Lots Of Bird Shit Spots But Many Seems To Be Drying Up !!!

 A frantic call from a BH owner after 4 months operating his BH after my revamp operation.

"Pak Harry I need you to come and visit the BH.  I think something is wrong with the BH." the owner called for my assistance.

I made some plans and managed to squeeze my tight schedule.

I drove to his BH and waited for him.

Just before I arrive at the BH I sense something was not right with the external sound.

One of the entrance hole was giving out this breaking sound while the second entrance hole was a bit to low in external sound volume.

While waiting I took a short tour to the back.

Hmm nothing was done to those rubber trees.  I asked the owner to chop off the trees.

He came and not a very nice looking face.

I greeted him and soon after asked his attention on the external sound.

Initially he could not make any comment but after asking him to listen to sound carefully he than told me that the sound is breaking.

Yes that was something to do with either the sound in the thumb drive or the amplifier playing the sound.

The first thing I did was to check the amplifier and it was true the amplifier was faulty.


He took out a spare amplifier and I connected it with a brand new sound.

Both the entrance hole got my fresh new sounds.

He was so eager to ask me to inspect his BH and opened the main entrance door.

The interesting thing that I observed were the followings:

1) A number of bird shit spots were found on the ground floor.  This is something that I predicted after opening a new LAL hole just below the staircase connecting the third and middle floor.  Prior to this not a single bird flew down.

2) The number of bird shits were found to be the highest on the middle floor and top most floor.

3) Most of the shit spots were inside the VIP rooms.

4) The top floor spots seems to be drying up and giving the impression that there was something not right with the environment.  I predicted that it was due to the external sound (remember breaking sound?).

5) Most of the shit spots were below the tweeters both the external and internal.

6) The bigger in size were those below those cluster (4 tweeters at each spot) tweeters.

7) All these spots even though big in size but no sign of any feathers on them.  To me this translate that they are not making love.  No making love means no nest.

8) There was no owl shit signs on the floor especially closed to the entrance windows.  This is a positive sign.  This BH used to have lots of owl feces.

Overall the BH shows more bird shit spots on the floor as compared to before being revamped.

The only thing that I was not happy above is that they are not making any nest.

Why !!!!!

Well if I can talk to them I would like to ask them what more do they wanted me to do?

What I suggested to the owner were something like this:

a) He need to increase his knowledge more about swiftlet farming and how to interpret those things that he observe on the floors and the ceiling.

b) He also need to identify if his sounds are okay.  Both the external and internal must not be disturbed or stop operation for any what so ever reasons.

c) He do have a CCTV camera system installed with 4 cameras running on 24/7.  What I asked him to do is to optimize the pictures collected.  Try to download every friday from 7:00pm - 8:00 pm and audit how many birds were seen entering the two doors.  He need to record them and see its progress.
If the number stop increasing he need to act.

d) I also told him to start storing all those external and internal sound inside his computer.  If he is smart he can actually change the sounds as and when required example once the birds entering number is stagnant or reverse.

e) He also need to be more proactive.  How above applying those super pheromone on a regular basis.  I left a canister and he do have one more at home.  Why keep them?  Spray la !!!

f) The enhance the nest erecting I told him to focus on those spots above the bird shit spots.  Climb the ladder and spray the pheromone on those spots where those birds are roosting at night.

I hope he will be more active and don't wait for me to rush up and down to populate his BH.

I have done my best and now he need to take more initiative to get those birds already staying to make love to each other.

I stayed back until 8:00pm to view the number of birds entering and I was very pleased with the numbers.

Both the back and from entries were doing well.

A Two Years Old Two Stories BH With Only One Miserable Nest !!!

 

(Two holes one on the wall and one on the roof of its monkey house)

Its location was perfect, high on a hill surrounded by Palm Oil plantation.

Lots of birds in the sky during my visit.

"Pak Harry if you come in the morning the sky will be dark with swiftlet" one of the guy told me.

So the good question here is how come only one nest after more than 2 years into operation?

It does not make sense at all.

Well let us analyze from both the outside and inside.

This interesting story which I would like to share will all my blog reader is about why even with the most attractive location no birds (except one couple) wanted to stay in a two stories BH.

I received a call about a week ago from a BH owner whose BH was revamped by me and my workers a few months back in Cenih, Kemaman.

"Pak Harry I gave your contact number to a neighbor and I think he wanted to give it to a Palm Oil Estate owner nearby." he told me.

Just four days after receiving the above call I was contacted by an unknown person asking me if I am free to visit his BH.

I fixed the date and time and gave him my inspection fee.

After about two hours he called to confirm the visit.

Yesterday I drove up to this 4,000 acres of Palm Oil estate and met the Manager.

We sat for a few minutes and straight away was taken to this nicely erected BH but with no birds inside.

"Pak Harry we have this BH for two years plus and nothing seems to be working.  In the beginning plenty of birds but after an owl entered the BH became like dead."  the confession.

I ask them to open the main door while I took some time to survey from the outside.

A very nice BH with its entrance hole facing this huge palm oil plantation and lots of swiftlet all over the sky.

Wait a second, I focus my eyes on the entrance hole again and I was surprised with the steel bars on the window frame.

The bars were so closed and I told myself if I am the swiftlet I will have a very tough time to fly in between the gap.

I think the too small gap my be the reason why the BH remain empty.

So how come they said there are a few birds inside?

I discovered later that there was one more opening on the Monkey House roof.

After my inspection works I list the following reasons why the BH remained empty:

1) During the visit the BH was running with only one amplifier.
     This amplifier runs the external and internal sounds.

2) The main entrance hole was filled with bars preventing those owls but at the same time prevent swiftlet from coming in.

3) The top floor was too bright and you can see the back wall from the roving area below the monkey house.

4) The LAL was wrongly located and it will be very difficult to attract those birds to find the ground floor.

5) The main entrance hole has only one small tweeter playing the external sound.

 

(Only one Tweeter)

6) The BH was made of single wall.  This will be a very tough problem during hot season.

7) Ventilation holes were made of flowered bricks.

8) A number of the nesting planks were filled with fungus.

9) All the humidifiers were not operation.
 

Overall I told the owner that he has a very nice BH however the person who constructed the BH was with little knowledge about swiftlet.

If nothing is done this BH will remain empty forever.

I will prepare a full report on what he should do and I gave him the assurance that within less than 6 months he should be able to tell his board of directors that his BH is alive with lots on birds staying.

After presenting my observations they wanted me to pack my bag and my boys to quickly repair the BH.

This will be something interesting and I hope I can get some of my blog readers to come and visit during my revamp operation.

Please call and give yourself a chance to learn on how to improve your own BH.

Come and enjoy the nice view and learn with me.

Call me at 017 7551318 as soon as you can.

Remember, there is no one in this world who is so willing to invite you to come and learn something that you are passionate with.

Let me be the one.........

Sedili BH : My First Visit After The Revamp Operation !!!

After almost three months I finally managed to squeeze my time to make a trip to Sedili, Johor.

The owner was very excited to check the BH progress and I was feeling the same.

The moment I arrived I could not help my self to look the BH rooftop.

There were five other BHs around it and only ours were with activities.

The rest were dead as if there is no bird in their area.

The owner confirmed the same and I know why.

What I did on the roof area and the monkey house were working.

I used two external sounds and both seems to be attractive.

The best was yet to come.

We open the door and entered for the first time after about 3 months.

The top most floor recorded the most number of bird shit spots about 50 ++.

The middle floor was about 30 odd while the bottom floor was only 10.

I told the owner that the number of spots on the floor was encouraging but I am not very happy that there was none with wings feathers.

I told the BH owner that his tenants are not mating.

I was not sure why but maybe not in mating season or they need more time.

There will be markings on the nesting planks once there are at least 4-6 feathers from the female wings.

The feathers actually indicate that the male tendency to remove those feathers so that the spouse will be defective and easier to chase.

This will allows copulation to be done in the air or during flight.

Those defective female will not be able to fly faster than the male.

I told the owner to give a few more weeks and hopefully they will start the mating cycle.

The owner took note of my comment and happy that his BH now is alive.

It used to be empty with very little signs of birds entering his BH.

I hope those markings will transform into nests soon.

Or else I am in deep trouble (joking).

Those who would like to visit this BH during my next trip please call 017 7551318 for appointment.

Have a good look at these two pictures:

 

(The top most floor with a row of bird shit spots below those cluster tweeters)

 

(The middle floor)

 

(Bird shit spots at the wall areas)

The Rope Fake Nest Revisited !!!

