Ajil BH: New Owner Have Little Knowledge !!!

It used to be with above 50 nests however after being attacked by owls the nests number dropped to only 2.

That was what the new owner told me during my visit to inspect this rather old BH.

The BH dimension was about 20 feet by 80 feet and 3 stories high.

It has this large monkey house with its main entrance hole facing the wrong size.

After making closed inspection I listed the following points that need urgent attention:

1) This BH failed mainly due to previous owner have little knowledge about what swiftlet farming is all about.  He tried his best however his very best were not enough to pull those swiftlet inside.

2) The main entrance hole was facing the east however was not towards the birds flying home path.

3) The BH was once attacked by owls and 5 owl eggs were found on the floor after 6 months of not visiting the BH.  This uncalled even killed the BH.  The colony of 50 nests dropped to only 2 nests.

4) Beside the owl I think there were more reasons why those swiftlet were not that keen to stop by and multiply inside the BH.  After facing the owls attack the new owner decided to install a grill with about 10'X 8" holes covering the main entrance hole.  Those birds need to fly through these small holes in order to enter inside.  It in fact kills the swiftlet desire to enter.

5) The new owner who happened to be the daughter of the previous owner was with little idea on about looking after a BH with little nests inside.

6)  The Monkey house was too big and I need to suggest on how to reduce the size to about half the current size (internally).  When you have too big the size those birds will tend to play inside the monkey house and will have little interest to fly down wards.

7)  There were 3 LAL holes and they were not precisely opened.  This will cause those birds not focus in flying to the lower floors.

8) Every floor were with little partition walls in fact there was not a single partition wall on all the floors.

9) The external sound tweeters ended at the staircase area and not a single tweeter (external sound) was at the nesting room.

10)  The number of internal sound tweeters was not correct and too little.  The BH was with about 32  internal sound tweeters per floor.  Each beam to beam section (10' X 10') was installed with 4 tweeters.

11) The rough number of internal sound tweeters should be about 160 pieces a floor.  It width is about 20 feet while the length is 80 feet.  The rule of the thumb should be 20X80 and divide by 10.

12) Those 4 tweeters installed between beam to beam was at the four corners.  There were not installed facing the flying in path directions.

13) There was nothing to attract those birds to take footing inside this BH.  No fake nests and not aroma.

14) The consultant used to erect this BH seems to believe that those swiftlet need light to fly inside the BH.  He installed a number of 24/7 lighting bulbs orange in color.

15) Beside those bulbs the ventilation holes pipes were made of those white colored PVC pipe that will turned into light bulb when shone by those sunlight.

16) There was not a single wall to create those rooms for the birds to hide.  Every floor was like an open field with no partition.

17) The BH was with only two amplifiers.  One for the external sound while the second was for the internal sound.  Lack of variety to me.

18) The internal sound seems to sound like noise and not those baby sounds.  I told the owner that her internal sound was not suitable,  I changed to super baby king with no hesitation.

19) The external sound seems to be okay however the sound volume at the hexagonal and lmb mouth was not able to be increased in volume.

20) The BH was with no auto starter in the event of any lightning that do happen in this part of the world.  If lightning should strike closed by I am sure this BH electrical system will trip.

21) The timers used to run all the BH gadgets are those of manual type.  If there is no electricity for any reason the timer will stop running thus will be inconsistent.  A hager timer might solve this problem.

22) The BH floor was with no humidifier running.  I feel that the BH is badly in need of those wet system.  It can either be the humidifier or mist pump or piping system.

All the above need some kind of solution before the BH can be put into operation.

The owner wanted my ideas on how to make the BH more attractive to those swiftlet and I hope I will be able to put into a short report for her.

In the mean time please enjoy these photos: