Well I just wanted to write something about how nice some people can be.
I was in Seremban, N9 and met one of my blog reader. He is a matured and elderly person.
He has two BHs in the same town but both are not doing that well.
The worse is the unit that is sitting just beside a very successful BH (wall-to-wall) and yet he got less then 15 nests after 10 months in operation.
Why? Well the answer lies on his "Good Heart".
He could not fire his "Consultant" since the contract period is about 2 months to go.
Hmm... what a guy but I admired his determination to stay cool for 10 months.
Well he took me for a visit and I just could not understand how people claimed to be a "Consultant" by doing so little to make the house confortable for those birds.
If you next door neighbour is harvesting 3 kilograms a month, why is that you cannot even have 15 complete nests after 10 months???
After having a good look inside and outside, I saw some glaring reasons why his BH is not attracting those wild birds.
1) The house was as bright as the full moon. The top floor was more like a summer day. The Guru seem to know very little about building a BH.
2) Number of tweeters were not adequate. All tweeters seem to be those cheap tweeters with no brand printed on them. The same tweeters were used for both the internal and external.
3) The room, especially upstairs, temperture and humidity were closed to the outside environment. (No thermo Hygrometer were made available to check).
4) Not a single humidifier were made available.
5) No special aroma being used.
6) The entrance hole was the open roof type while the neighbour is using side entrance.
And many many more to add.
When I was at the back of the BH I saw those wide opening on the side wall used by his neighbour and streams on birds flying in and out.
"Why can you follow what your neighbour is doing? Just do exactly what he did. Break open a hole in the wall and see what happen?".
Well Harry, I just do not want to upset my "consultant" and my neighbour. I don't want them to say that I do not honor the contract and that I steal their swiftlets.
"When did the neighrbour owed those wild swiftlets? Those birds are gift from God and they do not belongs to any one, my dear friend".
"So you think by using the open roof your birds are coming from somewhere else?" I asked him.
I have this good heart and I don't like to upset others.
Hmm....I shook my head and could never say much more but I told him that I dare to cut my little finger if he open the hole and it is not successfull like his neighbour. Of course he needs to make some arrangments to upgrade those internal features.
In my heart, I just feel that if this guy wanted to be successful he need to change his mindset. He need to be a bit more agressive and make the right decision. If he continue to please others all the time then what happen to his own heart.
The most important lesson here is that if you wanted to be a successful BH farmer you need to be a bit agressive and forget about pleasing everybody around you all the time. You do need to be reasonable but you have to be responsible to those who invested with you in your farm.
I hope he will one day change his mind and call me to help him to reorganise the BH.
I am willing to buy over the unit if he is not keen to do anything, I told him....
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Hi-Tech Digital Camera with Pan/Tilt/Zoom Capability !!!
Eversince my DIY instalations of two cameras in my BH I have taken sometime to search for something that can be used online but wireless.
I came across this superb camera which might meet my terrible zest to view my birdhouse from home. (I am in KL and my BHs are in SP and Bentong).
The product description looks like this:
This Dual Codec Network Camera with Pan/Tilt/Zoom is a powerful Surveillance System connecting to a wired Ethernet Connection to provide remote high-quality video and audio. The pan/tilt/zoom function that can be controlled through the Internet or the included IR Remote Control extends the camera practicability and application. Users of this PTZ Wireless Camera can easily access it via an Internet Explorer Web Browser, receiving synchronized video and audio from anywhere, anytime.
Found at: http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/vivotek-pz6114.html
Price: US 689
This might be a very good tool to monitor those swiftlets flying in and out or perhaps I might want to monitor at close range for my secret research on aroma application, new tweeters, special gadgets in the house.
Well it also have a powerful audio receiver. Might want to use for recording of their sound.
Hmm..... very interesting. I now found the answers to my long distance problem...
I came across this superb camera which might meet my terrible zest to view my birdhouse from home. (I am in KL and my BHs are in SP and Bentong).
The product description looks like this:
This Dual Codec Network Camera with Pan/Tilt/Zoom is a powerful Surveillance System connecting to a wired Ethernet Connection to provide remote high-quality video and audio. The pan/tilt/zoom function that can be controlled through the Internet or the included IR Remote Control extends the camera practicability and application. Users of this PTZ Wireless Camera can easily access it via an Internet Explorer Web Browser, receiving synchronized video and audio from anywhere, anytime.
Found at: http://www.brickhousesecurity.com/vivotek-pz6114.html
Price: US 689
This might be a very good tool to monitor those swiftlets flying in and out or perhaps I might want to monitor at close range for my secret research on aroma application, new tweeters, special gadgets in the house.
Well it also have a powerful audio receiver. Might want to use for recording of their sound.
Hmm..... very interesting. I now found the answers to my long distance problem...
Those Six Legged Creatures Are All Over The House !!!
"Hai Harry this is your blog reader from so and so and wanted to asked you something. I visited my new BH today and saw a number of bird shit spots on the floor and there were many young cockroaches eating them. May I know what should I do?".
"Harry this is Miss D who talked to you two days ago. I am now in my BH and you know what? I saw those wood dust on the floor and I think the nesting planks were invaded by some kind of insects. Can you advise what should be done?".
Two different calls with two different issues.
Both have something related to the invasion of insects that can do harm to your BH.
The first call have to do with a kind of roach that love to eat bird droppings. I saw this in my own BH. If you observe carefully they might not be a house cockroach but they might be those that came together with those fresh bird shits that you brought in for the aroma purposes.
Small in size and black in color. They do not have any wings on them.
The second call have to do with those wood beetles that love to eat your wood. If you do a proper check, there will be a number of pin size holes on those affected wood that were where those wood dust on the floor are coming from.
These beetles lay their eggs on the wood and once the egg turned into crawling sibling they will eat their way into the wood. They will fatten themself,pupate and transformed into beetle to start the egg laying cycle.
One more thing that you might need to check are those spiders. If there are any spider's cob, there are these small creatures. Their cobs are not well like by your tenant. You need to kill all of them, if you can.
There are many more six legged creatures found in your BH and most of them need to be flushed or destroyed. Well those fruit flies are okay.
The best method to resolve these issues is to apply, on a regular basis, a non harmfull, odorless and effective chemicals on the wall of your BH. I prefer Fendona from BASF. If you have other alternative please place in the comment page on this article.
You should apply them on a three months basis and place this routine as one of the maintenance scope of work on the BH.
"Harry this is Miss D who talked to you two days ago. I am now in my BH and you know what? I saw those wood dust on the floor and I think the nesting planks were invaded by some kind of insects. Can you advise what should be done?".
Two different calls with two different issues.
Both have something related to the invasion of insects that can do harm to your BH.
The first call have to do with a kind of roach that love to eat bird droppings. I saw this in my own BH. If you observe carefully they might not be a house cockroach but they might be those that came together with those fresh bird shits that you brought in for the aroma purposes.
Small in size and black in color. They do not have any wings on them.
The second call have to do with those wood beetles that love to eat your wood. If you do a proper check, there will be a number of pin size holes on those affected wood that were where those wood dust on the floor are coming from.
These beetles lay their eggs on the wood and once the egg turned into crawling sibling they will eat their way into the wood. They will fatten themself,pupate and transformed into beetle to start the egg laying cycle.
One more thing that you might need to check are those spiders. If there are any spider's cob, there are these small creatures. Their cobs are not well like by your tenant. You need to kill all of them, if you can.
There are many more six legged creatures found in your BH and most of them need to be flushed or destroyed. Well those fruit flies are okay.
The best method to resolve these issues is to apply, on a regular basis, a non harmfull, odorless and effective chemicals on the wall of your BH. I prefer Fendona from BASF. If you have other alternative please place in the comment page on this article.
You should apply them on a three months basis and place this routine as one of the maintenance scope of work on the BH.
Counting Birdshit Spots On The Floor Is Not Good Enought !!!
You know something?
The purpose of playing those sound on the roof and at the entrance hole are just for you to announce that you house is ready to be tenanted.
There will be lots of birds circling above your new BH and all in all they were attracted by those beautiful melodies that you are playing.
What happen in the next few days will be very crucial.
These wild birds will normally do a kind of inspection of your house.
They will normally enter firstly the roving area and out they go.
They will do that until they are very sure that the place is save and conducive to be called as a home.
If the house is not to their liking, they will stay away and perhaps choose another one that is better then yours.
This is the very reason why many experience BH owner will ensure that their BH is in a very perfect condition before opening those external birdcall sound.
The house temperature is the number one, then the brightness (be dim), the humidity and of cause those smell.
It will be very nice if those internal sounds are making them feel very comfortable as if there are already young birds and many others in the new house.
From my personal observations, the final result is the number of birds that enter your house in late evening and stays in. They will be the one that will determine if your house will be tenanted or not.
Again one night stay might not be good enough. They will stay in to check the microhabitat at night and where is the safest area to put a night. In the event that your house is too hot or too dry or not safe to bring up a family, I am sure you can guess what happen next....
The best way to monitor your new BH health is actually to check the actual number of birds entering your house from say 7.00pm till say 8.00pm on a weekly basis.
Install a CCTV camera (DIY) where you can watch them flying in and make easy counting using a mechanical counter.
Keep a log book on the actual number of birds entered less those that have flew out and keep doing this on a regular basis.
You will get a very good idea on what is actually happening by practising this technique.
You might be able to use this technique to see if your aroma is working or if your recently installed gadget is chasing your tenant away. Or perhaps there is something that is not right after your last BH visit, say those tweeters are giving those squeeky sound !!!
The birdshit spots count might not be as accurate as the actual number of birds that entered your house everyday.
Birdshit spots tells you that there were birds that entered the house but how many of them you will not have any precise answer.
What happened when the same couple keep changing their preferred tweeter every night? They will automatically leave more birdshit spots all over.
Trust me and you will know why if you should follow what I have suggested.....
Just say a big thank you when you get what I was trying to tell you ....
The purpose of playing those sound on the roof and at the entrance hole are just for you to announce that you house is ready to be tenanted.
There will be lots of birds circling above your new BH and all in all they were attracted by those beautiful melodies that you are playing.
What happen in the next few days will be very crucial.
These wild birds will normally do a kind of inspection of your house.
They will normally enter firstly the roving area and out they go.
They will do that until they are very sure that the place is save and conducive to be called as a home.
If the house is not to their liking, they will stay away and perhaps choose another one that is better then yours.
This is the very reason why many experience BH owner will ensure that their BH is in a very perfect condition before opening those external birdcall sound.
The house temperature is the number one, then the brightness (be dim), the humidity and of cause those smell.
It will be very nice if those internal sounds are making them feel very comfortable as if there are already young birds and many others in the new house.
From my personal observations, the final result is the number of birds that enter your house in late evening and stays in. They will be the one that will determine if your house will be tenanted or not.
Again one night stay might not be good enough. They will stay in to check the microhabitat at night and where is the safest area to put a night. In the event that your house is too hot or too dry or not safe to bring up a family, I am sure you can guess what happen next....
The best way to monitor your new BH health is actually to check the actual number of birds entering your house from say 7.00pm till say 8.00pm on a weekly basis.
Install a CCTV camera (DIY) where you can watch them flying in and make easy counting using a mechanical counter.
Keep a log book on the actual number of birds entered less those that have flew out and keep doing this on a regular basis.
You will get a very good idea on what is actually happening by practising this technique.
You might be able to use this technique to see if your aroma is working or if your recently installed gadget is chasing your tenant away. Or perhaps there is something that is not right after your last BH visit, say those tweeters are giving those squeeky sound !!!
The birdshit spots count might not be as accurate as the actual number of birds that entered your house everyday.
Birdshit spots tells you that there were birds that entered the house but how many of them you will not have any precise answer.
What happened when the same couple keep changing their preferred tweeter every night? They will automatically leave more birdshit spots all over.
Trust me and you will know why if you should follow what I have suggested.....
Just say a big thank you when you get what I was trying to tell you ....
Friday, August 29, 2008
Some Weired Designed BH !!!
I was in Bukit Mertajam today and visited a BH somewhere in the new town.
It was a three stories shop house and two of the upper floors were turned into BH.
As usual, the so call consultant will use the staircase as a place to place those amplifiers and players. I believed this kind of design should be abolished.
The first thing that I observed is that there are not proper lighting. No torchlight in hand and the floor were all wet.
No thermo hygrometer and all the ventilations holes were wide opened.
The LAL was again without any safety railings.
The whole BH smell clean. No fresh bird shit in any bucket and nothing.... no aroma.
Three months only a couple of bird shit spots.
The weirdest, is the direction of those tweeters. They face the ceiling.
When asked why, the owner claimed that the positioning will allow the birds to rest on the tweeter's surface. Oh my god.....
All of the tweeters were not accompanied with any capacitors to effectively lengthen the tweeter's life.
The first floor was covered with water about 4 mm deep. This was mainly due to timer's malfunction. If the floor is allowed to be wet for a few more days, you can imagine what will happen to the ceiling and the nesting planks. Moldy.....
So what do you think you should do....
Just keep quite and see if they will want to hear about my opinions.
Well since he did asked, I took a piece of paper and jot down all the things that I wished he should look into.
The water on the floor must be dried, the temperature and humidity sensor must be in placed, the tweeters need to be readjusted, the light should be proper, fresh bird shit to be placed in the house, the ventilation holes need to be shut, the roof top sound should be made available, try a new sound for external call, put railings on the LAL, the hole at the entrance need to be widened and so forth.
It was a three stories shop house and two of the upper floors were turned into BH.
As usual, the so call consultant will use the staircase as a place to place those amplifiers and players. I believed this kind of design should be abolished.
The first thing that I observed is that there are not proper lighting. No torchlight in hand and the floor were all wet.
No thermo hygrometer and all the ventilations holes were wide opened.
The LAL was again without any safety railings.
The whole BH smell clean. No fresh bird shit in any bucket and nothing.... no aroma.
Three months only a couple of bird shit spots.
The weirdest, is the direction of those tweeters. They face the ceiling.
When asked why, the owner claimed that the positioning will allow the birds to rest on the tweeter's surface. Oh my god.....
All of the tweeters were not accompanied with any capacitors to effectively lengthen the tweeter's life.
The first floor was covered with water about 4 mm deep. This was mainly due to timer's malfunction. If the floor is allowed to be wet for a few more days, you can imagine what will happen to the ceiling and the nesting planks. Moldy.....
So what do you think you should do....
Just keep quite and see if they will want to hear about my opinions.
Well since he did asked, I took a piece of paper and jot down all the things that I wished he should look into.
The water on the floor must be dried, the temperature and humidity sensor must be in placed, the tweeters need to be readjusted, the light should be proper, fresh bird shit to be placed in the house, the ventilation holes need to be shut, the roof top sound should be made available, try a new sound for external call, put railings on the LAL, the hole at the entrance need to be widened and so forth.
Please Don't Laught At This Wonderful Joke !!!
'Bill went to a doctor and asked him if he ever laughed at a patient. The doctor replied 'Of course I won't laugh, I'm a professional. In over twenty years I've never laughed at a patient.
Okay then,' Bill said and proceeded to drop his trousers, revealing the tiniest 'whoo-ha' the doctor had ever seen.
It couldn't have been bigger than the size of a AAA battery.
Unable to control himself, the doctor started giggling, then, fell laughing to the floor. Ten minutes later he was able to struggle to his feet and regain his composure.
'I'm so sorry,' said the doctor. 'I really am. I don't know what came over me. On my honour as a doctor and a gentleman, I promise it won't happen again. Now, what seems to be the problem?'
'It was bitten by red ant and It's swollen,' Bill replied.
Okay then,' Bill said and proceeded to drop his trousers, revealing the tiniest 'whoo-ha' the doctor had ever seen.
It couldn't have been bigger than the size of a AAA battery.
Unable to control himself, the doctor started giggling, then, fell laughing to the floor. Ten minutes later he was able to struggle to his feet and regain his composure.
'I'm so sorry,' said the doctor. 'I really am. I don't know what came over me. On my honour as a doctor and a gentleman, I promise it won't happen again. Now, what seems to be the problem?'
'It was bitten by red ant and It's swollen,' Bill replied.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Plan to Be In Kuala Kerai Next Week !!!
Received a special invitation to visit Kuala Kerai next week.
Main purpose is to conduct a proper survey on the viability of investing in this "hotspot" town.
Many have claimed that the town is one of the most heavily populated with swiftlets and I just wanted to see for my self.
The organiser do have a project that is under construction and will be ready by August 2008.
A total of 61 units are for sale and only about 30 more are availbale for those who are serious in this kind of investment.
I will be acting as a potential buyer and I wanted to professionally evaluate the location.
My plan is to leave as early as possible and reach Kuala Kerai at about noon.
Once at the location will make some observation on the birds availabilty, flying path, water source, nearest successfull birdhouses and a few more things.
Will stay for at least three days to make every observations that can help in making a concrete conclusion.
Who knows I might want to buy one.
Or perhaps encourage people to invest in it.
They can either buy each individual unit, set a JV with a few buddies or set a JV on a coop basis where many individuals buy them in a group of say 100 or more.
Before taking the next step I must be certain that the units are stragetically located and minimum risks.
There is not use in making recommendations when the number of birds in that specific location is not enought to fill up all the units....
Main purpose is to conduct a proper survey on the viability of investing in this "hotspot" town.
Many have claimed that the town is one of the most heavily populated with swiftlets and I just wanted to see for my self.
The organiser do have a project that is under construction and will be ready by August 2008.
A total of 61 units are for sale and only about 30 more are availbale for those who are serious in this kind of investment.
I will be acting as a potential buyer and I wanted to professionally evaluate the location.
My plan is to leave as early as possible and reach Kuala Kerai at about noon.
Once at the location will make some observation on the birds availabilty, flying path, water source, nearest successfull birdhouses and a few more things.
Will stay for at least three days to make every observations that can help in making a concrete conclusion.
Who knows I might want to buy one.
Or perhaps encourage people to invest in it.
They can either buy each individual unit, set a JV with a few buddies or set a JV on a coop basis where many individuals buy them in a group of say 100 or more.
Before taking the next step I must be certain that the units are stragetically located and minimum risks.
There is not use in making recommendations when the number of birds in that specific location is not enought to fill up all the units....
Monday, August 25, 2008
Tweeter Failed In Less Then 6 Months !!!
This is the price you pay for using those cheap tweeters.
For my Bentong BH I installed a second hand mobile phone that I load every month about 5 ringgit. The unit was connected to a hand's free set and I hung its receiver at one of those cheap tweeter that I used as a test set.
Two days ago I make my routine call to the phone number(017 9388913 You might want to try) and there was no sound coming out.
In my mind I started to guess what are the probable reasons.
These might be:
1) The tweeter failed to work.
2) The amplifier is having a kind of problem and there is no sound to my entrance hole.
3) The power supply to the house tripped.
There were a few more that come to my mind. To feel more assured I called my partner to check. He too feel the same.
We immediately make a trip to check the cause. We cannot allow the house be running without those sound. No sound means no birds.
We drove and the moment we arrived we heard the external sound playing. Hmm no problem with electricity or the amplifier.
We entered the Data Room and yes the test tweeter was out.
I shook the tweeter and it start to give those sqeeky sound. If I should have installed this in the BH, can you imagine the effect to those wild birds?
So the lesson here is that you should try to use those quality type of tweeters with those capacitors soldered. Get something that can last for at least two to three years and not 6 months.
Go for something that is motorola quality with piezo technology......
Lucky that we have a few spare tweeters in our drawer.
Set the new new tweeter, check the house and off we go....
For my Bentong BH I installed a second hand mobile phone that I load every month about 5 ringgit. The unit was connected to a hand's free set and I hung its receiver at one of those cheap tweeter that I used as a test set.
Two days ago I make my routine call to the phone number(017 9388913 You might want to try) and there was no sound coming out.
In my mind I started to guess what are the probable reasons.
These might be:
1) The tweeter failed to work.
2) The amplifier is having a kind of problem and there is no sound to my entrance hole.
3) The power supply to the house tripped.
There were a few more that come to my mind. To feel more assured I called my partner to check. He too feel the same.
We immediately make a trip to check the cause. We cannot allow the house be running without those sound. No sound means no birds.
We drove and the moment we arrived we heard the external sound playing. Hmm no problem with electricity or the amplifier.
We entered the Data Room and yes the test tweeter was out.
I shook the tweeter and it start to give those sqeeky sound. If I should have installed this in the BH, can you imagine the effect to those wild birds?
So the lesson here is that you should try to use those quality type of tweeters with those capacitors soldered. Get something that can last for at least two to three years and not 6 months.
Go for something that is motorola quality with piezo technology......
Lucky that we have a few spare tweeters in our drawer.
Set the new new tweeter, check the house and off we go....
A New Book On Swiftlet Farming In Bahasa Malaysia !!!
A few months back I received a call from one of my blog reader who wanted to print his write up on swiftlet farming.
He have completed the draft and about to be sent to the printer.
"Harry, need you kind help. Can I get some of those beautiful photos that you have on your Blog?"
Oh yes, you are welcome. Before that can I have a look at those draft.
I met him and went thru those draft write up. Hmm not bad and lots of informations that are suitable for newbies in swiftlet farming.
The best was that it was in Bahasa. I don't think I have come across any book in Bahasa Malaysia. There are many in Bahasa Indonesia but not in Bahasa.
Well I was satisfied with the draft and took my time to select as many pictures as possible for this person. I just wanted him to sent them to the printer and get the book out as soon as possible.
The more this type of reading materials are in the market the better for our Swiftlet Community.
This week he called me and said that they are ready and wanted me to hold as many copies as I can.
I will be meeting him today to pick up the lot and I will be very happy to distribute to those who are looking to top up their collection.
Will take some photo and load onto this blog. I have yet to confirm the price of each book.
He have completed the draft and about to be sent to the printer.
"Harry, need you kind help. Can I get some of those beautiful photos that you have on your Blog?"
Oh yes, you are welcome. Before that can I have a look at those draft.
I met him and went thru those draft write up. Hmm not bad and lots of informations that are suitable for newbies in swiftlet farming.
The best was that it was in Bahasa. I don't think I have come across any book in Bahasa Malaysia. There are many in Bahasa Indonesia but not in Bahasa.
Well I was satisfied with the draft and took my time to select as many pictures as possible for this person. I just wanted him to sent them to the printer and get the book out as soon as possible.
The more this type of reading materials are in the market the better for our Swiftlet Community.
This week he called me and said that they are ready and wanted me to hold as many copies as I can.
I will be meeting him today to pick up the lot and I will be very happy to distribute to those who are looking to top up their collection.
Will take some photo and load onto this blog. I have yet to confirm the price of each book.
Harry My BH Just Broken Into. You Know What They Took?
Just posted my last article and I received this stress call.
"Harry my 4 stories BH was broken into during the weekend and they carded my sound system. Yes the whole sets".
Ai ya ya ya .....
They did not enter his BH nesting area for those precious nests but they targetted his BH sound systems. The thumb drives and all those amplifier sets (5 of them).
You see what I mean by burgulary.
He realised that these burgular have to be a Swiftlet Farmer. He came in not for the nests but for the sound system. How strange?
He also remembered that before this there were a couple of friends who have been asking him for his sound but he refuse to depart with it.
