The first time when I saw the BH from the outside I kind of like the design of this Ulu Tiram BH.
The owner seems to be very upset that after almost 6 years plus the nest number now is 1 alive and 1 dead.
At one time the total number of nest was 50 plus.
So how come now the number dipped to one?
I drove about 4.5 hours from Kuala Lumpur to find the reasons.
Foremost the owner told me that the sounds (external and internal) were both not functioning.
It seems that he rented this warehouse cabin and converted it into a BH about 6 years ago.
He appointed and fired 3 consultants.
Soon he might appoint one more, the 4th consultant.
And that person might be me.
I don't like the number 4.
Well let me tell you all what were the reasons why the BH was not having many tenants. It used to have 50 plus nests and now only 1 still with occupants while one more was empty.
1) The 6 years old BH was neglected by the so called consultant (the 3rd consultant). Both the external and internal was not operating. Just before I arrived the electricity was reconnected. Which means that both the sounds were not operational.
2) Only one amplifier (external sound) was functioning while the internal sound amplifier was sent to a repair shop. You know pretty well how important is the internal and external sounds to a BH. He should have kept a spare unit just in case.
3) One very bad habit about many unsuccessful BH owners is that they tend to blame a third party and not themselves. This is a typical example and I think you should learn from this incident.
4) The BH was rented from an oil palm plantation owner. It used to be a fertilizer store. A very old building with thick walls and tall ceiling. Then it was converted into a BH by erecting a monkey house at the front it. In the middle of the warehouse is a thick wall that was left without major modification ( it should have been taken down).
5) The monkey house was too long. In view of this the 3rd consultant decided to reduce the size by half. He erected a wall in the middle and move the main entrance hole to the back.
6) This is when the number of nest started to drop from 50 nests to one.
7) The closure of the monkey house (plus two entrance holes) causes its tenants to get lost or confused. Their one way thinking method makes them feel that the new hole opened was not their house. Their only choice is to move to a new place.
8) The 3rd consultant must be a newbie who wanted to carry out some kind of test but he do not fully understood those swiftlet characters. The moment you shut their entrance window they will be lost. Usually we shut those holes in stages. Something which you need to learn.
9) Another error was the selection of the precise location where to open a new hole. The monkey house was reduced by half and the 3rd consultant have to decide where to open a new entrance hole. What he did was select the wall facing the opposite direction. I am not sure what was his selection criteria but the choice he made was wrong.
10) The best place to open your main entrance hole is on the wall that is facing the swiftlet flying home direction. In this particular BH the direction was towards the East. I stayed till late evening to find out their flying home direction.
11) If he claimed to be a consultant and he cannot even choose the right place where to open the main entrance hole, I think he is not fit to be called a "Consultant".
There were many other short comings inside this BH.
Will post in the next article.
Please enjoy looking at some pictures taken during the short trip.
Call me if your BH is having nest population problems.
My iphone number is +6017 7551318
Front view of the warehouse converted into a BH.
The monkey house was too long.
A wall was erected to cut the length to half the original length.
The two entrance holes were shut off
A new entrance hole was open on the wall facing the North.
The new entrance hole was not properly done and the number of external sound tweeters were not adequate.
View from the Back.
No comments:
Post a Comment