Where Is The Most Appropriate Location Of Your Entrance Hole?

 (The right location is not in the middle but to the left. Those birds can make an anticlockwise flight once they enter the monkey house.)

I was on my way back to Kuala Lumpur from Kemaman, Trengganu.

Along the way a BH owner whatsupp whose BH located in Kulim Kedah wanted some advise.

His four stories BH was put into operation for almost two years now and the number of nest inside is only 30 pieces.

All the four floors have some but most of the nests were on the highest floor.

The moment he described about the nest distribution I can say that there was something not right with his entrance hole and the method the BH brings those birds down to the lowest floor.

I wanted to think that it was something to do with the entrance hole not facing the east and the flying path for those birds to reach to the lowest floor is problematic.

My predictions was right all along.

He sketch some drawings and send a number of photos taken during his visit.

After looking at those sketches and pictures I have to tell him that the BH design is not very easy to get those birds evenly distributed.

In this particular case I prefer those birds to populate the lowest floor first and later the higher floors.

There must be some special reasons why those birds are not flying down to populate the lower floors.

One key point is the path which they need to take.  It is much further.

Next very critical point is the morning light which they need to guide them out of the nesting room and out of the house.

If your entrance window is facing the west this will reduce the morning light.

If your entrance hole is facing the south or north, the amount of light will be there but not bright enough.

The best is to have the entrance hole orientation to the east.

Maybe not a direct hit east but something like north east or south east.

Another prominent error is with his entrance hole location.

If you have a monkey house designed BH you should think or add those things that will make those birds happy to enter your BH.

If you have carried out the bird call test prior to the BH construction you can easily determine which direction those birds will circle above your test gadget.

In general those swiftlet will prefer moving in an anticlockwise direction.

So if you have them entering your monkey house you should carefully position your entrance hole so that once they enter they will immediately turn anti clock wise.

So the best place to locate your entrance hole is to the left if you look from the outside.

The entrance hole must be wide enough.  Go for at least three feet wide and four feet high.

You have to be careful not to open the hole too closed with the side wall and the roof.

Just imagine having a high speed birds flying in.

If the opening is too closed to the wall there is a very strong chances that they will hit the wall or the roof.

Give at least one to one and half foot clearance.

Think about this simple idea and I am sure you will soon know that there are a lot of things that we should be careful about when we design our BH.

Best of luck to all who wanted to start owning their own BHs.

Let me know if I can be of help by reviewing your BH drawings.

I might be able to pin point a few mistakes here and there and it might be something that will make your BH prosper.

Call me at 017 7551318 or write to my email address harryswiftlet@yahoo.com