Salak Tinggi BH Will Have A Few New Ideas !!!

One thing that I love to do during any revamping or conversion of BHs is to install some new ideas which once proven can be shared with others.

The current conversion of a shop house into BH at Salak Tinggi has some new ideas that I would like to share with all of you.

This shop house/BH is situated or should I say sandwiched between two successful BHs.

The one on the right is with about 200 nests and the left about the same number.

Not far away , about two doors away on the left and the right hand side there are two more BHs doing well too.

The one on the right is with about 500 nests (estimated) and the one on the left is with about 100 nests (estimated too).

So you have a total of about 1000 nests or about 2000 birds flying back home every evening.

If I can lure at least 10% of the total, I should be able to populated this new BH with about 100 nests in no time.

What if I can lure 20% or maybe 50% of the 2000 birds ?

Hmm ..... what if we focus on those young birds which will be generated during every breeding cycle?

Three times a year that will be 6000 young birds every 12 months.

The potential is huge and possible.

All I need is to pull as many birds into the entrance hole and pull them to the back rooms (VIP rooms).

Once they entered I need to provide them with everything that I know that will force them to stay.

1) They love to stay on those internal sound tweeters.  I provide them at least 300 tweeters a floor.

2) They love to build their nest on those fake nests.  I have a couple of hundred waiting to receive them.

3) The love to stay in dark places.  The partition prepared block direct sunlight from entering the VIP room.  The top floor is with not only VIP room but also VVIP room.

4) They love internal sound that have lots of baby sounds plus mating calls.  This is where I have specially prepared a mating combined with those baby sounds.

5) They love to feel at home with those rotting bird shit on the floor.  I have more than 15 bags of fresh bird shit specially brought in from Gambang Pahang.

6) They love to be inside a cool and wet room.  The BH was specially installed with Bubble sheet heat shield product plus a number of mist makers.  There are two wet floors created plus a water fall.

7) They might love to eat some  small insects.  I am sure it will be provided.

What more can be added to make them love this BH more than their own home beside this new BH?

I have something new that I wanted to try.

What I love to try inside this BH is some steel bars that I recently ordered from a machine shop about 5 units away.

I remember visiting a BH in Setiawan Perak that mesmerized me.

During one of my visit inside this BH I realized something strange on the way a line of bird shit spots on the floor.

There was not a single tweeter or fake nests installed above every bird shit spot.

What attracted those birds were those steel angle used to anchor the nesting planks with the cement ceiling.

The steel angles looks old and covered with oxide.

The oxide layer or the cold metal surfaces must have attracted those swiftlet to erect their nests on these angle bars.

So for this particular BH I planned to install about 160 pieces of this special steel bar with a layer of oxide on the surface.

The oxide layer shall be from the reaction with salt water.

Let see if this crude idea works.

Will report if it works.

 

Utusan Malaysia Article On My Recent Seminar At UCTC !!!

Yesterday's Utusan Malaysia Newspaper carried an article about Agriculture University sharing of BH rehabilitation program.

I was informed via SMS from the University Prof.

"Pak Harry, Please read Utusan Malaysia one page on Walit and your blog & photos."

I hurried to get a copy of the newspaper and managed to locate the article.

I was very surprised with the two pictures on the page.  My handsome face again on another newspaper.

Read the article written by the reporter and glad that I can be of service to the swiftlet industry.

My objective to be Smart Partner with UPM is more with my wish to help UPM to generate more expertise in BH rehabilitation.

I know if I work as an individual the impact to reduce the failure rate will be very little.

If I can work closely with a kind of authorities such as UPM it will help more people in the country.

Read this example:

During the recent Seminar, I interviewed a BH owner from Pekan, Pahang.

He related to me how difficult it was to gather information and advices from the Pahang state Jabatan Veterina.

"You know what Pak Harry, no one in the state Jabatan Veterina can help me with my investment.  I got to travel to Kuala Trengganu to find someone there who was a bit helpful but not good enough."

What do you mean by not good enough?

"The amount of knowledge they have was too limited and not adequate to allow me to make proper decision. I did not realized the important of swiftlet flying path and the sun direction plays on a BH. The room brightness was never mentioned to me and only now I learned from you."

What UPM should do is to carry out some sort of full training of all those officers manning state Veterinar office to be more swiftlet friendly.

My commitment was to help them with everything that I could to improve their skill so that swiftlet industry will be on a better platform in the near future.

Most BH owners in Malaysia have very little regards to Jabatan Veterina and I hope something is done to improve their image.

Just imagine ten years from now they are still in the same state?

It will be a kind of "laughing stock"every time a person ask about Jabatan Veterina ability to offer some help.

This have to change and someone have to help them to improve their skill.

I believed this is where UPM come into play.

I will be always back them to ensure that this Dream of mine comes true.

Yes we need to do something in a larger scale.

Activities During The Next Few Days !!!

 (Opening of LAL at Salak Tinggi BH)

While finishing the BH at Salak Tinggi, I have a packed itinerary.

Tomorrow plan to drive up to Cukai or Kemaman Trengganu.  This particular trip have something to do with an invitation by a BH owner to review his one year old BH.

He now owned three BHs and about to convert a kampung house into another swiftlet asset.

His main concern was on a stand alone BH that seems to have very little tenants.

Once in Cukai, I plan to visit the Teluk Kalong BH if the owner agrees to allow me in for another inspection.

In the mean time received two calls from Kedah.

One was from a guy who wanted to erect a row of shop houses somewhere closed to Alor Star, Kedah.

I don't know his exact issue with the row of shops to be erected.

From my last conversation with him he wanted my input on  the shop house design so that it can be easily turn into BHs if there is no takers.

A very wise thing to do just in case.

There was another person who owned a troubled BH at Padang Serai Kulim Kedah.

This particular person wanted my time to view his BH and wanted my expert view what can be done to reactivate it.

This is what I love to do and I hope those of you who wanted some help please call 017 7551318.

You might want to join me during these trips.

There is nothing wrong if you wanted to learn on how to inspect a sick BH.

You can learn the basic and improve along the way.

My method is simple to apply.

All you need are some sharp eyes and a mind with the list of possible reasons why these sick BHs are not doing well.

Check the outside before entering inside.

Look at the floor and after that ceiling.

Check the sound system for any poor setting on the amplifiers used.

Check both the internal and external sounds used. When was the last time the sounds were installed?  Are the sound still relevant or attractive?

Check the volume played.

Once you are inside the BH try to start the inspection from the top most floor.  Get your self to the main entrance hole area.

Look at the direction of the main opening.  It is facing the east or other direction.

Look at the number of tweeters installed and how do they orientate each of them.

Are there any hexagonal tweeters?

Do the tweeters arranged in a proper sequence to pull those wild birds into the nesting rooms.

How bright is the light at the entrance hole area plus the rest of the room?

What about the nesting planks arrangements? Any wide gaps with the ceiling?

The number of internal tweeters installed.

Are there any fake nests installed?

Are there any signs of predators like owl, rats, ants, cockroaches, tokek and others inside?

Do some checking for any bird shit spots on the floor.

Are those bird shit fresh or old?

Are there any markings on the nesting planks?

What about the water spray system? Are there any?  Are they working properly?

What about owner's log book?  If yes try to vet the pages.

Once you have all the answers try to come out with the best reasons why this BH is not doing well.

You can come out with the various recommendations that will help to reactivate the BH.

All that you need is to be as precise as you can to help the owner with his problems.

If he is smart enough he might be able to repair the BH by himself.

Playing With This Idea: Replace Those Humidifiers With Water Fall !!!

This new idea is to replace the mist maker with a water fall concept.

While in Kemaman, Trengganu, about one month back I was met by a newbie who happened to be active in running a machine shop.

His machine shop was below his BH.

Among the many BHs in Kemaman he confirmed with me that there was one unit that was owned by a very successful BH owner.

This special owner have something special installed in his BH.

He has this waterfall system that act not only as a humidfier but also a cooler and water falling sound generator.

Swiftlet seems to like the water falling sound and some even built their nest on the waterfall plates.

I have not seen one but after interrogating what he saw I came out with my own waterfall design system.

I might not be a great waterfall design guy but you have a look and try to erect your own unit.

The idea is to pump the cold water into a 4 inch pipe and allow is to fall onto a metal plate (aluminum).

Once the water falls onto the plate it will make it way to the bottom via gravity.

Break the journey now by having another plate tilted at a steeper angle.

At the break area install a fan to blow air onto the falling water.

The air should be coming from the ventilation hole of your BH.

The moist air will be pushed into your nesting room and will make the humidity higher.

Once the water falls into a collecting bin you can pump the water up to the pipe for circulation.

Have a look at the sketch for some idea about replacing your mist maker with waterfall system.

A New Idea On Styrofoam Fake Nests Installation !!!

The Salak Tinggi BH conversion operation was halted for a few days.

One of my worker was not well and need some rest.

While waiting for the sick worker to get well I have been toying with some new ideas to install inside this new BH.

My main purpose is to test something new that might become a key feature in all new BHs if this idea works.

As we all know this saliva spitting birds are known to love building their nest either at those 90* corners or on fake nests.

If you own a BH and your BH is starting to show new nests, you can proof that I am right.

There must be some special reasons that they prefer to built their nests at these two places.

Just try to think why they love these two places and if you find the right answers you might use them to your advantage.

My personal believed is that these wild birds are lazy but smart.

In the first place why must they want to build a nest?

To lay eggs?

Nope that is not the right answer.

How about if I say that they built the nest because of sex?

You might think that I am joking but just think about this idea that came to my mind not long ago.

When the female bird come into heat she will start to produce this smell that will make those male birds to get crazy.

This is a natural thing in nature.

If for some silly reason she allows the male partner to hit her and her eggs begins to fertilize, she has 8 days to have a place called nest to lay her two eggs.

If there is no nest, she might need to use other bird's readied nest.

So I believed she will not allow the male partner to fertilize her eggs unless a nest is ready or semi ready.

As such the poor male partner have very little choices but to quickly erect one for his lady.

At this very critical stage the male bird will have to find some way to start building a nest that have to be fast and quick.

The proper selection of location on those nesting planks or wall will become a huge advantage.

90* corners will be the most preferred.  This is due to it shape that full filled the requirement of easy, fast and less tedious.

The next preferred location will be on the fake nests.

Fake nests provide a kind of platform for these male birds to built his nest.

Using minor amount of saliva he can shape a simple nest to be presented to his mate.

Once his partner accept the semi done nest, it will be up to the female partner to accept or reject the nest.

If she feels that the semi erected nest is okay or acceptable, they will than start their courtship or love play.

This is why the male have to be smart and use his surrounding to his advantage.

The fake nests and those 90* corner will be forever the most favourable location as compared to straight planks or walls.

Not if you agree with the above explanation, how can we get as many fake nests as we can inside our BH especially inside the VIP rooms?

Try to use this crazy but interesting idea.

Buy a few pieces of those 2'X4'X 3/4" styrofoam and cut them into small strips of 8"X1"X3/4".

Once you have that nicely done bring to your BH and examine where you can install inside your VIP rooms.

My two sketches below will provide you with the type of installation which I planned to do at Salak Tinggi.

If you are not very sure please drop by the BH and I will show you how it is done.

Come and view this idea.

Call 017 7551318 or write to me at harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

The Chinese Authorities Have Their Own Reasons On Why They Ban Bird's Nest !!!

The banning of Bird's Nest into China started in August 2012.

The main reasons were more on Bird's Flu Virus and High Nitrite.

Read this article:

Found at: http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2012-11/02/content_15867227.htm

Bird's nest taken off menu for travelers

Updated: 2012-11-02 07:22

By He Dan and Jin Zhu in Beijing and Li Wenfang in Guangzhou ( China Daily)

 Comments(7)

List of banned products covers food and animals

Fines are being imposed on individuals attempting to bring bird's nest, a traditional delicacy, into the country as new regulations came into force on Thursday.

The delicacy, made from the saliva of a cave swift, has been added to the list of banned products, along with fresh fruit and vegetables.

