First it was a BH with water on the floor. This BH referred to was a single story school that was converted into a BH and it flooded nearly three months in a year. The part owner (main owner is the school board) claimed that the population growth was extra ordinary and the best among his 13 BHs under his care.
The second was BH with not a drop of water inside since the main water connection was not connected. There were plenty of birds with lots of bird shit spots on the floor. However after more than four months only one nest. There is something peculiar where the birds refuse to build their nests due to no water at all in the BH and after more than 4 months with more that 55 big spots of bird shits on the floor.
The third was my observation inside a BH in Vietnam whose owner visited me in KL a number of years back. He showed me his successful BH and the moment I entered into one of the VIP room there were hundreds of birds inside but my feet were soaked inside a pool of water. "Hey what is happening?" I asked the owner. Wet floor that he followed exactly as per my advise.
The fourth was a story from a friend who owned 13 BHs in Setiawan, Perak. "You know Pak Harry, you might be right about water inside your BH. The other day I was called to stop those water leaking from my BH to my lower floor tenants." "When I was carrying out the pipe repair works the number of birds inside was unbelievable. However after the floor was dried, no more. All the birds went missing. I regretted for removing the water. I should have the floor flooded and just plug the leakage down to my tenant."
The sixth, this have something to do with my BHs. Out of 6 BH under my care I can safely said that those with wet floor systems enjoys larger number of nests as compared to dry one.
The wet floor I propose is simple.
Choose the location inside your BH where you wanted those birds to occupy. Best target will be your VIP room(s).
Buy a roll of those blue plastic some wood and a few rolls of those double sided tapes.
Lay these plastic mat from one end to the other.
Make sure you allocate about 10 inches to be raised to the wall of your VIP room(s). Use nail on 1"x 0.5"x10' wood to hold the plastic on the walls.
To cover the floor overlap the next piece by about 10". Stick those double sided tape in between the overlapping layers. Remove the double sided tape cover and make sure the two plastic stick on the double side tape securely.
Finish up the whole room and cover the plastic with about 1" of fine sand. Spread them evenly.
Once done get about two bags of fresh bird shit and sprinkle on the sand.
Upon finishing pour water on the bird shit.
Make sure the water is wet enough until you leg will be wet if you step in them.
During each visit you might want to wet them again with water.
If you are lazy to water the sand you need to use those auto water spray timers that are used in your garden.
The wetness will produce a very strong bird shit fermented smell.
It also help to maintain your humidity that are attractive to those birds.
If you adopt this technique I can safely says that most of those birds in your BH will stay inside the VIP room.
Please take note that wet floor with sand and bird shit will not breed mosquitos but a pool of water will.
Latest:
"Pak Harry I just completed the wet floor installation today. What you say is true. At five pm onwards it seems that the birds entered my BH and they never fly out. What do you think is happening?"
I told him that I am not very sure why but for sure the wet floor works.
5 comments:
How about wit d young or baby bird drop inside dis pool n wil die.don u worry about it?.pls advise.
Main purpose of the wet floor is to attract birds to quickly populate your BH. The birds knows that there are wet floor and I am sure their babies knows that too. Why must the baby birds drop down to the floor. They are supposed to be inside the nests. Unless there are predators like geckos or snakes or human in your BH.
Pak Harry,
I am fascinated by your Wet FLOOR system and will try in my new BH in Mukah, Sarawak. my BH is 2 1/2 storey 24ft x 48ft. i will do it in the lowest floor.
Thank you for your findings and sharing. Have a great DAY !
Pak Harry, thank you for sharing your findings/knowledge of swiftlet farming. My new BH is 24ft x 48ft 2 1/2 storeys in Mukah, swk. i will try your WET FLOOR SYSTEM on the lowest floor. what is your recommendation of amount of water i should put if i were to shut my BH for more than 3 months .
The amount of water is dependant on the depth of the plastic cover that you lifter. The best is to make it soggy, like 1/4" water above the surface of the sand.
The water will last at least 2-3months.
If it dry out is okay for when you come in next you can wet it again.
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