Aroma: Choose One Or Perhaps Try All !!!

Today I am in the mood of writing about how to generate you own aroma for your BH.

Before jumping into any conclusion, I just wanted to say that these are just ideas and no guarantee that they will work.

Before you try please be careful not to harm you BH.

1) Throw Some Swiftlet Eggs On The Wall.

This is something that is possible. I was made to understand that many BH owners in the neighbouring countries are using this technique.

Just think of this. Most BH that were burgled, with all those eggs thrown on the floor, will be quickly filled with nests within a few short weeks. Most BH owner claimed that the nest number will increase by at least 10-20%. Do you know why? Because of those broken eggs !!!

In the neighbouring countries (cannot mentioned on my blog) this method have been practise for donkey years. What they did was to harvest those nest with eggs and immediately throw the eggs onto the walls. The effect was said to be very productive.

I do not recommend you use your BH eggs but try to buy them from the market and do the necessary. You need about 20 for one floor (20'X70'). If you cannot find them how about substitute the swiftlet eggs with burung puyuh bird egg?

Note: I do not guarantee anything but U might want to try.

2) Use Sea Cucumber laced with Ammonia Powder.

I received a call from a friend staying in JB.

"Harry I came to know that there is a very successful consultant based in Klang who use sea cucumber laced with ammonia powder. They put the dead sea cucumber in a container and laced it with ammonia."

Are U sure?

Hmm so so.

So if you want to try better think twice.

3) Ferment Those Birdshit !!!

This is something natural and original. Take about 5 kilos of fresh birdshit and mix them with tap water, about 5 liters or more.

Let the birdshit ferment for a few days and once ready filter for the water.

Now you are ready to splash to the BH wall. Before you do that it is recommended to mix with some fish oil.

Hmm ..... they sound very delicious like those tuak from the coconut tree.

Oh yeh please do not drink those birdshit water.....

All the above are for your knowledge and there is no proof that they can bring those birds into your BH.

If you choose to opt for any one or all Harry will not be responsible if anything should happened.

However if it works please let me know.

Designing A Barn To Cultivate Insect In My BH !!!

I have finally decided to built a barn/hut in my SP BH to be used as insect cultivation farm.

The idea is to construct an enclosed room complete with about 5 racks to place those trays.

The trays shall be used to store those cut pineapples sprayed with those yeast powder.

Somewhere in the barn I will introduce those insect powder to use as the insect starter.

Once the insects are ready to fly, all the trays shall be shaken to allow the insects to fly.

The moment they take their flight a specially fan will blow these insects into a funnel that will be connected to a pipe. Their final destination shall be above the entrance hole of my BH.

I have came out with a simple sketch and the person in charge will be building with a minimal cost.

Will conduct the test for a few months and if successful will patent the concept.

Well if you are keen for me to built a similar Barn, please let me know. It will be on a first come first served basis.

No specific price but I am sure it will not be more then RM 2,000.

The idea is to push these insect on the top of the entrance hole at a specific time of the day so that those birds knows that they will have something to eat before they end the day.

If successful will take some video to share with all my blog reader. Hmm ... I love all of you out there. Every one is my friend and do not be afraid to call me if you have some problem with your BH....

How To Use Your External Sound Effectively !!!

There is nothing like having a beautiful external sound in your BH.

Once you play them on the top of the roof you will see plentiful of those swiftlet circling, chasing each other and the best is to see them swooping into your BH at high speed.

During the day time, if you carefully observed, there will be a kind of wave of birds coming over in groups. Once they finish a new group will come over and repeat the same actions.

Some will be playing, some will be chasing each other, some will lock onto the tweeters and try to peck them.

But no matter how good the sound is, it has a limited life. After a few short days or weeks they tends to be ineffective.

So you then will start looking around for a better or newer sound.

You will stumbled into new sounds and of couse "Black Cloud".

But do you know how to effectively use them?

I mean are sure you know how to tweek those buttons on the amplifier to give the maximum impact to those wild birds?

Have you ever though that you can extend the life of the sound to at least 5 to 8 months?

Let me relate this real events:

"Pak Harry this is Mr.T of Ipoh. Thank you for the BC. Pak Harry how come nothing happen when I use the BC in Ipoh?"

Well well well. Mr.T what type of amplifier are you using?

"Don't know the brand. I think China made."

Do you know how to tweak those buttons on the amplifier?

"Pak Harry I am not very familiar with the equipment so I just plug in the CD and play."

Ai yah yah yah. Mr.T before you play the sound you must at least call me to provide you with the guidelines on how to set those buttons on your amplifier.

Those who are familiar with their amplifiers then it would be very easy to explain but those who do not know, ai ya ya ya ya.......

Okay like this, since I will be passing Ipoh on Monday I shall do my best to drop by.....

In one more case in Kluang, happened yesterday, the BH owner was using a computer to load the sound. He showed me the amplifier. You will be surprised if you were with me.

"Pak Harry, sorry I DIY, so I bought this car amplifier for my BH."

I looked at it and shook my head and murmured to myself "What the bloody hell is this?

This job is getting tougher every day man.

Okay okay where is the button to adjust the volume, bass, the tremble and mid sound?

"You need to use this screw driver sir?"

Ai Ya ya yah, I have never adjust my BH sound with screw drivers. Okay where is the adjust buttons?

He lifted the amplifier and showed me three small screws embedded to the body. I need a magnifying glass to see where to poke the screw driver.

After some tweaking he saw a few birds flying into the house, via a CCTV camera.

"Oh ya pak Harry there were a few birds that flew in just now."

Well the morale of the story is that, if you do not know which button to tweak then you will get very little from the sound that you have purchased.

I did mentioned about how to extend the live of your new found bird sound.

My advise is do not play them all day long. Play one hour in the morning, one hour in the afternoon and perhaps one hour and 45 minutes during the time those birds were flying back home.

By doing this you will maximise the operating life of all your expensive sounds.

If you are not sure please ask. Do not be Mr. Einstein. Even Pak Harry sometime do ask some friends if he have never come across something new.

So if those BC do not work well in your area, please call for immediate helps....

I think now is my turn to take the Penadol .......

Harry I Just Bought An Abandoned Shophouse !!!

Mr W of BM sent to me a short message and ask for my advise on how can I help to turn the shop to a super BH:

Hi Harry, i just bought a unit abandon shop house and keen to know your suggestion how to start and design it to become super BH, may i know how you quote for being help to setup a farm? Please advice.

Thanks.

Regards, W

My Reply:

Mr.W,

Thank you for reading my blog on a regular basis. I hope you have learned lots of new things which you can never find in any seminars or books or on any other blog websites.

I started writing last year just as a hobby to help myself to find all the knowledge about swiftlet farming.

I did not realised that now I am in this filed on a full time basis.

I feel honored and glad that I met so many new friends who love to continue reading my blog.

Many describe to me how they start their day by first reading my blog then move to their next agenda.

If after three days I do not write an article they will call and asked if I am well or not. One particular person, he is a Doctor, always reminded me that he is ready with all the sick pills for me to get well.

He said that every morning he will first open my blog before visiting Malaysia Kini website.

As for the Black Cloud, I believe it is the best external sound that I ever found. It has been very effective in many towns in Malaysia. You need to be very careful and know how to effectively used the sound. I recommend that U keep one in your collection. Remember U need to have at least 3 - 5 sounds to operate a successful BH.

I would be truly honored to be appointed as your advisor. However before you engage me U need to promise that U will follow what I advise U to do. I just do not want you to do other things the moment I turn my back.

My fee shall be subjected to how far the location of the shop house. I need to cover my time to travel, the toll charges, lodging cost and miscellaneous.

I usually charge a minimum fee of XK as my engagement fee and for every visit I would like to be paid a hardship, toll, petrol fee, and professional time fee of around RMx00.

I need to inform U that I am doing this on a full time basis and I need to earn something to keep going.

I need to pay a visit to you shop house and have a good look both external and internal. I need to be there from 4 pm till 7pm. I need to know which direction the birds are flying home above the shop house.

I will them come out with a sketch of the whole BH configuration.

I will also provide the list of things to do and to buy.

Once that is done U might want to engage your own contractor to construct them. If you need further help I can arrange for an experience workers to carry out the installations and construction. This additional cost is separate.

Looking forward to hear from U soon.

harry.


The above email tells you what kind of things that I am getting into now days.

I love to be busy with swiftlet farming.

Visited Another Sick BH in Kluang Johore !!!

I was again on the road today visiting Mr.V of Kluang.

He have been reading my blog and did lots of modifications to his DIY BH.

After doing all that he can think of, even playing BC, he was not satisfied and call me for a second opinion.

I was so tired but since he sound very bad on the phone, I said yes.

Three hours drive and took the Ayer Itam exit of the Plus Highway.

We took lunch and immediately conduct the necessary inspection.

The temperature was okay, the humidity was a bit too high but there was something not right with the entrance areas. They were too big and the tweeter arrangements were a bit scattered.

After a 45 minutes tour of the BH, set down with Mr.V and came out with my hand written report plus a number of sketches that I wanted him to consider.

I recommended the use of Hygrostat to stabilized the Humidity.

I plan to sit in front of my PC to chart those recommendations in black and white.

I told him the house was okay but ........

He was very glad to hear my opinions plus all those aroma applications, fake nests, the tweeters arrangements and etc.

All in all I told him that I would like to be back in Kluang to monitor the progress.

They Returned Safely Back To Cambodia !!!

The two Cambodian brothers have reached home and I am very glad that they have learned so much during the 4 days training.

Received the following:

Title: Thanks My Big Sifu.

Dear my Big Sifu,

This is Nal. I am safe in my Home and i want to say thanks for everything you did. Before this I never thought I can learn a lot of such wonderful thing, visit a lot of places and travel thousands Kilometers to learn about swiftlet farming with a person who expertise about swiftlet farming. He is ever willing to share all the thing that i need to know and never keep any secret.

Thanks Big Big Sifu,

Nal
Cambodia

Well I told them that I will teach all the things that I know and will take them to see a many swiftlet farming activities as possible.

They got what they come for and I hope those things that I taught will be a very good lesson for their future undertaking.

Take care Nal.

Hope you will always cherish those moments that we went thru and be a good sifu in your own country.

Remember anything you do not know or not sure, just give me a call. I shall always be your friend......

Do I Need To Introduce Those Aromas In My New BH !!!

Today I was pretty busy with sending those Black Cloud orders that I never aspect to be so overwhelming.

At least 10 orders and they keep coming. I plan to stop selling when it reached 50 pieces.

This measures is to curb the number in the market so that this birdcall sound be competing with each other.

While doing the packing a call came from Johor.

"Pak Harry, should I introduce those Aromas in my BH? Which aroma should I use?"

Have you introduce those fresh bird shits?

"Yes."

How about the ammonia powder?

"Yes."

So right now you wanted to introduce those man made aroma into your BH?

"Yes, but I do not know which?"

Mr. H the BH is yours and nobody have the right to stop you from doing what you wish to do.
Before you decide to introduce these so call aroma, is your BH currently ready plus the micro habitats are perfect. Are your BH external and internal sounds perfect?

I remember talking with Mr. James, about introducing aromas in any BH not long ago.

"Harry no matter how good the aroma is, if your BH is not proper and the sounds used are bad, the aroma will not work."

The best is ensure that your BH is perfect. Their internal temperature is within range, the humidity is good, the lighting are well liked by those swiftlets and those sounds are enchanting.

What you need to know about aroma are as follows:

1) Any aroma that you use in your BH, can either bring more birds in, can also chase those birds away or nothing happen.

If more birds enter the house and stay then you are on the right tract but what happen if the number become negative?

2) I came across ed a good friend who was so carried away with this new found aroma and he applied all over his BH. The next moment all his tenants, old birds staying in the house, moved out.

He was so disappointed with the result and quickly cleaned the whole house with special water before drying them.

3) I also came across a user in Alor Star who said that the moment he used the same aroma, after 54 hours of application, the sky were dark with birds flying in and out of his BH.

He was so happy with the results and he claimed that the number of nest population have increased by more then 20% a month.

4) There were many others who use the same aroma got no result. Yes zip nothing happened.

Based on the above true stories, I conclude the followings:

a) Before you introduce any foreign aromas, except fresh bird shits, into your BH it is wise to ensure that the house micro habitats are in a very good conditions.

b) Make sure your external sound are effective and every time you play them the birds will be above your BH rooftop.

c) Make sure that the internal sound are also perfect. Soothing and not chasing the birds out.

d) The best advise in using any new aroma is to use as little as possible. Do a trial or test run. The best method is to apply this new aroma to a fake nest made of paper or wood or Styrofoam.

Prepare about 5 to 10 pieces, soak them into this aroma and dry them up. Install them in your BH at a selected location where there were no birds staying before.

If you have those CCTV camera, zoom on these fake nests.

e) If the test result is good, many birds simply cannot resist the smell then you are on the right path. If they hate the smell, you better quickly remove these fake nests immediately.

f) If you want to try a ne aroma, wait for about three week after the old test. Do the same application technique.

g) Once you have identified the right aroma, you now should plan to expand the application technique. You need to increase the volume of those fake nest or perhaps spray onto those planks.

Remember, the use of any aroma, except fresh bird shits, do have a repercussion. You must be careful and treat them as if you are pouring some kind of toxic chemicals in your BH.

Have a proper plan and execute them in stages.

Never be too greedy until all your swiftlets run out on you.

If you need to talk to someone who has gone through this bad experience, just call me. I will be very happy to give his phone number.

He is my good friend and his attitude is the same as me. Both of us believed that we need to educate all newbies and there is nothing wrong to share what we know.

Visit To Kuala Krai EcoPark !!!

The Kuala Krai EcoPark seem to be fast moving and I can see that the construction works are moving smoothly.

While in Kelantan with the Cambodian Brothers, I took them there to have a good look at the construction progress.

All the three rows were under heavy constructions with at least 15 Indonesian workers busy with various activities.

The last time I visited only the footing were in place. Now they are moving to the second and the third floor.

The person in charged told me that the 61 units BH shop lots are left with only three more plus those allocated to Bumiputras.

I wish I have the money to own one however I might be too late by then.

Sincerely once the unit are up I will be visiting them regularly and how I hope one of the owners will let me his advisor for the installation of BH equipments.

Let me show U some of the photos taken:

Tested: Black Cloud Is Better Then Two Others !!!

I was in Batu Pahat Johor today.

While conducting a BH inspection I was given the opportunities to test my "Black Cloud".

First I used sound A and after that sound B and finally sound BC.

The first two have not that significant results but the moment I played my BC, the birds started to gather on the roof.

Before I could get out of the data room, I saw a few rushing into the unreadiest BH.

It was just marvellous and the best.

While conducting the test Mr.K from Sri Alam called.

"Harry I am conducting some test using your BC. In the beginning there was no movement but the moment I turn down the high pitch frequency knob lower to around 4, the birds started to swam above my BH."

Wow, I immediately did the same and the result was fantastic.

I called him and said thank you for the small tip.

Now this sound proof to be very effective in more then 7 states.

To those who have yet to purchase this sound you will be sorry.

I intend to limit the number of copies sold and distributed to only 50.

After that number, I will put a very stiff terms to deter more people from using it. Yes the price will be above rm1,000.

So if you have not purchase one please do it fast. So far more then 20 copies been sold or exchanged. Left with only 30 more. Current price is effortable and below rm500. I am just trying to help those who are in need of populating their BH.

I am not kidding. You just wait and see.....

Penny Wise Pound Foolish !!!

I remember this phrase from my school days.

"Penny wise pound foolish."

In swiftlet farming I term is as trying to cut corners by getting unqualified person to convert your BH without any supervision and once finished everything were wrong.

It was disappointing and deep inside me I felt very sad that all those advises that you listed were not followed an inch.

I visited this shophouse sometime back and after my six hours to and fro I submitted a three pages report on how to convert to a BH.

Met the owner a couple of times and went thru the list of things to do one by one.

They seem to listen but I never knew that sometime people do pretend to listen but never understood.

The worst is to know that the house is ready and wanted it to be inspected.

The moment I entered, I was for a very big surprised. Nothing was done in accordance to my long list.

Yes nothing at all.

They just leave everything to the so call experience Indonesian workers who claimed to have been working with some big sifu from Klang.

I was devastated and it kill my will to be their adviser.

Demoralised and feel not required at all. I told them that I am not willing to be named as their advisor from today.

The ceiling were wrongly installed, the 100cm x 30cm box were not there, the tweeters were haphazard, the ventilation holes were too many, the entrance hole was too large and on the wrong side, the water pipes were not connected to the pump, the sound were not distributed evenly, the data room was on the staircase and etc .........

Why can't they listen to what was told?

All in all they wanted to do it themselves and wanted to cut corners.

Refuse to let the right person to be there because he charges a small fee.

This exactly why I use the phrase "Penny wise pound foolish."

In the end the BH is not to specifications and I begin to feel not required to be there.

Dear Lord, please help these people to see the right path.

From today, I am not willing to be involved with any potential BH owner if they show signs that they are smarter them me.

There is no use to be their advisor if the moment you turned your back they start doing their own things.

At the end of the day they will be pointing those ten finger to Harry.

The Right Sound Volume Must Be Observed !!!

So you have purchased the "Black Cloud" and happy that you now have found a new external sound for your BH.

You now believed all those swiftlets in your area will start flocking to you BH roof top?

I think you might be right but .........

Well let me tell you this real scenario which I observed with my own eyes.

When I was in Besut, I met Mr.J and before we entered his BH to show to the two Cambodian Trainees, we learn something very important.

"Harry, the sound volume is very important if you want to pull those birds over to your roof top. Too low will not attract them. However if you blast too loud you will scared them plus irritate your neighbors."

"Let me show you what I meant. The sound I am using now is Black Cloud. My volume in the morning is set at low. Around 2. Just observe when I increase to around 4."

Mr.J asked me to glue my eyes to the entrance hole while he entered his BH to adjust the sound volume.

I keep my eyes at his BH entrance whole and carefully analyse what will happen. Within a few seconds the whole scenario change. The moment he increased the sound volume to 4, the number of birds circling abour his rooftop increased with very little effort. Some will swoop in while some will start packing the tweeters.

After a brief minutes he turn the sound back to its normal volume not to disturb his neighbor. According to him he will only push the sound to level 4 in the evening when the birds are returning home to roost.

The best level according to him, if you used 1-10 as the range, is about 4 or 5.

Once you push the sound level to above 8, they will scare away the birds. Of course you will very soon receive lots of complains from your nearby neighbors.

Main reasons being the sound emitted by those tweeters might be cracking especially if you use cheap tweeters. The cracking sound scare those birds away.

May be if your BH is located far away from any residential areas you might want to push higher but you must always be careful not exceed the right volume.

Choose the right volume and one thing for sure is that the setting will vary from one sound tract to another.

All sound that you purchased or exchanged have different setting and very rare that they are of the same in the sense of wave amplitude and volume setting.

So be sure that your BH external sound volume is proper .......

Youngest Blog Reader (12 Years) + A 17 Year Old Who Has Make Up His Mind !!!

This is something that is very interesting and I wish to share with all of you who read my blog.

It turned out that more younger people are catching the Swiftlet Farming Flue !!!

First: Youngest Blog Reader.

When in Kota Bahru, Kelantan I was introduced to the youngest swiftlet farming blog reader.

She is Miss Ying, 12 years of age, the daughter of Mr.E.

"Harry, this is my daughter who have been hooked to your blog and the moment she heard that you are coming, she insisted in meeting you."

Hello Miss Ying, I am very honored to meet you. How are you and how old are you?

"Uncle I am Ying and 12 years old. I came to know about your blog from my Daddy. Since it is school holidays I read your blog. I like it."

So you want to be the youngest Swiftlet Farming Sifu?

"He he he he."

The following day we make a trip to Grik, Perak to view a shop house which Mr.E wanted to convert. She was with me all the time.

I was at the back of the shop house and she asked. "Uncle what are you doing?"

Just examining the roving area plus whether those birds do fly back above this shop.

"You mean you are looking for the bird's flight path."

"Uncle can we rear those birds and how do we feed them?"

Ying you can but it is very tedious. You need to feed them regularly and carefully.

"I know we must not injured their throat because if they are injured they will die."

Hey how come you know so much?

"Uncle you forgot, I told you I read your blog."

Oh my god, I have created the youngest Sifu and she is a lady.

From now on I promise not to use any vulgar words because young kids do read my blog too.

Second: Yougest (17 years old and already make up his mind to be a swiftlet farmer)

I was with a good friend at Bangsar talking about his bad experiences for using poor internal sound and all his birds went missing.

I took out my new PC and saw this special email from Mr.VT:

Hi Harry,

I am Mr.VT from Kuantan.. Actually my father is owning some swiftlet house and for already half years(april2007) .

I never been feel interested into it, until I visit your blog.

Actually, i just only 17 this year.I found your incredible blog since Nov 2007.

When I saw the title [Swiftlets Farming: Million Dollars A Year Income Potential] ..This title makes me start reading ur blog..

I have been spending time reading through them and learning about swiftlet farming. I would like to say thanks a lot to you and your blog.

I learn a lot from it. And now I become more and more interested in knowing more about swiftlet farming.

Thank you very much for sharing your experience. Now I am so excited about it......

But, i juz got the letter that inform me 27Nov2008 must go to the kem of 'Nasional Service' until 18 Mac2009.. I cant read ur blog within this 3 month..

Finally, I choose birdnest farming as my future business..I hope to meet you at least once in the future to get more knowledge from you.

And sorry for my broken English.

Wishing u a happy day...

From: Mr.VT

I am very pleased that more young people are learning about swiftlet farming.

To me I feel so honored and happy that more and more people are using my blog as their reference in swiftlet farming. It is not only for those who are about to retire but also the young.

I am very sure if they can master all the right things they will avoid making gross mistakes in their swiftlet farming venture in the future.

Ying and Mr. VT you are welcome to swiftlet farming and I hope both of you will be successful in this field like no others.........

Special BH Design With Exit Hole For The Birds !!!

I always mentioned to all by blog readers that swiftlet farming is weired.

The more you learned about them the more you don't know about them.

However when you learned more about them, you just wanted to know more and more.......

You just cannot stop and said that I know 100% of swiftlet. I do not want to listen to anyone any longer.

Trust me I am still learning new things nearly everyday.

I visited Besut, my second time, and I was treated to a delicious breakfast. After finishing the meal I walked with Mr.J. We passed the oldest BH in Besut and he pointed to me a hole that looks like an entrance hole, very small (1' X 1'), but with not a single tweeter. It has a special tongue to block the rain water and direct sunlight.

"Pak Harry, What do you think that hole is for? "

I look carefully and check where the hell was the entrance hole. Oh yes it was on the top of the roof.

Hmm ........ why must the owner have another hole at the BH wall with no tweeters?

