftlet farming in Johore.

A very humble man, 58 years old, hailed from Kampung Choh, Setiawan, Perak.

I first met him at Pekan Nenas and felt in love with his unique idea of using two entrance holes in one.

Arrived in Kota Tinggi at about mid night on August 7th 2009 and found it hard to get a room to stay for the night.

Managed to get a room at a hotel called Nasha.

The next morning I was very surprised to be awaken by those bird call sounds. They came from all over. The four sides and above the Hotel. Yes the top floor was converted to be a BH.

Well after viewing those number of birds flying around I decided to check out and do some photography session while waiting for the man who introduced to me on the dual entry system.

Picked my camera and went all around town, walking.

Just have a look at these pictures and enjoy viewing them.

Managed to meet Mr.T and family for breakfast. He took me to Sedili town on the eastern part of kota tinggi.

I was taken into a BH belonging to him and he again showed me his dual entrance concept.

After the short visit we went to see his latest project of an Swiftlet Ecopark. About 100 units of BHs open for sale.

The 1st phase of 20 were like hot cakes and now going ahead with the second phase.

Each unit about 20'X 75' four stories going for RM800,000 complete with buildings, nesting planks and sound system.

He guarantee 100 nests within a year or you can return the unit if it failed.

Plastic Mesh Used To Attract Those Birds !!!

(Double Click on the above picture for you to see clearer)

This was something new that I saw in a newly constructed BH in Setiawan, Perak.

The owner indicated that he uses the same method in another BH of his and they works well.

His idea was that those netting gives the birds an easier ability to hang onto.

He might be right and due to that they will stick around to built their nests.

How about soaking those plastic mesh with some aroma?

A very innovative idea from someone who have more then 13 BHs.

Nothing wrong to try this idea. If it works then you are lucky but if it didn't you loose nothing more then those plastic netting.

Remember I have not seen the effectiveness of this method of luring birds to build their nests but you never know.

When To Apply Those Aromas !!!

Most aromas are pretty expensive and they might last perhaps two to three weeks after each application.

The cost is worth every penny if you see them works for your BH.

Just do this simple arithmetic. One bottle of about 1.5 liters will cost you about RM 200. You need to apply them at least twice a month per floor.

If you get just one nest after every application your BH value will jump up by RM1,000.

Let say every month there is one nest after 2 bottles of RM 200. Your layout is just RM 400 and you get RM1,000. Not bad at all.

What if the aroma is so effective and you easily get say 50 nests after the application?

With RM400 you increase your BH value to RM50,000. It that too much to spend?

I am sure many of us will spend hours to decide on the use of these aromas, there effectiveness, how many birds will I get and etc.

The issue here is should you venture into this strange method of applying aromas to lure those birds.

My frank answer is yes but you must make sure that your BH is ready for it.

When I say ready, I mean that your BH must have the right environment with everything in place.

You need to make sure that the sound you play will lure those birds inside your BH and the moment they are in they will be glued to those walls or nesting planks that you just applied the aroma (must be the right aroma).

When should you apply these selected aromas?

From someone who believe in aromas, apply them just before you are about to leave home after your bimonthly maintenance works.

Immediately after finishing the application you must not stay one minute more.

That comes from somebody that have so much experience to talk about swiftlet farming.

What Kind Of BH Population Is Ideal In A Given Area?

When you wanted to start a new BH in an area already populated with BHs what will be the criteria?

If there are already 10 BHs in the area will that be okay?

If not okay what will be the ideal number?

We cannot deny the fact that if you construct a new BH in any area your source of birds shall be from those BHs around or nearest to you.

Remember those birds do not breed on trees or under those bridges or along the five foot path of a shopping areas. They have to come from somebodies BH(s).

So the good thing about building your new BH in a populated area is that you do have a multiple number of sources where those birds will be coming from.

Well now what happen if there are so many BHs in the same area?

One thing for sure out of those many BHs only a few are successful. The number can be as low as 20% to 30%. The rest, 80% to 70% will show very little number of birds flying in and out every morning and evening.

Well if you still want to go ahead you need to think carefully of those weapons that will make you venture a success.

You need to improve your knowledge on swiftlet farming.

You need to ensure that your BH is designed properly where the entrance holes are design with 1Malaysia concept in mind.

You need to ensure that the internals are perfect complete with all features that will make any birds wanted to stay once they enter your BH.

The highest priority is to get the right sound library. You need adequate number of the best sounds which will always attract those birds above your roof top and the moment they flew over they will have the urge to enter those entrance holes.

Your external sound must always be better then your nearest neighbors.

But what if the surrounding can no longer provide adequate food to support the huge number of birds in the area?

You can determine this by comparing the nest size generated as compared to previous years. The nest size tends to be smaller since the birds themselves are shrinking in size mainly due to shortage of food.

The other phenomena that do happen is the young birds will not stay with their parent any longer. Which means your nest populations are no longer increasing as before or sometime negative.

So coming back to the question: What Kind Of BH Population Is Ideal In A given Area?

There are many speculations on how to answer this question.

Some says 5 while some says 20.

The best answer given by Dr. Arief Budiman is to make a survey of all those houses in the area. Make a check on the number of nests that are being harvested every cycle.

If the number of nests increase are on the downtrend it is not advisable to proceed with a new one.

If the opposite, the chance to have a successful BH is good. Remember you have ample supplies of young baby birds every cycle and you now need a full proof methods to lure them into your new BH. Get ready with all the weapons to bring them over.

Swiftlet Farming Seminar On August 15th, 2009 !!!

This morning received a confirmation from the Mr Rasid Seli (013 837 5483) of RBS Marketing inviting me to be in Bintulu, Sarawak on August 15th, 2009.

Not long ago I met him at KL Sentral talking about swiftlet farming.

During the short talk I asked him to look into introducing the business opportunity with the local Agricultural bodies in his hometown.

He seem to be very fascinated on the whole idea and been working on it for almost three months.

Today the news was positive and he managed to firm up the Seminar and I am happy that the number of participants are more then 20.

I hope to continue helping in giving talks about swiftlet farming and with this move I might be able to stimulate more people to go into this special business.

Just hope that the local authorities are supporting this noble idea.

Those are interested to organise similar talks please call 017 755 1318.

Somewhere In Sungai Buluh !!!

For the first time, I was invited to look at the nearest walet sentral nearest to Kuala Lumpur.

The place was called Rahman Putra in the district of Sungai Buluh.

A busy commercial area consisting of two rows of shop houses back to back and five stories high.

The interesting feature was that each unit have their own strata title and most of the top floors were abandoned.

Well with some enterprising owners, they turned the top floors into BHs.

Among the many this particular unit seem to be drawing the best number of birds every evening.

If you observe carefully the owner painted the front area black and he constructed a shield to either blocking the evening sun or trying to divert the sound towards one direction.

He was the only one who uses this side shield technique and the most successful in this Rahman Putra commercial area.

Black Cloud In Sibu BH !!!

I was at home with my family watching ASTRO about Elvis Presley life. Half way received a phone call from a new friend from Sibu who happened to purchase a few items from me last week.

One of those item purchased was the Black Cloud.

" Hai, Harry free to talk? This is Dr.K of Sibu Sarawak."

Yes Doc. what's up?

"Remember those sounds that I purchased from you last week? Among all, the Black Cloud is superb. You know when I play in the evening, nearly every birds that passed above my birdhouse will reverse gear to enter my BH. Really interesting and very effective."

Doc, that is something which no other sound in my collection can do. The sound seem to lure those birds from a far and they will refuse to go home once they are within range of the sound.

"Harry the best is the last few minutes just before sunset. I just love to see them diving in and those that passed will make a quick turn and straight into the hole. Unbelievable and like you always suggested the best is to play only in the last hour of the day."

"Thank you Harry and I appreciate your kindness in sharing this marvellous sound."

I found it very pleasant to know that those who purchased the sound are happy with the result. I just hope to find a few more good sound to help those who are having problem with their nest population.....

How To Attract Old Birds Into Your BH !!!

What is so significant about the word "homing behaviour" in swiftlet farming dictionary (i hope there is one)?

This special word is to describe a very interesting behaviour of those matured birds that have already selected a place to build their nests to bring up their family.

The particular BH or cave selected will normally be their only home where they will live forever until they die or when the BH or cave is no longer suitable.

Which mean to say that old or matured birds will have very little tendencies in shifting their nest from the origanal BH to a new BH. This is embeded into their brain.

But is there any chance to lure them over to your new BH and how to do it?

If you wanted to take the challenge, you might want to do the followings:

1) Move those planks and fake nests from your old BH to your new BH.

This might be possible if you look at it logically.

Assuming you have a full house and you wanted some of these old matured birds to help in populating a new BH you build just a few meters away.

What you can do is to move some of those nesting planks across. Dismantle those planks with lots of markings or those full cup nests from your old BH across to your new unit.

Even if your new BH is much further then 5 meters, say 1 kilometer away, but you know pretty well that those birds always pass above the new BH land, you can do the same technique.

Beside those planks with markings and nests, you might want to also consider moving those fake nests (already used at least twice), corner covers (will lots of nest markings on them) and perhaps those tweeters (with marking or nest on them).

2) You need to play Baby Sound to attract them.

This is something that you have never thought before. Most of time you tend to attract those young birds into your BH. You totally neglect the possibilities in pulling those matured birds over.

It is well said that if your BH is located below a flight path, the best way to bring those young birds down will be the mating bird call sound.

However if your BH is located in a "Walet Sentral" area (located within a short distance to a very successful BH) you stand a very strong chance to pull those matured birds using those baby sound.

Baby sound refer to those sound made by baby birds asking to be fed by their parent.

Remember the chances to pull them over will not be as easy as those young birds. All in all they seem to have a very strong attachment with their nests especially those will a set of eggs to be incubated or babies to be fed.

The only time they have a laps of memory is immediately after they babies have just taken their maiden flight.

So don't says that Harry have not give you the right information.

More New BHs All Around My BH !!!

On Friday morning my wife called from her Dental Clinic and told me about what was about to happen on Saturday.

"Sayang, I have push forward all my appointments on Saturday to Monday morning. All roads leading to my office at Jalan Raja Laut will be closed due to those Street Demonstration about for and against ISA."

"So let us get out of town and be in our hometown SPatani."

Not a bad idea, I told her.

I know I need to drop by at Juru, SPrai and also visit my BH in Spatani.

Started my journey home about 9.00 am and reached SP just after noon time.

Dropped my wife and all her things and straight to my BH.

Well, well,well. Not a very good things that were happening in the house and just beside.

All the three amplifiers were not working. One was due to the digital timer, the other was due to USB thumb drive kong out and the third seem to have problem with the signal to all the amplifiers.

The worst was about my next door neighbour was banging the walls and ceiling building another BH. The noise was unbearable. Just imagine if I were those birds.

It seem that the area now have lots of birds and every owner are converting their abandoned shop house into BH.

Before this, ten months ago, I was one of the two BHs. Now there are at least 10 BHs all around my BH.

I would say that this will eventually turn the area into a "Walet Sentral".

I am happy to have so many neighbours but at the present moment feel irritated with those banging sound.

All my birds are not happy with those noises.

Since they will take some time to complete, I have decided to do some renovation in my own BH.

My idea was to relocate the partitioning position and change the entrance hole on one of the wall.

I instructed my helper to make the necessary modifications and he must finish them before the end of this week.

Also have him fix those "Ultrasonic Humidifiers".

Managed to repair two of the amplifiers and need to ship one new unit plus a spare just in case.

The two partners who owned a BH in Juru, SPrai were already at their BH when I arrived on Sunday noon.

They wanted to check how many bird shit spots were in the new BH after launching about three weeks ago.

I was also very interested to know how many.

There were at least seven spots and the best were those spots at the far end of the nesting room.

This indicated that the young birds do entered the house and they have no problem with the flying path from the roof top to the entrance area then into the roving areas and moved to the far back of the new BH.

Pheww .....that was something that I really wanted to see.

I told both of them that the BH was okay but need to make some minor adjustments with those internal sound, the external sound and the pooling sound. Wanted to see more bird shits on the floor during my next inspection.

I also applied those aroma on the walls and the BH floor.

Those water spray system were set to spray at 10.00am till 5.00pm. Every hour about 2 minutes.

I indicated to the owner that they need to get a few kg of fresh bird shits and install a few sets of those Fake Nests.

I was prepared to get those additional things over if they wanted me to but they need to absorb their cost.

Well let see when will my next visit and will arrange to bring them over.