How Big Should Your Monkey House Roving Areas Be ???

(This guy was standing inside a mokey house roving area.  Can you imagine how big is the roving area inside this BH monkey house?  To be exact it was 30 feet by 20 feet and about 50 feet high)

After visiting this BH in Alor Star and watching a huge roving areas inside the monkey house I begin to ask myself what is so significant about it size.

Will a large roving areas affect those birds?

Should it be smaller but the most important is how big should it be?

I remembered visiting a few BHs with the same design with very large roving areas.

One was a BH in Bukit Pelanduk, Negeri 9.

Both houses experience some similar fate where swiftlet do entered the monkey house but they refuse or cannot find those windows into the nesting areas.

After flying inside the roving areas especially closed to the monkey house ceiling they will quickly fly out via the same window that they came in.

Shouldn't they be entering those nesting rooms?

Something is not right and what be so wrong about having a big roving area inside my BH monkey house?

Maybe we have misunderstood how important is this roving areas.

I have a deep feeling that there must be a kind of optimum size for our BH monkey house.

It should not be to large but also not too tall.

The best, I think, should be about 4 meters by 4 meters and not taller than 2.5 meters above the last beam of your BH highest floor.

Main reason why I prefer 4m X 4m is the right size for them to fly in a circle but not to big until they could not find the entrance door or windows into our BH nesting rooms.

Beside the optimum size we have to be careful about the monkey house height.

If you make it too tall there is a very strong chance that those birds when they entered your BH will be playing on the your monkey house ceiling and refuse or cannot find your windows or doors connected to the nesting rooms.

So be very careful on your decision and pick the most appropriate dimension.

Once you have wrongly constructed them, example too big, it will be a very big task to reduce them.

The BH in Alor Star is facing this big size monkey house syndrome.

The only way out of this predicament is to enlarge the entrance window on the wall to pull them into the nesting rooms.

I have suggested the current small windows to be changed to become doors about 3 feet by 6 feet.

I hope with the modifications proposed they will be able to find the nesting rooms.

Call me at 017 7551318 if you have some ideas about this matter.

A Strange Air Cooling Machine In Lenggong BH !!!

Something very strange that can be a very expensive item found in a BH.

Beside the bullet tweeters I saw this huge air blower inside the Lenggong BH.

I think the air blower was designed to cool down those chicken coop.

The size was something like 3 feet wide by 4 feet high and about 1.5 feet width.

The fan diameter located at the back was about 2.5 feet.

The owner installed three units and I think the cost per unit must be around rm 1500 or rm 2500.

Will the fan works?

My answer is maybe.

If it works by now the BH should be full however there were only about 6 nests after 1.5 years into operation.

I presumed the consultant who was engaged to design this BH went overboard and came out with this expensive idea.

It looks nice with a big fan, a box with water flowing onto those strings made of house mops, and a streams of water falling down into a water container in front of the fan.

But if those birds don't want to come in I think it was a shear waste of money.

One more thing that was informed by the BH owner was the frequent electricity breakdown.

I suspect these three monsters were the cause.

What about the monthly electricity bill.

Let me check on how much were the bills and share with you the monthly expenses.

Usually electricity bill for a BH should be about rm 30 to 50 but this BH I think will be higher.

I am just making my opinion and I might be wrong.

To those who read this article just learn from this event and perhaps makes a better decision.

New Discoveries At Lenggong BH !!!

While inspecting a BH in Lenggong recently I came across two new BH gadgets that was never seen in the many BHs which I visited.

One was this very huge air cooling system that helps to cool the air and increase the BH humidity.

The second very interesting gadget was this titanium bullet tweeters.

Among the two I was more attracted to those bullet tweeters.

They seems to be a kind of magnet to those swiftlet.

You know why I said that?

It was because every where it was installed there were bird shit markings below it.

The BH owners uses two types of tweeters.

Main tweeters were those Audax 69 and these powerful bullet tweeters.

The material used to construct these bullet tweeters were said to be either aluminum or titanium.

One extra observation made was that all those fake nests installed beside the tweeters were with tenants wile other fake nests were empty.

A very impressive new idea that I planned to carry out some research.

My idea is more like installing these bullets onto the nesting planks at the middle and place two fake nests left and right.

