Back In Kuala Lumpur For Some Busy Schedule !!!

Just in one day I can do so much thing which any young many will not be able to do.

Arrived early in the morning from Kemaman about 4 hours drive.

I got a long list of things to do for the day in my head.

First stop by at my house to collect some pheromone to be sent to a buyer in Klang.  That was about 45 minutes drive away.

While in Klang collected a number of items to be taken down to Kemaman on Monday.

Then remembered about meeting a blog reader who wish to supply some raw eggs and fresh bird shit.

Got to the meeting place and have a fruitful discussion with him about the next harvest.

By noon an old friend who made a video on my swiftlet farming activities about a year ago turned up for a serious discussion about making a few series of "Swiftlet Whisperer" 

We talk about the project and how much it will cost to make each 15 minutes clip.

He promised to talk to his boss to see if NTV7 agrees to the whole idea.

I then rushed to Jenjarum to collect about 15 boxes of corner covers.

Got to get them across to Kemaman to set those cluster tweeters installation.

On my way home I remembers having another meeting with the Salak Tinggi BH owner.

He wanted to pass the last payment after completing his BH.

"Pak Harry than you for such a wonderful new BH and I am very glad that those birds seems to be entering the main entrance hole almost all the time."

I told him that he was very lucky and if everything goes according to plan he might have a reasonable number of nests once the BH is opened for inspection.

He remembered about his clearance to shut the BH for 6 months.

His next question was: " When are you free to force harvest my BH in Semeyih".

I drove back to Kuala Lumpur and was caught in a terrible traffic jam.

Reached home at 10pm.

A very busy day indeed.  Started at 5am and finished at 10pm.

Got to get ready to move to Kemaman this Monday and along the way I have someone who wanted my time to inspect his BH in Maran.

This BH owner attended my Seminar about one year ago.

"Pak Harry my father owned a BH but I think there are so many things that are wrong inside.  He seems to be misguided by his consultant.  Now after having a failed BH he handed the BH key to me.  He said: Son you are now in charge of this BH. The moment I got the set of keys I can only think of no body else but you Pak."

How interesting.

So on Monday on my way back to Kemaman I need to inspect a sick BH in Maran and I hope it will not take too much of my time.

When some one ask for help, I think it is wised to help him out.

I love this

Son This BH Is Now Yours !!!

I was in Kemaman mobilizing my crew and equipment for another interesting BH revamping operation.

This particular BH has about 60 nests after almost 1,5 years and the owner realized that he needed my help to do something to help in the population growth.

While busy getting started I received this special call from a medical doctor who attended my Swiftlet Farming Seminar one year back.

The telephone conversation was something like this:

"Good morning Dr and how can I help you?"  my first few words to him.

"Pak Harry thank you for remembering me.  I think I attended your swiftlet farming seminar about one year plus ago and remember I told you about a family BH that was under the care of my father.  He gave up in looking after the BH and passed the keys to me to take over." his clue about his father's BH.

"So he refuse to listen to your advices?" I probe further.

"Oh yes, he ignored my suggestion in calling you over to review the BH and perhaps trace the possible reasons.  He believed in his own circle of friends or consultants.  I stayed away because I know he will one day let me find the solution through you.  He spend a lot of money implementing what his consultants advised him to do but the nesst population have not move an inch."  he provided the true stories.

"So now how can I help you?" I asked.

"I need you to drop by in Maran and take a good look at this BH.  The sooner the better."  his request.

"I think I will be passing Maran this Monday and it will be an honor to drop by the BH.  What about 10-11 am?" I wanted his commitment.

I know he is now running a poultry farm but if he can confirm it will make my life easier.

"Okay Pak Harry, confirm." his final conclusion.

Another inspection and I hope my ideas on how to reactivate his BH will improve the nests population.

Nice to be able to offer some help to those who really need my help.

Wet Your BH Floors !!!

 (A misty room with auto sensor activated humidifier)

One good method to check your BH humidity is by wetting its floor and observe how long it takes to dry up.

I was not surprised at the Salak Tinggi a big pail of water can dry up within less than 10 minutes.

You know why?

This BH or an abandoned shop lot was let to rot for almost 20 years and with the hot surrounding the whole hole was dried up.

The water that was used during it cement mixing was no longer in the walls or the floors.

They were all zapped out and now let very dry.

So what should you do to wet them?

The best is to wet the floor for the next couple of days with water and at the same time install a humidifier actuated using an auto sensor.

What I did was to set the humidity auto sensor to about 70% RH for a couple of hours and I wet the floor every 30 minutes or so.

The humidifier will automatically run once the humidity drops to 67%RH and once it reaches 73%RH it will stop to operate.

After wetting the floor for a number of hours you can push the humidity setting up to sat 75%RH.

You continue pouring those water on the floor and perhaps on the walls too.

Once the humidity reading stays above 72%RH you might want to push the setting to perhap 80%RH.

You continue doing this until you can get a constant reading of 85%RH (-3 and +3).

Once you have your nesting room humidity stabilized at 85%RH your BH is now within the proper range for those birds to like.

Remember the recommended humidity range is 85%RH-95%RH.

The humidity range will help those birds during their nest building and eggs incubation.

Also remember that if your BH is too dry (below 70%RH) you will experience a kind of empty BH sydrome.

However if your BH is too wet (100%RH and above) you might face the danger of fungus growing on your nesting planks.

Use your knowledge to optimize your BH environment.

If you need more information on why you should keep your BH wet please call 017 7551318 or email to my address harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Moving My Boys To Kemaman Trengganu This Thursday !!!

If you wanted to know where is my next BH revamp project please stop by at this oil town called Kemaman, Trengganu.

Some called it as Chukai and some says that the real name is Kemaman.

The owner of this BH have been calling me for numerous times and he seems to be urgently in need of my services.