How come nobody ever inform me about this additional opening before?

I gave up and not to be embarrassed asked politely, can I know the answer?

"Pak, that hole is for the birds to fly out in the morning. You can see that it is facing the East and thats is where the sun will start the day. When the birds are up in the morning they will use those lights as their direction out."

"The interesting thing is that when they come home in the evening they never use this hole. They enter via the entrance hole."

"I used the same technique in my BH too and it works very well. You see if you have this hole the entrance hole can be reduce in size."

Hmm..... I am learning new things and I am sure there will more to come.

So the more we visit new BHs the more we learn new things.

The more we learned the better we become.

I believed this type of information should be shared with all my blog readers. They are lucky to be reading my blog.

So with this new finding you might want to consider having an exit hole for your future BHs.

What Do You Think Will Happen When The Food Sources Are Not Adequate !!!

When there are too many mouth to be fed it will come a day when there will be shortage of food to the swiftlet.

The worst is during dry season.

But what about during a very wet season?

It seem that last December 2007, something unusual happened in Besut, Trengganu.

You are well aware that December in the East Coast, the rain pours nearly the whole month.

It seem that the food source were said to be not adequate.

The bad sign, indicated by Mr.J, the young birds will be found dead on the BH floors. Lots of them depending on the number of nests you have in your BH. It was like they jump out of their nests or perhaps being dump out by their parents.

I am not very sure what was the cause of such a behaviour and I doubt that it was due to lack of food.

All this while I though rainy seasons will create more food and not the reverse.

Need to crack my head what is the actual cause of such a behaviour.

If any of my blog reader do have some possible explanations, please be kind enough to make your comment.

Completed The Training And Finally Back Home !!!

The special training for the two Cambodians were completed today.

It was a back breaking adventure. Started on November 18 th and today November 23 was their last day.

For record purposes these were the thing that I covered:

1) A full day presentation on swiftlet farming. After that we have a question and answers.

2) Covered a total of 1,600 kilometers journey from KL - Port Klang - Sungai Rambai - Kuala Selangor - Sekinchan - Sungai Besar - Setiawan - Bukit Mertajam - Padang Serai - Kota Bahru - Tumpat - Kuala Besut - Kuala Krai - Gua Musang - Raub - Bentong - KL.

3) Visited 12 birdhouses and 6 of which we entered for evaluation and inspection.

4) Did 4 bird call tests along the way.

5) Inspect a BH with more then 3,000 nests.

6) Have a look at one BH about to complete in Setiawan.

7) Visited a BH about 80% complete in Kota Bahru.

8) Visited a stand alone BH just started with the footing in BM.

9) Visited a BH that was turned around after not doing well for 9 months in Raub.

10) Visited a very sick BH in Tumpat.

11) Visited a row of Swiftlet ecopark in Kuala Krai.

12) Visited the Ridel Olympic lane in Kota Bahru.

13) Visited the most successful BH in Setiawan, Padang Serai, Besut, Kuala Krai and Bentong.

14) Visited the most colorful BH in Sungai Rambai.

15) Visited a shop house that was ear marked to turn into BH in Grik.

16) Encountered a total number of 9 wild elephants while of Grik-Jeli highway. The leader nearly attacked our car.

17) Met a 12 years old girl, Miss Ying, who is my blog reader.

18) Submitted a 12 pages BH visit report to Mr.L of Tumpat.

19) Visited a BH in Besut of which I was fascinated with it's progress.

20) Spend about 30 minutes at Bentong to look at those birds swooping into my BH.

21) Take a very good look at how "Black Cloud" performed in Setiawan and Besut. At both places BC was over my expectation.


Overall the trip was fantastic but I don't think I wanted to break my back again.

I was lucky not to loose my way both on the way up and back.

It was scary when those elephant nearly attack our car along the Grik highway.

What I am sure off was that both Cambodians were in good shape and they got what they came for.

I showed them nearly everything and I hope they will be doing the same like I did for the sake of swiftlet farming in Cambodia.

Bye Nal and brother. Hope to receive your email about the wonderful four days together.


THE YOUNGEST AND THE INTELLIGENT.

THE MOUNTAIN VIEW WHILE CROSSING BANJARAN TITIWANGSA.

THOSE WILD ELEPHENTS WERE THERE TO GREET US.

THE MOST SUCCESSFUL BH IN BESUT.

HALF CEMENT HALF WOOD BH.

TOKO SWIFTLET FARMING EQIPTMENT IN KOTA BAHRU.





BM BIRDHOUSE CONSTRUCTION GOING AS PLANNED.







ZENG TOI'S BIRTH PLACE.


KUALA KRAI ECOPARK MOVING SMOOTHLY.

THE LARGEST BH IN TUMPAT, KELANTAN, A STAND ALONE UNIT.

BESUT BH WITH LOTS OF TWEETERS ON THE CEILING.

Black Cloud Is Doing Well In KT !!!

This conversation is interesting about the Black Cloud birdcall sound.

The caller was Mr.T who purchased the Black Cloud and tested it in Kuala Trengganu, Trengganu.

He was conducting his first trial and was looking at the entrance hole area of his BH.

"Pak Harry, This is Mr.T from Kuala Trengganu. Just wanted to ask you about the Black Cloud you sent last night. Are You sure that it was not Duress?'

Mr.T why did you ask me that question?

"I am now using the sound in my BH and the response is marvellous and the number of birds are huge."

Mr.T, I sent to you the Black Cloud. Can you tell me your observation. Are those birds entering the entrance hole?

"Yes Pak Harry they are entering the hole but how come so many of them as if I am playing the test sound DURESS?"

Mr.T if you play the Duress the birds will not enter the hole.

"You are right Pak Harry. That means the Black Cloud is fantastic and is very effective here in KT. Thank U, thank U and Thank U."

You are welcome.

"Pak Harry one more question, do you have the best sound for internal?"

Yes, Black Cloud goes well with Cloud Nine. If you are interested I will be happy to let you try in KT.

For record purposes, the above conversation takes place yesterday November 22nd, 2008.

A Painfull Experiences In Tumpat!!!

Reached Kota Bahru at about 1pm from Bukit Mertajam.

Along the way here I took the two Cambodians as early as 5am to Padang Serai, Kedah. Took them to see those birds going out in the morning.

At 7am took the east west highway to Kota Bahru. A fantastic experiences and those mountain views were fantastic.

The moment we crossed the mountain area and entered Jeli we stopped to conduct some birdcall test.

The two seem to be doing fined. They came out with a very detail observations. Pak Harry there are more then 5 groups of birds here. Each tend to group in their own colony.

Hmm they are learning very fast and more then what I expected.

Upon reaching KB called Mr L to pick up his Bazooka tweeter plus take me and the Cambodians to visit their "sick" BH.

Pak Harry, the BH have been in operation for more then 7 months and there is no nest but with a bit of Bshits on the floor. Please tell us what is wrong with it."

Mr.L called all his 3 partners to receive me at the BH.

The unit was beside a house and in an abandoned padi field facing Ridel Hotel, KB. To the left, about two kilometers away, is a successful BH.

What do you think is wrong with the BH? Located under the flying path, in a town called Tumpat and lots of open fields and water sources too.

My rought conclusion, before entering the BH, was that there was a major screw up in the house. The whole house is facing a very serious "sickness" which in term of human being need to be hospitalised in the ICU unit.

Tumpat, according to my Kelantan friend, is the second hotspot location after Kuala Krai.

You simply cannot fail unless your BH have some major problems.

I entered the BH and as expected the whole place was unbelievably in a very bad shape. The roof was leaking, the floor was wet, the entrance hole was too big, the nesting planks were full of fungus and you name it you got it.

I was in a very deep pain. Sad to know that they did now know how bad their BH was. They should have monitor closely before reaching this "ICU" stage.

Just could not undestand while their "Consultant" did nothing to stop the rot?

Just imagine, if you want to count the findings using your fingers you need to have three more sets of hands, at least.

Well, I am glad that they realised their faults and have some one to help them to redo the whole BH.

This morning, November 22 I submitted a twelve pages hand written report to Mr.L.

He was so happy and promised to follow what I wrote on those papers. He promised to call me for one inspection, after doing up0 the BH, before playing the Black Clouds that I have given to him.

Well at least this trip, I managed to help one more BH that is stranded in the "ICU".

I am sure there are more to come........

What Happen If Your Internal Sound Is Not Good/Right !!!

I was driving this morning from Bukit Mertajam to Kota Bahru.

Well the trip was more then 4 hours and the two Cambodians were with me anxious to see those birds coming home in KB.

While driving I received a call from Mr.K from Klang.

"Pak I got something very interesting to share with you and your blog readers."

"I have recently opened my second BH in Shah Alam Selangor, thanks to you for those positive advises, and this was something that I wanted you to know."

"I installed several CCTV cameras and took very little notice only after the third week."

"Then some strange thing happened. Every evening there were at least 80 birds that entered the birdhouse but after a few weeks I entered the BH there were not a single bird shits on the floor."

"I begin to wonder why and took a very good look at my CCTV clips that I saved."

"You know what actually happened?"

"The moment my external sound is off for the day, those birds gets irritated with the internal sound and they immediately fly out of the house. Really strange and unusual."

"What I did was to immediately replace the internal sound and now they seem to be staying"

"I am really surprised that internal sound is also a very important thing to look into for a BH. I think it is more important then the external sound. There is no use to bring them in and shew them away after that."

"Harry I hope this special finding is useful to you and your blog readers."

"Anyway thank you for being so helpful with my first birdhouse and I owe you a special dinner. I have just harvested about 25 nests after about 6 months."

Mr.K thank you very much for sharing. I am looking forward for more of this kind of things that can be shared with all those who read my humble blog.

Thank you and thank you. Mr.K you still owed me one dinner.

How Much Money Wasted Due To Failed BH in Our Country !!!

Just wanted to record something that might be of interest to all my beloved blog readers.

During dinner last night, with the Cambodians and Mr.D, we discussed about the rate of failure in Malaysia and Cambodia in swiftlet farming .

In Cambodia there are only about 50 BHs, according to Nal. More then 80% are not successful.

In Malaysia, there is a report from sme Penang that the number of failed BH is above 70%.

Let us choose 70% as our selected figure.

There are more then 50,000 BHs in Malaysia so let us use 50,000.

So the number of failed BH is 70% of 50,000 that is 35,000 BHs.

If one BH, an average of Rm200,000, we have a total of 35,000X200,000 = 7 billion riggit of BHs (in value) that are not doing well.

Can you imagine how much it effect those BH owners.

The lucky part, I think, is that most of BHs in Malaysia belongs to those who have more then one BH. These people are not that effected much because even they are 10 failed units, they do have at least one that is doing very well.

But what about those that are not that well off?

Well that is why I created swiftlet farming blog. We need to help these people plus those who are new in this business.

What I hope is that my blog gives all who visited it a chance to learn and get all the knowledge that can minimise those risks.

We need to give the right information so that less people make those unnecessary mistakes.

Well as I say I am always available to share what I know.

I might not be that good as compare to those King Players but I am always ready to lend my head to solve your problems (swiftlet farming problems only please).

"But Harry everyday even if you help one person there are 10 others who jump into the field without any knowledge."

Well we do our best for we cannot cure the world by our self.

So Nal, please take up this challenge and do the same for your people in Cambodia.

"Yes Sifu, I will do my best but at the moment I need to learn a lot more from you in Malaysia. As far as I know you are the best Sifu that I ever come across. You are so helpful and have a very very good heart."

Setiawan DIY Birdhouse !!!

We were about to reach the town of Setiawan from Teluk Intan.

Managed to call Mr.D to meet us at the normal meeting point in Setiawan.

Just when I put down the phone I saw this wooden BH that looks abandoned, made of half wood and half bricks.

The monkey house was very small and on the wall there were a couple of exhaust fans.

No sound played and I am very sure this is a DIY birdhouse that failed to take off or perhaps the owner gave up after no birds entering his BH.

Now wait a second. The house is in Setiawan, the capital city of swiftlet farming and no birds coming in.

Hmm I wonder if you ask thinking like what I am thinking........

To fail in Klang or Nilai is understandable but in Setiawan, tak ada logic, unless the owner have little or no knowledge in swiftlet farming.

So the morale of the story is that even you have the right location and below the flying path but you have too little knowledge the chances of success is not very sure yet.

The best is to gather as much knowledge like how these Cambodians are doing. They are willing to come to Malaysia and learn from people who they believed will ensure that they make lesser mistakes.

How Lucky These Cambodians Brothers !!!

They did the right thing in their life and I believe others should follow their foot steps.

Travel and get those knowledge before embarking on their dream BH.

The two brothers never ever dreamed of entering a BH with 3,000 nests. Never ever dream of getting somebody to be their sifu in their venture and now they nearly accomplished all by making the right decision.

Learn as much as you can and then embark on your dream BH.

Four days with Sifu Harry and learn everything that they need to know.

Nal is a computer graduate and used to work with a American organisation in Cambodia. After a three years as an employee he wanted to be on his own.

After looking at all the available options he stumbled into swiftlet farming. He got it from a dream, he claimed. He visited Malaysia once but did not learn much until he found Pak Harry swiftlet farming blog.

He finished reading every article written in less then one month and not one time but more then once.

He was not satisfied and wanted very much to meet Pak Harry in person. He admitted to borrowing some money to fly over to Malaysia to learn hands on with his Sifu.

I was very honored but no matter how much he learned from me I told him to give back to all his Cambodian swiftlet farmers.

I advise him that my aspiration is to help those who are in need of proper guidance in swiftlet farming. If he can do that in his country I will be very proud to be his Sifu.

In the meantime, today we had a fantastic day.

Starting from KL to Klang then to Sungai Rambai. After the short stop we moved to Kuala Selangor and Sekinchan. Took them to those padi fields with many big size BHs to stop by.

Arrived Setiawan, Perak at about 4.30pm and received by Mr.D.

The first thing he did was to find us a simple hotel. Mr.D was very pleased to help and he can never stop talking about "Black Cloud" sound.

We entered one of his BH with 3,000 nests and the internal view was breath taking. Those birds were everywhere and their nest were crystal white.

The best was to have a look at how effective "Black Cloud" was.

Harry those birds become so crazy and even after 7.45pm there are still some pecking on those tweeters.

I saw with my own eyes and I just could not believed to see how those birds were attracted to the sound.

"Harry the "Black Cloud" is the best sound that I ever have and I wish you have found this much ealier. It is effective and marvellous."

How To Make Those External Sound Effectivenes Last Much Longer !!!

How many weeks do you think a very good sound that you have purchased from Pak Harry will last?

I mean its effectiveness?

Maybe 12 weeks or best case is 4 months (16 weeks).

What do you think the best way that you can stretch their effectiveness to a much longer period?

All this while I thought I was the smartest but frankly I am not. I am just a rusty Mechanical Engineer who sometime got this memory lapse like a 65 years old man.

Today I met someone who is far superior then I am and I am truly fascinated with his ingenuity. He owned more then 12 BHs in Setiawan, the Capital city of swiftlet farming in Malaysia at the moment.

How he did is simple.

First he plays those external songs and observed how many days they will get those swiftlets got bored.

One day it dawned upon him that birds are like human. Once they listen to the same song all day long they will get tired of it. At the same time if you play the same sound from morning till evening without stopping these birds will get hungry and tired.

So the best is to limit playing those sound to a limited number of hours a day.

The most important is from 6.30pm till 7.30pm and maybe another hour in the morning.

In the morning you actually catch hold of those young birds to come and visit the BH but the evening is where the pulling action takes place.

In this way the sound will be magnetic and will stay effective much longer as compare to playing all day long.

It makes sense but if you wish to try please be aware that the guy who give this idea will hold no responsibilities if it does not works for you.

It works for him very well and I believe the method he is doing makes lots of good sense.

Again there is nothing to loose by trying............

Pak Harry just wanted to share something special and I hope this article will not upset anybody.

If I do I would like to say sorry.

How To Remove Your Body Odour In Your BH !!!

I was talking with a blog reader on the best time to visit a BH.

"Pak Harry, if I want to enter my BH what is the best time and when I should be out of the BH? "

My sensible answer was:

"You can enter anytime convenient to you but must be with a specific purpose. Try not to enter your BH to often for no specific reasons. If you really need to enter, it is better to have a plan what to do and get everything ready on the floor before starting those works.

If you have a few workers then I would advise that you brief them the rules when they are working inside. No smoking, cooking, welding, soldering or eating in the BH. They need to enter say from 9.00am and must be out by 4.00pm."

If those works are not completed, push the works to the next day and to be finished within the same time frame.

Try not to work in the BH for too many days at one time. Split the works to small portion and the most is 3 days or so. If you have another job to be carry out just after the 1st, I advise to push the job to the next two or three months gap.

This recommendations is important to a new BH owners. You might make those birds feel not very safe. Once they have that feeling they might find another BH around your area.

Even if you enter the BH for the day I suggest that you take a handful of the ammonia powder and spread them on the BH floor just before you close the exit door. The idea is to allow the ammonia powder to vaporise and mask your body odour.

A smart thing to consider and your have nothing to loose.