If these two fake nests are quickly tenanted we know that the bullet tweeters are effective.

Once proven it will be something to opt for to help in the populating those straight planks.

Usually those swiftlet prefer to erect their nests at those corners but shy away from the middle part of your nesting planks.

Why not we use these super bullet tweeters to increase the use of all our nesting planks?

Already purchased two sets and will soon install at a BH nearby Kuala Lumpur.

Will post any result once I have them.

A BH In Lenggong Perak !!!

(A slanting shape monkey house)

Prior to my Alor Star trip I carried out another inspection at Lenggong, Perak.

The BH was on the way to Gerik from Kuala Kangsar NKVE highway exit.

It was in a valley deep inside a rubber plantation but very closed to a huge fresh water lake called Raban Lake.

The BH owner knew me long ago.

He was a participant at a Seminar conducted at UPM, Serdang about 8 months ago.

After operating his BH for 1.5 years he finally decided to get my help to check out what can be the possible reasons his BH is not doing well.

His BH has been into operation for almost 1.5 years with only 6 nests after the last count.

I took almost four hours to reach his house and got lost along the way.

I told him that if not because of swiftlet farming I will never visit this remote location.

I took about 30-40 minute to view the BH, it design and all the possible problems inside.

My conclusion is more or less the same like others.

He used this young man as his consultant and I was make to understand that he was once working with a reputable BH expert in Indonesia.

What he did was nothing more like referring to his master sifu in Indonesia for everything that he did in Malaysia.

At the end of the day all his so call BHs failed to perform.

I think he should be a bit more dependence on himself.

There is no need to refer to his sifu all the time.

If I employ you to erect the BH I want you to do the work and not your sifu.

One very difficult point about the BH was its location, deep in a valley with hills on the left and right sides.

Those tall and old  rubber trees surrounding the BH is not helping either.

Overall this BH is a bit better than the Alor Star BH.

The monkey house is small and once the birds entered they can be easily guided into the nesting rooms.

The biggest mistake was on its darkness inside those nesting rooms.

They were simply too bright and not suitable for those birds to take position.

I took some time to figure out where to erect the necessary partitions and make sure the rooms will be dark.

The number of internal sound tweeters inside the BH was very little.

I pressured the owner to be a bit luxurious.

All the nesting areas need some modifications with rooms and additional tweeters.

After a good discussion I promised to come out with a detail report plus the bill of materials and its cost.

Hope to finish bey this week end.

It will be a great thing if he should ask me to bring over my workers and revamp as per my recommendations.

Alor Star BH: A BH At The Padi Field Fringe !!!

( A nice looking BH but with little swiftlet inside)

This morning visited a 2 years old BH with not a single nest.

The owner gave me a long history how the BH begun and what happened till now.

When the land was tested using Duress sound at least 500 birds responded.

According of the owner during the first phase of operation there were a lot of birds who entered the monkey house tunnel but never entered the nesting rooms.

The whole operation went backward when they spotted owl visiting the BH nearly every night.

Nearly 7 owls were eliminated but until now nothing happened.

I took soon time to inspect the BH and I have all the reasons why those birds are not entering the BH.

It was not entirely due to those owls but the BH itself.

1) The birdhouse was poorly designed and the main culprit was the so called "consultant".  His experience was so limited and I doubt if he knows what is swiftlet.  A very young boy in his 30s and I am very sure is never complete his form 6 and university education. With lack of experiences he came out with a BH with so many mistakes and I can safely said that if nothing drastic is done this BH will be empty for a very long time.

(Look at where the entrance hole is located. The ceiling)

2) During my visit I saw this huge monkey house, 20 feet by 30 feet about 50 feet tall.  Do you know where the entrance hole is situated?  On the roof of a monkey house about 4 feet by 5 feet.  Outrageous and simply not the right thing to do.  A monkey house should be designed with side window(s) on the wall and not on the ceiling.

3) The next wrong thing were those windows for the birds to fly into the nesting rooms.  They were so small and not conducive if I am those swiftlet.  The location were not right and the size were too small.

4) Just before I venture into the BH I asked the consultant to switch on the BH external sound.  I ask the BH owner to follow me and confirm if I was wright that those sounds were only played as the monkey house tunnel and not inside the nesting rooms.  I was dead right.  This was one reason why those swiftlet only entered the roving area inside the monkey house but refuse to venture inside the nesting rooms.

