( 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.
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)
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