Bird's nest is a popular gift in China, particularly in the south. However, only canned varieties are allowed past customs.

A street advertising of a bird's nest product in Hangzhou, capital of East China's Zhejiang province, Sept 16, 2012. [Photo/Asianewsphoto]

According to the rules approved by the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine in August, people entering the country should also declare if their luggage contains genetically modified products, endangered animals or plants.

Those who fail to declare or provide false information face fines up to 5,000 yuan ($800).

Even if the goods are declared they must be accompanied by a valid certificate or else they will be destroyed.

Passenger numbers into and out of China are rising about 10 percent annually, and this increases the risk of foreign species threatening the domestic ecological system, the e-mail said.

People carrying endangered wild animals and plants out of the country also cause huge damage, it added.

Several people were stopped on Thursday as they attempted to bring in fruit at Guangzhou East Railway Station in Tianhe district where a service from Hong Kong terminates.

All the fruit was destroyed, said Chen Yan, a spokesman for Guangdong Entry-Exit Inspection and Quarantine Bureau.

Ports of entry across Shenzhen, also in Guangdong, confiscated 1 metric ton of banned items on Thursday, mostly seafood, meatballs, yogurt and fruit, according to the city's quarantine bureau.

"Bird's nest is one of the key targets because it can often carry the bird flu virus and some improperly processed bird's nest products also contain excessive nitrite that is harmful to humans," said Zhen Jianchuan, deputy director of animal quarantine for the bureau.

The canned bird's nest products are permitted as they are processed at temperatures high enough to kill most viruses, Zhen said.

He added that the authorities will make sure the new regulations are well publicized.
Liu Liping, from Guangzhou, said she was unhappy about the restrictions.

"We can buy bird's nest products from Southeast Asian countries and Hong Kong at much cheaper prices and the quality is better," she said. "The new rules only help protect domestic businesses and this is a profitable industry."

Meanwhile, the new quarantine regulations stipulate pet dogs and cats are allowed entry but there is a limit of one pet per person.

All quarantine and vaccination certificates are required.

Pets from areas that had rabies will be quarantined for 30 days. Others will be kept in quarantine stations for a week.

Mary Peng, co-founder of the International Center for Veterinary Services in Beijing, said the new regulations on pets are in line with measures taken in many countries.

"I bought cats in and out of China many times and I have witnessed China is becoming more humane, compassionate and caring in quarantining pets carried in by their owners from abroad," said Peng, a US citizen who has lived in China for more than two decades.

Contact the writer at hedan@chinadaily.com.cn

Yu Ran in Shanghai contributed to this story.

Salak Tinggi Top Floor Almost There !!!

(Actual Picture Taken yesterday June 5th 2013)

The Salak Tinggi BH is getting there.

The top most floor is about 70% ready.

The walls were erected and covered with heat shield.

The roof areas were also heat shielded.

The VIP room at the back was almost done.

Last two days the nesting planks were all in place.

The boxes were done and the cluster corner covers were installed on a random basis.

A few waste wood corners were also installed inside the two VIP rooms.

Have a look at the way those nesting planks were installed.

Looks good to me and my workers now moved to focus on the second floor.

Another Wooden BH In Sandakan With 130 birds !!!

(A wooden BH sample)

I was a bit surprised when I received this email from a Sandakan.

Read this:

Dear Pak Harry,

Hi ! This is M from Sandakan, Sabah, previously bought sounds and equipments from you before. As you may recall, I built a wooden BH 2 years ago , and now about 130 birds stayed there. It has been a year since I went inside, it's only yesterday that I went inside. However, I didn't went inside further because I saw a few nests with baby birds without fur at the few front planks. I wish to harvest the bird nests but wish to seek your advice before doing so :
1) Is there any best month of the year/ best time(am/pm) to harvest them ?
2) When I went inside the BH,  I saw a lot of young babies still inside their nests, if that's the case what should I do ? I'm a bit afraid that once I harvest the nests, they will all flew away!
3)  What is the current raw bird nest price now ?

Thanks again Pak Harry!

I remember meeting him and his wife somewhere at the Curve Petaling Jaya.

Never knew him or wife before.

