Relocation Of Corner Nests !!!

Great news to all that wanted to know my activities in swiftlet farming: 

Nests Relocation Project.

This BH used to be empty for almost 4-5 years but now after my renovation works the number of nests grows to a healthy level.

However owner have lost interest in looking after it and let me look into getting a buyer.

One observation made is that nearly 70% of all 90* angles are occupied, in the top floor VIP room.

The question now is how can we move them, the nests, to the straight plank areas?

This is where some tests need to be carried out.

This Tuesday will drop by to harvest those nests and install a gadget to move them to the straight plank part.

Will observe how do they react to the installed gadget.

Main purpose is to find the best option on how to move them from 90* corners to those straight planks areas.

Will test and observe after say 3 months.

Will update you all.

Notice: Most new posting are now on FB

Training One To One Is Exceptional !!!

He was simple lucky to come and attend a one to one Swiftlet Farming Seminar and it happened that I was about to start a BH revamp operation immediately after he finished.

This newbie wanted to learn the right way.

Received his friendly call a few months back.  He was asking about swiftlet farming seminar.

"If you can wait please attend a planned seminar in KK" I told him.

Well he cannot wait since he was about to start a new work in December 2017.

What I did was to offer him a package where he can attend a one to one seminar and after that follow me to start a BH revamp job nearby.

He accepted the offer and immediately remitted the agreed fee.

I think he wanted to tie me up as fast as he could the moment I told him the date.

He came one day early and rented an executive room at Furama Hotel, Bukit Bintang, Kuala Lumpur.

I came to meet up with him on the day after for breakfast and immediately started the seminar inside his hotel room.

I told him that prior to this I organised one for Mr Barnie Barcelona of the Philippine.  The same hotel about 2 months back.

In his case it coincided with a field training at Bukit Gambir, Johor.

The first two days was to cover about 10 papers and I did took him for a spin to Sekinchan to look at various BHs around the padi fields.

The field the training to me was the best.

He managed to finished the four days at the BH and learn a lot of things which I doubt anyone can learn from any other sifus.

Learning and understanding why they should be used in a BH is important.

I hope he will be a successful BH owner in Sabah.

Will keep in touch with him.

Mist pump nozzle holder installation

First time using pneumatic gun to anchor waste wood corners.

He install all those waste wood corners

This was after his hard works

Wanted to let you all know that my swiftlet farming blogspot enter its 10th anniversary recently. 

I am very proud that after 10 years I am still writing about swiftlet farming.

My readers benefitted a lot by reading all those articles and I am sure if you practice those ideas your BH will do well.

I just came back from Miri Sarawak after conducting a Swiftlet Farming Seminar for a group of Brunei people.

They were very pleased with what I delivered and at the same time took them to a BH that badly in need of a new life.

What they saw at the BH gave them some ideas what will happened if you have little or no knowledge about what swiftlet farming is all about.

Immediately after the Seminar I flew up to KK to attend a request made by a BH owner whose BH was at Kuala Penyu Sabah.

He fetched me at KK airport and we proceeded to his BH just to get some idea what is not right with his BH.

What I saw inside and outside is a shear wrong concept adopted by his so called consultant.

He finished the BH with a wrong approach.

He wanted all of them to straight away erect their nest in 180* shape.

No 90* and no 135* shape.

As a result of his cruelty the number of nests was very much below the normal number.

What a waste.

Owner waited for 5 years to realize that something is not right with his BH.

October 14thn 2017 Seminar at Lot 10 Boutique Hotel.

For record purposes these people attended my first Swiftlet Seminar in Kuching, Sarawak.

It was a very nice occasion when all who attended were delighted to learn on how to be a successful swiftlet farmer.

Presented 6 papers and in between manage to take all my Seminar Participants to a BH nearby.

The owner of the BH invited us to visit his colorful BH about 20 minutes away.

These were pictures taken during the one day seminar:

I hope there will be another Seminar soon in Kuching.  As long there are interest we shall be there to help them with their BH operation.

