Those Days It Was Not Difficult As Compared To Now !!!

Yesterday Jan 22, 2013 I visited three BHs located somewhere at Jeram, Kuala Selangor.

I was very lucky to be given another opportunity to visit three BH within less than 2 hours.

The first BH was with about 500 nests the second with about 600 nests and the third with zero nest.

"Pak Harry I just don't understand why they refuse to populate the third or the latest unit.  It has been running for more than 6 months and yet not a single nest."  the owner trying to convince me about his nightmare.

What can be the real problems and how can that be resolved?

If the third unit was totally empty the other two seems to stop multiplying.

"Pak Harry, we started the two in 2005 and now we managed to get about 500-600 nests.  What concerned me most is that both units the nests numbers are dead.  The young babies seems to fly out and never return." his other headache.

Well if you think you will only face problem when your BH is new but if your BH have 500 nests it will multiply by itself, I think you might not be 100% right.

This common mishap will be yours soon.

Beside too many new BHs around you there are things that you need to do with your BH to get those young birds to stay.

For this particular two BHs I suspect that the owner disregards the followings:

1) The nesting rooms were too bright and too opened.  I put my ideas about the use of proper partitioning to block those lights from entering the preferred nesting room.

2) The best he should do is to erect proper walls that are strong and not those make shift plywood walls here and there.

3) He should adopt my VIP room concept.  Every BH should have at least one VIP room at the far end of the floor with a door opening of about 3.5 feet wide.

4) The floor seems to be very dry and not conducive enough. He need to change those humidifiers or perhaps erect those wet floor system that will help to wet the house a bit more.

5) Both BHs seems to have very few external sound tweeters at the far end.  You can attract more birds into your nesting rooms if you install at least one kite tweeters playing your external sound.

I plan to put up a small recommendation with various sketches for his attention.

Perhaps if he followed those recommendations his nightmare might stop there after.

I need to follow up with him and if he is generous enough I might mobilize my crew to help in rectifying his BHs.

I really look forward for a new task or challenges.

It is not the money but the ability to introduce new methods to improve or increase those nests are my motivation.

Those of you who wanted a bit of my expertise please do not feel obligated but just call 017 7551318.

Discovered Another New Use Of Kite Tweeters !!!

It was similar to one straight highway but those cars move back and forth.

An interesting explanation by a BH owner who uses two kite tweeters about 20-30 feet apart facing each other at one corner of his BH.

This observation was done in a BH recently visited in Bentong.

The owner seems to be a great DIY person.

After reading every swiftlet farming blogs he will introduce all those practical solutions inside his BH.

I was surprised when I discovered that he uses nearly all my ideas inside.

It was about 85% based on my ideas written in my blog: http://swiftletfarming.blogspot.com.

He seems to agree with me on many of those inventions and it was confirmed that nearly 80% of all his nests were inside the VIP room he created.

However he experimented with a few new ideas of his own.

One interesting thing that he did was to hang two pieces of kite tweeters facing each other about 20-30 feet apart.

This was at one corner of the BH but not inside the roving area.

He played two different sounds one on each.

Once a correct sounds were played you can see those birds will start to fly from one kite tweeter to the other.

It more like a highway where the birds will fly to and fro from one to the other until they became tired of doing so.

Once the are tired they will start to rest on those internal sound tweeters that were installed in between the two kite tweeters.

You can see a lot of nests being build along the path.

I think this interesting observation is something new and I fully recommend for those who happen to read this article.

A very strong method to force those birds to play and later settled down to build nests along the flying path.

You might want to install a few per floor and see how it can help to populate your BH.

If you need further clarifications please write or call harry at harryswiftlet@yahoo.com or 017 7551318

Research Works Together with A Local Varsity Finally Begun !!!

A very proud moment in my career in swiftlet farming industries.

I have help so many BH owners with their sick BHs.

During my visit to some of these BHs I have managed to discover lots of interesting ideas.

I have also invented a number of interesting gadgets that will help to improve any BH with nest population problems.

About three years ago I started to conduct Seminars and nearly all those who attended my Seminars are not a proud owner of successful BHs.

Now the time have come to conduct some research works with the help of a local varsity.

About six BH owners called to participate in this joint collaboration.

Yesterday managed to visit the first BH that I hope will kick start the program.

The owner was very pleased with my present and after about 30 minutes inside his BH I have the rough idea on what can be done to help the research team.

This morning submitted a full report on those ideas and I hope the Varsity team will agree with those ideas submitted to both the BH owner and the Team.

It will be the highlight of 2013.

The year where we might pin point what methods can be used to multiply the nest population.