His sound seem to be the best for the area that he is operating. Lots of birds respond to the call and no one can match his sound (in his area).
So the conclusion is someone who is operating a BH in his area might be the rascal.
"So what now Harry?".
Well you need to make a police report. Perhaps you should from now on place a GPS tracking system in your amplifiers?
I remembered listening to a guy who lost his pet dog to his neighbor. It was lucky that he placed this special GPS chip at the dog's neck (under the skin). He went to the GPS provider and trace his dog. Yes it was at his neighbor. So went to make a police report and the police nab the rascal.
"Okay Harry can I know the brand, the model and which GPS company to work with?".
Let me call that friend of mine who relate that dog stories and perhaps he can be of help.
"What about using those sim card from those telco companies?"
Might be good but you might need to top up every month?
How about those yearly fee type?
You might want to try asking from those telcos....
"Harry my 4 stories BH was broken into during the weekend and they carded my sound system. Yes the whole sets".
Ai ya ya ya .....
They did not enter his BH nesting area for those precious nests but they targetted his BH sound systems. The thumb drives and all those amplifier sets (5 of them).
You see what I mean by burgulary.
He realised that these burgular have to be a Swiftlet Farmer. He came in not for the nests but for the sound system. How strange?
He also remembered that before this there were a couple of friends who have been asking him for his sound but he refuse to depart with it.
His sound seem to be the best for the area that he is operating. Lots of birds respond to the call and no one can match his sound (in his area).
So the conclusion is someone who is operating a BH in his area might be the rascal.
"So what now Harry?".
Well you need to make a police report. Perhaps you should from now on place a GPS tracking system in your amplifiers?
I remembered listening to a guy who lost his pet dog to his neighbor. It was lucky that he placed this special GPS chip at the dog's neck (under the skin). He went to the GPS provider and trace his dog. Yes it was at his neighbor. So went to make a police report and the police nab the rascal.
"Okay Harry can I know the brand, the model and which GPS company to work with?".
Let me call that friend of mine who relate that dog stories and perhaps he can be of help.
"What about using those sim card from those telco companies?"
Might be good but you might need to top up every month?
How about those yearly fee type?
You might want to try asking from those telcos....
Sunday, August 24, 2008
Birdhouse Burgulary: I might be Joking !!!
The number of false entry, or burgulary, of BHs are getting very critical.
Everyday there will be at least a Bh being entered and all those nests are being removed and anything inside destroyed or thrown on the floor.
In Sungai Patani, there will be at least one every day. It is becoming a normal news for Swiftlet Community there.
But now according to someone that I met at the GAHP seminar, these Burgulars are getting very smart. They do not enter your BH to harvest but wait for you to harvest and pull their act on those harvested nests.
Hmmm......They are cunning and cleverer then we ever thought....
The other trend seem to be stealing your BH sound systems. Those who are successful, the burgular will target those sounds that you used. Some just come for the sound CD or Pen drive or memory cards but some will take all the amplifiers and those sounds.
If seem that the culprit might be one of those who have their own BHs or your friend who wanted some those sounds and you refuse to let him have one.
So I guess you need to employ those Securicor with M16 around your BH when you do your harvesting.
"Well Harry what is your advise about this?".
Well, my friend try not to use this excuse to change your mind set about swiftler farming. You do need to plan some kind of secured locks and doors but when you only have below 100 nests, I think you should not be overly worried.
Do you know what happened after the burgular harvest all those nests?
Well I was informed that the number of nest multiplied. There were more nests then before. Unbelievable.
So maybe it is good to let your house be burgled at least one before you cross the 100 nests? He he he ...
So why not before hitting the 100 nests, place a notice, "Please Burgle my BH".
I am joking but who knows you might want to consider..... He he he....
Well the most important is to look into various security measures after your nest counts exceed say 300 nests.
There are many types and you need to look at them with an open mind and adopt the one that suit your budget and the location.
Some people go to extreme. They put in electrified wires to electricute those rascals who deserve death for coming in without invitation....
But be careful, you and your house caretaker might be the victim if you do not switch them off before entering own BH.
So make sure you instal a kind of safety measures to ensure that all those elctrified wires are automatically switch off the moment you enter the data room. Event if the electrified wired have got a victim you should be alerted.
Everyday there will be at least a Bh being entered and all those nests are being removed and anything inside destroyed or thrown on the floor.
In Sungai Patani, there will be at least one every day. It is becoming a normal news for Swiftlet Community there.
But now according to someone that I met at the GAHP seminar, these Burgulars are getting very smart. They do not enter your BH to harvest but wait for you to harvest and pull their act on those harvested nests.
Hmmm......They are cunning and cleverer then we ever thought....
The other trend seem to be stealing your BH sound systems. Those who are successful, the burgular will target those sounds that you used. Some just come for the sound CD or Pen drive or memory cards but some will take all the amplifiers and those sounds.
If seem that the culprit might be one of those who have their own BHs or your friend who wanted some those sounds and you refuse to let him have one.
So I guess you need to employ those Securicor with M16 around your BH when you do your harvesting.
"Well Harry what is your advise about this?".
Well, my friend try not to use this excuse to change your mind set about swiftler farming. You do need to plan some kind of secured locks and doors but when you only have below 100 nests, I think you should not be overly worried.
Do you know what happened after the burgular harvest all those nests?
Well I was informed that the number of nest multiplied. There were more nests then before. Unbelievable.
So maybe it is good to let your house be burgled at least one before you cross the 100 nests? He he he ...
So why not before hitting the 100 nests, place a notice, "Please Burgle my BH".
I am joking but who knows you might want to consider..... He he he....
Well the most important is to look into various security measures after your nest counts exceed say 300 nests.
There are many types and you need to look at them with an open mind and adopt the one that suit your budget and the location.
Some people go to extreme. They put in electrified wires to electricute those rascals who deserve death for coming in without invitation....
But be careful, you and your house caretaker might be the victim if you do not switch them off before entering own BH.
So make sure you instal a kind of safety measures to ensure that all those elctrified wires are automatically switch off the moment you enter the data room. Event if the electrified wired have got a victim you should be alerted.
How Can You Maximise Your Time While Attending A Seminar !!!!
I spend two solid days and one night at Dynasty Hotel during the weekend.
Left my wife alone at home. All in all I wanted to meet all the participants who enrolled in the seminar.
On the first day I was allowed to mingle around with the participants and got very closed to those who enrolled via my blog.
On the second day I was given the opportunity to deliver my speaches, two topics, and it was only two hours.
The problem was, is that enought?
There are so many more things to let out to these newbies and how can they be successful swiftlet farmers after just two hours of swiftlet farming talk?
Come to think about it, why should I be bothered?
It is their money, why should I care?
Hmm ....... A very sensible question and .....
The thing is that, are there any other ways to let these newbies get more informations during a session like these.
If I am one of them, I will do much more there sitting down and listening to those speakers.
I will have an attack plans. I will firstly list my objective why I wanted to attend the seminar and why should I depart with my hard earned RM 980 to the organiser.
I will get to know every speaker that provide their lactures and get close to those who will help me if I have any queiries when I began constructing my BH.
I have drawn up a long list of questions that I wanted to get clearifications. I will ask every question to the relevant speaker and jot them into my computer.
I will request a special supper with one of the speaker, a helpful one, to interview him about his history in becoming a swiftlet farmer and learn as much that I can from him.
But first I need to read Harry's blog in full. Only then I can list those questions out .....
Well the next time you planned to attend any seminar, please follow the above advises. I can assure you that you will get more milage from one liter of your petrol ...
Left my wife alone at home. All in all I wanted to meet all the participants who enrolled in the seminar.
On the first day I was allowed to mingle around with the participants and got very closed to those who enrolled via my blog.
On the second day I was given the opportunity to deliver my speaches, two topics, and it was only two hours.
The problem was, is that enought?
There are so many more things to let out to these newbies and how can they be successful swiftlet farmers after just two hours of swiftlet farming talk?
Come to think about it, why should I be bothered?
It is their money, why should I care?
Hmm ....... A very sensible question and .....
The thing is that, are there any other ways to let these newbies get more informations during a session like these.
If I am one of them, I will do much more there sitting down and listening to those speakers.
I will have an attack plans. I will firstly list my objective why I wanted to attend the seminar and why should I depart with my hard earned RM 980 to the organiser.
I will get to know every speaker that provide their lactures and get close to those who will help me if I have any queiries when I began constructing my BH.
I have drawn up a long list of questions that I wanted to get clearifications. I will ask every question to the relevant speaker and jot them into my computer.
I will request a special supper with one of the speaker, a helpful one, to interview him about his history in becoming a swiftlet farmer and learn as much that I can from him.
But first I need to read Harry's blog in full. Only then I can list those questions out .....
Well the next time you planned to attend any seminar, please follow the above advises. I can assure you that you will get more milage from one liter of your petrol ...
How To Gain Experiences In Swiftlet Farming With Minimum Investment !!!
There are many ways for your to be a well aducated person in venturing into swiftlet farming.
You can go in a big way one shot or perhap go in a low entry type and learn how to climb the ladder step by step.
"Harry I have three pieces of land and I want to start one immediately by taking those loans from Agro bank. Is that okay?".
Well, it is okay if you are financially strong and you know what you are doing. How much knowledge do you have now about swiftlet farming?
" Zip, nothing. Very little Harry".
Well in that case why can you go in a more sensible way.
I want you to consider this:
Get a location where there are lots of birds, do a birdtest call. Then find the owner of the abandoned shop. Meet him and propose to him that you would like to turn the shop into a BH.
The idea is you invest in the renovation and he provide the abandone shop on a special long term lease arrangement.
If he agrees you then draw out a lease agreement that will benefitted both parties.
In this way your exposure is not more then rm 25K per floor. If you get a partner who also wanted to learn the same you will lower your exposure to only rm 12.5K. What about three partners? You drop again to rm 8.33K.
The idea is to minimise your exposure but learn as much as you can before you embark on a larger project on your own.
If the first venture is successful, you can use this as your reference with the bank. I guarantee you that the Bank wanted to be very sure that you are able to make money with what you borrowed. Showing them this successful first venture is a plus point.
You might want to buy over the abandoned shop from the owner? How about it?
In this way you minimised your exposure but maximise you platform of learning via your own effort.
If you failed, you loose only say 12.5K and not 250K. This is equivalent to enrolling into a MBA course, private classes, with a roll of paper!!!
Make sure that the first venture in successful. While doing that learn as much as you can. Remember there is nothing better then having a hands on then just attending one seminars to another without doing any practical works.
I hope you get what I am trying to say.....
If you need more advise on how to do this please email you question to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com.
You can go in a big way one shot or perhap go in a low entry type and learn how to climb the ladder step by step.
"Harry I have three pieces of land and I want to start one immediately by taking those loans from Agro bank. Is that okay?".
Well, it is okay if you are financially strong and you know what you are doing. How much knowledge do you have now about swiftlet farming?
" Zip, nothing. Very little Harry".
Well in that case why can you go in a more sensible way.
I want you to consider this:
Get a location where there are lots of birds, do a birdtest call. Then find the owner of the abandoned shop. Meet him and propose to him that you would like to turn the shop into a BH.
The idea is you invest in the renovation and he provide the abandone shop on a special long term lease arrangement.
If he agrees you then draw out a lease agreement that will benefitted both parties.
In this way your exposure is not more then rm 25K per floor. If you get a partner who also wanted to learn the same you will lower your exposure to only rm 12.5K. What about three partners? You drop again to rm 8.33K.
The idea is to minimise your exposure but learn as much as you can before you embark on a larger project on your own.
If the first venture is successful, you can use this as your reference with the bank. I guarantee you that the Bank wanted to be very sure that you are able to make money with what you borrowed. Showing them this successful first venture is a plus point.