It shall be for the benefit to those who are new and also those who own BH that are not doing well.

How To Move Them To Occupy Those Straight Planks !!!

This is just a short story on how this owner managed to move his young birds to occupy his straight nesting planks.

Within 1 months he already counted the visible indication that they have started to more to the middle planks.

This is what this BH was facing.

Located in Raub, Pahang.

Owner contacted me a number of times trying to find out how to move or encourage them to erect their nests on the straight planks.

Just imagine nearly all were found only at those corners.

This BH was with about 1300 nests.  However all that it produced was 135* corner shaped nests.

I gave him a simple solution and he pondered on it for a few days.

He wanted to try but initially very reluctant.

He called again and ask for my service to carry out my idea.

I make my way  to Raub and inspect how to carry out the method.

After reviewing his BH conditions and started my fake nests preparation.

First to cut them into rectangular shape, apply those SP aroma and show his workers how to install all of them.

After about 3 hours all were installed as a test case only on the chosen floor.

I was very happy with the installation works, need and tidy.

Within 1 month the owner called with a very good news.

"Pak Harry those young birds has started to move".

He countered and found 10 fake nests with sizeable nests markings.

There might be many more with lesser in sizes.

The thing here is that it is working and we can see that they are starting to use the straight part of those nesting planks.

I have told him to proceed with the rest of the floors.

Once the number of nests is 30-40% occupied he should remove all these fake nests.

He was very lucky to have met me.

Kemaman Trengganu BH Visit on August 25th 2017

Yesterday at about 10:00 am visited this BH located somewhere in Kemaman town, Trengganu.

The BH is sandwiched in between two other BHs. Its a row of three stories shop houses that were designed for swiftlet farming, according to him.

Owner have engaged a number of consultants to see how to improve his ICU birdhouse.

He claimed that he did nearly everything that he can think of but failed to get his BH populated.

I saw a number of perfume bottles hung on the walls with those special drip gadget.

After 6 years of operation and two consultants the nest number fluctuate up and down but not more than 30 nests.

Now only 24 nests and he is very disappointed with his total investments.

I took some time to see what can be the reasons why those swiftlet refuse to populate his BH and I told him the followings:

In general his BH was not well designed from the outside and the inside.

The main entrance hole using both the top and side entry is not properly assigned with proper tweeters.

The hexagonal tweeter was more like a DIY piece and wrongly positioned.

The number of external sound tweeters need to be upgraded and with new and more effective tweeters.

New sound techniques should be deployed.

His water pond is not necessary since his BH is about 50 meters away from a river.

His BH is too bright.

The so called consultants who came and ran away with his so called fees were not very well verse with the amount of light that should be allowed to enter the BH nesting rooms.

The BH was with two LAL holes and both were not positioned at the right location where 100% of those birds should fly above it.

There was not VIP room on both floors.

Too many internal sound tweeters.

There was no external sound tweeters at the back of the nesting rooms/

No traps or baits to lure those wild birds to stay.

Internal sound was too noisy.

Amplifiers were not properly set.

He was unlucky with his BH venture.

Now he will be able to use Pak Harry methods of designing the BH external and internal decorations.

Will sit on his BH visit report today and will submit to him what I think it will turn around his BH.

He was very lucky to have met one of my client whose BH was very closed to his BH.

After the inspection operation I invite him to view the successful BH owned and operated by my old client nearby and see how I transformed a 30 nests BH into almost 8 kg of nests, now inside.

The word that came out from his mouth was "Impressive". That was what he said with a wide smile on his face.

He now seems to have the positive vibes about his BH.

"Pak Harry I cannot wait to read your report and I hope the cost to upgrade my BH is within my reach. Every penny will come from my pocket."

I told him that every penny spend after this will worth a million.

Skudai BH: A Challenge Like No Other BHs !!!

I must say that the revamp of Skudai BH is one of the most challenging as compared to others.

Main obstacles are the water supply, electricity and the location deep inside agricultural land.

Every time you forgot something you need to take almost 20 minutes to reach the main road.