 

(Rope used as a long fake nests at Sungai Rambai BH)

I visited Sedili two days ago and on the way back stop at Sungai Rambai BH.

Remember those rope that I used to test as fake nests?

If you cannot remember you need to read this article written sometime back.

Go to:  http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-rope-dope.html


I was correct that the birds just need something to hang on when they found a suitable place to erect their nest.

There were only two, one like a newly erected while the other completed nest.

Have a look look at the two pictures:

 

(This must be a very new nest)

 

(Completed and with eggs inside)

Honored To Be Invited As A Special Guest At A Swiftlet Forum Members Meeting !!

I was not very sure why I was asked to attend this meeting at KL International Hotel recently.

The person who invited me was a friend who have been buying a lot of the super pheromone canisters and liquid.

To please him I accepted his invitation and hope for the best.

Well I knew I was the first to arrive.

After waiting for about 10- 15 minutes called him where to meet.

30 minutes later the rest came.

All together nine came to have some drinks and get to know each other.

I do have a number of questions asked and luckily all were easily answered.

We dismissed at 1 am.  Hope to meet them again.

Those who would like to come and make the meeting more fun please call or sms your name to 017 7551318

Two Good Start For Year 2014 !!!

Wanted to share some interesting news about two BH owners who could not say the bad things but .....

The first came from Sabah and his BH is somewhere in Papar.

He was texting some information about some strange observation inside his BH.

It seems that during his last visit to his two year old BH he found a Serinti nest on one of his fake nest made of Styrofoam.

So what should I do?

I told him to spray Super Pheromone on it.

See if those swiftlet will take over the nest from the Serinti.

So he thank me for the idea.

I asked how many nests now and he sound very excited.

His answer "So many".

It used to be "So little" and I took some effort to view and told him what to do.

Now after the revamp his BH improved with more than what he expected.

I told him to follow closely with my advices and I am sure it will continue to improve.

His best text message was:  " U are the best person on Earth I hv ever met Pak Harry......"

He added with:  "Honestly speaking"

This nice gesture is very meaningful to me.

The second similar comment came from a BH owner from Sekinchang, Selangor.

This guy owned a BH above his shop and the corner unit is very big.

He split the space into two BH and after operating almost two to three years the nests number was disappointing.

I was invited to view his BH and wrote some recommendations.

He took some time to revamp in accordance to my recommendations.

After less then two months he sent this short message to me:

"Hi Pak, my BH is alive now ! Thanks to all your advice.  Both room have a pool now and super pheromone is apply fully.  I will leave it like this until february and see the out come.  Thank you very much!"

I am not very sure to what extend the BH is performing but by just reading the message you know you have contributed a lot to push his morale up especially for year 2014.

He his now beaming with confidence and I pray that his direction will be towards the positive.

Best of luck to him and the other guy above.

Those of you who own BHs and face similar problem please try to call me at 017 7551318.

I am not try to say that I can be a Saint but I will try my utmost best.

I love to collect more of the above comments......

Those Access Road To The BH Need Crusher Runs !!!

I received an email this morning from a land owner who wanted to sell it but having very little success.

In her email she wanted to know the following:

1) Can a BH be constructed on it since it is on a hill?

2) Can she use this idea that the land is suitable for swiftlet farming?

What I replied to her was very simple.

First she need to test if there are any birds on the piece of land.  If there are say 200 to 300 birds responded to the test my answer is yes but subject to the next issue.

The second issue will be the low temperature  at night.  If the temperature dip to below 22*C it will be a big problem.  She might need to come out with a kind of heater to tackle this problem.

The third problem will be the issue of electricity supply.  If there is no electrical line or the main line is too far away she might look into using solar energy.  I remember installing one unit at Karak.  The owner recently called and told me that there was no sound from her BH.  I asked her how was the weather there.  Gloomy for almost three to four days.  Yes not enough solar during monsoon season.  I told her perhaps she should look into have a standby generator set.

The most crucial, the fourth issue, shall be the access road to handle heavy vehicles that are required to deliver those ready mixed cement, bricks, sand, wood and steel bars.  If she is not careful she will loose like 15 to 20 trucks of lorry loads of crusher runs.  I experience this mishap before and I think anyone who wanted to built a BH please take note on this.

One lorry will cost you about 500 ringgit.  If 20 trucks that will be 10,000 ringgit.

Have a good fun viewing these photos from my collection:

Get Ready With Food For Those Young Birds !!!

 

(No Duress sound so why are they circling the place?)

This video clip was taken not very long time ago and it was in Kelantan.

I remembered very well when I was driving alone just after a heavy rain.

The ground was soft and those termites started flying out of their home.

The moment they flew these swiftlet together with other birds will be frenzy feeding on them.

I was told that one of the best food for swiftlet are these flying termites.

If you happened to operate a BH and wanted to prepare just in case one of this day you found a stranded young baby on your BH floor try this idea.

If you ever discover termite flying out of their hole, try to catch as many as you can.

Once collected put into proper container.

Once ready freeze them in your refrigerator.

One day when you need these protein you can de freeze them and feed those baby birds.

One day they will need about 5 grams.

They usually will stop eating once they reach the age of 43 days old after hatching from those eggs.

Once their wings clips they will be ready to go.

If the baby bird you found is say 10 days old, you need to feed them for at least 33 days.

So multiply by 5 grams a day you need to store at least 165 grams.

Yes get your self prepared and there's no need to call Pak Harry for help.

"Pak I saw this baby bird on the floor .  What should I do?"

All you need to do is to follow the above and I am sure you will be able to have an adopted baby soon.

Best of luck and if you need any advise please call 017 7551318.

What Happen When Serinti Bird Came In As Your Tenant ???

I could not help but gave the owner a surprised remark when he send the above picture.

"Pak Harry, what should I do with this nest found in my BH during my last visit?" he asked.

His BH is in Sabah deep inside a jungle full of birds that are not Facifagus.

So when a BH is erected and many swiftlet came in and out of the house the Serinti bird took a good look inside.

What make me very surprised was where the Serinti choose to erect his nest.

Just above a fake nest made of styrofoam and prior to that the same place was used by swiftlet.

You can see a layer of swiftlet nest on the same spot but was abandoned due to some reason.

I suspect the spot where this styrofoam was installed was at the front part near to the roving area where the light was bright.

My assumption is based on the followings:

1) Serinti birds cannot fly in total darkness since they do not have the echo location ability.  With this special gift they have no choice but to built their nest at bright areas.

2) Swiftlet have this special gift and usually they prefer to have their nests in dark areas.  In this particular instant the place was too bright and they finally opt to abandon the spot and move inside. Yes they did start building but later feel unsafe. 

3) The BH owner applied Super Pheromone spray on this styrofoam.  That might be the reason why those swiftlet love the spot in the beginning.

He wanted to remove the nest however I asked him to carry out my experiment.

I asked him to spray the pheromone again on it.

See if those swiftlet will chase the serinti away.

Here Is What I Have In Store For My Blog Followers !!!

(This BH nesting planks will be cleaned and applied with Super Pheromone in February 2014)

Every year I think I am getting wiser.

What I meant by wiser, in swiftlet farming world, is  that I have discovered more new things and most of those new things help every one who followed or copy them.

But I think this year I will announce something more interesting to all.

I need some time to get them assembled and tested.

You will be the first to know when I release the product.

Yes last year I was very pleased with my Super Pheromone range of products.

The first was the canister.

I followed with the released of liquid pheromone, standard concentration.

After that I push a double concentrated liquid pheromone.

The three types are so wonderful and many who choose to use them are getting a high number of nests inside their BHs.

Those in Vietnam, Sarawak, Brunei and Sabah have the best results.

A few BHs in Peninsular Malaysia have shown some promising result especially with the double concentration.

Among the many countries, I would say that Brunei seems to be getting a pretty good result.

Vietnam is going strong day by day.

Sabah is my favorite.

I am working closely with a number of BH owners in Tawau, Sandakan and Papar to prove that the product is a must for Sabah BH owners.

I will be traveling to Tawau soon to visit two BHs and I will make every effort to apply the super pheromone liquid.

The Papar BH will have my special attention where all the BH nesting planks will be cleaned and applied with the liquid pheromone.

If you wish to come and help in the application please let me know.

My plan is to visit Sabah this February 2014.

Call me at 017 7551318

The Best News For 2014 New Year !!!

One of the best news after more than 2.5 years of waiting.

China finally approved Malaysian bird nests.

This will hopefully push price up and perhaps make life more exciting.