You might want to buy over the abandoned shop from the owner? How about it?
In this way you minimised your exposure but maximise you platform of learning via your own effort.
If you failed, you loose only say 12.5K and not 250K. This is equivalent to enrolling into a MBA course, private classes, with a roll of paper!!!
Make sure that the first venture in successful. While doing that learn as much as you can. Remember there is nothing better then having a hands on then just attending one seminars to another without doing any practical works.
I hope you get what I am trying to say.....
If you need more advise on how to do this please email you question to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com.
Aroma Untuk Rumah Baru
Been very busy with the 2 days GAHP seminar at Dynasty hotel.
This morning received this email massage asking for some informations on Aroma usage in a new BH. The question was in Bahasa so I replied in Bahasa:
Mr C,
1. Aroma jenis-jenis mana digunakan untuk RBW baru?
Sebaik nya aroma rumah baru ada tiga macam. Untuk Lantai, Dinding dan Siling.
2. Apakah kergunaannya ?
Tujuan aroma adalah untuk:
a) Untuk rumah baru adalah bagi menurun bahu simen.
b) Untuk bikin rumah baru bau sebagai rumah yang sudah diduduki banyak burung. Ini akan bikin burung rasa aman.
c) Untuk tarik burung ke rumah burung anda dan pusing2 di atas bumbung rumah baru.
d) Untuk tarik burung sepaya cepat masuk ke dalam rumah baru.
e) Untuk memberahi burung supaya cepat kawin atau cari rakan untuk kawin (cara burung). Kalau mereka kawin baru mereka nak buat sarang.
3. Perlukah najis walit dimasukan ke RBW yang baru atau hanya Aroma sahaja?
Najis burung adalah salah satu bahan aroma yang digunakan di atas lantai rumah burung. Selalu nya ianya digunakan bersama dengan aroma yang lain, umpamanya aroma syntatic yang dicampur oleh manusia. Guna kedua2 nya dan mesti peka bagaimana nak gunakan nya.
Najis boleh bertahan 6 bulan dan mesti di tukar baru. Aroma didinding perlu disembur setiap bulan.
Aroma disiling patut di adu dengan humidifier dan disembur setiap hari satu atau dua kali. Sapu di beberapa tempat siling (cuba dulu) sebulan sekali.
4. Berapa sukatan yang perlu digunakan Aroma atau Najis walit ?
Kalau boleh, anda patut dapatkan dalam 50 kilo najis burung dan taruh dalam beberapa bekas plastic dan agih didalam setiap lantai rumah burung di bahagian tepi dinding dan tengah. Bagi aroma systatic, anda patut sembor, guna pump sembor, kedinding 50 cm bawah nesting plank. Satu botol 1.5 liter bagi satu tingkat rumah yang berkuran 20X70 kaki. Semboran patut dilakukan setiap bulan sekali.
Bagi campuran dengan air semburan dari humidifier, cuma campur dalam 100 ml setiap minggu.
Untuk siling guna sedikit dahulu dan sekiranya terbukti ada tahi burung banyak dibawah siling yang di pilih, baru guna berlebihan sedikit. Dalam 50 ml disapu bagi permulaan di papan.
5. Dimanakah boleh beli dan berapakah harga?
Saya ada simpan beberapa botol aroma syntatic. Untuk najis kena tunggu. Harga, aroam syntatic harganya rm150 sebotol 1.5 liter (untuk rumah baru). Untuk rumah lama aroma syntatic lebih murah dalam rm120 sebotol. Najis dalam 80 ringgit seguni 50 kilo tertakluk ada orang yang nak jual. Aroma siling dan semburan harga nya 100 ringgit bagi satu liter. Minima 5 liter sebotol.
6. Adakah bahan yang digunakan selamat takut juga?
Bahan aroma systatic ini adalah selamat bagi penguna, Bagaimanapun saya syorkan masa buat semburan please pakai tudung hidung anda.
7. Adakah suara mp3 dari pen driver sudah baleh atau suara yang mengunakan suara DVD atau CD lebih baik?
Sekarang ini saya lebih cenderong dalam mengguna memory kad dari pen drive atau CD. Ianya lebih bagus dan tidat terlekat2 dan lebih murah dari pen drive. Jadi kamu cuma beli player yang ada tiga dalam satu. Ada satu jenis player di Gedung Tesco dengan harga 149 ringgit. Beli amplifier untuk digabung. Harga amplifier tak lebih dari 200 ringgit sahaja. Kalau nak saya siapkan suara dalam dan luar dalam memory kad,boleh. Harga setiap satu suara adalah 250 ringgit tidak termasuk memory kad (rm 30).
Terima Kasih dan selamat maju jaya dalam venture rumah burung kamu.
I hope you might learn something from this email reply to Mr.C
If you do have any quiries, just drop an email or sms to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com or sms to 017 755 1318.
This morning received this email massage asking for some informations on Aroma usage in a new BH. The question was in Bahasa so I replied in Bahasa:
Mr C,
1. Aroma jenis-jenis mana digunakan untuk RBW baru?
Sebaik nya aroma rumah baru ada tiga macam. Untuk Lantai, Dinding dan Siling.
2. Apakah kergunaannya ?
Tujuan aroma adalah untuk:
a) Untuk rumah baru adalah bagi menurun bahu simen.
b) Untuk bikin rumah baru bau sebagai rumah yang sudah diduduki banyak burung. Ini akan bikin burung rasa aman.
c) Untuk tarik burung ke rumah burung anda dan pusing2 di atas bumbung rumah baru.
d) Untuk tarik burung sepaya cepat masuk ke dalam rumah baru.
e) Untuk memberahi burung supaya cepat kawin atau cari rakan untuk kawin (cara burung). Kalau mereka kawin baru mereka nak buat sarang.
3. Perlukah najis walit dimasukan ke RBW yang baru atau hanya Aroma sahaja?
Najis burung adalah salah satu bahan aroma yang digunakan di atas lantai rumah burung. Selalu nya ianya digunakan bersama dengan aroma yang lain, umpamanya aroma syntatic yang dicampur oleh manusia. Guna kedua2 nya dan mesti peka bagaimana nak gunakan nya.
Najis boleh bertahan 6 bulan dan mesti di tukar baru. Aroma didinding perlu disembur setiap bulan.
Aroma disiling patut di adu dengan humidifier dan disembur setiap hari satu atau dua kali. Sapu di beberapa tempat siling (cuba dulu) sebulan sekali.
4. Berapa sukatan yang perlu digunakan Aroma atau Najis walit ?
Kalau boleh, anda patut dapatkan dalam 50 kilo najis burung dan taruh dalam beberapa bekas plastic dan agih didalam setiap lantai rumah burung di bahagian tepi dinding dan tengah. Bagi aroma systatic, anda patut sembor, guna pump sembor, kedinding 50 cm bawah nesting plank. Satu botol 1.5 liter bagi satu tingkat rumah yang berkuran 20X70 kaki. Semboran patut dilakukan setiap bulan sekali.
Bagi campuran dengan air semburan dari humidifier, cuma campur dalam 100 ml setiap minggu.
Untuk siling guna sedikit dahulu dan sekiranya terbukti ada tahi burung banyak dibawah siling yang di pilih, baru guna berlebihan sedikit. Dalam 50 ml disapu bagi permulaan di papan.
5. Dimanakah boleh beli dan berapakah harga?
Saya ada simpan beberapa botol aroma syntatic. Untuk najis kena tunggu. Harga, aroam syntatic harganya rm150 sebotol 1.5 liter (untuk rumah baru). Untuk rumah lama aroma syntatic lebih murah dalam rm120 sebotol. Najis dalam 80 ringgit seguni 50 kilo tertakluk ada orang yang nak jual. Aroma siling dan semburan harga nya 100 ringgit bagi satu liter. Minima 5 liter sebotol.
6. Adakah bahan yang digunakan selamat takut juga?
Bahan aroma systatic ini adalah selamat bagi penguna, Bagaimanapun saya syorkan masa buat semburan please pakai tudung hidung anda.
7. Adakah suara mp3 dari pen driver sudah baleh atau suara yang mengunakan suara DVD atau CD lebih baik?
Sekarang ini saya lebih cenderong dalam mengguna memory kad dari pen drive atau CD. Ianya lebih bagus dan tidat terlekat2 dan lebih murah dari pen drive. Jadi kamu cuma beli player yang ada tiga dalam satu. Ada satu jenis player di Gedung Tesco dengan harga 149 ringgit. Beli amplifier untuk digabung. Harga amplifier tak lebih dari 200 ringgit sahaja. Kalau nak saya siapkan suara dalam dan luar dalam memory kad,boleh. Harga setiap satu suara adalah 250 ringgit tidak termasuk memory kad (rm 30).
Terima Kasih dan selamat maju jaya dalam venture rumah burung kamu.
I hope you might learn something from this email reply to Mr.C
If you do have any quiries, just drop an email or sms to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com or sms to 017 755 1318.
Friday, August 22, 2008
Hand Held Mechanical Tally Counter
The simplest way of counting the number of birds entering into your BH is to have a mechanical tally counter. During your visit to your BH, late evening, just look at the entrance hole and count the birds entering your BH and click on the counter. If you install a CCTV, count those that you see entering the entrance hole and click. Once finished look at the total.
If you also want to count those that flies out, get one more. The right hand counter for those entering and the left hand counter for leaving.
Deduct the total and you might get the estimated count of how many birds are in your house for that day.
I have been thinking about getting this item and never make any attempt to buy them.
Recently one of my blog reader told me that he have a gift for me to try.
I met him and have a look at this simple counter.
Its product description:
This thumb operated, mechanical tally counter is easily held in your hand. It has a thumb ring and white digits on a black background. The counter goes from 0 to 9,999. The counter is readily reset to zero with a twist of the knob. You'll be impressed with its sturdy case. Be sure to never lose track again! The tally counter can be used for counting insects and animals and trees, taking surveys and warehouse inventories and for quality control purposes.
A very simple instrument that you can use in counting those birds entering your new BH or for nest counting or number of tweeters in any BH you visitied.
Cost per unit is RM 28. Freight RM 3
If you need one please email your request to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com
I will be happy to sent to U the unit once stock arrive.
More Sound Editor Software: WavePad
Beside Sony Forge 7, I am using this Wavepad.
WavePad Sound Editor:
Professional Audio Editing Software.
This sound editing software is a full featured professional audio editor for Windows or Mac OS X. It lets you make and edit music, voice and other audio recordings. When editing audio files you can cut, copy and paste parts of recordings and, if required, add effects like echo, amplification and noise reduction. WavePad works as a wav editor or mp3 editor but it also supports a number of other file formats including vox, gsm, real audio, au, aif, flac, ogg and more.
Features:
Sound editing functions include cut, copy, paste, delete, insert, silence, autotrim and more.
Audio effects include, amplify, normalize, equaliser, envelope, reverb, echo, reverse, sample rate conversion and more.
Full featured Mp3 editing software
Supports a number of other file formats including wav (multiple codecs) vox, gsm, real audio, au, aif, flac, ogg and many more.
Batch processing supports up to 32000 files allowing you to apply effects and/or convert your files as a single function.
Tools include spectral analysis (FFT) and speech synthesis (text-to-speech).
Recorder supports autotrim and voice activated recording and more.
Audio restoration features including noise reduction and click pop removal.
Supports sample rates from 6000 to 96000Hz, stereo or mono, 8, 16, 24 or 32 bits.
Includes its own CD ripper with 'ultrafast 'rip mode and cddb music database lookup.
Works directly with MixPad multi-track audio mixing software.
Links directly to the Express Burn CD Recorder to burn your sound files to CD.
Edit tracks for the Zulu DJ software.