The red soil road are full of pits and alleys which will rock you left and right and you feel like riding those roller coasters.

The only way for my workers to use those electrical hand tool and brighten the BH while revamping is to operate a generator set.

As for the water supply I have been pushing the idea of pumping fresh water from a nearby stream using ramp pump.

The owner is away for a holiday and he expect to see birds inside his BH once he is back to Malaysia.

Well that was how easy his line of thought is.

Anyway we have been working very hard to complete the scope of works.

First was to close the old entrance hole and opened a new hole on the building's wall facing the virgin jungle.

The next was to hack the barrier on the roof deck so that the mounting of power tweeters, bazookas and the hexagonal tweeter can take place.

Once those tweeters are installed we need to erect a number of walls to prevent the light penetrating the nesting rooms.

Another wall was to create a VIP room.

The owner decided to upgrade only one floor so that his cost will not kill him.  He chooses the middle floor.

While trying to install tweeters inside the VIP room my boys discovered that nearly 50% of the planks are too soft and no longer holding.

We decided to pull the old planks out and install with new planks.

This is where the big challenge starts.

Where to get a readily available stock.

How mush will the planks be and how long will it take to ship them over.

If they need 2-3 weeks my completion schedule will be dead.

Manage to get the lead and quickly drove almost 1.5 hours to a hardware shop at Kota Tinggi.

The shop owner knows me by name.

"I have heard about you from many BH owners and now lucky to meet you in person."

I am not sure if he likes me or hates me.  He is also a BH consultant.

Anyway managed to gather some nesting planks and brought them back to Skudai.

The installation begins the moment the planks arrived.

I hope by Monday or Tuesday the wood are in place and at the same time they will start installing those internal and external sound tweeters.

If the installations are done can test the BH.

Perhaps I can move to another BH much earlier.

Tikam Batu BH: Just Two Weeks After Revamp Operation !!!

Yesterday June 12th 2017 stayed back at Tikam Batu BH to count how many birds entered in the evening.

This BH was upgraded or revamped by my workers and after 10 days of hard work we managed to put it into operation on May 26th 2017.

The BH was with about 20-25 nests prior to my revamp operation.

The number of birds inside must be about 40-50 birds (prediction).

After 18 days of operation the number of birds jumped to 80 plus.

This is a good result and I hope within the next few months the number with triple.

The sounds systems now is superior as compared to prior to revamp works.

The floors are wet and each floor is with two VIP rooms.

All the nesting planks were cleaned and applied with attractive aroma.

The number of new internal sound tweeters touches 300 pieces.

There were many fake nests installed.

All these new features must be working well to lure all these new couples to enter and stays.

The best is to wait for another few months to see how many new bird shit spots are found below those tweeters.

Pekan BH: After Two Days The BH Was Fully Occupied !!!

It was like a breeze passing by.

I was referring to the latest BH in Pekan Pahang which was revamped about three days ago.

I was first contacted by a person by the name of Mr Chin from Kuantan Pahang.

He wanted me to drive up to Pekan to meet a BH owner who claimed to face "Bird nests not multiplying syndrome".

The BH owner was introduced to me by Chin as Mr Tan.

The first time he met me he thinks that I am another conman prowling for a new victim.

However after asking a few questions he soon realized that Pak Harry have something special especially on his passion about swiftlet farming.

Pak Harry is not a consultant but he is a passionate swiftlet farmer.  He loves swiftlet farming and he is the only one who will expose any new method to improve a sick BH.

In his case was not an ICU BH but a normal syndrome where the nests refuse to increase.

Mr Tan BH was with about 10 kg of nests.  However it seems that the nests number stop multiplying.

He opened his BH doors for my inspection and about a week later I wrote a complete report in Bahasa.

Immediately after reading he called asking me when I can start the Phase 1.  In my visit report I explained to him the real reasons why his BH nests stop multiplying and with it I recommended him to go into Phase 1 and Phase 2.

Phase 1 is to proof that my first few recommendations will be a good start before he gauge my expertise.

I asked him to do just a few small thing.

My first recommendation was to install a hexagonal tweeter precisely above the main entrance door of his top entry BH.

My second recommendation was to reduce the width of his main door from 5' wide to 3' wide.

The door should be framed out using those excess nesting planks that were store somewhere along the staircase.

The third recommendation was to precisely install 8 external tweeters around the new LMB hole.

My last recommendation was to wet the BH floors.

He could not resist my ideas especially when I precisely inform him what is wrong with his BH and how to remove those problems.

The first day when I arrived I started with the hexagonal tweeter installation and changed the door size.

The 8 external sound tweeters were completed before 4:30 pm.

We left the BH but the slight change started to show drastic change in the number of birds started to focus on his BH.

I was there to see together with the owner.

He was very very pleased with the small intervention.

The second day was the major works.  I installed the wet floor system.

This wet floor system is the key to draw all his young birds to return to where they were hatched.

I completed the installation and set the timer to run the pump precisely during the day and night.

The smell due to the wet floor changed tremendously.

From today I advised him to use those chow chu kang shoes if he entered his BH.

I asked him not to enter the nesting rooms for at least 3-4 months.

I think there will some changes that will make him feel very very happy.

Let me share you those photos taken during the renovation works.

Pekan BH: This Morning Ready To Take This New Challange !!!

Today will pick up my boys and travel to Pekan Pahang.

I will take about 3 hours plus minus to reach my destination from Kuala Lumpur.

Main purpose for this trip is to help this BH owner with his BH.

Based on my last trip he complained that his 9 years old BH is facing a stagnant nests syndrome.

The nests number is no longer multiplying.  It stop growing about 2-3 years ago, according to him.

I wrote my visit report about 40 pages inclusive of my observations and recommendations.

He was very happy with my findings and immediately asked me to assemble those recommended gadgets and workers.

Once arrive I need to carry out the nest count.  Once that is done I will installed a number of key gadgets to activate the nests to start multiplying.

The entrance hole will be installed with a new set of tweeters.

The nesting planks will be cleaned and installed with specialized equipment.

At the same time the floor will be wet using those specialized BH floor wetting equipment.

A new amplifier will be installed playing an additional internal sound.

The current external sound will be upgraded.

Once the installation is completed I will ask the owner to allow the BH not to be disturbed for about 3-4 months.

This will be the recuperating time after a major surgery.

Will come again to check its progress after 3-4 months.

I am sure it will back to normal with a jump in nest numbers.

Let me inform you all once the job is done.

If your BH is facing similar problem please call me at 017 7551318

Pontian BH: Visit For The First Time !!!

Another BH that is critical and need some expert help.

Owner claimed that after almost 3-4 years the person who took charge went missing.

He need to force his way into his own BH when he can no longer traced the person who promised to deliver the BH with 10 nests.

Maybe due to design failure those birds simple refuse to enter and stay.

Right now if I am not mistaken the number of nest might be about 5-8 pieces.

Critically ill and more or less in ICU state.

After viewing inside I think I know the reasons.

I need to crack my head on what to be done if the owner wanted to see more nests.

My biggest concern are the followings:

1) The BH is with not water supply.  Its due to its distance from the water supply line.  The owner claimed that there is a stream nearby but I doubt his words.  The only wise solution is to harvest the rain water..

2)  Another short coming is the power supply.  There is no power supply except a solar power system.  The use of battery store energy has a lot of limitation.  For example how will my workers run those power tools during revamp operation.  Also the power in the three batteries might not be able to operate any water spray system or pumps.

3)  This 3rd item is what I hate most.  The ceiling height of each floor is about 12 feet high.  Its difficult to work on those nesting planks like installation of tweeters or fake nests.  I don't dare to climb up those ladders or racks.

4) Nearly every partition walls found inside this BH are made of bricks.  If I wanted to remove any of the walls I need to hack them down and lifting those broken brick to the ground floor will be a major task.

I guess I need to firstly write a full report and submit to the owner.

Once he read them perhaps he can decide what he wanted to do with it.

Keep your fingers cross.