Read this article obtained from :  http://www.thestar.com.my/News/Nation/2014/01/03/CNY-cheer-for-birds-nest-exporters-China-officially-lifts-ban-on-delicacy/

CNY cheer for bird's nest exporters:

    Ismail displaying the approval letter from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, officially allowing eight companies the right to export bird’s nest to China.


PUTRAJAYA:

There is good news for bird’s nest exporters as China officially lifts its ban on the import of the product from Malaysia.

Although only eight companies were given the approval to export bird’s nest, local industry players have described the decision as the best Chinese New Year gift.

Describing the move as timely in view of the upcoming celebrations, Federation of Malaysia Bird’s Nest Merchant Association president Datuk Tok Teng Sai said that for local players, the lifting of the ban would end the long uncertainty on the fate of the industry.

Tok also urged local players to treasure the approval by being honest.

“The fact that China only allows bird’s nest from Malaysia into their country should not be taken for granted. They trust us and with that comes the responsibility to protect Malaysia’s name,” he said.

Earlier yesterday, Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said Malaysia was the only country given the approval to export bird’s nest to China.

The approval letter from China’s General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) was received on Dec 25.

He said the eight companies were from nine which were granted a “conditional pass” to export the delicacy to the republic in June last year.

“It is not easy to pass China’s stringent requirements. Since March last year, 15 companies had applied for the approval and nine were given the conditional pass.

“After further auditing by the authorities in China, only eight companies fulfilled the requirements,” he told a press conference here yesterday.

Ismail Sabri said the approval was for Raw-clean Edible Bird’s Nest (EBN) and the first consignment was expected to leave for China soon.

He said a ceremony to be attended by Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak would be held to mark the special occasion.

The eight companies are Sunshine Region Sdn Bhd, PT Swiftlet Marketing Sdn Bhd, Tian Ma Bird Nest Sdn Bhd, Kuan Wellness Sdn Bhd, Fucifagus Agritech Sdn Bhd, Yan Ming Resources Sdn Bhd, Golden Mah Bird’s Nest Sdn Bhd and Yen Pao Lai (M) Sdn Bhd.

What Do You Think Will Happen If Those New Birds Landed On A Nesting Plank Full Of Fungus ???

 (Can you see the thickness of the fungus?)

Have you ever imagine what will happen when a new swiftlet couple who was looking for a new place to start their family but by shear bad luck landed on a plank that was totally covered with fungus?

If I were one of them I will tell my wife to forget about this BH.

Lets find a better place.

I was helping this Rawang BH owner to clean his BH nesting planks this morning.

From far I thought those nesting planks with signs of being attack with fungus was not that serious.

The moment I climb the ladder and wipe the plank from one end, I was shocked.



You know why?

The fungus was so thick (1mm at least) and full of dust (spores) coming out of it.

This fungus was not white in color but greyish.

Oh my God.

Luckily I was with those mask on.

That was not the only plank but there were more then 4 long pieces.

I keep asking the same question.

If a new couple entered this BH and unfortunately landed on these four pieces of contaminated planks what do you think will be their reaction?

Oh shit me that will be the last time they entered.

This might be a very strong reason why this BH have stagnant nests population.

The owner could not identify why but I told him that this might be the probable reason.

His BH floors were flooded and he did not realize that when his BH humidity is above 95% - 100% RH, most of wood inside will start having those fungus.

He was very lucky to engage me to inspect it.

I took lot of trouble to help him to clean most of the affected planks.

I used a but of the Tanali vinegar and later applied a layer of super pheromone liquid.

I hope that all his former tenants will return and more new one will stay put inside.

No more fungus and the smell of super pheromone might be something to make them to stay.

Happy New Year To All !!!

Just wanted to wish "Happy New Year" to all who have been following my blog.

I have a good 2013 and was very busy with visiting sick BHs and nearly every month I was given the task to revamp BHs.

I hope this year there will be more new findings and perhaps challenges that help all swiftlet farmers.

I started my first job helping a BH owner in Rawang, Selangor.

His BH nesting planks were having problems with fungus and I took a day to help cleaning the mess.

After a back breaking new year I came back home with sore neck and body.

Cannot lift my hand and stiff neck.

Anyway tomorrow will be my rest day.

Let my muscle rest and perhaps after that will do some traveling plan to Sabah.

First stop Tawau and after that maybe Sandakan.

Already have two invitations to visit BHs in Sabah in January 2014.

Let me know if you wish to have a cup of coffee with me in Sabah.

Call me at 017 7551318