Easy to use interface will get you started editing in just minutes.
The program is designed to be a very easy and intuitive to use for audio editing. Within minutes you will be able to open or record an audio file and edit it. But if you take time to explore the other features you will find many powerful tools for editing audio designed with the professional sound engineer in mind.
Typical Editing Applications
Software audio editing for studios and professional journalists.
Edit sound files to broadcast over the internet with the BroadWave Streaming Audio Server
Normalizing the level of audio files during mastering before buring to CD.
Editing mp3 files for your iPod, PSP or other portable device.
As a music editor (includes ringtones creator formats).
Music editing and recording to produce mp3 files.
Voice editing for multimedia productions.
Restoration of audio files including removing excess noise such as hiss and hums.
Audio Editor
Introduction
Features
Screenshots
System Requirements
Download Now
- for Windows
- for PPC Mac
- for Intel Mac
- for Linux
Manual
Questions (FAQs)
Technical Support
Discussion Forum
Languages
auf Deutsch
en Français
Related Software
Multitrack Mixer
DJ Software
CD Ripper
CD Burner
Voice Recording Software
Sound File Converter
Audio File Splitter
ID3 Tag Editor
Tone Generator
Audio Streaming Server
Metronome Software
Tuner Software
More Audio Software...
Related Hardware
USB Audio Input Interface
USB Electric Guitar
Professional Headphones
Computer Microphones
System Requirements
Windows 95/NT4/98/2000/Me/XP/2003/Vista or later;
Mac OS X 10.2 or later;
To run under Linux use WINE.
For more details go to: http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/index.html
You Should Read This Story
TWO FRIENDS WERE WALKING THROUGH THE DESERT .
DURING SOME POINT OF THE JOURNEY, THEY HAD AN ARGUMENT;
AND ONE FRIEND SLAPPED THE OTHER ONE IN THE FACE
THE ONE WHO GOT SLAPPED WAS HURT, BUT WITHOUT
SAYING ANYTHING,WROTE IN THE SAND ,
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SLAPPED ME IN THE FACE".
THEY KEPT ON WALKING,UNTIL THEY FOUND AN OASIS,
WHERE THEY DECIDED TO TAKE A BATH .
THE ONE WHO HAD BEEN SLAPPED GOT STUCK IN THE
MIRE AND STARTED DROWNING,BUT THE FRIEND SAVED HIM.
AFTER HE RECOVERED FROM THE NEAR DROWNING,
HE WROTE ON A STONE:
"TODAY MY BEST FRIEND SAVED MY LIFE".
THE FRIEND WHO HAD SLAPPED AND SAVED HIS BEST FRIEND
ASKED HIM, "AFTER I HURT YOU,YOU WROTE IN THE SAND
AND NOW, YOU WRITE ON A STONE, WHY?"
THE FRIEND REPLIED "WHEN SOMEONE HURTS US
WE SHOULD WRITE IT DOWN IN SAND, WHERE WINDS OF
FORGIVENESS CAN ERASE IT AWAY.
BUT, WHEN SOMEONE DOES SOMETHING GOOD FOR US,
WE MUST ENGRAVE IT IN STONE WHERE NO WIND
CAN EVER ERASE IT"
LEARN TO WRITE YOUR HURTS IN THE SAND AND TO
CARVE YOUR BENEFITS IN STONE.
THEY SAY IT TAKES A MINUTE TO FIND A SPECIAL
PERSON,AN HOUR TO APPRECIATE THEM,
A DAY TO LOVE THEM,
BUT THEN ,AN ENTIRE LIFE TO FORGET THEM.
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Harry I Need Your Urgent Advise On What Is Happening With My Birdhouse?
A very interesting email calling Harry from some advise. I read the short email message and frankly it is very difficult to find the right answer. There might be hundred of reasons.
Since he sound so desperate, I forced myself to answer and were as follows:
Quote:
Hello Harry,
Need your help to clear my doubts. In the morning and afternoon, i have seen birds flying towards my BH's entrance and been turning round and round but among the 70 birds only a few wished to go inside and paid it a visit. Can you please tell me what went wrong with my BH? Btw the BH has 200 nest now . Really appreciate your advices. Thank you.
Unquote
My Answer to him:
Mr L,
I might not give have the right answers but I shall try.
Please remember my answers can be more accurate if I can pay a visit to have a closer look at the scenario.
I need you to answer a few questions:
1) The entrance hole.
The placement of the entrance hole. How far from the top (ceiling) and how close to the wall (side wall)? It shud be 50 cm below the ceiling and 40 cm from the side wall.
2) The room number one when the bird enter the house. This room have to be 4 meters length or 12.5 feet so that the bird can make a proper turning towards the side hole.
3) Do you need the 3rd room. I don't see the need of the 3rd room but if you want to have you need to be 12.5 feet length same as the first room.
4) Do you recently apply any aroma in the BH? If yes can I know the aroma type. It is for the wall, for the floor or for the wood planks?
5) What about the application of insect poison in the house. When and have it be applied on the regular basis?
6) Have you check if there is a potential prediators in the house. Look out for any sign of bat, owl, rats, cats and cochroach.
7) By chance you did any change of sound? external, internal or on the top of the roof?
8) Your BH room temperature. Is it below 30*C?
As you can see, there are many possibilities that causes the birds not flying in.
The good point is that there are many birds out on the roof but the sad thing is that they are not flying in.
These might be the possible causes:
1) There is something inside the house that is scaring the birds from entering. It might be a prediator (owl or bat or a cat or snake or rat) or something that you recently did which make the house smell not the same.
2) The BH temperature might be too hot. You need to closely monitor this temperature matters and do not take the matter lightly. If it always exceed (max temp) 30*C you need to come out with something to cool the room down to around 29*C. Do a quick thinking and solve this.
3) You might have just changed the external sound. The external sound must be so good that most of the birds do not want to enter the house. If you use the duress sound this is what is going to happen. All the birds will fly around and never will enter the house. Please do not use duress sound. What about at around 7.30pm, where do they go? Do they enter your BH?
4) There might be something wrong with the tweeters inside the house. They might be spoilt and the sound they give must be squeeky and scaring the birds from entering. Check every tweeter and replace them if you think they are squeeky or dead.
5) Is there a possibility of placing a humidifier in the roving area and let it run from 2pm to 7pm on a continuous mode except you stop about 10 minutes every hour? Just try and see what happen. This might attract the birds to enter the roving area and have a cool bath.
The above are some possible reasons but they might not be always right. You need to give more details inorder for me to give you many other reasons.
From the sketch given, I am not very happy with the dimension of the rooms.
They are just too short for the birds to make the appropriate turning. I hope I the above are adequate.
If you still need me please call me to talk about it.
Since he sound so desperate, I forced myself to answer and were as follows:
Quote:
Hello Harry,
Need your help to clear my doubts. In the morning and afternoon, i have seen birds flying towards my BH's entrance and been turning round and round but among the 70 birds only a few wished to go inside and paid it a visit. Can you please tell me what went wrong with my BH? Btw the BH has 200 nest now . Really appreciate your advices. Thank you.
Unquote
My Answer to him:
Mr L,
I might not give have the right answers but I shall try.
Please remember my answers can be more accurate if I can pay a visit to have a closer look at the scenario.
I need you to answer a few questions:
1) The entrance hole.
The placement of the entrance hole. How far from the top (ceiling) and how close to the wall (side wall)? It shud be 50 cm below the ceiling and 40 cm from the side wall.
2) The room number one when the bird enter the house. This room have to be 4 meters length or 12.5 feet so that the bird can make a proper turning towards the side hole.
3) Do you need the 3rd room. I don't see the need of the 3rd room but if you want to have you need to be 12.5 feet length same as the first room.
4) Do you recently apply any aroma in the BH? If yes can I know the aroma type. It is for the wall, for the floor or for the wood planks?
5) What about the application of insect poison in the house. When and have it be applied on the regular basis?
6) Have you check if there is a potential prediators in the house. Look out for any sign of bat, owl, rats, cats and cochroach.
7) By chance you did any change of sound? external, internal or on the top of the roof?
8) Your BH room temperature. Is it below 30*C?
As you can see, there are many possibilities that causes the birds not flying in.
The good point is that there are many birds out on the roof but the sad thing is that they are not flying in.
These might be the possible causes:
1) There is something inside the house that is scaring the birds from entering. It might be a prediator (owl or bat or a cat or snake or rat) or something that you recently did which make the house smell not the same.
2) The BH temperature might be too hot. You need to closely monitor this temperature matters and do not take the matter lightly. If it always exceed (max temp) 30*C you need to come out with something to cool the room down to around 29*C. Do a quick thinking and solve this.
3) You might have just changed the external sound. The external sound must be so good that most of the birds do not want to enter the house. If you use the duress sound this is what is going to happen. All the birds will fly around and never will enter the house. Please do not use duress sound. What about at around 7.30pm, where do they go? Do they enter your BH?
4) There might be something wrong with the tweeters inside the house. They might be spoilt and the sound they give must be squeeky and scaring the birds from entering. Check every tweeter and replace them if you think they are squeeky or dead.
5) Is there a possibility of placing a humidifier in the roving area and let it run from 2pm to 7pm on a continuous mode except you stop about 10 minutes every hour? Just try and see what happen. This might attract the birds to enter the roving area and have a cool bath.
The above are some possible reasons but they might not be always right. You need to give more details inorder for me to give you many other reasons.
From the sketch given, I am not very happy with the dimension of the rooms.
They are just too short for the birds to make the appropriate turning. I hope I the above are adequate.
If you still need me please call me to talk about it.
How Do You Know That Those Aroma Are Working?
I wrote this article in the "Duckegg-swiftlet-special" group forum and would like to share on this blog.
I also added: "If It Does Not Work How Do The Birds React?".
Quote:
To those who have applied some kind of aroma in their BH they will see
either more birds are coming in or the opposite.
To be very sure that those aromas applied are working you need to
observe the suddern surge of birds at the top of your BH.
If this happened on the day you applied, try to apply them in the
morning, you will see the numbers hovering above your BH in a
substential numbers. They are more then normal. In some cases the
number can be 10 times or more from the normal number.
By drawing such a big crowd you know that the aroma is working.
You now need to monitor their numbers for a least a few days until
they subside. Normally they will start to reduce in numbers after a
few short days. This is because the aroma effectiveness is lessening
or the aroma have finished its effectiveness.
What next?
The best is to wait until the number are down to, let say 50% - 30% ,
you now can reapply for the second round.
This time you need to be innovative. What I mean by being innovative
is to find the best ways to keep the aroma smell fresh all day long.
You might need those special sprays that can refresh the smell every
hour from 3pm till 8pm.
Inside the BH you need to be ready with those clean papers on the
floor below those wooden planks where you applied the aroma. The
moment that they occupied these planks they will do their shitting
business and you can see how much they are.
If the application is showing a positive signs, it is recommended to
install a CCTV system to monitor both the entrance hole and the wooden
plank where the aroma being applied. Use those cameras that can make
you see in the dark please.
Pay a very close attention how they behave when they enter the house
and what do they do at night.
Well what more can you do?
If I were you I will start odering one full truck of the same aroma.
As long as their shelf life is forever, why not?
But don't be suprised after a few weeks the birds might not like that
much anymore. Similar to those sound????
Unquote.
So what if the aroma is not working?
The immediate impact is that there won't be any or there will be lesser then normal swiftlets flying on the top of your BH. A bad sign that they don't like or scared of something might happened in the BH.
You will also observed that everytime the birds wanted to fly in they will either behave as if as they undecided or scared to enter.
If these are what happened you can guess that the aroma is not working and you need to quickly remove those aromas.
Just imagine if you are greedy and applied the aroma to all those wooden planks in your BH?