He owned about four BHs and about to erect one more.

His main problem was his lack of practical knowledge about swiftlet farming.

Currently his experiences are based on reading of some swiftlet farming books.

Some from Indonesia and a few from Malaysia.

He tried to applied all the things written in those books but nothing beats some advise from a hands on person like Pak Harry.

He called me about two months ago and drove all the way to Kuala Lumpur just for a cup of coffee.

After meeting Pak Harry in person will a number of questions he brought with him he seems to feel very conformable to move forwards.

He invited me to Kemaman for a day's tour at his BHs and I told him to handle one by one.

The stand alone unit with 60 nests was his favorite.

After about one hours tour I listed all the things that he should have done and before going thru the whole report he asked me "When can you mobilize?"

I never thought that he wanted my service so bad and I was dumbfounded for a few seconds.

"Well let me finish my Salak Tinggi conversion operation and I will come right after that."

That was what I promised and I need to keep that promise.

I just could not bare to see the suffering that he is enduring for many months now.

My main objective is to transform his below par performing BH into something that he can be proud of.

His BH main problems were more on those brightness, high temperature on the top most floor, the lack of knowledge about the proper use of tweeters and sound system.

I am very confident in delivering what he wanted from me.

The rest is on him to make sure the sound system will be always operational and no predators coming inside to create unnecessary rampage with his tenants.

I recommended a force harvest as soon as the BH is ready to be put into operation.

Call me at 017 7551318 or write to my email at harryswiftlet@yahoo.com if you happened to be around the Kemaman town.

Well if you wish to come and join the fun please welcome !!!!

Remember no one will open their BH for you to enter.

Only Pak Harry does that.

All in all I love to help you to learn as much as you can before you venture into this incredible business.

My Last Day Before Shutting Salak Tinggi BH for 6 Months !!!

It was a kind of a big excitement when we finally completed the final works inside the Salak Tinggi BH.

There were a few visitors that I invited to view the two floors.

A group of students and their Lecturer came to view the BH.

I gave two of the students to carry out a kind of research inside this BH.

One was on the effectiveness of fake nests and the other was about what force harvest.

The two came to install a number of fake nests yesterday and today.

The final touches that were carried out before shut down were:

1) Installation of those spikes on the main entrance window frame.  This is where those owl will perch before entering the BH.

2) Applied a specially made black paint on the perimeter of the main entrance window.

3) Excess paint was applied on two walls just below the LAL hole.

4) The air ventilation holes that was allowing some light into the VIP room were covered with those black colored plastic mat.

5) Installed a new set of padlock on the two doors.

6) Installed 6 additional internal sound tweeters at one of the roving areas.

7) Applied Fendona insecticide inside the BH.

8) Activated another container of insect generating powder.

9) Wet the VIP rooms floors.

10) Top up water inside the wet floor pools.

11) Set the sound volume for internal sound.  Main objective was to pull those birds to the lower floor.

12) Play the best external sound that can draw as many birds as possible into the roving room.

13) Log in the days activities inside a log book specially opened for this BH.

Let us hope within the next six months we will have the proper result.

My hope is to see at least 100 bird shit spots on the floor.  Ready made nests with babies about 50-60 and about 50-60 more new nests about to be with fresh eggs.

Who know we might have 100 nests within 6 months.

Salak Tinggi New BH: Agreed To Shut The Doors For 6 Months !!!

 (This Owl Trap Is Ready To Serve)

A new landmark in Bandar Baru Salak Tinggi.

A newly completed BH that will draw all those birds around to check its perfection.

The four neighbors BHs will produce many young birds and I am sure most of them will enter this new BH for inspection.

Once they entered there is a very strong chances that they will be fascinated with the attraction inside.

The walls facing the hot sun were well insulated.  Internal temperature is not more that 30*C.

The floors are well with two wet floors system and two humidifiers running of those special humidity sensors.

The BH is equip with an insect generating system.  It can last for about three months.

The external sound used is something new.  I am using a special medley of sound to ensure my most attractive sound can last for at least 6 months or more.

The internal sounds for both floors is my superbabyking.

The number of internal sound tweeters was about 300 per floor.

Most of these internal sound tweeters were arranged in a cluster of four.

There are a sizable numbers of fake nests.  All together the number of fake nest is about 500-600 pieces.

I wanted those wild birds to quickly start their nest the moment they entered this BH.

They have the 6 options to choose.  The fake nests comes in four different shapes and make.

The best will be those made of silicone (180* and 90* shape), the aluminum slide in, the styrofoam and sponge.

My new idea are those fake nests made of steel bars about 2.5" X 1" X 0.3".  I sprayed some salt water to allow them to form iron oxide on their surfaces.

The LAL about 3.5 feet by 6 feet was precisely located and about six external sound tweeters were mounted on its frame to pull those birds when they fly above it.

I also installed two wet floor system using those plastic canvas with a layer of fine sand filled with water and sprinkle with fresh bird shit.

The owner requested an owl prevention gadget.  I full filled his request by installing a spring loaded owl trap that will sure scare away those owls.

There were three amplifiers.  One for the external sounds and two for internal sounds.  One each for the top most floor and the other for the middle floor.

The owner was very happy with the overall construction and during my short meeting with him yesterday I recommended my lay off period of 100 days.

"Mr S I suggest that no one should enter the BH for the next 100 days."  i suggested.

"Mr Harry why don't we stay away for 6 months?" he answered.

The longer the better.

Since there is only one entrance hole we can view and count the number of birds entering the BH every evening.

Entering a new BH too often will make these wild creature scared of becoming a tenant.

So we have agreed not to enter the BH for six months.

 (Tall Nails To Prevent Owl Perching on the Entrance Window Frame)

(One of the two wet floors)

 (Humidifier operated using a auto sensor)

 (Temperature on the top floor is perfect)

 (Heat shield used in this BH. Both the roof and the walls facing the morning and evening sun were protected)

 

(The heat shield laid on above the false ceiling)

(Heat shield on the walls facing the evening sun)

(To prevent the heat shield from accidental breakage a layer of cement board is placed on it)

(A simple insect generator placed at the BH roving area)

 (Owl trap set to snare any unwelcome intruders)

 (Precisely located LAL to get those birds to fly above it everytime they entered this BH)

(Looking from the lower floor thru the LAL.  Count the number of external sound tweeter.  Also the owl trap location)

 (Various types of fake nests and those cluster tweeters)

 (Fake nest made of steel bar.  Spray with salt water to make it rust)

 (Special wall aroma sprayed on the walls)

Shock Treatments: A Concept That Help To Increase Your Nests Population !!!

Imagine your BH fulfilled all the good animal husbandry practices with the right temperature and humidity plus proper darkness.

All you need are those birds to enter, carry out their inspection and begin to populate your BH without any interferences from any predators.

What are the available options to help in getting more birds to enter your BH and begin multiplying your nests population?

I do have some strange suggestions and try to think about it positively.

I call them as shock treatments.

1) Changing of External Sound.

    Try to change your external sound every 6 months.  The 6 months period will be long enough for a good sound to stay effective.  At the same time the new young birds from your neighbors will be happy to come and visit your BH.

    A few days ago a BH owner from Vietnam thank me for the latest sound that not only works well in his BH (more new nests formed during the short period) but it also last for many weeks now.  Those birds were still flocking at his main entrance window.

    I could not say much more but try to see this video clip after more than 3 weeks the activities seems to be nearly the same.

His message to me:

Have a look at this video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wS4h1JGgffg

After using your new sound, the number of nests increases signicficantly

In additional, the sound is still attractive to those birds after a long time

2) Force Harvesting.

    I have been very vocal about applying this technique for many years now. 

I know many animal activist will label me as a bad guy.

I am just a practical guy who will share my ideas on how to quickly populate your BH.

If you think you want to increase your nests population by 30% within 3 months go for it.

Try to carry out some sort of planning and if you can get someone who can help to look after those babies and hatch those raw eggs.

Now with my smart partnership venture with a local University we have a special center to hatch those eggs and take care of those young babies.

The force harvest technique is proven and I have been applying this technique in almost all BHs that I was asked to repair during the last few months.

We cannot tell for sure what actually happened.  From some reliable sources it seems that when the force harvest operation were carried out those affected birds will not return home for a couple of days.  It was though that they stay in your neighbors BHs and during that stay they manage to communicate the "loss of colony" matter.  That causes a kind of reinforcement that will come over to immediately populate your BH.

  You need to follow a number of rules.  One of which is after carrying out your force harvest you must lock your BH doors for at least two - three months.  Do not enter your BH until those new and old tenants lay their new set of eggs.

3) Shock Aroma Therapy.

   The inclusion of aroma therapy as one of the shock treatment is something new.

The whole idea here is to find a suitable aroma which will initially make those birds to be scared of your BH but soon after will bring additional reinforcement to increase your nests population.

   Not properly evaluated but there are a number of reports that I discovered that make me wanting to include this special treatment method.

  First you need to have a reasonable number of nests in your BH.  About 50 or more will be okay.

  Once you have the aroma ready, you shut the water supply to your chicken coop humidifier.

  Remove the water inside the water pan and replace it with your aroma.  Pour about 250 ml into the pan and you then switch the water tap back to top up the water.

  Switch your sensor or timer device and let the aroma be blown into the air.

  This will make your tenants to start running out of the BH since they though that the new smell comes from another colony of birds.

  The only way to get back into their BH is to bring some kind of reinforcement to help them to fight with the new colony.

  This can be a challenging technique.

  What if the rushed out and never return home?

   You need to find the proper answer and I think they will return home since they know that your BH is the safest place to start their family.

4) Wet Your BH.

    Compare between a wet floor and a dried floor BHs.

    I can safely says that wet floor BHs stand a higher chance of getting its population multiplied.

   Dried BHs have the tendency to experience nest population becoming stagnant or a reverse gear syndrome.

   New birds tend to shy away from your BH while your own birds especially those young birds tend to choose other BHs closed to your BH. 

  Apply those wet floor system and flood the pool with water to the maximum level.

  To avoid mosquito from  breeding apply those insecticide that are soluble when sprinkle into the water.

  At the same time try to spray pipe water onto your walls and other floor areas that were not covered by the wet floor.

  You will be surprised to see what happen after your install these wet floor system.

  Usually those young birds that were brought up in your BH will return home with their spouse to start building their nests.

Officially The Translocation Project Has Begun !!!

The translocation project is officially begun yesterday.

The project started with the negotiation with the eggs supplier, a local University and a BH owner in Denkil, Selangor.

I managed to put the three together and if those eggs hatched as planned we will have the first batch of birds within the next few weeks.

The only setback on the first day was the reduced number of eggs that were harvested from a farm house.

I wanted to start with 500 eggs however the owner claimed that he could only retrieved 388 pieces.

Yes short of 112 pieces.

I have to accept his explanation that there were lesser number of eggs as compared to last weekend.

After counting and stored into those special eggs casing the eggs were quickly transported to an incubation center at Serdang.

I ma hoping that the first baby will be hatched by tomorrow and within 40 days she will be ready to be transported into a specially erected release room in a BH located on a hill in Denkil.

The plan is to count the number of birds currently staying at the selected BH and within one or two weeks after the first released we shall count how many will be returning home to the same BH.

I have ask the University to look into using those RFID tags on each of those birds but they have yet to get the supplier's respond.


It will be very accurate if this RFID transponder can be used in this project.

We can accurately determined how many of them return home and stay after we release them inside the BH.




A suitable high stregth antenna can be fixed on the entrance hole to detect their entry and leaving.

Each day we can precisely determine their movement in and out.

What we can also do in this project is to determine how those young birds behave on the very first day when they were released.

What time they leave the BH and how long after that they return to rest.

We can also determine how frequent they enter their new BH in a day.

What about how long they stays inside the BH during each entry?

There can be more thing that we can study to really understand about swiftlet.

This trans-location method might  in the long run be the best method to help those BH owners who simply cannot populate their BH due to some unknown reasons.

I have a very strong feeling that this project will meets some expectation that I have inside me.

We shall monitor and see the progress and I hope I will be allowed to share with all my blog readers.

It will be very nice you can help with this research project.

What we need are as follows:

1) Those who can supply swiftlet eggs.  We need about 500 a month.

2) We need more BHs to be used as release center.  To qualify you need to let us inspect your BH and if suitable we need to erect a special release room.

3) Any technical expertise in get the detection system operational will be welcome.  If you are expert in RFID system please let us know.  We need some advices on how to set the counting system.

4) Those who can contribute in buying the RFID system are welcome.  Each transponder is about US5 excluding postage.  If you can buy in volume about 2000 pieces it will be about US3.  We need some kind of financial aid from you.

 Frankly there are more than populating an empty BH with birds.

By implementing this so call method we will be able to prepare an SOP on how to breed swiftlet.

The incubation equipment, the rooms to be used as nursery, the food preparation, method to transport eggs and baby birds, the release room preparation, the method to release the room and so forth.

They need to be documented and if we can get all these thing properly done we will have something to look forward to.

It will be a good thing to our swiftlet industry and we will than be able to DIY on our own.

Let us look at the bright side of all this effort that I managed to put together.

If it works I will be the happiest man on this planet.

If it does not work I will be a bit heartbroken but life as to go on.

What I want you all to know is that I have tried my best.

All for the sake of something that I love very much.  Yes Swiftlet Farming.

Call me at 0177551318 for any support that you can bring to the table.

Or maybe write to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

The Common Problems When A Monkey House Is With Top Entry Hole !!!

You might not be as observant as I am.

I tend to spend more time in studying those birds behavior during their approaches to BH that I took charged to revamp.

I is clear that if the orientation of the entrance hole is not properly done there will be a lot of lost opportunities.

A good example is when the BH owner installed his hexagonal tweeter at a wrong location or perhaps the hexagonal tweeter is too high above the main entrance hole.

When those wild birds come to your rooftop, and cannot locate the entrance hole they will move away and you will miss an opportunity to lure them into your BH.

Other than the precise location of the hexagonal tweeter I also have something to talk about having an open roof entrance on the roof of your monkey house.

The Teluk Kalong BH that I recently visited seems to show some awkward bird behaviors.

This stand alone BH is with a monkey house with an opened roof top.

The moment those wild birds came to the hexagonal tweeters they will become frenzy and stated to search for any hole to enter the monkey house roving area.

Their preferred entry hole are on the walls and not the rooftop.

I can see that they will be circling the entire four external walls of the monkey house searching for hole(s) to enter.

Sometime due to the wind direction there will be a preferred wall where most of them flying like queuing to buy a cinema ticket.

Just imagine if that particular particular location is with a hole and installed with external sound tweeters?

You will have a higher chances to draw a much higher percentage of your daily visitors into your BH.

My conclusions from this recent observation made are:

a) Try to avoid erecting a monkey house with open roof entrance system.

b) A Monkey house should be tailored to side entrance and not top entrance.

c) If you wish to have a top entry system you need to take away or reduce the four walls height to not more that 2 feet high and with a slanting configuration.

d) Young birds prefer the side entrance hole more as compared to top entrance hole.

e) Matured birds tends to prefer top entrance system.

You might want to consider dual entries if you wish to get all the benefits but for a new BH focus on monkey house with side entrance.

Teluk Kalong Sea Water Story !!!

 (The Teluk Kalong BH is showing regular visitors on its rooftop)

While inspecting a sick BH at Kemaman Trengganu, I rushed up to view the Teluk Kalong BH which was last visited about 3 weeks ago.

I remember installing some small gadget to bring more birds to the BH rooftop.

The sound was loud and the number of birds on the rooftop were more like constantly with birds.

The owner allowed me to view inside and I was pleased with the number of birds inside the BH.

The number of fresh bird shit spots on the floor seems to be on the rise.

The only thing that I was not pleased about was that the owner have yet to get those walls or partitions up to my sketch provided.

He claimed that his contractor is busy and cannot start work.

He also claimed that those horn-bill birds were trying to capture his tenant from the air.  There were a few dead swiftlet on the floor with serious body injuries.

I told him that I will be revamping the Kemaman BH and I would like to get his BH repaired during the time when my workers are at site.

While visiting his BH I decided to collect those sea water for my fake nests made of steel bars.

I cleaned two water bottles in my car and went down to the sea water edge and filled the two bottles with salt water.

This salt water will be used to get the metal fake nest rusted.

If this idea works I will now used the "Teluk Kalong fake nest" or "TK" as my future reference to fake nests made of steel bars.

Have a good look at some pictures taken after installing those TK fake nests at Salak Tinggi.

Sprayed with the sea water and I am sure it be rusty within a few days from today.

Will update the status on a regular basis.

This new idea if successful in bringing more bird inside your BH should not be missed by every new BH owners.

The idea is to install on a temporary basis.

Once those wild birds erect their nest on the TK we can remove them one by one.

My suggestion is to move the TK to another location inside the same BH.

 

(Those black colored faked nests are steel bar about 2.5"X1")

 

(Installed in a straight line)

  

(Countersunk and held by two screws)

 

(Placed it at the lower part of the nesting plank)

 

(Spray with Teluk Kalong salt water to get a layer of oxide on it)

Met Someone Who Disposed His "Consultant" And Used My Blog As His new Consultant !!!

On June 21, 2013 I made a short trip to small town called Jenjarum, Banting Selangor.

My main objective was to view a BH above a two stories shop house owned by Mr T.

Last week he drop by at Salak Tinggi to view the new shop house which I was converting into a BH.

It was during this visit that he requested my help to visit his BH.

He confessed about his addiction to reading my blog.

Every day he will never miss to read my articles and learn a few new things that help to transform his BH in Jenjarom.

"Pak Harry after applying a few ideas copied from your blog, my BH started to show results.  I forced my consultant to change his methods of installation of those unusual tweeters and used your method of clusters.  He was reluctant but I gave him no choice."

Those few ideas copied seems to be working well and he finally decided to cut his relationship with his consultant.

Beside those internal sound tweeters he also installed (copy my idea) a hexagonal tweeter at the main entrance hole area.

It works very very well according to him.  The number of bird coming in surged upward.

His external sound volume inside his BH was on a high side.  Those birds seems to be not bothered with the loudness.

During my inspection I told him to look into the followings:

1) He should look into shielding the back and the front walls from heating problem.  Use the bubble heat shield protection which I showed in Salak Tinggi.  From the various report the temperature will be getting hotter and if he can carry out the heat shielding his BH will be more conducive as compared to all his neighbors.

2) I notice that the few nests he has in his BH was facing the darker sides.  This was mainly due to the brightness.  I sketched a number of drawing telling him how to create those VIP and VVIP rooms.  The number of partition walls were half done.  He should transform them into rooms and not half partitions.

3) He should reduce the door size at the entrance hole area smaller.  My recommendation was to use a door size of 3 feet wide by 6 feet high. Currently it was floor up to the beam about 3 feet wide by 9 feet high.

4) The location where he installed the hexagonal tweeter was not at the precise location which I wanted to.  I told him to relocate to where it can be more effective. The height should not be around 1.5 feet to maximum of 2 feet above the roof surface.

5) He copied those cluster tweeters installation however due to the small size of the corner covers his four tweeters will not fit the crowded area.  I recommended the use of those flat plank corners and not the rounded shape corners.  The supplier of this flat corners joined me and him for lunch and I advise the owner to order direct from the supplier.  The supplier maintained his claim that the flat corner covers can provide two nests as compared to only one using the round shape.

6) His only humidifier machine was not fully utilized.  I adjusted the timing for it to be run more hours during the day.

7) I don't actually like the use of those timers to operate the humidifiers but prefer those humidity auto sensors.  If you set the auto sensor at 85%RH it will activate at -3% or 82% and stop the humidifier at +3% or 88%RH.  He remembered seeing the unit at Salak Tinggi and decided to get one unit.

8) One clear observation about his BH is the overall dryness of the whole house.  Nearly all his bird nests were showing cracking signs.  I reminded him about how his BH become very dry and he need to improvise more gadgets to make the BH moist.  I told him about why most young birds after their first flight off refuse to return home to increase the nests numbers.  Main reason why they refuse to return home is mainly the humidity (if your BH temperature is within range).  The best option is those wet floors.  Yes check the size of your VIP rooms and order the right size of those canvas.  Create a pool and fill in with fine sand.  Flood the pool and sprinkle some fresh bird shit on the water.

9) I also recommended him to upgrade both the internal and external sounds.  It is a high time to change.  He have never change them and I think it is the best thing to do after all the revamp works in completed. Personally I believed that if you operate a new BH try to change the external sound to a more attractive sound once every six months or so.  This exercise will help to boost more new birds from coming in and check your BH.  Usually they will enter your BH and if they like your BH internal features they might want to be your tenant. As for the internal sound you have very little choices.  My recommendation is to use SuperBabyKing or BabyKing all the way.

10) I convinced him to try using the force harvest technique to multiply his nest numbers.  All BH owners should consider this proven technique.  You need to carry out the harvest once a year.  If you have problems with taking care of those babies and eggs let me know so that I can bring a foster parent for them.  Every time you carry out this force harvest operation you will realized a surge in nests numbers by at least 30%.

After the visit I have a friend who supplied my nesting planks and corner covers supplier to join me for lunch.

This was when we talk about the use of the flat corner covers.

He was very proud of recommending those flat corner covers.  His main point was that the flat corner covers provided with two nests as compared to only one when you use those rounded in shape.

I was also showed a newspaper cutting where my picture was on its page.

I cannot read in Chinese characters however I am very proud to be a new celebrity in town.

 

(Swiftlet Doctor Saves Billions Of Dollars)

China lifts ban on bird’s nest imports

 When people asked my opinion on the future of swiftlet farming, I told them not to be too worried.

If everything goes well China will soon open their doors.

This latest news is what we have been waiting for.

China lifts ban on bird’s nest import.

PUTRAJAYA:

China has lifted its freeze on bird’s nest imports from Malaysia, with approval granted to nine Malaysian companies to commence export of the delicacy to the republic.

Agriculture and Agro-based In-dustry Minister Datuk Seri Ismail Sabri Yaakob said the General Administration of Quality Super-vision, Inspection and Quarantine of the People’s Republic of China (AQSIQ) deemed that the nine companies have earned a “conditional pass” on the quality of their products.

“The processing companies were approved but need to carry out improvements.
“Verification of improvements by the companies will be done by Malaysian authorities and will be sent to the People’s Republic of China, who in turn will accept and register the companies,” he said in a statement yesterday.

The nine companies that were granted the conditional pass were Sunshine Region Sdn Bhd, PT Swiftlet Marketing Sdn Bhd, Tian Ma Bird Nest Sdn Bhd, Kuan Wellness Sdn Bhd, Wing Shen Food Industries Sdn Bhd, Fucifagus Agritech Sdn Bhd, Yan Ming Resources Sdn Bhd, Golden Mah Bird’s Nest Sdn Bhd and Yen Pao Lai (M) Sdn Bhd.

Ismail said the verification of improvements that needed to be done would be carried out by the Department of Veterinary Services (DVS) and the Food Quality and Safety Division of the Health Ministry.

“The DVS will call the nine companies to make sure every improvement as laid out by the PRC is implemented immediately,” he said.

Two other companies that were audited by the AQSIQ meanwhile will only get approval after improving on their current operations.

Multiform Food Supply Co Sdn Bhd and Biogrow Resources Sdn Bhd have been told to implement improvements as recommended by the Chinese agency before being audited by Malaysian authorities.

Applications from four more companies – Dama Ding Ji Yanwo Sdn Bhd, Amity AKF Enterprise Sdn Bhd, Sai Kim Enterprise Sdn Bhd and Swallow House Enterprise – were rejected by China, although no reasons were given for the rejection

Found at:   http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2013/6/21/nation/13268554&sec=nation

Another Critically ill BH In Meru Port Klang, Selangor !!!

(Hot sunlight hitting the main wall. Look at the number of those ventilation holes)

 My visit to Meru BH was accompanied by University Professor.

I wanted his company just to share my feeling about how serious are we with sick BHs all over the Country.

I picked him up somewhere in Serdang and he guided me to reach Meru on time.

The owner was waiting for us and the moment we met each other he directed to his ailing BH.

His main complain was that after more than two years there was not a single nest.

There were a couple of birds staying but those who stayed refuse to build their nest.

His next complain was that he got another two units with the same design and is facing the same problem with not a single nest.

I took sometime to view the BH external design and build up.

The building was about 20 feet wide, 60 feet long and each floor was about 7 feet high.

It uses a side entry facing south east.

No hexagonal tweeter on it roof and only one external sound tweeter at the entrance hole.

The entrance hole was a bit too small.

The roof extension about the entrance hole was at least 2.5 feet outward.

There were too many ventilation holes.  You are looking at one ventilation hole per foot.

On the middle floor the owner installed an exhaust fan.

The moment you entered the BH you can feel the high temperature.

The floors were bright and you can view all the walls if you stand anywhere on each floor.

The main entrance area was without any partition to prevent those bright light polluting the entire floor.

The LAL was very far from the main entrance area.

The moment you touched those walls you can feel the heat burning your palm.

Took my laser temperature sensor.

The wall facing the west was at 40.1*C.

The ceiling was 36.8*C and wall facing the north was 36.4*C.

I was shaking my head and completely with that miserable feeling that if I were those birds I too will run away.

The room temperature was way too high above 30*C and how do you expect those swiftlet to stay?

Those birds who stayed will not be foolish enough to erect their nest.

The internal sound tweeters were not properly installed.

A number of those ventilation holes PVC pipes were left without any extended pipe.

The exhaust fan was without any cover to block those light.

The BH was more like a sauna.

I shared my finding with the owner and the Proffesor.

I keep stressing to both of them that this is a typical kind of BHs erected by many BH owners in Malaysia.

If we ignored and keep them doing the same mistakes we are just not doing our part to educate them.

There will be more people who will blindly do the same thing and it will be a shear waste of their hard earned money.

Let us try to educate all of them and hopefully there will be less BH that failed.

Those who are new and stumbled onto this blog, please help me by calling this number 017 7551318.

Let me help you not to repeat this BH owner bad mistakes.

After the visit I sat down to write my report with all the necessary sketches for him to repair his BH.

I told the owner that I will be available any time if he needed any kind of clarification.

Call me and I promise to answer. I told him.

The Professor agreed with me and he repeated his confession that he was very lucky to have met me.

He begin to feel more desperate on how to help these poor guys who built their BH blindly.

"Pak Harry I think I am beginning to understand more about your confession to me about how critical is these failed BH problems.  They are pretty serious and what you are doing now is something special.  I would say that it is very rare for any one who are willing to help those who failed in getting birds into their BHs."

I told him that this is my passion and I am just doing a very small part to the industry.

(Exhaust fan without any cover to prevent light polluting the nesting room)

 

  

Padang Serai Four Stories BH: A Short Visit !!!

My wife wanted to be back home to celebrate "Father's Day" in SP.

A few days earlier a BH owner from Padang Serai Kulim Kedah called and wanted my service to view his ailing BH.

While my wife was celebrating I was attending to a sick BH.

A very interesting four stories BH with 25 feet wide by 70 feet long and 9 feet high (per floor).

It was a sizable unit and put into operation about 2.5 years ago.

So you wanted to know how many nests inside?

Take a good guess.

The answer is less than 20 nests.

It should have been at least 200 nests after into operation for such a length of time however could not understand the real problems with his BH.

He related to me about how he begin and you will be very surprised with how many BH consultants he engaged.

First consultant was a well known person who seems to attach himself with a prominent BH consultant from Indonesia.  Every time he talks about his experience he will start to coin his relationship with Pak Arief Budiman.

According to the BH owner the people who carry out his BH wiring works were brought across from Indonesia.

After operating for almost one year nothing happened.

He started to sort other alternatives.

This was where three more "Consultants" to come over and have a good look at his BH.

After spending a huge sum of money paying these consultants his BH performance remain very little and nothing to be proud of.

He remain persistent and keep looking for alternatives.

That was when he read the news about UCTC of UPM organizing a Seminar on rehabilitation of BHs.

His scheduled was tight since he wanted to perform his UMRAH (a small haj in Mecca) so he pushed in son-in-law to attend on his behalf.

Once he returned he sat down with his SIL from 10pm till 2am to listen to what was tough during the seminar.

The following morning he called me to visit his BH.

"Yes I will be in Kedah during the weekend and I will be happy to visit your BH." I told him.

That was fast and as if God answered his prayer, he told me.

He prayed very hard in Mecca for some divine help and my respond to his call was something he never expected for a yes answer.

"Sure I will come just give me your address." I told him.

The moment I arrived I was amazed with the high, the color and the surrounding.

I wanted to view from the outside but he cautioned me about those bush snakes that are dangerous.

I aborted the external view and entered his data room.

After reviewing his sound system I entered the BH.

First the lowest floor and we climbed up to the highest floor.

I wanted to view the entrance area first and later the rest of the floors.

Nothing unusual and I commented to him the followings:

* The entrance hole was too small and not properly located.

* The grill he installed to prevent those owls were preventing the smooth flow of those wild swiftlet.

* The number of external sound tweeters at the window and the monkey house were not adequate.

* There was nothing to attract birds flying at the other part of the BH.

* The door opening linking the roving and the nesting room was a bit too wide and polluting the whole nesting room (top most floor).

* The BH design placed the LAL far back and not closed to the roving area.

* The ventilation holes were not totally shut and lots of light polluting the nesting room.

* The number of internal sound tweeters were too little.

* Most of the fake nests were occupied and he should have installed more.

* The nesting floors were opened with not a single room.

* The three floors top floors were not wet. 

* The insect generating system was not properly located.

* There were lots of fat and healthy cockroaches on the walls and the nesting planks.

* The perimeter of the BH was left bare and lots of ants can easily crawl into the BH.

* The land surrounding the BH should be planted with those "Figs Trees".

After the visit I set down with him to compile a brief report plus various recommendations that will help to activate his BH.

I stayed for almost four hours to talk to him on those things that he should try to plan for his own good.

One of my strong message to him was to carry out force harvest once a year.

This special event will usually help to quickly improve his nests population rise by at least 30%.

What about the translocation?

He declined.

His reason was that the number of birds flying above his land is by the thousands everyday.

I agreed with him.

Even with thousands of birds out there his BH will remain as it is if he continue to wait and see.

I was pleased when he confirmed accepting all my recommendations.

The proposal was well done and he agrees with my recommendations.

Salak Tinggi BH LAL Opening !!!

(LAL Opening at the right location with 100% sure that every birds will fly above or into it)

One of the most tedious and dusty operation was to open the Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL) on the top floor.

At first glance it looks very simple and easy.

Once you get started you will know that the job was messy, dusty and full of heat problems.

The floor thickness was a bit on high thickness side.  I was expecting something like 4 to 5 inches but it was much higher 8 inches.

The top layer about 3 inches were pretty easy to break opened.  However once you passed this phase you have a solid cement with three layers of steel grating.

You need to cut, hammer and drill.

After one and half solid days the opening was completed and now lining the perimeter with proper finishing.

I don't enjoy working around the BH during this time of the operation.

I was very lucky to have a dedicated group of workers.

Once they started the work they will finished till the end.

At last we have a sizable LAL inside the BH to push them to populate the lower floor.

The location chosen was precised and it size was about 3 feet by 6 feet.

I guaranteed the owner that all birds than entered his nesting rooms will fly above or into the LAL.

This is the only way to get their attention to fly to the lower floors.

Remember by advice: Choose the right location where 100% of all those birds that entered into your BH will fly above or into it.

If you need further explanation please email your questions to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

 

(Select the right location and start digging)

  

(There were two layers of concrete and three layers of wire mesh)

 

(Once completed the sides were smoothed with cement filling. It looks nice.)

Three BHs and Almost All Are Empty !!!

 (This is not the real BH in Meru)

Yesterday while on my way to Salak Tinggi a guy called and wanted to meet me for a cup of coffee.

"Well if you are free please drop by at Salak Tinggi and see some exciting conversion works of mine." I told him.

Within less than 2 hours he was downstairs asking me to come down to fetch him.

Took him for a preview of Salak Tinggi BH and after that took him to a nearby coffee shop to listen to his real problems.

"Pak Harry I owned 3 BHs and almost all are empty.  I just do not understand why those birds refuse to be my tenant." he spilled his problems.

He was not new in swiftlet farming and he have visited many BHs before.

He also have invited a number of swiftlet experts to help out in finding the right solution for his huge investments (about RM850,000 plus land cost)

So far nothing seems to work.

With never give up attitude he came to know about "Pak Harry".

I told him that it will be very difficult to recommend anything unless I make a site inspection.

"Pak Harry don't worry about the number of birds flying around.  There are plenty of them however they refuse to enter and stays.  A few that stays refuse to build their nests.  I simply don't understand why." he confided to me.

Today after confirming my arrangement with UPM I told him and the trip to inspect his BH is firmed.

Tomorrow at 4:00pm we (me and UPM representative) will be there for him.

Let see if anything can be done to salvage or reactivate his sick BHs.

I will be happy if anyone out there who will be free to join this visit.

If you have the time to learn together with me and the Prof. please call 017 7551318.

I am the only person on this planet who offer people to come and visit BHs.

Others are so secretive but I don't.

My main aim is to teach and transfer what I know.

Most "Consultants" are too scared to teach other to do the right thing.

They will never invite your to see any BH which they claimed to look after.

All in all because of greed.  

Translocation Project With Dengkil BH Owner !!!

(The released Room)

Just finished having breakfast with the Dengkil BH owner this morning June 15th 2013.

I took some time to brief on my new project.

His first comment was that "Pak Harry, there are 6 nests now after your revamp operation."

That was something sweet to know that my revamp operation have started to show some result.

Less than 3 months and the result is showing.

His BH was with zero nest after more than 12 months into operation.

My main objective to meet was about the coming "Translocation" exercise.

The incubator is ready.

The food to feed those young birds were under preparation.

The SOP on how to breed these young birds is in its final stage.

What about the eggs and the BH where those young birds will be eventually released into the sky?

This was where the Dengkil BH owner come into play.

The eggs will be purchased from a BH owner in Gambang.

I managed to convince the Dengkil BH owner to play a part in sponsoring the eggs purchases.

500 plus 5% extra eggs will be collected very soon.

The eggs shall be quickly transported to Serdang for incubation and looked after.

There will be serious involvement of the Serdang University in this Project.

They will provide the support in incubating, feeding and releasing of these young baby birds inside a selected BH.

Once these young birds reaches about 43-44 days old they will be carefully transported and released in a specially erected room located on the ground floor of the Dengkil BH.

Every body who are involved in this project seems to be very excited and I am too.

What happened after being released?

Will they come back?

 If they come back how many will stay and adopt the BH which they were released?

What percentage can be considered successful?

How many times do we need to carry out the breed and released?

What will be the cost to carry out the breed and released?

If it is successful can it be deployed to those BHs that are not doing well?

Can the breed and release SOP be provided to those who are keen to follow the same method?

How much does it cost to be trained to learn on the technique?

There will be a lot more questions.

For now I think we should activate this "Translocation" technique and monitor its success rate.

I believed if only 10-15 % of the released birds returned home and adopt the foster home it will be good enough.

If this project works I think we can now populate all those BHs with problems.

The only advise I have is that those who owned BH(s) and are having problem with populating please allow us to view your BH and see if you help to populate using natural method.

If the natural method used are still not successful we shall recommend the use of this "Translocation" technique.

If you do not wish to wait we shall proceed with this method upon request.

The total cost to breed and released shall be born by BH owners.

During the breed and released operation we shall be conducting seminars where you will be able to learn about the technique.

Contact Prof Azahar at 0122989141 for more details.

I can be contacted at 017 7551318

My Next BH Convertion/Revamp Job Will Be In Kemaman !!!

While my two workers were busy finish the second floor at Salak Tinggi, I took a 4 hours drive to Kemaman, Trengganu.

It was just must usual response to a BH owner with some sort of problems with his stand alone BH.

My mission was to carry out a detail inspection and once that was done I was required to submit my views and recommendations to reactivate it.

After meeting the owner in Kemaman I was taken for a 10 kilometers drive out of town.

This BH was a stand alone located on an agricultural land surrounded by Palm Oil plantation.

There were two units back to back but my mission was to tackle the old unit with about 60 nests after 1.5 years into operation.

The owner erected the BH based on his knowledge by reading some books and the internet.

"Pak Harry, no matter how much you learned from those books but with little practical experiences you will not be able to get the desired results.  That was why I called you since you have a much better hands on experiences."

His complains were as follows:

1) Every morning the sky will be thousands of swiftlet flying above and around the area.

2) After putting his DIY BH into operation in February 2012, the number of nests he managed to obtained was 60.

3) The number of birds entering was 188 (last count about a few days ago).

4) He cannot pin point what is wrong with his BH.  He knew that there were a few things that is causing those birds not wanting to enter and stays but his lack of experiences in swiftlet farming is not strong enough to locate those problems.

After listening to his BH stories and lack of practical knowledge I entered the BH.

My 45 minutes inspection was as follows:

a) Yes the number of birds entering the BH seems to be plenty.  This was easily traced by the huge numbers of bird shit markings on the roving room walls.  There were a couple of thousands of those markings.

b) His lack of experience seems to be the core reason why the number of nests were too little.  The biggest flaws was on the nesting room darkness.  The bright light from both the entrance window plus those coming from the 4" diameter ventilation holes were not properly controlled and reduced.

c) I showed him where most of those nests were located.  They were all very closed to those internal sound tweeters.  I challenged him to count the number of tweeters and compared with the number of nests, they were almost equal in number.  Why don't you increase the number of internal sound tweeters?

d) I also highlighted this interesting observations.  He installed about 20 fake nests and nearly all were tenanted.  Why don't you installed more?

e) The upper floor nesting room temperature was a bit high.  He wanted my expertise to insulate the walls using those bubble heat shield.  I agree with him in total.

f) The internal sound used was not very proper, I told him.  The sound was mainly those young baby birds cries.  I prefer the one that was more to the Babyking sound.

g) The main entrance hole positions and the hexagonal tweeter needs to be repositioned.

h) The roof above the entrance hole was a bit too long.  I insisted that it should be reduced to about 10 inches long.  Current is about 2.5 feet long.

i) I was not impressed with the number of external sound tweeters inside the nesting room and the path from the roving to the nesting room.  Too little and he need to boost the number using power tweeters and chocolate tweeters.

j) The BH humidity was using this water pump that pushed those water to a set of mist spray.  A number of those nozzles were not functioning.

k) Nearly all the ventilation holes were without any extension pipe to reduce the light pollution inside the nesting rooms.  I suggested to insert a three foot pipe to handle the issue.

l) I took the time to test my favorite external sounds.  Both sounds were exceptionally well received by those birds species found around his BH.  There were more than 60 birds responded at noon time.

m) All amplifiers were not properly set.  A very common error in nearly all BHs that I have visited.  Reset the settings and more birds seems to respond even with the same sound played.

n) The current hexagonal tweeter was a bit too high, wrongly position and too big.  I proposed to relocate its position.

o) After the revamp operation, my idea of carrying out forced harvest suits well with the owner.  I believed he will get a 30-40% increase in nests number after two months.

Something great to look forward and hope the starting date will be in July 2013.

Any of you who wanted to join the fun please call 017 7551318