Force Harvest: Should It Be Done Like How Those Burglars Did?

A very interesting question to ask those whose BH was burglarized.

Have they observed what happened after those burglars ran away with those nests and let those baby birds all over the floor?

I was on my way back from a BH at Tanjung Karang.

One SMS came in and talk about his wonderful experience after his BH was burglarized:

"Pengalaman 4 thn lepas, bersepah anak bw dibuang dilantai. Tujuannys pencuri ambil sarang xkira bsr kcl, Nasib baik sistem xdiusik.... tapi allah maha kaya selepas kejadian ditambahny SW berganda... berkat kesabaran.  Alhamdiullillah".

Translation:

" My experience 4 years ago, baby birds were all over the floor. Burglar's main aim is to steal those nests without any regards to its size.  Lucky never touch the sound system.  But the almighty is more powerful. after the incident my nests number multiplied.  My patience paid."


Well the interesting thing that have some thing related to this SMS was me doing a force harvest at a BH today, the whole day.

I was asked to carry out the harvest and at the same time change those sounds.

The owner suspect a few of those power tweeters were not functioning since the sound emitted were faulty.

I told him that it was the MP3 sound that was not doing the right thing.

I deleted the old sound and copy a new one, the same sound was with little problem.

There were two tweeters that were dead.  So I change one but the other need some parts.

Well once he, me and my workers was ready we started the harvesting.

I find it very odd when many of the nests were staged to 3-4 nests high.

It seems that he never carry out any harvesting before.

Maybe he was not sure how too or never have these gut to harvest all like what I did.

Managed to collect about 125 plus nests.

They looked very old and yellowish.

His main reason was to get the nests increment moving.

Since renovation the nests went up from 85 to 135 and slowed down quite a lot.

The only way that can move the nests number up was to conduct a "Force Harvest".

Let see what happen within the next few months.

Sedili BH: My Plan Was To Bring In More Birds !!!

(Used to be like this)

(After additional fake nests it looks more attractive)

After about 19 months the number of birds nests shot up from only 2 to 120.

Most of these new nests were located on those fake nests.

Rough estimate of birds inside I think was around 300-400.

I told the owner to let them multiply until we get at least 1000 birds staying.

This will be equal to about 500 nests or so.

To meet this target I personally deploy a total of 300 new fake nests.

My  target were two beam to beam section of the top most floor.

I deployed both the industrial rubber, 90* styrofoam fake nests and rectangular shape fake nests.

The nesting planks lined at the beams were my main target.

Every nesting wood gap will be installed with at least one fake nests.

My second target were those internal sound tweeters.

This time I did something which I never though before.

I installed rubber fake nest just above those internal sound tweeters.

A test to see if they can quickly adopt this BH as fast as they can.

I hope by next trip the percentage of fake nests occupied will be at least 10% -20%.

If that happened reaching 1000 nests within a few short month is possible.

There are still many beam to beam sections that were not touched or installed with fake nests like the two selected.

How I wish I have the time to install more.

Maybe during my next trip I might be able to spend more time to install on more beam to beam sections.

Have a good look on what I did and let us see how fast they will be tenanted.

Sedili BH: I Realized How MY Workers Install Those Tweeters At The LAL.

(Old Picture: My worker hacking the floor for a new LAL hole)

(Lined with wood and installed with 12 external sound tweeters)

Without a proper Lubang Antara Lantai (LAL) in any BH you will find that those swiftlet will only stays on the highest floor.

Main reason being they cannot find or figure out the path to go downstairs.

If your LALs are well placed you will find the reverse things happened inside your BH.

Those birds will populate your lowest floor more than the top floors.

I was looking at this strange happening at Sedili BH where one of the monkey house dedicated to pull those birds to the middle and ground floor.

Nearly all that entered stayed on the ground floor.

The owner wanted to know why and he prefer his second floor to be populated too.

There could be two possible reasons for this case.

1) The sound volume, both internal and external,  on the middle floor were both too low.  I was right and managed to adjust the both sound volumes.

2) The path going downstairs was properly place and fitted with proper external sound tweeters to pull those swiftlet down.

This was how a totally new LAL hole was opened and decorated with external tweeters.

My workers installed about 12 pieces and orientated as such that any birds that flew down will be attracted to go one floor further.

A nicely arrange tweeter might be the true reason.

I am a kind of looking around for something special and this might be the one in this BH.

I know now that if I want them to come down you must make sure that the LAL is properly placed, proper size and properly installed with external sound tweeters.

If your BH is currently facing problem where most of your birds refuse to fly down try this idea.

The Right Sounds Combination Might Give You The Best Result !!!

Never a dull moment.

I was watching those birds playing "going in and going out" at the Sedili BH.

In the beginning they come in a small number and when I changed one of the sound the volume jumped to nearly triple.

Maybe it is normal when a new sound is played.

Sedili BH now is moving very well and those birds have started to populate not only the top most floor but also the ground floor.

This BH operated with two Lubang Masuk Burung (LMBs).

Both were fixed with 10 external sound tweeters around the window frame and a hexagonal tweeter just above the roof.

I pulled the cables separately for the two so that I can play two different sounds per LMB.

What came to my mind was to test which will be the best combination of sounds.

The LMB on the wall was with Pukau and Super Vacuum while the one at the monkey house was only one sound Super 2015.

From my close observations I think the Pukau and Super Vacuum seems to fit the area very well.

The Pukau I played at the hexagonal while the Super Vacuum at the main entrance hole plus the rest inside the BH.

This combination seems to push the birds entering from very little to now about 300-400 every evening.

I believed within the next few months the number will perhaps double and if lucky triple.

I have laid many traps inside laced with super pheromone aroma.

The walls and floors were sprayed with Mutiara aroma.

I am looking forward to visit this BH again in 3-6 months from now.

The things that needs upgrade will be the followings:

1) Upgrade the humidifiers to mist pump with at least 15 nozzles for the top most floor.
To cut cost I will concentrate on the top most floor.  The mist nozzles will spray four times a day to wet the floor and the room.

2) All those fake nests must be sprayed with super pheromone on every trip.  The smell of these aroma will make those birds more attracted to them.

3) I might plan to install some hanging perfume garden.  This time before going to the BH will ferment some raw nests and blend them.

4) The current humidifiers will be moved to the lowest floor.

5) A round of Mutiara aroma on the floors and the walls will do well with this BH.  Planned to bring two bottles (5 liters each).

6) Will also install more fake nests if needed.  This will be a kind of Nest Kick Start (NKS) for all those new markings found on the floor but are without any fake nest installed.

7) I have talked to the owner that I want two new bazookas be installed at the first window.  Currently installed two at the LMB on the monkey house.

8) The ground floor need some water to be sprayed.  Been a long time and the floors are getting very dry.

(The two newly installed bazookas)

Sedili BH Inspection Plus Some Enhancements !!!

(Sedili BH moving from 2 nests to about 120 nests now)

After viewing the BH floors I was very impressed with the number of tenants staying.

The birdshit spots on the floor was plenty and smell very strong.

I remember when I was asked to revamp this BH about 1 year and 7 months ago.

The number of nests was miserable 2 pieces and the owner was desperate.

Now I think the nests numbers have grown to about 120 plus.

In the evening most of those birds who used to pass this BH and crossed to one BH about 50 meters away are now not going home.

The moment they reach this revamped BH they will swerved towards the first window and jump into it.

Those that passed the first LMB will make their move towards the second LMB about 60 feet away at a monkey house.

When you watch them coming home entering while some skip but still entered the second hole you will be smiling to yourself.

The number of birds entering was around 300-400.

I told the BH owner that he need to continue doing additional improvements so that withing the next few months the number will swell up to 1000 birds or more.

Yes we need about 600-700 more birds.

Once we hit the 1000 mark we can start to improvise the next step on how to improve the nests.

Right now most of the nests were on those fake nests installed.

I make some bold moves to increase the number of fake nests on the top most floor.

This was where most of those birds are staying.

What I did was to chose two sections (beam to beam) and increase the number of fake nests by almost 200 new pieces.  Now I think the whole BH is with about 600 fake nests.

About one fifth were occupied.

With the super pheromone being sprayed I am hoping to see a jump to about 300 occupants within 3-6 months on those fake nests alone.

Beside the fake nests (I installed personally) I have my workers to add two sets of external sound tweeters at both the LMB.

One additional idea was to install a set of home made bazooka about 3 feet long.

I told the owner where I wanted it to be installed and he gave no objection.

One of the humidifiers were replaced.

Also changed the sound setting for the second LMB.

I brought a 5 liter bottle of Mutiara aroma and I doused the floor and the wall with it.

One very noticeable observation was that there was no sign of owl.

The only predators that were captured were those rats.  Quite a number were captured.

The BH floors were cleaned and wet with water.

Also discovered why the second floor was with little occupants.

Main culprit was the sound volumes.

Both the external and internal were with very low volume.

The external sound was totally dead.

Managed to reactivate both and now they are back to normal.

One very sure thing was that this BH have a very strong potential.

Give another 2 years or so it will be generating something like 3-5 kilograms per month.

As long as the BH is well looked after,  no sound interruption and not predators it will move there very soon.

This is my gut feeling.

(1st LMB added two new sets of external sound tweeters)

(2nd LMB added not only additional tweeters but also two home made bazookas)

(Look at the number of fake nests now)

(The number of external sound tweeters at the LAL)

Another Predator Coming To This BH !!!!

Its a hornbill.

A single hornbill can cause a kind of havoc in your BH.

A BH owner sms his concerns and I told him not to harm the bird.

If it is single the hornbill bird must be a male.

He is out in the open to search for food since his spouse is locked inside a nest somewhere near his BH.

"Hornbills use an interesting nesting pattern. They build nests in holes, mostly natural cavities, hollow areas, in trees or rock crevices. However, unlike most other birds, all hornbills, except a few, seal the cavity entrance, leaving only a slit through which the female, and later her young, receive food from the male. The male brings mud to the female who use it, along with her saliva, to seal the opening. If mud is not available, the female will substitute her own feces, solid waste. Egg size and number, and incubation period, the time needed to sit and hatch the eggs, depends on female body size."

What I asked him to do is to prevent it from entering by perhaps installing those electric lines at the main entrance hole.

Try not to harm to the male bird.

If you kill this beautiful creature his spouse and baby locked somewhere in their nest will be dead.

The electric line can also help to prevent those owls from entering.

He later informed me that there were a number of dead birds on the floor.

I hope he have installed the transformer and connect to the electric shock lines.

A BH At Mampong Rembau N9 !!!

(Look at the BH walls.  Covered with a layer of orchid mat to prevent wild birds from entering the air pipe holes)

The owner of this BH attended my Productivity Seminar held at Grand Beach Hotel, Port Dickson recently.

Both husband and wife attended.

After inspecting the outside and inside I would say that this BH can do well if the owner take some precautions on the following observations:

1) The three stories BH was DIY (20' X 50' x 8' ceiling height) and faced a very big challenge to get those birds into the house.

2)  The main entrance hole is a top opening (about 4' x 5') on the roof area facing the west side of the building.

3) During my visit the hexagonal tweeter (DIY unit) was not functioning.

4) The BH was put into operation about 2 years and with only 10 nests.

5) Most of the nests were on the top floor (8 pieces) and 2 nests at the ground floor.

6) The middle floor was with zero nest.

7) The owner recently cleaned the floor and with the cleaned floor there were a number of fresh new markings on them.

8) The BH uses this special red bricks (unbaked) that were with special holes in it.

9) During the visit the sound used was Super Vacuum (external) and SuperBabyKing (internal).

10) The two LAL holes were well located however there were not enough external sound tweeters around its perimeters to lure those birds to make the right decision to fly downstairs.

11) The number of internal sound tweeters seems to be adequate and arranged in clusters.

12) There was no external sound at the back of the nesting rooms.

13) All the three floors needs some light blocking walls.

14) The owner uses those chicken coop humidifiers to humidify his BH.  Each floor he installed one unit.

15) The owner used those orchid netting to cover the mouth of his air ventilation pipes from the outside.

16) The top floor seems to be with very little air movements.  He covered nearly all his air venlation pipes with plastic.

17) He started those insect generating system but on a small scale using my breed and condense milk mixture.  It was doing pretty well however I asked him to look into going to a larger scale.

After observing the various signs on the floor and the ceiling I told the owner on the following issues:

a) His prime objective now is to populate the lowest floor.  Main reason being the floor will be the most conducive with proper temperature, humidity and dark.  His duty is to lure those birds to fly above the first LAL and pull them downstairs.

b) All the three floors have some brightness problem.  I showed his the lines where he should erect those walls (partitions).

c) One basic mistake which is common to almost all BH owner is to have external sound tweeters installed at the end of the nesting rooms.  His current external sound tweeter ended at the staircase area and nil at the back of the rooms (all the 3 floors the same).  I pin pointed to him where to install a set of 2 units on every floor.

d) One very strange observation was that where those birds choose the tweeters (internal sound).  Both he and myself found that the old and new birds seems to have a special interest on those tweeters at the west part of the floor.  I know why.  "If I am not mistaken you connect your line to those tweeters at this part of the line?  Those tweeters nearest to your amplifier will be louder as compare those at the end of the line."  You know what he answered.  Yes Pak Harry you are right.  I told him to do the opposite.  Disconnect the connecting point and push it to the back.

e) I asked him to quickly changed his hexagonal tweeter.  Since I brought one unit in my car I quickly asked him to replace the old unit.

f) One very strange observation after the inspection was on how those birds suddenly got excited with the BH.  "Pak Harry it seems that they know that you are coming.  Very rare that they behave like this" .  Frankly this is nothing new to me.  I described to the BH owner on what I did with the amplifiers inside his BH.  I tweaked his bass, mid and treble knobs.

g) During the break served with tea and biskut keras plus some quinen fruits I laid a few ideas about how to go a bit bigger with those insect generating methods.  What I told him to do is to concentrate on overly ripe pineapples.  Get them about 10-20 pieces every 10 days.  Cut them into small pieces and put them into a few containers.  Soak them with some water and sprinkle about 1 pack of yeast.  Once that is done try to squeeze them and pull the flesh to the middle of the containers.  Let the water mixed with yeast at the sides.

h)  He might need to spray some walls aroma on the floor and walls.  I plan to provide him with the formula on how to mix and spray.

i) He currently opted in the deploying of fake nests using my NKS recommendations.  (He remember my talk at Port Dickson).  My recommendation during the visit was to install them at those tweeters as many as he can.  He will still need to carry out the NKS to those places which  were yet to be installed with any fake nests.

Promised to write a visit report for him and told him that what he needed now is to follow all my recommendations and at the same time keep me inform on what is happening.