5) The number of internal sound tweeters were less than 40 per floor.  These 40 pieces were wrongly installed at the four corners of each beam section.  Absolutely not helping those visitors if they should enter the BH.

6) The ventilation holes were made of those white colored PVC pipe with a grey colored elbow each but without any extended pipes.  You can easily make the final conclusion on the lack of experience by this young boy.  The nesting rooms were all so bright as if all the 90* elbows are actually light bulbs.

7) Another interesting discovery made was the LAL between the middle floor and the ground floor.  It was very small and situated wrongly.  There is no way those swiftlet can find the hole as such you will stand very little chance to have any nest on the ground floor.

8)  The only thing that I was happy about was the internal sound used.  It was a sound similar to my superbabyking.  Since those birds do not entered the nesting rooms they could not enjoy listening to it.


9) As usual there were nothing special to attract those swiftlet to stay.  No fake nests, no aroma and no hexagonal tweeters.

My conclusion about this BH is something that all must learn from it.

It is due to the use of a young consultant with very little experience and knowledge about swiftlet farming.

The owner gave him 2 years to get 30 nests and he cannot deliver even one nest.

The owner still keep the final payment and finally decided to get me over to advise them what to do next.

I took about 40 minutes inside the BH and told them to let me do my reporting.

I managed to sketch a number of drawings for them to follow and I plan to follow up with it on a regular basis.

Try to remember this episode and try to avoid doing the same mistake.

Never gamble with your hard earned monies.

Get the right person with lots of experiences and kwoledge to get your dream BH up.

Call me for any advise about swiftlet farming.  My number is 017 7551318.

(The roving area inside the monkey house was just too big)

(Look at the window to bring those swiftlet into the top floor)

My Recent Trip To Tawau, Sandakan & Kuala Penyu, Sabah !!!

Three different locations in Sabah and I am glad that I managed to solve two BH owners problems and help to check if a piece of land is suitable for swiftlet farming.

The first was in Tawau at a location called Wakudo.

Very closed to the sea but beside a number of shrimp breeding ponds.

Based on my talk with this BH owner he went into swiftlet farming without any knowledge what he was in for.

A neighbor who operated a BH convinced him that he will be a very rich man with at least 10-20 kg of nests per month within a very short period of time.

With such a lucrative income he agreed to use the neighbor's expertise to erect a BH for him.

This was the beginning of what I called a nightmare.

His BH after all the promises and high expectation managed to have about 15-20 nests after almost 1 year and the numbers stop growing.

It must have cost him a fortune but there was no return.

I was invited to inspect and he wanted to know what can be the possible reasons.

My conclusions have direct implication to the so call "unqualified" consultant.

One major reason was the single wall design.

The temperature recorded during my inspection was 37.8*C.

I told the owner that his so called "consultant" is a consultant specializes in the erection of SPA and not a BH.

The overall design was awkward and it will be very hard to get those birds to enter the building.

The only think that I can do was to list down all the flaws that he need to rectify and the first would be to shield all the walls from the inside.

In Sandakan, I was met by a newbie whose BH was far worse than the guy in Wakubo, Tawau.

This young man seems to have problems with his BH as soon as the work resumed.

He engaged a consultant from Kota Kinabalu and I think the way the BH was designed was another monkey piece.  Sorry it should been "Masterpiece".

I have never come across this bad design until I got to sit quietly at one corner of the building to think very deeply how to revamp it.

Usually it will be a straight forward thing but this strange designed BH make me think very deep and sweat to the bone to help the owner.

Again I blamed the consultant for using the owner's money to try his strange ideas.

I was told by the young man that he terminated the contractor before the BH was completed.

"Harry he allowed those expansive Seraya planks to be soaked in the rain.  I asked him to replaced all of them he refused."  he said.

I saw those fungus all over the place but I still wanted him to know that the BH design was a disaster.

The way the entrance hole was erected was wrong, there were so many partitions walls inside, the light polluting the nesting rooms were totally not acceptable.

After a very long hours I managed to complete my hand written report to him explaining about all the flaws and how to correct them.

He read my report and thank me very much for the complete work.

He was happy but I wish I can do more to help him with his "so many problems" BH

While in Kuala Penyu I brought a newbie who flew in from Singapore.

I was asked to conduct a bird call test and make the necessary recommendations to erect a BH on a piece of agricultural land.

We started around 4:30 am to reach the location.

The test gadget was faulty but we were lucky that there was a house nearby who allowed us to use their electricity.

The test went well and the number of birds responded was above the minimum number.

I took one morning to complete the visit report and handed over to the land owner a full 25 pages report.

I hope he will review my recommendations properly.

If he follow my recommendations he will have a very little chance to fail.

Well I am now back in Kuala Lumpur.

Just call me at 017 7551318 if you need any advice about your BH.

Durian Tunggal BH: Owl Prevention Inside The Monkey House !!!

I was fascinated with this special method to prevent those owls from perching inside your monkey house.

While making my rounds inspecting a BH I saw this simple cover to prevent owl perching on those cement slabs.

The contractor cover the slab using those cement board.

It looks simple and I think it works.

There is very little chance for those owls to perch on the slab any longer.

To stand on the slanting cement board might be too slippery.

You might want to copy this simple idea.

Just share this idea with others.

Pantai Remis BH: Planted 3 New Figs Trees !!!

I took back from SP a few of those Figs stems which was air layered.

The roots were long and ready to be transferred to the ground.

Two was sent to Tawau, two was planted in Dengkil, two at Karak and the last three ended at Pantai Remis BH compound.

I wanted them to be planted before my trip to Sabah.

If they are left unattended inside those pail I would think that they will be dead by the time I reach home.

So decided to plant them at Pantai Remis.

Dig three holes about a foot deep and poured them with water two times.

Once the holes were properly wet I planted the stems.

To make sure that they have some kind of protection from direct sunlight I covered them with coconut leaves.

Let us hope that they will grow well.

I hope this BH owner will appreciate all the effort that was done for his BH.

Durian Tunggal BH : How We Closed Those Gaps !!!

(They use steel band to close those gaps)

I took some time to explain to my workers on what I wanted to be done.

One of the thing that I wanted them to do was to reduce the gap between those nesting planks and the ceiling.

If those gaps are not closed or reduce most of the time those birds would not use the affected planks.

After a short discussion the worker told me something simple.

"Pak Harry just buy about 10 wall plugs.  We can use those steel band to hold the planks onto the cement roof."

I wonder what they have in mind but after buying the steel wall plugs about 1/4" diameter I saw what they did.

They drill about 3 inches hole in the ceiling and inserted the steel plug into it.

They use the steel band to attach the nesting planks to the plug.

Before anchoring the planks they use a kind of wood to push the nesting plank upward until it touches the ceiling, a kind of lever.

A very simple method and it works.

I think sometime these workers are as good as you are.

They use their experience to tackle a simple problem.

Have a look at some of the way they solved those gaps.

Durian Tunggal: From This To This !!!

(The Durian Tunggal BH side view)

The VIP rooms were transformed into something which can give the BH owner a higher chances of trapping those swiftlet.

I just wanted all of you to see and appreciate the hard work that I went through just to turn around this BH.

Before my intervention it looks barren and lacks of anything that can attract those birds:

The nesting planks were with a large gap with the ceiling.

All in there were about 20 internal sound tweeters inside each room.

No external sound tweeters.

There were about 4-5 fake nests which were not properly installed.

The walls were bare and hot.

Nearly all the ventilation holes were blocked with plastic sheet.

Once taken over I did the followings:

1) The wide gaps between the nesting planks and the ceiling were reduced using those steel band anchored with those cement bull plugs.

2) We installed three new rows of crossing woods.  The boxes now were more compact as compare to prior to this.

4) The cluster tweeters were installed in a single jump basis.  Each VIP room now has at least 80 internal sound tweeters.

5) I personally install those fake nests precisely where they should be located.

6) Some of those nesting planks with fungus were wiped cleaned with mild salt water.

7) Several planks were applied with 3X pheromone.

8) All the fake nests were also applied with 3X pheromone.

9) Those walls were insulated with bubble sheet.

It looks more like a BH but I am still not very happy since we were asked to transform only one of the three floors.

To those who own BH(s) please copy my idea above and I am sure your BH stand a higher chances of having more nests.

If you are not sure how to do them please call me at 017 7551318

If you are the shy type email to me at harryswiftlet@yahoo.com

Pantai Remis BH: So How's The NKS Doing ???

(Pantai Remis BH)

Just about three weeks after the installation of NKS I discovered the results.

Today visited Pantai Remis BH alone.

My main objectives were:

1) To replace the spoil humidity sensor.

2) To plant three of the remaining Figs trees.

3) To replenish the auto spray canisters.

During my inspection I was pretty sure that a number of those fake nests used during the NKS operations were with nests.

At least three with fully developed nests and one with markings.

See these pictures:

(This couple moved over to use the fake nest.  Their nest looks nicely done)

(This one with babies)

The nest shape is thicker.

(This couple must have finally decided to use the fake nest)

Some were ignored by the wild birds:

(Nest looks unfinished)

(Similar to the above nest looks like odd)

(This nest looks very elongated).

The result is stunning since nearly 50% moved onto the fake nests.

Those that did not seems to have a tougher time to complete their nests.

You can see that those that uses those fake nests have a much better shaped nests.

I would say that NKS is something which you should not ignored.

The NKS operation is more like helping those young birds to quickly have their nests erected.

Remember our main aim is to quickly get them to lay the first egg and they will be yours forever !!!

Call me if you are not sure on how to get started with the NKS operation.

My number is 017 7551318

Kapar BH Bird Monitoring Result: The Numbers of Birds Are Getting Higher. !!!

(This was what I have for the week before)

The birds monitoring system installed in Pantai Remis BH is doing very well and helping me and the owner to closely monitor the BH.

Two weeks ago the daily numbers were all below 200.

I realized that many of those birds were not being monitored since there was about 6 inches gap that allows them to fly in without being detected.

I got my technician to climb up to the window and adjusted the sensors so that there will be no more gap.

With the correction done I was cock sure that a more accurate counts will be made.

Last night I obtained this picture from the owner.

Total for the seven days was 1803 or an average of 258 birds per day up by about 90 birds.

The highest number counted was on Sunday June 8th 2014 with 358 birds.

The lowest was 140 that happened on Monday June 9th 2014.

You can see the numbers recorded above 300 happened on Sunday. Wednesday and Thursday. 

Two days with numbers above 200 i.e. Friday and Saturday.

Beside the adjustment made to the sensors at the main entrance hole I believed that those new birds just taken their first flight making up the higher numbers.

I would give 50% came from those young birds produced by this BH and another 50% might be from some other neighbors BHs.

What can be said about this BH is that the number of birds staying inside is growing and I am hoping that by year end the number should be touching 500 per day on the average.

The revamp works is helping this BH to slowly increase its residents.

I choose the right sounds for both the internal and external.

Remember I also played an external sound inside the BH on a 24 hours basis.

Last two weeks I installed an insect generation system using those broken rice about 100 kg.

On Monday I planned to plant at least two more figs trees around the BH.

The NKS might also be helping those young birds to quickly settled down in the BH.

I am helping to get the nest population up and I hope the owner appreciate my contribution.

Overall I need to say that the birds monitoring system is helping me with all the right decisions.

I believed that it will be a good gadget to be installed if you really want to scientifically monitor your BH progress.

Get one for your BH and make sure to capture the weekly numbers for your reference.

If you are looking for its supply and installation call me at 017 7551318

Durian Tunggal BH: Test Run The External Sound System !!!

The owner was delighted but I was not very very happy.

You want to know why?

Plenty came but they are not entering the BH.

What I think is happening is that the smell inside, maybe due to my workers sweat were not pleasant.

Or maybe those aroma splashed inside were causing them to think that there are some predators inside.

Let us keep our fingers crossed and after some time they will get the urge to enter.

Once they entered I am sure of they being trapped with all those tweeters and fake nests and those VIP rooms environment.

The power tweeters, 11 of them are functioning.

Every time I activated it will quickly draw those birds playing or harvesting insects from the neighbor's BH.

They will come and attack the power tweeter and cling to the hexagonal tweeters.

They showed some disturbance at the main entrance hole at the moment.

I have redesigned the flying path.

At first it was with two flying paths ways but now restricted to one.

If they should enter I forced them to follow the two doors that leads them to fly about the LAL/staircase opening.