His main reason in wanting to meet me was about his plan to erect a BH in Sandakan, Sabah.

We chatted for almost two hours answering all his questions and only then he confessed to me that he will be attending a Seminar on Swiftlet Farming at Subang the next day.

"Pak Harry, actually I will be attending a Seminar tomorrow morning in Subang Jaya.  I think you have answered nearly all my queires and let see what I learn tomorrow."

The next day he called during tea break and told me that he believed he learned more things from me as compared to the Seminar he was attending.

Now after 2 years he came back to inform me about his BH progress and I am sure you can see the glow on his face.

He is now doing alright.

One thing that I was taken back was when he said that he never entered the BH for one year.

To me this is strange but he might have his own reasons.

If you can avoid from entering your BH too often is good for those birds.  They feel less threaten and will adopt the BH faster. 

However you need to regularly check on the floor and ceiling for any possible infestation from ants, cockroaches and etc.

Well I leave it to him to decide what he should do to his BH.

The most important is to see that the population number increase every year.

A New BH That Was About To Become....... !!!

He was just plain lucky to have met me at the recent Swiftlet Farming Seminar held at UPM Excellent Center.


His BH was under construction in fact was about to move to it second floor.

During the two days Seminar he realized that there were too many things that will turn his BH into a disaster home.

Quickly got my commitment to pay a short visit today Monday  June 3rd 2013.

The BH location was some hill top area closed to Seri Menanti Negeri Sembilan.

Met him at the old "Istana/Castle" and it took about 7 minutes to reach its location.

I took a very deep breath before I went down to take a good look.

The ground floor was almost ready with the walls up.

The first floor ceiling were almost ready to be poured with cement.

I think I was in the very nick of time but I am not sure if I can turn around the BH.

They have not poured the cement yet.

After taking a good look at the building plus the sun path and the information from the contractor where those birds were flying to in the evening, I sketch a drawing to show the following:

1) His BH need a monkey house.  Original design was without any.

2) The only way to safe the space is to have the LAL inside the monkey house.  The monkey house need to be open flush.

3) The BH size was very small , about 20 feet by 40 feet by 2 stories (7 feet high each floor).  When the BH is too short he will face a serious problem about rooms brightness.  He need to divert the light properly and VIP room at the back.

4) The walls were all one layer.  This will be a disaster if he do nothing to prevent heat from the sun.  Single wall will be a big problem since the heat from the outer wall can penetrate into the inner wall with ease.  He now wanted to consider the use of those bubble heat shield mats.

4A) I recommended the monitoring of internal temperature using those heat sensing devices before the BH being put into operation mode.

5) The monkey house , in his case, need to be erected on the east side of the building.  It should be about 8'X9'X6' high.

6) The main entrance to face the flying path.

7) If the flying path is not facing the east he might need to open a second hole (not advisable).

8) The nesting planks gaps shall be 18" wide.

9) I advised the contractor to ensure that the cement top of the monkey house to be about 10" overhang and not more.

10) I also insisted the sound installation contractor to install a hexagonal tweeter at the precise location mentioned and not more that 2' above the roof.

I have doubt over the credibility of his so called contractor and consultant.

He cannot even sketch the BH for the owner to view and comment.

The size was too short and the use of one single layer of walls were not proper.

I told him that I might need to pay two more visits.  One when he was about to install the nesting planks and the next is when the sound system is about to be installed.

I think the BH is a bit too short and walls too thin.

It will be a very tough challenge to populate this BH.

Three things that he must be careful about:

1) The bright light polluting the nesting room (Most critical).

2) The heat from the walls (Using only one layer walls).

3) The room humidity.

Testing SelKing at Gambang BH Under Maintenace and Harvesting

Have a good fun with the above video clip taken at a BH in Gambang, Kuantan, Pahang.

A very interesting behavior pattern of those swiftlet dashing in and out of a BH when the owner was carrying out the monthly harvesting and cleaning of it.

I took the trouble to test the SelKing sound to see if those birds will be scared or refuse to enter.

However the sound was okay and most of these birds do enter.

Just to prove that it will be an attractive sound.

He Was Left With A BH Once Belong To His Late Father !!!