Ai ya ya. You need to clean the plank one by one and later coat the plank with a special liquid to mask those failed aroma smell.
This is what you must try to avoid.
The best is to apply these new found aroma, step by step. Use a little bit for a trial on a removable planks and if it does not work you can remove them in an instant.
You got that? I hope so and please don't be greedy and stupid......
Aroma Application Techniques !!!
Have you ever heard that the success in aroma usage varies from location to location.
It have the same pattern like sound. It does well in one area but not in certain areas.
It is mind boggling but that is not strange.
It is also believed that these birds, thought AF family, are of different species that have their own specific slang and behaviours. They might be like human being, some like to talk hokkien, some mandarin, tochew, english, malay and many2 more.
Some like it rock, some like sentimental and many like those crazy tunes.
As for the aroma usage, beside locality I strongly believed that the way the aroma are applied do plays a major role in ensuring the success of failure of the trial.
These liquid have a very short shelf life. Their smell may last a few short hours. If you just spray on the surface of the walls or nesting planks they will be gone within less then 24 hours.
So my frank advise to those who are keen in venturing into using aroma please get the right application technique from the person who invented the aroma. Try not to ask the aroma seller who have very little knowledge on the history on the aroma development.
You might also want to talk to both those who have been successful in applying these same aroma and those who failed. I can predict that both will tell you their ways and the successfull one will have some unique ways while those who fail just take for granted.
The best method of application of these Aroma is to find ways and means so that after your application the aroma smell will last the longest. You can do this by making sure that these aroma seep into those crevices or wood joints on the wooden planks.
If you want them to be more effective get some extra wooden planks, say 2 inch width by half inch thick by 10 inches length and screw them onto a selected location on those wooden planks. You might want to ensure that the gap between the alient wood and the nesting plank is wide enought to store those aroma.
If you want to spray the BH with constantly fresh aroma, the best is to drip the aroma portion into those humidifier water can using those recycle salient water drip bottle. Go and get them from the nearby hospital.
So be very carefull before you buy those aroma and start to apply them. You need to know exactly, step by step, on how to make sure that they works.
Tuesday, August 19, 2008
Interesting Progress At Bentong BH !!!
The number of birdshit spots on both floors are increasing.
A very interesting observation after lauching the BH for almost 6 weeks.
The BH now looks good. Internally no major problems. The floors were okay and not too wet. The humidity is 90% but the temperature on the upper floor is a bit on the high side.
The humidifier water level was perfect and the whole house smell of those aromas (birdshit, faece powder and wall aromas) were adequate.
On 29/7 the number of birdshit spots were 7 for upper and 6 for lower floor.
On 19/8 the number swelled to 16 for upper and 13 on the lower floor.
I am not very sure if the same group of swiftlets are changing their sleeping place but they looks good.
One other observation is that the size of the shit spot are increasing in size. I mean their numbers are more and spreading.
There are also more numbers of bird shit around the far corner of the house. Many are single and double.
They seem to prefer the back end of the BH. Both floors are showing the same pattern.
What I did was to circle the birdshit spots with colored white board chalks.
On the first visit (29/7) I used white and on second visit (19/8) I used pink.
For my next trip I might want to move using red.
The size of each circle made must only accommodate the shit spot. You see when the same spot increases its number and extend beyong the original circle, you can now enlarge the circle.
This will tell you that the birds are staying at the same spot and not moving to other spot.
Externally, at around 7.30 pm Bentong now is under seiged with those Martin birds who, I believed, are on the migreatory route from somewhere. There are many thousands of them and the whole town is currently swamped with Martins.
All wire cables along the roads are fully occuppied with Martins.
With so many of them around I cannot enjoy viewing those Swiftlets entering my BH.
A very interesting observation after lauching the BH for almost 6 weeks.
The BH now looks good. Internally no major problems. The floors were okay and not too wet. The humidity is 90% but the temperature on the upper floor is a bit on the high side.
The humidifier water level was perfect and the whole house smell of those aromas (birdshit, faece powder and wall aromas) were adequate.
On 29/7 the number of birdshit spots were 7 for upper and 6 for lower floor.
On 19/8 the number swelled to 16 for upper and 13 on the lower floor.
I am not very sure if the same group of swiftlets are changing their sleeping place but they looks good.
One other observation is that the size of the shit spot are increasing in size. I mean their numbers are more and spreading.
There are also more numbers of bird shit around the far corner of the house. Many are single and double.
They seem to prefer the back end of the BH. Both floors are showing the same pattern.
What I did was to circle the birdshit spots with colored white board chalks.
On the first visit (29/7) I used white and on second visit (19/8) I used pink.
For my next trip I might want to move using red.
The size of each circle made must only accommodate the shit spot. You see when the same spot increases its number and extend beyong the original circle, you can now enlarge the circle.
This will tell you that the birds are staying at the same spot and not moving to other spot.
Externally, at around 7.30 pm Bentong now is under seiged with those Martin birds who, I believed, are on the migreatory route from somewhere. There are many thousands of them and the whole town is currently swamped with Martins.
All wire cables along the roads are fully occuppied with Martins.
With so many of them around I cannot enjoy viewing those Swiftlets entering my BH.
Monday, August 18, 2008
Termite Poison: Malaysian Made !!!
Found at : http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/NST/Tuesday/National/2325590/Article/index_html
I came across this special article about termite poison developed using palm oil pulp. Hmm.... interesting and Malaysian made. RM600 for one house.
KUANTAN: A group of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) here has created an artificial bait from oil palm pulp which will help to get rid of termites.
The bait, which relies on natural resources, is environmentally friendly and effective to solve the termite woes faced by people. The termites belong to the Isoptera order.
Research team leader Abdul Syukur Abd Razak said the cost of producing the bait, known as Pisoptera, is low as it is made from thin layers of dried oil palm pulp.
Asked how the oil palm pulp would act as an artificial bait and kill the termites, Abdul Syukur said: "A Pisoptera will be placed on the route used by the termites. The termites will later carry the pulp to their colony.
"Once in the colony, the egg-laying queens will feed on the pulps and they will die. This will eventually bring an halt to the egg-laying process."
Abdul Syukur said UMP spent nearly two years to carry out the research with the assistance of Syarikat Mega Juara Pest Control Sdn Bhd.
"For those who purchase Pisoptera, it will show results within one and three months depending on the size of the house and encompassing land.
"The bait is also very convenient as it does not produce any smell which could cause inconvenience to household members," he told the New Straits Times.
Mega Juara Pest Control will be the sole dealer to market the product which is sold for between RM600 and RM1,000 depending on the size of the house.
"This is far more economical compared with the cost of imported pesticide which is sold for between RM4,000 and RM6,000," added Abdul Syukur.
I came across this special article about termite poison developed using palm oil pulp. Hmm.... interesting and Malaysian made. RM600 for one house.
KUANTAN: A group of researchers from Universiti Malaysia Pahang (UMP) here has created an artificial bait from oil palm pulp which will help to get rid of termites.
The bait, which relies on natural resources, is environmentally friendly and effective to solve the termite woes faced by people. The termites belong to the Isoptera order.
Research team leader Abdul Syukur Abd Razak said the cost of producing the bait, known as Pisoptera, is low as it is made from thin layers of dried oil palm pulp.
Asked how the oil palm pulp would act as an artificial bait and kill the termites, Abdul Syukur said: "A Pisoptera will be placed on the route used by the termites. The termites will later carry the pulp to their colony.
"Once in the colony, the egg-laying queens will feed on the pulps and they will die. This will eventually bring an halt to the egg-laying process."
Abdul Syukur said UMP spent nearly two years to carry out the research with the assistance of Syarikat Mega Juara Pest Control Sdn Bhd.
"For those who purchase Pisoptera, it will show results within one and three months depending on the size of the house and encompassing land.
"The bait is also very convenient as it does not produce any smell which could cause inconvenience to household members," he told the New Straits Times.
Mega Juara Pest Control will be the sole dealer to market the product which is sold for between RM600 and RM1,000 depending on the size of the house.
"This is far more economical compared with the cost of imported pesticide which is sold for between RM4,000 and RM6,000," added Abdul Syukur.
Ball Park Cost To Upgrade Your BH !!!
During my last visit to a 4 years old BH I was asked about the budget to upgrade the house.
I entered the house and make a careful inspection on everything that I feel were not right.
"Harry, so what will be the damage? I mean the cost?".
Very interesting question.
Well when your BH is not showing any sign of improvement,I mean increase in nests numbers, it is high time for you to consider the upgrading works.
Before you consider this you need to allocate some kind of budget for the upgrade.
Depending on the things that you wanted to carry out you must have enought for both the things that you wanted to carry out plus additional sum for things that you forgot to include initially.
For an old BH that you just bought you might consider a ball park figure of 5% of the purchase price for minor works. In the event that you wanted to redo the whole house, major renovation, how about 10%.
Use this ball park figure to convince your bankers or your partners before you proceed with the purchase. If you cannot get this amount then it is better to stay out until the amount is made available.
Let assume you buy over a BH for 300,000 with about 50 nests in it. 5% of 300,000 is just 15,000 while 10% is 30,000.
By spending 15,000 on those minor renovations you might be able to double the nests within 6 to 8 months. If you doubled, from say 50 nests to 100 nests, you gained by 50,000 since you BH now is worth 300,000(cost of purchase) + 15,000(minor renovation) + (50X1000)(increase of nest number multiply by 1000 per nest)=365,000.
Not a bad deal but again what happen if the number of nests did not show any movement?
Well if you have make the right move before buying the unit like conducting those birdcall test, close to a successful unit, lots of birds flying on the top of the unit every evening, the house is okay except no proper sound system and so forth, you have a very strong chances to increase the number.
However if you blindly buy the house without making any proper investigations, you might be doom. It is your fault for doing stupid things and refusing to listen to Harry's advise.
So if you wanted to buy a BH and you have very little knowledge on what to look for, just call Harry (017 755 1318).
He might have some ideas on what to look out for and ask him to bring those birdcall gadget.
He is very crazy with swiftlet farming and don't be suprised that he will crawling all over your BH. You will surely shake your head on what report he will eventually come out with.
I entered the house and make a careful inspection on everything that I feel were not right.
"Harry, so what will be the damage? I mean the cost?".
Very interesting question.
Well when your BH is not showing any sign of improvement,I mean increase in nests numbers, it is high time for you to consider the upgrading works.
Before you consider this you need to allocate some kind of budget for the upgrade.
Depending on the things that you wanted to carry out you must have enought for both the things that you wanted to carry out plus additional sum for things that you forgot to include initially.
For an old BH that you just bought you might consider a ball park figure of 5% of the purchase price for minor works. In the event that you wanted to redo the whole house, major renovation, how about 10%.
Use this ball park figure to convince your bankers or your partners before you proceed with the purchase. If you cannot get this amount then it is better to stay out until the amount is made available.
Let assume you buy over a BH for 300,000 with about 50 nests in it. 5% of 300,000 is just 15,000 while 10% is 30,000.
By spending 15,000 on those minor renovations you might be able to double the nests within 6 to 8 months. If you doubled, from say 50 nests to 100 nests, you gained by 50,000 since you BH now is worth 300,000(cost of purchase) + 15,000(minor renovation) + (50X1000)(increase of nest number multiply by 1000 per nest)=365,000.
Not a bad deal but again what happen if the number of nests did not show any movement?
Well if you have make the right move before buying the unit like conducting those birdcall test, close to a successful unit, lots of birds flying on the top of the unit every evening, the house is okay except no proper sound system and so forth, you have a very strong chances to increase the number.
However if you blindly buy the house without making any proper investigations, you might be doom. It is your fault for doing stupid things and refusing to listen to Harry's advise.
So if you wanted to buy a BH and you have very little knowledge on what to look for, just call Harry (017 755 1318).
He might have some ideas on what to look out for and ask him to bring those birdcall gadget.
He is very crazy with swiftlet farming and don't be suprised that he will crawling all over your BH. You will surely shake your head on what report he will eventually come out with.
Birdhouse Water Pressure Low !!!
You might want to know what I did to increase the water pressure in my Apartment.
For the past months my wife have been complaining about low water pressure. While you do your laundry plus flush the toilet, you will be getting dripping water while you are taking your bath.
We took the matter with the Apartment management. They said that the low pressure should not happen. All the rest of the Apartments have not complained on the water pressure.
So they came out with a suggession to change the water meter to a brand new unit.
The reason given was that the meter have been there for many years and there is a strong potential that the valve at the water entrance hole is clogged up with debris.
I was curious and told them to go ahead.
The plumber was on the dot to make the changes.
He removed the old meter and installed a brand new unit.
You will be suprised what happened next.
I turned the kichen tap on, the bath room water and flush the toilet. It seem that the were lot of improvements. The bathroom water runs to it's full strength.
I am suprise that it works.
So if you do experience low water pressure, either at home or your BH, try to change those old water meter and see what happen.
For the past months my wife have been complaining about low water pressure. While you do your laundry plus flush the toilet, you will be getting dripping water while you are taking your bath.
We took the matter with the Apartment management. They said that the low pressure should not happen. All the rest of the Apartments have not complained on the water pressure.
So they came out with a suggession to change the water meter to a brand new unit.
The reason given was that the meter have been there for many years and there is a strong potential that the valve at the water entrance hole is clogged up with debris.
I was curious and told them to go ahead.
The plumber was on the dot to make the changes.
He removed the old meter and installed a brand new unit.
You will be suprised what happened next.
I turned the kichen tap on, the bath room water and flush the toilet. It seem that the were lot of improvements. The bathroom water runs to it's full strength.
I am suprise that it works.
So if you do experience low water pressure, either at home or your BH, try to change those old water meter and see what happen.
Sunday, August 17, 2008
Harry My Newly Installed Tweeters Are Not Working !!!
This morning while on the computer, received a call from a blog reader from Segamat, Johore.
"Harry, need your kind advise. My tweeters are down and worse they are giving out a kind of sqeeky sound. What do you think is the reason?"
I check a bit more about his BH background and he poured out his stress. Ai ya so many thing to do and need to learn more from sifu.
I told him that he is lucky to have Harry around. He is so generous with informations and never turn down any call.
"Ya ya ya, I know that that is why I alway call you".
He started operating his two floors BH about one month ago and everything was fined except during his recent trip he observed that the birds seem to migrate to the lower floor. All of them vacated the upper floor.
He suspected that the sound on the upper floor causes them to move down. He indicated that the sound now seem to be sqeeky and might have chased the birds away.
He uses the ordinary cheap tweeters and he could not remember the type of amplifiers and the player he is using.
Hmm..... I need to crack my head to figure out what are the possible causes of his sqeeky sound.
1) Poor signal generated by his amplifier.
I pointed to him that this might be a possible reason. He need to check on the quality of sound immediately after the signal leave the amplifier. He can check this by connecting a tweeter to the amplifier in his data room. Test and see what kind of sound it is giving out. It that is the cause, he need to change the amplifier or perhaps the player. I told him to move from using cd to using memory card.
2) Not enought power to the tweeters.
If you data room is at the lowest floor, there is a possible chance that the power from the amplifier to those tweeters at the far distance receive too little power. So he should consider to pull a new cable from the amplifier and make a new connection to the terminal end of the sound cable. Cut the present connection in the middle.
3) The tweeters connection to the sound cable were haphazard.
If you look very carefully at those sound cables, they come in a pair of wires. The two cables are attached to each other. One of the cable is with a blue color line while the other is plain.
Similarly if you order the tweeters from a certified electronic shop, they also will supply your tweeters with cable of a similar nature. One of the cable is with the blue line. Normally they will attach a capacitor to regulate the signal received and to lengthen the tweeter's life. The blue colored cable will normally be attached to this capacitor.
When you install the tweeter onto the wooden planks, you must ensure that these cables are installed accordingly. The blue from the tweeters must be connected to the blue line bringing in the signal from the amplifier. You must never install them haphazardly.
If you do that, you will have problem with the sound quality. (This advise was given to me by the sifu who own an electronic shop in Klang).
4) Chose the right Tweeters and amplifiers.
I remember reading an article about a BH owner who suffered almost 3 years with no birds coming in his house to built their nest.
After consulting a few sifus, he decided to bite the bullet. He upgraded his sound system using the high end tweeters and amplifiers.
After a few short months, his BH seem to show an immidiate turn around. There were more birds and he claimed that his bullet bitting did not damage his teeths. Now he can smile wide.
The issue here is about the choice of the tweeters. If you wanted to try, try to visit any shop that sells tweeters and get the sale person to play any birdsound on both the cheap tweeter and the expansive tweeter. Listen to the sound they generated. Make a guess which one is better? Choose those Motorola quality sound tweeters.
If you think the cost is too high, how about mix them with a few of the low cost but the majority the good one? But remember if they break down, the cheaper one, it will still chase those birds away.
Too bad if the above advises are not useful to you and your BH. Who knows, you might be facing the same problem soon.
Just keep the above informations in mind and once you face similar problems, start using the above informations.
Past the 100,000 Visitor Hits Mark !!!
I just wanted to thank all my blog readers for being so kind to read my blog.
This week the number of hits accummulated passed the 100,000 mark.
I am very proud to pass the number and my achievements so far have been very encouranging. I started blogging seriously about swiftlet farming sometime in October 2007. I took less then one year to hit the 100,000 mark. I am truely proud to have achieve the figure.
My initial objective in starting this blog was just to initiate something that can help as many newbies in getting as much informations as possible about swiftlet farming.
With it I do hope that I can contribute something to the industry thus reducing the failure rates.
I was hoping that this so called "Private and Confidential" business can be more exciting if someone will be daring enought to expose the do and don'ts about it.
I was also hoping that if I can start, the rest will follow my footstep in this same field.
I was very fortunate to be invited to be a regular speaker at GAHP seminars (Thank to Dr Redzuan).
My current wish is that, those who started to follow my footstep will be responsible and follow a proper guidelines to ensure that there will be no misunderstanding between all blog writers.
We need to support each other in helping the industry. We cannot criticise fellow bloggers for the sake of gaining popularity.
I was reminded by one speaker during GAHP seminar that it is very important to report things that bring progress and not distress.
Right now, safety in birdhouses is a very important issue to me. This week a fellow birdhouse owner died when he fell down the LAL. Last week a blog reader called me to inform me that he fell and broke his leg in his BH. I feel very terrible and do not want to see more dead bodies in any birdhouses.
Once again I wish to thank all my blog reader for regularly visiting my blog.
Thank you, thank you and thank you very much.
This week the number of hits accummulated passed the 100,000 mark.
I am very proud to pass the number and my achievements so far have been very encouranging. I started blogging seriously about swiftlet farming sometime in October 2007. I took less then one year to hit the 100,000 mark. I am truely proud to have achieve the figure.
My initial objective in starting this blog was just to initiate something that can help as many newbies in getting as much informations as possible about swiftlet farming.
With it I do hope that I can contribute something to the industry thus reducing the failure rates.
I was hoping that this so called "Private and Confidential" business can be more exciting if someone will be daring enought to expose the do and don'ts about it.
I was also hoping that if I can start, the rest will follow my footstep in this same field.
I was very fortunate to be invited to be a regular speaker at GAHP seminars (Thank to Dr Redzuan).
My current wish is that, those who started to follow my footstep will be responsible and follow a proper guidelines to ensure that there will be no misunderstanding between all blog writers.
We need to support each other in helping the industry. We cannot criticise fellow bloggers for the sake of gaining popularity.
I was reminded by one speaker during GAHP seminar that it is very important to report things that bring progress and not distress.
Right now, safety in birdhouses is a very important issue to me. This week a fellow birdhouse owner died when he fell down the LAL. Last week a blog reader called me to inform me that he fell and broke his leg in his BH. I feel very terrible and do not want to see more dead bodies in any birdhouses.
Once again I wish to thank all my blog reader for regularly visiting my blog.
Thank you, thank you and thank you very much.
Saturday, August 16, 2008
What A Splendid Achievements !!!
I have two handsome sons. The eldest is currently working as a property agent in KL and the youngest is in Melbourne, Australia working in an ICT Company.
I have to say that I am pretty proud to be their father.
Both have been very well mannered and well behaved.
Just yesterday the eldest was crowned at the Champion in a Contest conducted my a Popular Men Magazine called "Men's Health".
It seem that he tapau (won) 5 out of 7 titles and got hold of a very expansive watch as the main prize. He felt like being Micheal Phelps of America in the swimming events in Beijing Olympic.
There were 20 participants and just imagine when you pau five of the seven trophies. I can imagine how sick I will be if I am one of those 19 contestants.
The judges who did the selection and I am in no way part of the selection committee.
Well the good thing is that the overall champion is my son. Well he is very handsome and very much like the father, he, he he.....
Now I told him to perhaps look into something new like acting...
I remember pretty well when he acted as the hero (Chris) in a popular stage show called "Miss Saigon" when he was at Kolej Tuanku Jaafar.
Interesting Observation In Taman Seri Manjung Baru !!!
On my way back from Kedah to KL I took a detour to Seri Manjung, Perak.
The idea was to make some observations on Seri Manjung birdhouses and how they are doing.
I was very lucky to have a few of my blog readers were looking forward to meet me. They have a hidden agenda. They wanted me to take a close look at one of the BH that they purchased a few hours ago.
We met at one of the electronic shop in seri manjung and proceeded for lunch. All these three are x Navy.
After a good lunch I was taken to their newly acquired BH. It was not that bad but the number of nests were not that encouranging. The aroma smell was none, the humidity and tempreture sensors were none, no humidifier around,all the ventilation holes were opened, Tweeters at the entrance hole was only two, Two entrance holes, Not lights being install on the roof areas, No additional sound on the roof, the house use only one sound (internal sound for both the external and internal), number of tweeters were too low, the type of tweeters used were those for the external, the direction of tweeters install were haphazard, some areas were with no sound or even tweeters, upstairs too many walls, the data room consist of only one amplifier and there were a lot more that were not right.
To my suprised, that even the BH was not a five stars, the number of birds in the house was about 200 (I was given the opportunity to enter the house at 9pm).
Just imagine if the house is upgraded to a Five Stars BH?
I need to make a special report on what they should do and hopefully before the end of the year the nests number will increase to perhaps 100.
As for Seri Manjung BHs, I am amused with the number of BHs in this small shop houses area. In total there were about 14 rows of shop house. Each row there were about 12 shops. So the total is in the region os 168. Out of this half were converted to BHs.
The most successful belongs to a person Named John Wang (not sure the last name). A three units shops and using the top entry both on the upper and lower floors.
The number of kilograms per month was said to be around 20 to 30 kilos.
I was very curious and wanted to observe the number of birds coming home to roost.
During most part of the day, the number of birds flying around the entrance holes were not that many. Sometime I wonder if it was true that the house produce that much of nests per month.
Well you should see when the time draws near to 8pm (sundown). At around 7pm you can see the crowd starts to come back. The number grew by the minutes and at around 7.35pm to 7.50pm the place were full of birds jumping straight into those holes. They acted like a huge suction pipe of a vacuum cleaner.
It masmerised me and I just could not take my eyes out of the scene.
While that was happening I took note of which directions the birds were coming back. It seem that they are coming from all directions. Amazing and increadable.
Since they come from all directions you can imagine the benefits derived from those who convert their shop houses to BHs.