The top floor was shut down so that they will colonize the lower floors.

Once they enter the LAL they will fly down straight or stop at the middle floor.

Let us hope that the new ideas that I did for this BH works.

Give the BH about 3-6 months.

Current nests number is only 9.  Yes nine only.

The Special Effects Of Insect Breeding !!!

(This neighbor BH is breeding those insect inside)

Something that I saw and captured on my iPhone at Durian Tunggal.

This video clip shows a crowd of swiftlet that are harvesting those insect produced inside this BH.

Their behavior pattern is something like this.

The will start their insect catching works as early as 7:30 am.

The moment they arrived they will continue until less insect were outside the entrance hole or above the BH.

They will soon fly to other locations  but will return for another session.

This same routine will be repeated for the whole day.

The deficiency of this BH was that it plays no external sound.

The birds were given a free food but were not invited into the BH.

If the owner should just put a simple sound that can pull those birds inside this BH will be a winner.

I am not sure what kind of insect the owner is breeding but I am sure they are those fruit flies.

Durian Tunggal BH: Finally Over With Its Revamp Operation !!!

(Setting the traps for those birds to stay)

Finally checked out of Durian Tunggal, Melaka yesterday at about 7:00pm.

The owner and his father was there to see us off.

His main complain was after two and half years into operation he managed to have only 9 nests.

The number of birds responding to any good sound is about 1000.

"How come they are not staying or even venture into my BH?" his question to me.

The 60 year old father told me how he initially discovered that the piece of 10 acres land is suitable for swiftlet farming.

While tanning the land one day just after a heavy rain there was a huge number of swiftlet above his land.

Those flying termites must be the attraction.

He decided to have a BH and asked his son to find the best consultant in town.

However after being given the assurance that the BH will be filled up to brink never work.

It seems that the owner tried nearly all those so called aroma in the market but still nothing happened.

After all the trial and error with nothing happened he decided to meet up with me for a cup of coffee.

I met him with nothing to gain.

He also brought another BH expert and told me that he has two possible candidates to choose.

One day he came over to Rantau BH where I was revamping a BH he took a short survey and asked me to follow him to his BH.

I took the trip and discovered so many things that might be the main reason why those birds were not attracted to his.

His main competitor is a nearby BH which provide insect as the attraction bait.

They will visit that BH and sometime will venture to his so poorly designed BH.

After accepting his offer I managed to finish what I have in mind within 8 days.

The main things I did are as follows:

1) Reorganize the entrance hole size and painted with black paint.

2) Opened only one entrance hole while the second was properly shut using cement board.

3) Relocate the hexagonal tweeter to a new site just above the main entrance hole.

4) Installed additional external sound tweeters above the monkey house, the monkey house, the staircase and the rooms.

5) Re installed the owl electrical shock wires.

6) Relocate the light at the main entrance hole.

7) Drained off all water inside the pond and cleaned all those dead insects.

8) To cut cost I told the owner to concentrate only on one floor i.e. the second floor.  Reoriented the partitions and make them more attractive to those birds.

9) The top floor was not touched other than the erection of a new partition to prevent birds from venturing into the nesting room.

10) Two main VIP rooms on the second floor were redecorated with additional crossings.

11) Reduced the gap between the nesting planks and the ceiling by using steel band anchored to the cement.

12) Installed at least 350 additional internal sound tweeters on second floor.

13) Personally installed about 500 fake nests (traps) and half of it were applied with super pheromone 3X.

14) A number of those nesting planks were cleaned from fungus.

15) A number of these planks were applied with 3X super pheromone.

16) The middle floor walls were insulated using those bubble sheet heat shield and covered with cement boards.

17) The floor were all cleaned so that we can identify any new traces of bird shit spots.

18) The external sound chosen by the owner was the Pukau.

19) The internal sound chosen by me was the SuperBabyKing.

20) Activated an insect producer and stored it inside the monkey house area.

21) Wet the lowest floor.

22) Checked all ventilation holes and those with no wire mesh cover were plugged.

23) Installed wood panel at top floor door area to minimize rats coming inside.

24) Prepared Mutiara aroma materials.


Let see how the BH perform and I asked the owner not to enter the BH except the data room for at least 2 months.

If you have the same kind of problem please call 017 7551318

Check all these photos taken: