"Pak Harry, I don't understand why those birds refuse to go downstairs." asked a BH owner during my recent BH visit.
A question posted by a BH owner who happened to operate a BH for almost 8 months.
I was given the opportunity to view his three stories BH about 30 feet by 70 feet and about 10 feet high per floor.
Usually before entering any BH that needed my comments I will take at least one round tour around the BH. I will try to look for any wrong things that might be odd and need to be corrected.
The most common are those ventilation holes pipes. Are they being properly protected from those mynah or other field birds from using these 4 inches pipes as their nests.
The roof construction will be also important. I normally recommend that the roof should be extended by at least one meter to provide additional shade from the hot sun.
My next point of interest will be the data room. The room's cleanliness and the ways those amplifiers were set.
Once you have a good look at the setting of those knobs and equalizer's buttons you can easily judge how good is the "Consultant" that was given the responsibilities to set up the BH.
A good so called "consultant" will ensure the best setting for these amplifiers to ensure that those sound played will be giving an optimum sound characteristics.
As usual those buttons were not well set. Inside my heart I started to cry and I shake my head a couple of times.
"If the so called consultant cannot even set the sound amplifiers properly I am sure there will be lots of wrong things inside this BH."
I told myself to aspect the worst when entering this particular BH.
When I entered inside I will examine the lowest floor for any unusual things on the floor and more important the nesting planks on the ceiling.
I will take note where the LAL hole was and the most interesting point to observe were the number of tweeters and how they were installed.
Any partitioning to create those VIP room?
What about the wet floor system?
This particular BH have the weirdest tweeters installation ever.
Those internal sound tweeters were facing down wards towards the floor.
"Mr F, during all my 9 years in swiftlet farming I have never seen such an odd method of installing those tweeters. They are facing down to your floor while what I prescribed is to stand upright facing the birds flying path inside the area."
"Internal sound tweeters have many functions and if you do that you are actually torturing those potential tenants. How are they going to hold on to the tweeters?" I asked him.
His idea behind the odd tweeters orientation was to force the birds to latch onto the nesting planks and not on the tweeters.
He got one point up on me but what is the point of making life difficult to these birds when your basic responsibility is to populate your BH?
"When you start a new BH you need to ensure that whatever those birds wanted, just give it to them. If they like to watch movies give them a big screen, if they like china doll give them a few dolls, if they like EPL football give them the estro tv and if they like a mug of beer give it to them. Our main aim is to lure them to stay as your tenant and not to force them to latch on the planks."
There were more surprises when I was on the top most floor.
I uncovered the real reason why those birds were not coming down to the lower floors.
"Your BH LAL (hole to allow the birds to fly down to the lower floors) was not located at the right place. If you are the swiftlet would you be able to find this hole? The right place for the LAL is at the location where all those birds that entered entered or leaving your BH will fly above it." I pointed the exact spot where it should have been located.
This so call secret or real reason to why the lower floors were empty was the first ever comment from a third party to him.
From the way the observation made in the data room, the 1st floor and the LAL position I can safely confirmed that the person who was appointed to be the "Consultant" was a fake and have very little so called knowledge about swiftlet farming.
He must be on the learning curved and this BH become his experiment works.
"So Pak Harry what should I do now?" the owner asked.
"First you should call your consultant and ask him not to build any more BHs. He must try to get more knowledge by visiting more BHs and perhaps attend more seminars on swiftlet farming. Maybe we should meet him and try to tell him the mistakes he have done in your BH. " I tried to make a small fun with the owner.
"Oh he never pick up my phone call any more." the owner replied.
" The next best things to do is to relocate the LAL to be above the flying path of the birds. You can either break open a new hole or perhaps revamp the entrance hole and the monkey house partitioning walls. Remember you need to force those birds to fly above the LAL." I put my point loud and clear.
"You might want to try this experiment. Try to rewire those tweeters and play your 1st floor internal sound louder than the top floor. Those swiftlet prefer those tweeters that play a louder sound as compared the low volume tweeters." I suggested for him to try.
All in all this particular incident tells us that we need to avoid making silly mistakes to your expensive investment.
Try to be more careful when you select the person to handle your BH design and construction.
Most important is that you yourself need to have a very clear understanding what to avoid when your BH is under construction.
You need to upgrade your knowledge prior to hiring a so call consultant.
You also need to visit at least 4-5 BHs and perhaps copy some of the best features or designs that will help to populate your BH.
You cannot take for granted and leave everything to the half baked consultant.
If you are not sure call 017 755 1318. I am sure the person you call can help to minimise your mistakes inside and outside your BH.
Call him and interview him before asking him to review your BH design or location where you wanted to build your dream BH.
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