I am proud to be a part of the Team and I hope my small contribution will be useful to our swiftlet farming industry.

May God bless our genuine intention.

The List Of Things That I Did Inside This BH Made Of Five 40 Footer Containers !!!

The upgrading job of this BH made of four forty footer containers were completed within two full days.

The scope of works were as follows:

a) Upgrade the sound system of the BH with a new set of amplifiers.

b) Enlarge the main entrance hole by about 1/2 foot higher.

c) The frame of the enlarged entrance hole was with wooden frame made of 2"x 3" wood size.

d) Installed two sets of power tweeters on the monkey house rooftop.

e) Installed a piece of hexagonal tweeters about 1.5 feet above the monkey house rooftop.

f) Installed 6 pieces of external sound tweeters at the main entrance hole.

g) The roving area inside the monkey house was reduced by half to force those birds to quickly enter the LAL into the nesting room.

h) The light entering the nesting room just after the LAL was blocked but erecting an box enclosure made of wood and ceiling boards.

i) The partition walls were painted black to minimize light reflection.

j) Inside the nesting rooms most of those metal plates and excess nesting planks were removed since they were blocking the birds flying path.

k) The nesting planks were cleaned using steel brush.

l) Old tweeters were removed and new tweeters were installed onto the nesting planks.

m) Each nesting room were installed with two kite tweeters.

n) About 100 fake nests were installed after we finished the tweeters installation.

o) The fake nests were applied with super pheromone (lower floor) and supersusu on the top floor.

p) On the lower floor the existing door were opened wide.

q) A set of external sound tweeters were installed onto the newly opened door.

r) The BH now have about 6 cables to allow the owner to control the internal and external sounds volume.

s) The BH now is installed with the last tango system and for now I set it at 6:30pm till 7:45pm on a daily basis.

t) The internal sound selected was the Babysound2 while the last tango and external sound were Gorilla.

v) The volume of all the sounds were properly set to ensure that when those birds came to the main window they will have problem to enter the BH.

w) All external sound tweeters installed outside the rooms were drilled with holes to allow water to be drain in case of rain water clogging the nozzle.

One interesting incident was when 4 birds flew in to the lowest floor while we were still doing the final touch up.

My workers was surprised that these wild birds were not scared of human when those external sound were played.

I hope the BH will stand a good chance to be populated within three to 6 short months.

Let us keep our finger crossed.

At Last I Was Asked To Install The Sound System !!!

It takes me about 4.5 hours to reach this place somewhere near the foothill of Jerai Mountain in Kedah.

My main purpose was to install a totally new sound system inside a two stories BH made of used forty footer containers.

I came to know the owner a few years back and have been telling him what was wrong with it.

The modified the entrance hole location plus the LAL.

Later took some special sounds from me.

The nest population grew a bit but one day the whole sound system went out of control in fact all were dead.

"Pak Harry my BH now is dead.  I need your help to inspect it and do the needful."  he requested.

During my trip home I was curious enough to drive up and make some new discoveries.

Later told the owner what can be done to combine the sound installation plus some additional things that I feel can help to bring those birds inside.

My main idea was to limit the birds movements inside the monkey house.

I believed if the BH is so small why should be allow those birds to play inside the monkey house.  They should be immediately directed into the nesting room when they put their head inside the monkey house.

This was where I erected a new wall to block the entrance hole area inside the monkey house.

My second idea was to block the light from polluting the nesting room a bit more.  So I raised another partition around the LAL.

On the rooftop I took a lot of trouble to install two set of power tweeters for my last tango sound system.

Immediately after the installation of the sound system, about 200 fake nests and application of supersusu/super pheromone tested with a new sound.

It went perfect.

While inside the BH to check on the sounds a couple of birds started to check in.

After various sound volume adjustments I was happy with its performance.

Advice the owner on the completion and drove home.

I was back in KL at 1:50 am.  It was a long drive but I was happy that the BH is back to normal.

Another BH Somewhere At Bukit Selambau Kedah !!!

Something that I make me drive more than 1 hour from Sungai Patani to just see what can be wrong with this BH.

The owner flew back from Bangkok Thailand just wanted to have my opinion about his BH at Bukit Selambau.

The moment the ground floor door was opened I saw something that makes me predicted that the entrance hole was facing the East.

In the beginning the owner was thinking that I was joking but after checking with my iPhone compass it was true.

"How do you know that Pak Harry?"  the owner wanted my explanation.

Very simple I told him.

Just look at the number of bird shits spots on the ground floor and you said your BH have been into operation about 20 months.

If your entrance hole faces the west those birds will not be flying down to the lowest floor.

He now begin to realize that there are some of those things that is predictable if you know more about swiftlet characteristics.

Now one have told him that but I did.

After inspecting his BH for almost 30 minutes I listed a few things that can be done to draw more birds into his 20 months old BH.

He need to do something on the outside but there were also a few changes which I verbally told him how to get all those that entered will stay for good.

The sound system needs some upgrade and I proposed that each floor to be provided with a dedicated amplifier to allow internal sound volume control.  Let the nesting room where he wanted those birds to populate be on a higher volume as compared to the hall areas.

I also wanted his to split the three stories BH into two BHs.

The top most dedicated to one of the entrance hole top entry hole while the lower floors be dedicated using the side entrance hole.

I might want to widen the main entrance hole to be about 3 feet by 4 feet.

The monkey house roof areas to be converted to become like a magnet to lure more birds to the BH.

Internally there will be extra tweeters and walls rearrangements.

I am looking forward to start this new challenge and I am very sure it will be another interesting story.

My Biggest Challenge For Year 2013 !!!

A very interesting and daring challenge for year 2013.

It took this BH owner less than a day to decide on my proposal to revamp his BH located somewhere at Bukit Selambau, Kedah.

The BH was put into operation about 20 months ago and the number of nests inside was a bit on the lower side, about 40 nests.

Last week I was invited to take a good look at the BH and after studying the way the BH was decorated I came out with my ideas on how to get the BH more active.

My main idea was to split the BH into two.  The top most floor will be one BH by itself while the two lower floors will be another separate unit.

He was lucky that there were two in fact three openings on the roof areas.  Two at the monkey house area and one at the back using those top entry type.

I suggested the use of the top entry as the main entrance hole for the top most floor. This BH will be running its own set of sounds different from the second BH that will be just below it.

The second BH will be the two floors below and the main entrance hole will be those located at the monkey house.

My target will be on how to attract more birds to this two BHs rooftops.

The top entry hole area and the monkey house roof will be turned into a sound "magnet" where I install a number of tweeters around both entrance holes.

Internally the partitions in the BH will be realigned and they will have the ability to be in communication once the time is ripe.  What I meant by ripe is when the two BHs has nothing less than 500 nests each.

There will be some walls that shall be opened to allow the two BHs to become one.

The creation of proper rooms on each floor and creating suitable path for those birds to fly freely from one part to the other will be looked into.

Each floor will have a dedicated amplifier for internal sound with separate wires for at least three clusters of tweeters.

There will be about 200 internal sound tweeters per floor and most of it will be in a cluster of four.

I planned to put in place at least two kite tweeters in each VIP room.

There will be adequate number of fake nests laced with my super pheromone and supersusu.

The BH will have a number of mist makers and on ground floor I planned to install a wet floor system inside one of its VIP room.

The job will start on February 3rd 2013 and I hope to finish within 10-14 days.

It will be an exciting job and there will be a number of new gadgets to be installed.

Those of you who are free during the period can come and join the fun.

Give a call to 017 7551318 if you wish to learn hands on.

Remember you shall be responsible to carry out some tasks that will eventually make you learn more as compared to just reading my blog.

No Longer Difficult To Get 10-20 Nests !!!

The rule of the game is how many birds are there at that particular location where you build your BH.

With the many gadgets that I have invented plus those proven ideas I think to get 10-20 nests within a few short months is no longer a big problem.

My next move is how to get 100-200 nests within the shortest possible time after a new BH is put into operation.

This is where those specialized aromas that are proven to seduce any birds that fall pray to those beautiful sound with get crazy to be the house tenant.

If your BH is located on a piece of land with lots of birds flying above and round it, we can now lure all of them to enter your new BH.

If all these birds can be lured inside we need to find a suitable method to retain them.

One good example was this BH in Hulu Langat Selangor.

While the BH was about to finish I conducted those bird call test using the famous "Duress" sound.

After doing the test for a week I can safely say that there were about 120-160 birds.

After putting the BH into operation for about 10-12 months the owner claimed that his last count of total number of nest was 55 -60 which if you multiply by two will be 110-120 birds.

If there are new one inside which happened to have just entered., may be about 10 percent, the total is closed to 125-135 birds in total.

This was equal to more that 90% of all those birds that we tally when we conducted the bird call test.

The lesson from this Hulu Langat experience was that you need to get more birds to respond if you want to quickly populate your new BH.

To get 200 nests within 12 months you need to have at least 500 birds to respond to your bird call test.

If you can prove to me that you can get this number I can assure you that to get 200 nests within the 12 months will be a easy task.

Yes we now have the proven techniques to will pull all those birds inside your BH and make sure that they will build their nests within the shortest possible time.

But how many of us the so call BH owners take this bird call test seriously?

Maybe 10 percent and the rest put their BH fate onto their so call "Consultant".

The Janda Baik BH Progress !!!

If the sound system was not hit by lightning the Janda Baik BH would have at least 5 nests.

I received an urgent call by the owner and his main problem was not able to reset the Hager timers.

After putting his BH into operation mode he was so busy and never came to inspect the BH.

Only after two to three months came in and received complaints about the sound being played at odd hours.

He quickly call for my help.

When a person is in trouble and no one to look up to they know how to find some one to come over.

I wanted to know how the BH was doing.

Quickly responded to his call and drop by his BH.

I took less than 30 minutes to reset the Hager timer.

Tough him how to reset and he was happy that I was there.

Inside the BH I saw a number of bird shit spots on the floor.  They were quite thick however most of them were below those external sound tweeters.

I told the owner that it was very unusual to see only shit below the external sound tweeters.  Usually once the external sound is switched off they will move to the internal sound tweeters.

Again we need to remember that the sounds timing went out and playing at night.

This might be the possible reason.

After resetting the timer and change the old sound to something new those swiftlet started to show their present.

Most that turns up flew straight into the entrance window.

I was the smile on the owner face and told him that it was all set up.

He knows that I was there for him and I did my best to get his BH back to its real life.

Best of luck to him and hope will come again to clean up those planks that seems to be attacked by fungus.

Testing A Very New Nesting Planks Aroma Which I Called "SuperSusu".

Yes as at this week already applied into one BH and by end of this week there will be two more.

If this special concoction works the problem of populating any BH is no longer an issue.

All that we need to get them into your BH and the rest is a history.

This plank aroma will glued them onto those applied spots and if we prepare a straight forward program your nesting rooms will be filled in to time.

But first let me see the result within the next three to four weeks.

I have this gut feeling that it will work and it came to my mind a few weeks ago while driving home from Gambang.

A day before that I was going through my Google forum pages and it was there which prompt me to try something new and simple.

The best way to use the portion is to combine the application onto those nesting planks with the use of those fake nests.

If one day you should purchase a bottle, try to apply as per my experiment.

First make sure those wild birds do enter your BH on a regular basis.   Your external sound must be perfect and the internal sound are those with lots of baby sounds.

The next is to have those VIP room ready to play its part. By now you know that the most preferred location by those wild birds will be inside this VIP room.

You need to clean your BH floor prior to applying the supersusu.

After operating your BH for about 2 months, try to identify where those birds most likeable location.  Just look at the floor and see their birdshit spots.

Now choose the right plank just above the bird shit spots.

You might need to prepare those fake nests and install about 10 about 1 inches apart.

Once they are fixed to the nesting plank get the supersusu up.  Take a brush and dip it into the susu.

Apply onto those fake nests and the surrounding planks.

Let is dry and get ready to leave your BH.

Lock the door and try not to disturb your BH for about three weeks.

Come back on the third week and inspect the size of the bird shit below those fake nests.

If those spots become thicker with lots of feathers you know for sure those birds have taken hold of the fake nests.

If there were little signs try to apply one more time.

You need to continue applying onto the same spot to allow the susu to show any result.

I am sure this portion will be our savior !!!!

The Dual Entries Solar Powered BH Is Doing Well !!!

At first it was experiencing major power supply shortages.

The power packs and the solar panels were increased to two to tackle the problem.

At last it went smoothly without much interruptions.

"Pak Harry I think you need to drop by and this time I think those external sounds have some noisy some.  Please check and do the needful."

I was on my way to Karak and took the opportunity to check the BH status.

After tackling the sound noisy problem I took some time to check on the BH progress.

First the noisy sound.  The noise was nothing more that some dust accumulation on the SD card.

What I did was to refresh the sound by deleting the old sound and put in a new sound.  After that it went well and I was surprised with those birds were seen to play at the entrance holes.


Inside I was very pleased to observe the number of nests found on the top most floor.

Nearly all the nests were found there.

The only funny was that all of them were outside the VIP room.

They prefer to settle in the hall.

I have a strong feeling that they could not find the entry door.  I might was to modify the entrance door location soon.

The next issue was why they refuse to occupy the lower floors.

I have some idea why but need to try them out during my next modification programs.

This shall be subjected to the approval of the BH owner.

I hope she is willing to pay the cost of labour to carry out the modifications.

Some owners are too concern about their investment and will refuse to fork out any additional cost to revamp their BH.

This is one of the challenge when you are involve in the swiftlet farming industry.

Have a look at some video clip and pictures taken inside and outside.