From today onward I will try to remember to say sorry if I have offended any of my blog readers for every articles that I wrote.

I just love to write and each article is something that can make my blog readers learn something.

How To Conduct The Effectiveness of Your Internal Sound !!!!

Most swiftlet farmers are not awared of how important are those internal sounds.

We tend to focus more on the external sound but tend to forget that internal sound is also as important as the external.

Just imagine when the birds enter your birdhouse for the first time.

They were attracted by your soothing external sound. The moment they enter your BH they will follow the sound path into the BH and once inside will be bombarded with those internal sound.

If the internal sound are not attractive or alien, they will quickly rush out of your BH.

However if your internal sound are perfect to their ears they will feel peaceful and have the urge to stay.

The best method to know if the sound you played is good or not is to device a the sound splitting technique.

You might want to run two different sounds in your BH. The normal sound and the new sound for testing. (Note all birdsound comes in two streams, the left and the right streams)

If you have say three floors, the new sound you play at the lowest floor while the normal sound on the first and second floor.

If your new sound in good most of those young birds will move to the lowest floor. Observed those bird shits on the floor.

To test that they will follow the sound, you might want to switch the sound cable.

After a few days you might want to push the sound to the upper second floor and let the lowest and first floor uses the normal sound.

Check whether those birds do go up from the lowest floor to the highest floor. If they do you know that the new sound is effective.

The only problem is how to find this effective internal sound?????

You need to think carefully about this idea of using the right internal sound. They are crucial and now you are given the best idea in checking how effective they are.

Hands On Training For The Cambodian Brothers !!!

Tomorrow my training program for two Cambodian brothers will begin.

They have landed in Kuala Lumpur and staying close by to my Apartment.

They seem to be very excited over tomorrow and I hope I am too.

My plan is to ensure that what they learn will benefit their country swiftlet industries. Who knows one day both will be great sifus in this part of the world.

I plan to ensure that they will not become "Consultant" that cheats those newbies in this industry.

What I need to galvanise them is to have a proper set of objectives. They are welcome if their intention is to ensure that every newbies that engage them will benefits from what they will learn from me.

I just do not wish that one day every Cambodian who engaged them will point their fingers to Pak Harry for not creating sensible sifus. Sifus who are out to make the kill like some that I came across in Malaysia.

Will first take them to Kuala Selangor and then to Setiawan. After Setiawan will visit Bukit Mertajam and Padang Serai. Once that is done will be up in Kota Bahru and Besut before stopping over in Raub, Pahang.

This will be something that I hope to do when there is enough participants who are really serious in learning swiftlet farming.

Is It Possible That The Birds Change Their Flight Path !!!

This question was posted to me recently:

" Pak Harry, after some time can these swiftlets change their flying path? Let say now my BH is below their flight path now, say 5 to 10 years, from now will they change?"

A very sensible question which I thing need to get sensible answers.

My answer is yes however the probability is slim unless there are a few drastic changes in the followings:

1) The food source which they used to go and hunt depleted badly. This might be due to bad weather or a serious forest fire. If their hunting ground are totally burned down they will move their hunting locations to a newer place. This will effect their flight path.

2) A new walet central suddenly came into the vicinity of your BH. This can happen when a new walet central was created by some one who is good swiftlet farming. This person knows the ins and outs of making sure that his new BHs are perfect and will pull all those birds to move to his new BH. If this should happen, very rare in deed, the flight path will be affected to.

3) Suddenly there is a new source of food along the way home. This is something that not many people have thought about. Just imagine suddenly a new water pond or waste treatment plant were in operation a few short kilometers from you BH and they are spewing out lots of those mayflies. These birds will now move their flight path to that pond before going home. If this ponds are not within your BH range, you will experience this unusual flight path change.

What can you do to reinstate them?

The best that you can do is to look into creating the environment to lure them to you BH areas.

I suggest that it would be advisable for you to start looking at proving food within your BH compound.

You might want to built a suitable water pond and inside those ponds you rear some kind of plants that will produce insects.

You might want to store some wood logs. Choose those that are capable of generating a kind of beetles that are a food source to those swiftlets.

The easiest would be to built a small barn where you can generate fruit flies. These fruit flies are easily cultivated. What you need are rotten fruits and some yeast. If they are slow in breeding you might want to introduce those insect powder in the barn to be the core insects to spread onto those rotten fruits.

Well if you are afraid that they might change their flight path, you need to quickly populate your BH in the first 5 years.

Remember, the best is to get 500 nest within the 5 years period and the rest is a history.

Once your BH touches 500 nests, subject to the stable micro and macro habitats, they will multiply at least 3 times a year. From this moment they should grow in an exponential path.

As such you are on the way to the bank every three months. That actually is the right flight path. He he he.

A Wanderful Way Of Detecting Any Defects In Your BH !!!

I managed to buy a new cam coder, Panasonic, with 4 gigabytes memory card.

The moment I got it in my hand, I keep thinking how can I maximise the use of it for the sake of swiftlet farming operation.

If I have anything that I am very curious I should now be able to detect using my new cam coder.

I went over to the camera shop and got one of those tripods stand.

Fix the cam on it and decided to check which entrance hole the birds prefer to fly in.

Hmm...... something that might help to proceed with my next plan on my BH.

The only setback is that the battery will only last for one hour unless I connect direct to the charger cable.

Without those charger cables, I can only run the can while the battery last.

So went into the BH and set the cam at the selected location. Once ready switched the cam on.

After about one hour went to pick the CAM home.

The result is wonderful. I can now know exactly how those wild birds enter the hole and which hole they preferred.

My conclusion is, using cam coder, can help you to make a better decision. Just imagine if your wall is too closed to the entrance hole you might want to check their flying path into the house. If the pictures taken do indicate that they are not right, you can immediately make the changes.

You will realised how fantastic to know exactly what is wrong with your BH.

Use your cam coder regularly.