All kind of things can happened and this is one story which I would like to share with my blog readers.

A few days back a "forced" BH owner called me and wanted to see me badly.

I wonder why and he told me in person today.

"Pak Harry my late father left me with his BH and I think there are many things that I think are not proper."  he said.

1)  His BH was recently forced opened.  He was relieved that the culprit only stole the two amplifiers and its two sounds.  Now his BH is without any sound sytem.

2) He said that his late father bought the two stolen sounds from me.  He met me at Bukit Bintang area.  I don't think I can remember his late father.

3) The two sounds were Tongkat Ali and Babyking.

4) Since changing the sound to Tongkat Ali and Babyking the nests population climbed up to 100.

5) After a number of years the nest population stop growing and he cannot identify the reasons why.

6) There were lots of insects especially ants inside the BH.

His last resort was to call me for help and that was why he was chasing to meet me as soon as he can.

I took some of my valuable time to be with him plus wife and his daughter.

We have a cup of coffee and I described to him the things that he should do from now on.

The sole responsibility now is on his shoulder.

He need to quickly get the sound back to it original playing mode.

Try to set a target so that the nests population will increase by about 100 percent a year.

List all the things that need to be done to get the 100 percent increase.

Try to consider the force harvest technique once a year.

I also showed him how to install those bubble heat shield sheets.

His problem with those ants were solved.  He got a bottle of Fendona from me.

He might want to get someone to carry out some inspection to determine the actual reasons why the nests numbers stop growing.

He was thankful with all the advises given and hope to follow up with me in putting the BH back to its glorious period.

Best of luck to him and I told him that I will be always available if he needed any advises.

Experiment On Translocation Technique !!!

I have covered about Translocation method to populate any very critically ill BH on many articles before.

Read a few of my articles touching on the word Translocation:

http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-word-translocation-is-now-added-to.html

http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.com/2009/11/new-word-translocation-is-now-added-to.html

The key point here is where can we get these young birds to be released?

In Sabah you can register with Jabatan Perhutanan dan Perhilitan and you will be allowed to buy a number of young birds at about RM 5 each.

The Jabatan will teach you on how to handle these young birds that are commonly taken from those caves whose nests were harvested.

In Peninsular Malaysia I don't think there is any organization or individual who are breeding these baby birds.

I wish there are some wise guys who will do this swiftlet breeding and allow us to buy them on a contract basis say 100 - 200 a month.

Breeding of young birds are very common in Indonesia but in Malaysia this is like something very unusual.

Most people will look at you as if you are from another planet if you open
your mouth about breeding and releasing those young birds inside your BH.

How to get their eggs?

How to hatch them?

How to prepare their food?

How to feed them?

What will be the most conducive method to keep them?

How to transport them to those BHs?

How do you release them?

You need to get yourself a booklet on how to answer the above questions.

This is where I and a local university is looking at.

I have been pushing this interesting idea with UPM and if they can come out with that special booklet it will be a new milestone in swiftlet farming industry in Malaysia.

If everything goes as planned I think a batch of 500 eggs will be ready to be incubated within the next 30 days.

I have to get a regular supply of eggs and those who owned BH who wish to participate in this project please call 017 7551318.

Only After Being Sprayed With Super Pheromone !!!

Just received two pictures from a BH owner who tried using fake nests made of pine tree leaves.

His story was told about a week ago at:

http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.com/2013/05/super-pheromone-seems-to-work-well-in.html

"Pak Harry I have two photos showing tenancy at cemara fake nests taken inside my BH.  The two fake nests were sprayed with super pheromone." he claimed.

Without spraying the fake nests it will be very hard to attract those young birds to occupy this unusual fake nests.

The best lesson from this event is that if you know how to combine the use of fake nests with super pheromone you will be able to attract more birds to be your permanent tenants.

I am very happy for him to have tried out my idea and it works.

Those who have not tried you need to do something.

We are closed to finding the proven techniques to populate any BH.

The only thing you should do is to open your mind and try those proven techniques.

You don't have the free time to experiment.

Let someone else do the experiment.

If it works well you can just follow his techniques.