When To Harvest Those Nests !!!

(Is the egg above will produce a male or female bird?)

To those who are new and not sure when to harvest your nests let me share this idea that I think will make a lot of senses.

You see when you starts a new BH your BH is empty and your main tenant will be those birds from someone's house or maybe a cave.

So if you are so dependant to your neighbours BH it is a wise thing to do what ever you can to make them feel at home.

The worst thing to do is to harvest their nest as soon as they build or lay their eggs or their baby have not yet flew out.

Even if you harvest the moment those young birds just flew off, I think it is not a wise thing to do.

Do you want to know or perhaps learn why?

My philosophy in swiftlet farming is to teach people to make a kind of objective.  In order to achieve this set objective you need to have a list of things that you must carry out so that you will get the goal be quickly materialized.


One good strategy for those who just opened or operate their first BH, I advise you all to put a simple objective.

Example:

My main objective is to get 300 nests within 2 years from Jan 2012.  By year 2014 I shall have a total of 300 nests and from than on I will harvest 100 nests per month.

After you have got this set of objective written in your log book (better still inside your brain) you than come out with the list of things that you will do in order to get the 300 nests within 2 years.

Okay you then come out with the following list of things that you will do (examples):

1) My first visit will be 3 months after the launching date.
2) My subsequent visit will be once every month on the 1st Friday of the month.
3) During my monthly visit I will make sure my BH will be within the right temperature and humidity.
4) I will apply a bottle of super pheromone inside my VIP rooms during every visit.
5) I will concentrate the pheromone application on those fake nests and corners.
6) I will also spray 15 litres of Mutiara aroma starting from the entrance hole tunnel, the VIP room and the main hall.
7) I will ensure that all my amplifiers will be in proper working condition.
8) I will ensure that all my humidifiers are in proper working conditions.
9) I will ensure that those wet floor areas are properly watered and wet.
10) I will also ensure that all external sound tweeters are working.
11) I will monitor the number of bird shit spots on the floor with proper report to identify their precise location.
12) One the nests starts to be build their location will be properly monitored and identified.
13) I will allow those birds to use the same nest for at least two times before I carry out any harvest.
14) I will also allow those fake nests to be used twice before removing them.
15) Once the number of nests reaches 100 I will carry out force harvest once a year.
16) I will not harvest any nest with one egg in them.
17) I will improve my swiftlet farming knowledge by attending courses and read those blogs that are important.
18) I will allocate adequate sum of money to learn as much as I can about swiftlet farming from Pak Harry.
19) I will monitor the appropriate time to change my sound to a more effective sound once arises.
20) I will engage a qualified Sifu to check my BH for any improvements or ways to improve the nest multiplication.
21) Once my nest number reaches 100 I will register my BH with the relevant authorities.
22) My BH will be dependent on me and not a third party.

You can add any other things that will help to improve the activities.

Good example: I will visit at least 5 BHs in operation to learn more about how to improve my BH.

You might want to perhaps erect an insect barn to lure more birds to your BH.

You might want to erect a water pond to provide water for your birds.

You might also wanted to plant those Figs trees on your agriculture land.

And so on.

The most important is to get 300 nests at the shortest possible time.

Once there are 300 nests you can now change or upgrade your objectives and list of things that you wanted to do to further improve your BH nest numbers.

You might want it to get to 1000 nests within the nest 24 months.

You need to remember that when your total number of nests is 300 your BH now is a producer of young birds.  You need not bother with young birds from your neighbours any longer.

You main target now is how to lure you young birds to stay at home after they took their maiden flight out of your BH.

Just imagine if 300 nests every cycle you will generate 600 young birds.  If it produces 3 cycle a year you have 1800 young birds.

If you can get just 50% of the 1800 bird you will easily have 900 birds or 450 new nests inside your house.

So you need to modify your objectives as to how to improve your BH so that you will get those young birds to stay.

Think about this and I am sure it make a lot of senses if your brain is working.