These birds seem to fly in into other BHs and they seem to be willing to spread the wealth with those around the most successful unit.
Hmm..... I was wondering how can one be very successful to capitalise on such a scene.
My opinions (I might not be 100% right) are as follows:
1) Get one that is very closed to the successful unit.
2) Make sure the path taken by those birds, maximum traffic flow, are just above the unit.
3) Use the exact type of entrance hole(s) used by the successful unit.
4) Make sure your BH is tuned microhabitatly to be similar to the successful unit, internally. ( How do I know the inside of the succesful unit? Use your imagination my friend. Just imagine how much shits there are on the floor and how smelly is the whole house)
5) Use the same type of sound like his if you can. (Harry how to copy his Sound? My question: Do you need some rocket scientist to tell you how to do it?)
6) Look at the external lighting used on the successful BH and copy exactly like his.
7) Install a CCTV camera to monitor the progress of the house.
8) Look at all the ways to increase the number of birds circling above your BH. It there is a will there is a way.
9) If you can draw them up on the roof, why can't you pull them into your BH? Do something. Find the right combination of sound and the aroma to lure them in.
10) Once they have entered and stay in the house, you now need to excite them to mate. They will only start building those precious nests if they start mating !!!
11) Do not leave it to GOD to turn your house to be the best BH in that area. You need to work on it.
Well I hope you got my points and dare to be different.
If you are not sure then why can't you call Harry (017 755 1318) the crazy guy in town who seem to know everything. He either know too much or the most crazy guy in town.
Fatal LAL Accident In Trengganu !!!
Dear all,
I received a call from one of my true blog reader who wanted me to report on this fatal accident where a rich man with many successful BHs died after falling thru the bird's LAL (Lubang Antara Lantai).
Please read this email:
Harry,
In Terengganu yesterday (15th August), a retired businessman fell to his untimely death after falling into his LAL from the 3rd floor. The LAL was formely where the lift used to be.
He broke both his legs and later succumbed to internal injuries.
Many a time, people take safety for granted. In can never be emphasized enough that safety should be the FIRST priority. Hence, would appreciate if you could post this in your blog.
1. Never enter BH alone. Always use the buddy system.
2. All voids should have some kind of a barricade, preferably with metal of wooden bars to prevent accidental access
3. Lighting, using a low-wattage or dimmed bulb where death traps are present is a must and must be switched on during visits.
4. For staircases, hand rails must be installed.
5. Never use speaker cables as AC power supply cables to minimize potential electrocution ( I have seen this done many times)
6. When joining electric wires, make sure they are properly insulated with waterproofing tape where water is present
Above are only a few suggestions. More can be added to the list.
SAFETY is always number ONE.
Good job and keep up your blog.
Regards,
Andy
I feel sad about his news and there is no reason why you should die by silly mistakes of not putting proper protection in your BHs.
Make safety as one of your most important part of any BH that you design.
I received a call from one of my true blog reader who wanted me to report on this fatal accident where a rich man with many successful BHs died after falling thru the bird's LAL (Lubang Antara Lantai).
Please read this email:
Harry,
In Terengganu yesterday (15th August), a retired businessman fell to his untimely death after falling into his LAL from the 3rd floor. The LAL was formely where the lift used to be.
He broke both his legs and later succumbed to internal injuries.
Many a time, people take safety for granted. In can never be emphasized enough that safety should be the FIRST priority. Hence, would appreciate if you could post this in your blog.
1. Never enter BH alone. Always use the buddy system.
2. All voids should have some kind of a barricade, preferably with metal of wooden bars to prevent accidental access
3. Lighting, using a low-wattage or dimmed bulb where death traps are present is a must and must be switched on during visits.
4. For staircases, hand rails must be installed.
5. Never use speaker cables as AC power supply cables to minimize potential electrocution ( I have seen this done many times)
6. When joining electric wires, make sure they are properly insulated with waterproofing tape where water is present
Above are only a few suggestions. More can be added to the list.
SAFETY is always number ONE.
Good job and keep up your blog.
Regards,
Andy
I feel sad about his news and there is no reason why you should die by silly mistakes of not putting proper protection in your BHs.
Make safety as one of your most important part of any BH that you design.
Thursday, August 14, 2008
More New Development with MY SP Birdhouse !!!
The last time I was home there were only three birdhouses around mine. Now it is becoming very crowded with three new units just infront of my backdoor BH entrance.
Getting pretty crowded but may be better for all. The reason being the more the better it will be for those who are knowledgable as compared to those who leae it to god.
The missing front roller been replaced.
Got my caretaker to install a CCTV, one camera only.
It is fantastic. Can see those birds flying in and out all day long.
I need to get a counter to manually check the number of birds entering from 6 to 8 pm.
Maybe need two counters. One coming in and one leaving.
Applied those love portions and splashed some duck eggs white with birdshits on the wall.
Hmm I wonder if it will work.
Will still be in Spatani until temorrow everning before leaving for Ipoh. Planned to be in Setiawan on Sartuday Morning.
Getting pretty crowded but may be better for all. The reason being the more the better it will be for those who are knowledgable as compared to those who leae it to god.
The missing front roller been replaced.
Got my caretaker to install a CCTV, one camera only.
It is fantastic. Can see those birds flying in and out all day long.
I need to get a counter to manually check the number of birds entering from 6 to 8 pm.
Maybe need two counters. One coming in and one leaving.
Applied those love portions and splashed some duck eggs white with birdshits on the wall.
Hmm I wonder if it will work.
Will still be in Spatani until temorrow everning before leaving for Ipoh. Planned to be in Setiawan on Sartuday Morning.
Wednesday, August 13, 2008
Latest News: My Blog Reader Fell Down From His BH LAL !!!
I was on the telephone with a blog reader named Mr OOi of Penang.
"Harry, this is Mr.Ooi of Penang. Remember I call you asking about those Birdcall Gadget?"
Oh yes Mr. Ooi I remembered but since I did not received any call from you after that I thought you have decided not to proceed with the purchase.
"Harry, you know what happened after that day? I broke my leg after falling into the LAL. Luckily it was only one floor steep. If three floors I might be dead by now."
I am so sorry to know that Mr.Ooi. I hope you are okay now?
"Well I was out of the hospital and I am lucky to be alive. Harry I want you to tell about my falling down from the LAL. Tell those people to be very carefull when they visit their bird house. Make sure they know where the LAL is."
I fell very sad over this 2nd time I came across people falling off into the LAL. Last time I was in Kulim when the Bangladesh boy fell down infront of me.
Beside that I sincerely believed that have a three stories LAL tunnel is not a very good idea. It might be a death trap.
Just imagine Mr.Ooi falling down into a three stories LAL. I am sure he is dead by now.
So fellows, please make the right decision. No dead bodies please !!!!
Those who wanted to check on Mr.Ooi condition please call this number : 0124206884
Hope you can learn something from him directly. Try to call him during office hours please....
"Harry, this is Mr.Ooi of Penang. Remember I call you asking about those Birdcall Gadget?"
Oh yes Mr. Ooi I remembered but since I did not received any call from you after that I thought you have decided not to proceed with the purchase.
"Harry, you know what happened after that day? I broke my leg after falling into the LAL. Luckily it was only one floor steep. If three floors I might be dead by now."
I am so sorry to know that Mr.Ooi. I hope you are okay now?
"Well I was out of the hospital and I am lucky to be alive. Harry I want you to tell about my falling down from the LAL. Tell those people to be very carefull when they visit their bird house. Make sure they know where the LAL is."
I fell very sad over this 2nd time I came across people falling off into the LAL. Last time I was in Kulim when the Bangladesh boy fell down infront of me.
Beside that I sincerely believed that have a three stories LAL tunnel is not a very good idea. It might be a death trap.
Just imagine Mr.Ooi falling down into a three stories LAL. I am sure he is dead by now.
So fellows, please make the right decision. No dead bodies please !!!!
Those who wanted to check on Mr.Ooi condition please call this number : 0124206884
Hope you can learn something from him directly. Try to call him during office hours please....
Tuesday, August 12, 2008
Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL) Selection !!!
Last night went to visit an Apartment in the Golden Triangle with lots of Serinti.
The apartment is somewhere on the top of the hill close to those collapse building sometime back.
I am sorry for the residents who have squash as their hobby.....
At first I was taken to the car park. I was not surprised with the number of Serinti staying on most corners of the ceiling.
After a few minutes that, I was taken to the Squash Courts (two of them).
My my my .......
Frankly the Serinti have taken over the two courts. There were at least 500 of them. You can imagine the shits on those wooden floors.
Anyway after taking some photos, I was invited to have a session of teh tarik...
"Harry, what is the best for a LAL in a new BH built on a piece of Agricultural land. The house will be 30 feet by 90 feet and will be 3 stories high?"
Frankly there are many ways that you can design them. There are two that I have observed. Each has their pros and cons.
First is the direct tunnel, from top to the bottom floor at one end of the building or in the centre.
The other is via the staircase and they are built in a ziz-zag manner.
Both are okay but I would prefer the ziz-zag staircase design. My main point is that you allow the birds to fly from one floor to the other before they settle down to a chosen location. Normally the staircase can be just about 2 feet and the LAL be extended by 6-8 feet. The length can be 10-12 feet.
Also for a young bird, first time to fly, will have the chance to fly from one floor to the higher floor before taking off to the sky. If they are weak they will be able to rest along the way.
One more point is that the total saving of nesting areas is at least 64% as compared to a tunnel type. Normally a tunnel will need about 15 feet by 15 feet hole while the ziz-zag you only need the most 8 feet by 10 feet = 80 feet. 15X15 = 225 x 2 floors= 450 less 80x2 floor = 160 equals to 290 square feet. So your saving is 290 square feet which is approximately 29 square meters or 290/450 = 64% savings.
One square meter can bring in one kilogram of nests, if your BH is totally full, you will gain an estimated volume of 29 kilograms per harvest. If one kilogram is RM4000 you will gain at least (4000X29) RM116,000 per harvest. You are looking at One Hundred and Sixteen Thousand Ringgit Per harvest?
So why must you choose the tunnel type?
Well there is nothing wrong with the direct tunnel, if given a choice, I would prefer to locate the tunnel in the middle of my BH. My main reason is that when they are at home they can fly around from one floor to another without a hitch. The tunnel provides them the path to be a friendly neighbor.
It is up to you to choose the best option. Both are alright.
I showed him a couple of BH designs that I have visited and are very successful.
LAL UNDER CONSTRUCTION. THE STAIRCASE IS JUST 2 FEET WIDTH. THE HOLE IS EXTENDED BY 6-8 FEET WIDTH.
Chicken House Advance Cooling System !!!
You might want to see what I saw during the MAHA Agriculture Exhibition in Serdang.
One of the most exciting product that I came across was this chicken farm cooling system called Komfort Kooler System. You might want to consider this if your BH temperature is making you real crazy.
The idea is to blow air onto a water dripping perforated corrogated box. Once the air passed through the box, it will be cooled and helps to drop you BH temperature. The corrogated box is not something normal. They are very tough (I touched it) and comes in one foot width and 6 inch thick. They are interconnected like a honey comb.
For more details please visit this website: http://www.cumberlandpoultry.com/english/komfortk.html
The local agent is at Plot 68, LPM, Prai Industrial Estate, Penang under the name The GSI Asia Group Sdn Bhd.
If those chicken coop can be so sophisticated why can't the birdhouses be the same?
Kampong Choh Perak Bird Houses !!!
I have a few more photos that I took during my last trip to Setiawan.
On the way home I stop one more time at Kampong Choh and snapped as many pictures as I could.
This is just for the sake of my sharing with all my beloved blog readers.
I hope all of you do enjoy looking at them.
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