A New BH That Was About To Become....... !!!

He was just plain lucky to have met me at the recent Swiftlet Farming Seminar held at UPM Excellent Center.


His BH was under construction in fact was about to move to it second floor.

During the two days Seminar he realized that there were too many things that will turn his BH into a disaster home.

Quickly got my commitment to pay a short visit today Monday  June 3rd 2013.

The BH location was some hill top area closed to Seri Menanti Negeri Sembilan.

Met him at the old "Istana/Castle" and it took about 7 minutes to reach its location.

I took a very deep breath before I went down to take a good look.

The ground floor was almost ready with the walls up.

The first floor ceiling were almost ready to be poured with cement.

I think I was in the very nick of time but I am not sure if I can turn around the BH.

They have not poured the cement yet.

After taking a good look at the building plus the sun path and the information from the contractor where those birds were flying to in the evening, I sketch a drawing to show the following:

1) His BH need a monkey house.  Original design was without any.

2) The only way to safe the space is to have the LAL inside the monkey house.  The monkey house need to be open flush.

3) The BH size was very small , about 20 feet by 40 feet by 2 stories (7 feet high each floor).  When the BH is too short he will face a serious problem about rooms brightness.  He need to divert the light properly and VIP room at the back.

4) The walls were all one layer.  This will be a disaster if he do nothing to prevent heat from the sun.  Single wall will be a big problem since the heat from the outer wall can penetrate into the inner wall with ease.  He now wanted to consider the use of those bubble heat shield mats.

4A) I recommended the monitoring of internal temperature using those heat sensing devices before the BH being put into operation mode.

5) The monkey house , in his case, need to be erected on the east side of the building.  It should be about 8'X9'X6' high.

6) The main entrance to face the flying path.

7) If the flying path is not facing the east he might need to open a second hole (not advisable).

8) The nesting planks gaps shall be 18" wide.

9) I advised the contractor to ensure that the cement top of the monkey house to be about 10" overhang and not more.

10) I also insisted the sound installation contractor to install a hexagonal tweeter at the precise location mentioned and not more that 2' above the roof.

I have doubt over the credibility of his so called contractor and consultant.

He cannot even sketch the BH for the owner to view and comment.

The size was too short and the use of one single layer of walls were not proper.

I told him that I might need to pay two more visits.  One when he was about to install the nesting planks and the next is when the sound system is about to be installed.

I think the BH is a bit too short and walls too thin.

It will be a very tough challenge to populate this BH.

Three things that he must be careful about:

1) The bright light polluting the nesting room (Most critical).

2) The heat from the walls (Using only one layer walls).

3) The room humidity.