Twin Young Chicks Ready To Take Their Maiden Flight !!!

How long do you think the young birds takes from the moment they were hatched to their first flight?

You will surprised that not many BH owners knows the exact number of days.

To me getting to know the precise number of days that the eggs need to be incubated and the number of days they were looked after by their parent before they can fly means alot.

Do you know that once the are about 43 days old they stop eating?

Well I was informed that the two days before flying will be more like weight shearing. Yes they need to reduce the body weight.

On the 45 day they will take their maiden flight to breath those fresh air outside. All these while they were breathing those ammonia gas smell caused by their shit rotting away on the BH's floor.

The moment they let go their grip on the nest or those nesting planks they will drop at least one foot down and flap those strong wings to set sail following their parent out.

During dry or draught season there will be many weak young birds that will need more then one foot drop before able to study themselves.

This was said to be the reason why you need to provide a minimum of seven feet ceiling height.







(All the above pictures were recently taken in Kota Kinabalu)

Not Many But 75 New Followers !!!

A very successful trip to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

Visited more then 5 BHs and the Seminar was outstanding.

There were more than 75 participants and everyone that I spoke to after the talk was very pleased with all the 6 topics that I presented.

I told them to come again for my new topics within the next two months or so.

My aim, what I told the participants, was to try to minimise the high rate of failures in swiftlet farming.

By the look at the outcome of the seminar, I think there will be some strong improvements.

They are more aware of the needs to conduct the bird call test, look at the flight path, make sure the entrance hole are facing the flying path, consider to use dual entrances, use the soundless humidifiers and so on.

I saw those smiles on their faces and I am sure they treasured all that was delivered.

My next trip to Sabah will cover the following topics (subject to SWIFIN's approval):

1) Your BH Predators and how to Eliminate them.

2) How To Design your VIP room.

3) Make your own external sound using the 28in1 sound.

4) Special Characteristics of Swiftlets which You should Know.

5)Tip On How To Use Fresh Water To Lure those Swiftlet into your New BH.

6) Case Studies on Sick BH turning around.

7) How To Check The Heat Source(s) in your BH and how to reduce the effect.

8) Special Tips On how to Increase The Nesting Areas.

I am sure those who have attended will want to continue adding the above knowledge.

The more they learned the lesser the chances of making careless mistakes.....

Crucial Observation On Birds Behaviour !!!

I am now in Kota Kinabalu Sabah, Malaysia.

Was invited to deliver a full day Seminar on how to be a successful BH owner to about 70 participants coming from all over Malaysia.

The event was organised by SWIFIN at CHinese Chamber Of Commorce Building.

The President of SWIFTIN arranged my time to cover the delivery of my papers plus visiting a number of BHs that needs some helps.

So far, two days here, I visited five BHs.

Most of the BHs were doing well except one that was very new, 6 months in operation.

While the rests were enjoying an explosive nests population this unit seem to be empty with only one miserable nest.

The affected BH was a standalone located in a valley that blocked by hills covered with thick forest.


The owner DIY the construction and have no previous experiences in swiftlet farming before.

During my inspection I was amazed with the way the house was build but due to lack of knowledge the contractor missed several important points.

One critical mistake was the way the external tweeters were installed inside the entrance area (open roof type). All the tweeters here were facing the walls and not the sky.

The best, I told the owner, was to know which direction the birds are flying home in the evening and face the tweeters towards the direction.

If he is not sure then place the tweeters at the four walls of the hole and face towards the sky. Any AF that passed by will be able to come over and perhaps enter the BH.


What I did was to stay back to observe what really happen to those birds when the tweeters were installed wrongly.

By about 6.30pm those birds flew above and at the side. The strange thing was that the birds flew around the house close to the BH walls and could not find the entrance hole.

It is as if they are not familiar with the top entry and prefer the side entry.

The best lesson here is to install those external sound tweeters properly.

Face them towards the sky and give more attention to their flying path.

If you follow the above advise you will get those birds inside your BH....

Greeted at KK Airport and Solved One BH Problem !!!

I think I have already done my day's job in KK.

I arrived at about 12 noon in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah from Kuala Lumpur.

Was greeted by Mr.G and his assistant. Went for a quick lunch and immediately after the quikie, he took me to one of his BH.

"Pak Harry, I am not very happy over the performance of this BH. Been in operation for about 8 months and the number of nests is below 30. Please give your opinions."

Since he took me for lunch I have to repay my dues. I asked him what if his consultant might be offended? He answered it is okay. The 6 months warrantee period is over.

The first thing I did was to walk to the entrance hole at the back of the BH. I observed the number of birds circling outside. There were none.

The moment he opened the main door, I quickly have a good look at the sound system he is using.

Hmm .... not bad. A brand new set of Nikodo amplifiers, 4 pieces. Two in operations and the other two must be on the standby mode.

Wait a minute there is something not right with the amplitude setting. All the knobs were not properly set.

I told Mr G that the setting might be the cause of poor performance of the Bh.

Upon further observations I thing there were many more faults that Mr.G did not realised.

I told him that I am very sorry for being so good in identifying so many faults in the sound system setting. Beside the amplitude setting there were many more and I listed to him the followings:

1) The amplitude setting on all the four amplifiers were wrong. I showed to him how to reset them and later asked his son to follow the new setting.

2) The three knobs that controls the treble, mid and bass were also wrongly set. I showed him the correct setting.

3) The setting of those Hager timer controlling the switching of the two amplifiers playing the external sounds were also readjusted. I showed him the correct setting for the peak hours and the normal hours setting.

4) I took the two thumb drives which Mr.G stored his two sets of external sounds and I told him that they were wrongly used. Okay I recopied the sounds and provide my latest Python 2. The first thumb drive was with the Tongkat Ali, Black Cloud and Godsend.

5) I reset the timing on the internal sound amplifiers.

I told Mr.G to go and have a look at what was hbappening at the entrance hole.

He was very suprised. Those adjustments plus the new sounds drag in so many birds into the house. Before my adjustments there were nearly zero birds at the entrance hole.

I told him that he need to be very careful with those sound system. They must be precisely set and he must change those sounds once they loose their effectiveness.

The lesson from this article is simple. Make sure you do not make too many mistakes with your amplifiers settings.

If you are not sure call some one who can help. If there is no one to help use this SOS number 017 755 1318.

Another Interesting BH In Nenasi With Big Entrance Hole !!!

So you think that there are no more weired BH around town.

Just have a look at this single stories BH in Nenasi, Pahang.

The unit looks like having two entrance holes (Dual Entries).

The front with this big mouth opening while the top entry is a small rooftop opening.

There were quit a number of birds flying in and out on both entrance.

Very successful, I heard from some friends.





........................................................
My main objective to continue writing this blog on swiftlet farming is to expose everything that are relevant to those who wanted to get involve with the business.

I strongly believed that the only way to minimise failure is to get as much knowledge as possible before you invest in it.

If you feel that the lesson learned deserved an encouragement you can contribute a some donation to this account: Yayasan Kebajikan Nah Sabah, 100930010038410 at Allied Bank, Malaysia.

An Innovative BH Owner In A Small Town Called Panti !!!

I took more then 10 hours to reach Kuala Lumpur from Malaysia "Land End (Sungai Renggit)" yesterday.

My reason for such a long hours on the road was to stop at as many BHs seem from the main road and take some pictures for my blog.

Got more then 200 pictures taken.

Since I was driving alone, nobody will tell me how fast I should drive and where to stop and go.

Among the many pictures taken, I think I would like to start with this three pictures.

This will be the future trend of Malaysian who are facinated with swiftlet farming.

They will eventually built a small BH just beside their home (kampung house).

I wish I could have dropped in to view much closer.

The chances to be successful is there but it will greatly dependent on how much knowledge does the owner have.....

Best of luck to him......

The First BH Made Of Zinc Plates In Johore !!!

These two pictures was given to me by one of my blog readers hailed from Sungai Renggit, Johore.

Sungai Renggit is more like the "Land Ends" of Peninsular Malaysia.

The uniqueness about the pictures provided are:

1) The BH was made by a simple extension to an old house.

2) The external covers were all made of recycled zinc sheets.

3) You can see that the entrance hole seem to me similar to those "Kangaroo Pouch" type. Those birds with enter the extended opening and enter a door leading into the nesting room.

4) The BH was said to be producing about 1.5 kg a month after operating for about 2.5 years.

5) The owner have replaced the house with the cement BH recently.

According to the owner of this pictures, it inspired him to be a successful BH owner. He managed to visit the BH just before it was taken down.

I find it very interesting how how innovative some people are.

At the same time we wonder how come those birds still come in and stayed. Would it be very hot?


Hmmm....Maybe the owner do insulate the BH properly.

Well there will be another article on a simple BH in Johore....

Looking Forward To Try A New Generation Of Sound Player !!!

No matter how good your external sound is you will find that they have a kind of shelf life.

The effective period varies from location to location and once the birds got used to the sound they will no longer interested to enter your BH entrance hole.

Some good sound will last for a number of months but once they loose their effectiveness it will be advisable to change the sound to a new set.

Is there a tool or gadget that can allow you to play different sounds at a different time of the day or every week it will automatically changed by itself?

I think we might have one soon.

The tool is called "AutoSoundSwitcher".

I was given a short briefing yesterday and in principle the gadget description will be as follows:

1) You can insert not less then 10 of your good sounds.

2) You can set the sequence to play all the 10 sounds to your liking.

3) You can play one, two or more sounds in a day.

4) You might want to combine playing more then one sound in a day.

5) If you have found a new sound, you can easily remove the old sound with the new sound but just replacing the thumb drive effected.

Based on the above principals once you have set the gadget inside your BH, you can now have lesser hassle with the external sound.

The only problem will be how to find those 10 good sounds. Most people do not owned more then 2 sounds.

Maybe I can help by choosing the 10 best sounds in my collection and pack the two together for those who are keen to try using the gadget.

That might be the real reason why the developer choose to talk to me about his new invention.

Well let see what happen next.

Those who are keen to own this new gadget, please write to me for a Demonstration.

I need your contact numbers and perhaps your confirmation. Sent your email with the heading: Demonstration on AutoSoundSwitcher. Remember to use this email address: harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Just 6 BHs Under Revamp and Renovation !!!

Last few weeks my time schedule have not been good.

Running from one KL to Klang, sabak bernam, Tanjung Malim, Penang and tommorrow to Kota Tinggi, Johore.

All because of swiftlet farmhouses that needs my personal touches.

The one in Tanjung Malim (2units) have been put into operation mode today.

Monday, I am looking forward to put one of the two units in Klang to be into operation. This unit is going to be my latest masterpiece. Those who would like to come over for a visit please let me know. Meet me along KESAS highway at Petronas Station at the very end of the road nearest to Port Klang.

It is with open roof and complete with the special VIP room.

The nesting planks were with dual stacks configuration. This design double the surface areas for those precious nests.

The one in Sabak Bernal is a bit slow since I need to drive at least 2.5 hours to be up there every three to four days. Got a local contractor who cannot talk English. The CNY holiday breaks was not doing any good to the construction.

Tomorrow the Kota Tinggi BH owner wanted me to get all those electronic stuff up for his contractor to finish up the BH. My presence was specially requested.

The Penang BH under renovation is getting there. All those bricks walls were taken down. By tomorrow those partitioning will be erected.

I hope to be there on Tuesday.

Forgot to mention about a 40footer containers BH already stacked in Guar Chempedak for my involvement. I was very surprised that the new owner managed to get the 4 cabins and stacked as per my advise. Need to get someone to cut those thick steel walls open.

Most probably will visit the Segantang Garam BH under revamp. The owner wanted me to drop by to provide the final touches before blasting those external sounds.

On the 10th will be flying to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah to prepare my talks for the Seminar and training of the maintenance staff.

What a month....

I am very sorry for not writing as often as I wish to....

Just look at my itinery and you will know why.....

DIY Your BH External Sound Using 28in1Medley !!!

If you owned a couple of BHs at various locations you will have a tough time to get the right type of external sounds for each BH.

By now you realised that there is no such things as a one sound that fit to all the locations. There are cases where those birds will not response to any sounds in your collection. So what are your options????

As far as I know there is no technology that are easily available to solve this perculiar problem. Even if there are the inventor will not share with you because he feel threaten that all his birds will be moving to your BH.

I have been doing some research on how to solve this so called "sound problem". If I found one I will be willing to share with anybody on this planet earth.

My philosophy is the reversed to those who are not willing to share.

"If you are successful I will also be successful."

Last night after spending more then four hours watching the effectiveness of my 20in1Medley in Kepong, I think I have found a Possible Solution. Remember the word "Possible Solution".

The idea was to assemble a total of 90 minutes of all the sounds, as many as 28 sounds, that are in my collection and have a chart that will tells you what sound is playing at what time (during the 90 minutes duration of each cycle). Each sound i allocate a small gap of 40 miliseconds divider (to differentiate between the strings of sounds using a sound editor).

Once you have that in hand you now set your digital timer to play the 90 minutes continuously during the test period. Good example from 7:30 am till 8.59am, then 9.00 am till 10:29am, the next will be 10:30am till 11:59am and so on.



Synchronise your watch with the digital timer. Get it to the dot please.

Now you run the sound for a couple of days. When ever you are free, drop by at your BH and observe the action of those birds.

Bring along a piece of paper and pen. Watch the entrance hole carefully.

Jot down the exact time when those birds were attracted to the entrance hole.

Conduct this for at least one week.

Once you have the list of all the time the birds were crazy with the sound, you can now evaluate which sounds among the 28 clips are effective and not affective.

You can now eliminate all those sounds that are not effective and perhaps extend the playing time of those effective sound. Save it with your own name or wife name.

So the result will be those that will make those birds crazy rushing in an out of your BH entrance hole all the time

This new set of external sound will be suitable for, say, your first BH.

Now bring the master copy to your second BH and carry out the same procedures.

You will now own another new set of sounds that suit your second BH.

So now we know that there is a very simple way of building a proper external sound for all your BHs no matter where they are located.

All you need to get is a master copy of the sound I was mentioning and DIY to select the best sounds clips for your BH. Yes you tailor made the sound to suit the species found in your area. Remember to save the master copy in your computer before installing at your BH.

Note: You do need to download any sound editing software, FOC, and learn how to copy and cut.

I might sound crazy but if there is a way we should explore the possibilities.

To be a successful BH owner you must be independent and the best is to learn how to.



If you wish to try the above crazy idea let me know. The master copy now is called 28in1Medley complete with the sounds timing and with a free offer of a digital timer will time set to plug and play. Offer will be for the first 10 person at a reasonable price of 450. If comes in a pend drive of 2GB.

Remember this is something very new and I am sure it will be something that we have been thinking of. You buy one and you can use it multiple times.

........................................................
My main objective to continue writing this blog on swiftlet farming is to expose everything that are relevant to those who wanted to get involve with the business.

I strongly believed that the only way to minimise failure is to get as much knowledge as possible before you invest in it.

If you feel that the lesson learned deserved an encouragement you can contribute a some donation to this account: Yayasan Kebajikan Nah Sabah, 100930010038410 at Allied Bank, Malaysia.

Learn From This Email Message On How To Turbo Charge Your Knowledge on Swiftlet Farming !!!

I met this young couple a few weeks back.

Both do not have any clue on swiftlet farming.

What they wanted was someone to guide them in materialising their dream BH. During my first meeting I told them what they should do and to be a good swiftlet farmer get the bird call gadget.

Carry the gadget where ever they go (put them inside the car boot) and if there is a chance test the gadget. Every time the test is made you will learn something, I told both of them.

The most important is to know how many birds are there in the area at that particular time of the day.

You will get use to counting those black dot in the sky. Once the black dots increases to a huge number you now will try to estimate the actual number of birds above your head using some common sense.

You can check where they came from and once your stop the test where will they dispersed to. The way they circled, anti clock wise or clock wise? Do they fly very high above or middle height or very low just above the gadget?

If they flew very high you can pull them down by learning some tricks from Pak Harry (call me if you wish to learn more about this special trick).

Also you will be surprised if I expose to you that those birds will come back to check the same spot at the same time of the day for the next few days.

Beside using the gadget read my blog from the beginning. Once you digest all the information given you can then declared that you are no longer a novice but a semi expert.

After following closely as the advises given, she now knows that you can direct those birds where to build their nest in the BH.

Read this email and see what you can turn to after digesting all the articles that I wrote:

"Hi Pak Harry,

Since the purchase of the birdcall gadget from you, my husband and I are now learning as much as possible about swiftlet farming and thanks :) to your blog, I read it from 2007..now dah sampai to 2008 achieves.

Its been a great resource to me...and I believe others too. So, finding the right land to build a bh will probably be less issue with the use of the birdcall gadget. I'm also aware of the cost of a bh too.

Well, we started to think of a way to raise enough fund to build a standalone bh. The target is to have our first standalone bh by the end of this year.

After much thinking, I thought of getting your help to make our dream come true, and I'll make sure that both of us could benefit from this proposal that I have.

But before I say anything, I would like to know if you are open for our idea. :-) Thanks Pak Harry, and I look forward to hearing good news from you. I'll send more details when you give green light. :-) regards, L Note: :) Pak Harry, you said that you mentioned somewhere in your blog that there's a way to keep the bird at the preferred level.

As I'm reading your blog....I guess a way to keep the swiftlets at certain level of the bh is to make use of a good internal sound+sound system at the preferred level. "

See what I was trying to say.

She now knows that there are ways to pull those birds to the specific location on your BH is you know how to. Those who are new and are serious in swiftlet farming follow her foot step. Best of luck to all of you newbies)

. ........................................................ My main objective to continue writing this blog on swiftlet farming is to expose everything that are relevant to those who wanted to get involve with the business. I strongly believed that the only way to minimise failure is to get as much knowledge as possible before you invest in it. If you feel that the lesson learned deserved an encouragement you can contribute a some donation to this account: Yayasan Kebajikan Nah Sabah, 100930010038410 at Allied Bank, Malaysia.

What Will Be My Minimum Requirements For A Good Sound System in a New BH !!!

(Note: The above picture was taken from my photo library and is not for your to use as reference)

One of the most important part of you BH will be those sound system.

Without a proper and good quality sound system your BH is dead.

Just imagine having a sound set that delivers strange noises that will scares away those precious birds !!!

Beside delivering high quality sound your sound system must also be robust....Remember when you use them in your BH you are actually putting the system into its optimum usability. Yes you are putting the sound system to its optimum functionality.

Running for 24 hours is not the set operating criteria of any karaoke amplifiers. Trust me.

What about those piezo tweeters? Do you think that black colored product was designed to be running for 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 52 weeks a year, maybe 30 years lifespan of your BH????

No sir. They were actually designed to play a normal sound and the most 10 hours a day. Their life span may be the most 5 years or shorter.

So since you have been informed about the severity of the operation you need to at least now do some kind of investigation which product in the market that will be able to gives you the longest operational life to optimise your ringgit.

I have been asked by many what actually do you need for a reasonable sound system in a new BH.

My list, might not be the same with others, will be as follows:

1) Hexagonal Tweeter 1 piece.

2) External Sound Amplifiers 2 pieces 1 spare unit.

3) Internal Sound Amplifiers 2 pieces 1 spare unit.

4) Hager Power Switching Board (with 4 pieces of those 3 pins plugs) 1 set.

5) Tweeters (2"X5") for internal sound 1 box of 250 pieces.

6) Tweeters (3"X7") for external sound 25 pieces.

7) Tweeters for external sound(Water proof) 8 pieces.

8) Wires to connect all the tweeters 100 meters per roll 4 rolls.

9) Digital timer (SMART) with internal batteries 2 pieces.

10) Cooling Fan (to cool the amplifiers 1 piece

11) External sounds 3+1 sounds (Minimum)(Black Cloud is a must have)

12) Internal sounds (mating and colony) 2 sounds.(BabyKing is a Must have)

13) Tweeter sound test rod 1 piece.

14) Power Stabilizer cum lightning arrestor 1 unit.

The above list should be confortable to transform your BH (20'X70' up to 2 floors)into a good BH with proper sound system.

Total cost will be about 4,000 to 9,000 ringgit (roughly) depending on the brand,the spares units, the power rating, the type of sounds, warranty periods and etc.

The 4,000 RM range will gives you the basic set of equipment, lower range value and little warranty. They are like a starter kit and good for a DIY type of works.

If I were you go for the best. Go for the higher range. As long as the total cost does not exceed 9,000 you should be in the right direction.

Get your sound system supplier provide you the options and don't tell him which range you wanted to procure.

Once you have the list of items (ask him to include the brand, model plus wattage) review them carefully and get someone (if you are zero knowledge) to comment on the items offered.

Once you have the list amended to your preferred items than go ahead to purchase the items.

If you wanted to be very sure that no mistakes takes place plus the best sound collection for your new house than call this number 017 755 1318.

........................................................
My main objective to continue writing this blog on swiftlet farming is to expose everything that are relevant to those who wanted to get involve with the business.

I strongly believed that the only way to minimise failure is to get as much knowledge as possible before you invest in it.

If you feel that the lesson learned deserved an encouragement you can contribute a some donation to this account: Yayasan Kebajikan Nah Sabah, 100930010038410 at Allied Bank, Malaysia.

A Very Simple Method On How To Increase The Effectiveness of 20 Into 1 Medley !!!!

This few days I have been conducting some kind of research on how effectiveness my 20in1 Medley is.

Overall I concluded that the Medley is Marvellous piece of ideas.

Those birds keep enjoying flying in and out of the entrance hole for many minutes.

Since I selected three minutes of each sound the following observations were recorded:

1)Overall the birds reacted to the Medley very well. I would say that during peak hours especially in the morning (7:30am till 9:00am), they keep coming in and out of the entrance hole.

2)After the peak hours they will fly away for food but there will be always a set or two birds enjoying the sound.

3) A number of the sound seem to give a very effective attraction. Nearly all the birds in the vicinity were seen to be rushing in like frenzy. I wish to extend this 3 minutes clip.

4) There were a few sections that were not very attractive. I wish this bad sections be removed and replaced with other better sound.

5) In general the birds gives a positive response to nearly 70% of the total sound.

My next task is to identify the preferred sections, the not effective sections and those sections that will chase the birds away.

If this can be identify then life will be very simple. Remove those that are not effective or worst those that chase the birds away. By doing this only those very attractive sounds will remains in the clip.

I plan to perform this research and I am very sure if this works then it will be my routine method on how to create the best sound for any BH in any location.

You might want to DIY this technique and I plan to conduct a seminar on this latest technique.

Hope you gain some ideas from reading this crazy article.