A Birdhouse Owner Turn Around To Teach BH "Consultant".

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Reading my blog plus a few others turn a BH owner that I came to know to get back to his BH "Consultant".

This is something that I have expected.

I was in Pahang during my Friday BH visit and met a person who told me how much he learned from my "Swiftlet Farming Blogspot".

He and a few of his friends are fast turning into BH farm owners in a big way.

Their reason being, they are tired of doing those conventional business that employs so many general workers. Each worker is actually not an asset but burden. Just yesterday one of his worker injured his leg while carrying out his factory works.

So they started to look at Swiftlet Farming as their way out of these daily and boring routine.

They stumbled onto my blog and until today never miss reading all the things that I wrote.

The best so far is to teach their so call "Consultant" on all the things that he was not doing right in two of their Birdhouse constructions. I am sure he too is in the learning process.

Just imagine when I entered one of the BH he converted the temperature was above 32.5*C and the humidity was below 70%? All the ventilation holes were wide opened and the number of tweeters were below 1/2 a square meter?

There was no guidelines on how to manage the BH on a monthly basis. No humidifiers, no aromas, no changing of sound , no temperature and humidity measurement gadget, no digital timers and what they were told was to wait.

After seven months nothing happened. No birds in the house and they were wondering why?

Luckily they found my blog and have me to take a good look.

I have this simple method to check whether you have the right "Consultant".

Interrogate him with a few simple questions and see what will be the possible answers he will give to you.

Start with:

1) What is the recommended range of temperature, humidity and darkness?
2) Why are they so important to your BH?
3) How many ventilation holes your BH must have and what are they for?
4) During early stage of your BH operation do you need to open all of them and why?

If he can give you sensible answers then you are on the right track but if he try to avoid answering like " Trust me I know what I am doing", then you are in a lot of trouble.

The answers for the four questions can be found in my blog, if you know how to find them. If not please send me an email so that I can give you the right answers.

Follow this technique and I am sure you will get the right person to work with you for your first BH.

Well whats next?

After you have built one with him, you can now built your own. What you need is just the knowledge and then you might want to consider doing yourself by arranging the right contractors to built the building, Install those electrical items and etc.

How long are you going to be dependent on your "Consultant"?

Interesting Observation In Taman Seri Manjung Baru !!!

On my way back from Kedah to KL I took a detour to Seri Manjung, Perak.

The idea was to make some observations on Seri Manjung birdhouses and how they are doing.

I was very lucky to have a few of my blog readers were looking forward to meet me. They have a hidden agenda. They wanted me to take a close look at one of the BH that they purchased a few hours ago.

We met at one of the electronic shop in seri manjung and proceeded for lunch. All these three are x Navy.

After a good lunch I was taken to their newly acquired BH. It was not that bad but the number of nests were not that encouranging. The aroma smell was none, the humidity and tempreture sensors were none, no humidifier around,all the ventilation holes were opened, Tweeters at the entrance hole was only two, Two entrance holes, Not lights being install on the roof areas, No additional sound on the roof, the house use only one sound (internal sound for both the external and internal), number of tweeters were too low, the type of tweeters used were those for the external, the direction of tweeters install were haphazard, some areas were with no sound or even tweeters, upstairs too many walls, the data room consist of only one amplifier and there were a lot more that were not right.

To my suprised, that even the BH was not a five stars, the number of birds in the house was about 200 (I was given the opportunity to enter the house at 9pm).

Just imagine if the house is upgraded to a Five Stars BH?

I need to make a special report on what they should do and hopefully before the end of the year the nests number will increase to perhaps 100.

As for Seri Manjung BHs, I am amused with the number of BHs in this small shop houses area. In total there were about 14 rows of shop house. Each row there were about 12 shops. So the total is in the region os 168. Out of this half were converted to BHs.

The most successful belongs to a person Named John Wang (not sure the last name). A three units shops and using the top entry both on the upper and lower floors.

The number of kilograms per month was said to be around 20 to 30 kilos.

I was very curious and wanted to observe the number of birds coming home to roost.

During most part of the day, the number of birds flying around the entrance holes were not that many. Sometime I wonder if it was true that the house produce that much of nests per month.


Well you should see when the time draws near to 8pm (sundown). At around 7pm you can see the crowd starts to come back. The number grew by the minutes and at around 7.35pm to 7.50pm the place were full of birds jumping straight into those holes. They acted like a huge suction pipe of a vacuum cleaner.

It masmerised me and I just could not take my eyes out of the scene.

While that was happening I took note of which directions the birds were coming back. It seem that they are coming from all directions. Amazing and increadable.

Since they come from all directions you can imagine the benefits derived from those who convert their shop houses to BHs.

These birds seem to fly in into other BHs and they seem to be willing to spread the wealth with those around the most successful unit.

Hmm..... I was wondering how can one be very successful to capitalise on such a scene.

My opinions (I might not be 100% right) are as follows:

1) Get one that is very closed to the successful unit.

2) Make sure the path taken by those birds, maximum traffic flow, are just above the unit.

3) Use the exact type of entrance hole(s) used by the successful unit.

4) Make sure your BH is tuned microhabitatly to be similar to the successful unit, internally. ( How do I know the inside of the succesful unit? Use your imagination my friend. Just imagine how much shits there are on the floor and how smelly is the whole house)

5) Use the same type of sound like his if you can. (Harry how to copy his Sound? My question: Do you need some rocket scientist to tell you how to do it?)

6) Look at the external lighting used on the successful BH and copy exactly like his.

7) Install a CCTV camera to monitor the progress of the house.

8) Look at all the ways to increase the number of birds circling above your BH. It there is a will there is a way.

9) If you can draw them up on the roof, why can't you pull them into your BH? Do something. Find the right combination of sound and the aroma to lure them in.

10) Once they have entered and stay in the house, you now need to excite them to mate. They will only start building those precious nests if they start mating !!!

11) Do not leave it to GOD to turn your house to be the best BH in that area. You need to work on it.

Well I hope you got my points and dare to be different.

If you are not sure then why can't you call Harry (017 755 1318) the crazy guy in town who seem to know everything. He either know too much or the most crazy guy in town.

The Most Successful Birdhouse In Setiawan, Perak !!!

I heard so much about this peculiar birdhouse and it was said to be one of the most successfull birdhouse in Setiawan, Perak.

I am sure many newbies have never have a chance to drive up to Setiawan and have a good look at the building.

I took some pictures and please have a look at the exterior of the building (I was not given the opportunity to enter the BH).

This building looks quite old and located in a simpang empat (road junction) in a small town call Kampong Koh.

It was said that the building monthly production was as high as 100 kilograms a month (I might be wrong but this was what was informed to me by someone).

The building consisted of two sections, the front and the back. The front consisted of four unit of shop lots of four stories high while the back also about three buildings but three stories high.

Total areas, I calculated, front 4 units X 20 feetX 80 feetX 4 stories = 25,600 feet2
Back portion 3units X 20 feet X 80 feet X 3 stories = 14,400 feet2
Total nesting and roving areas 25,600 feet + 14,400 = 40,000 square feet.

Sizable and the maximum kilograms that it can produce is 4,000 kilos (based on one kilogram per square meter).

The owner was said to be a retired police officer.

The unique thing is that the building is covered with potted plants all around. Lots of water pails around the potted plants and the road seem to be turned into gravel rocks that served as a water evaporators.

I walked around the building and counter the number of other birdhouses in the vicinity. There were plenty until could not keep up with their numbers. Some are 5 to 7 stories and more new buildings were build in this specific area.

This looks like the walet central of Setiawan, Perak.

Taman Eko Walit, Kampung Acheh, Manjung Perak !!!

Disclaimer: Before you read this article please take note that this article are just my observations and there is nothing wrong with the project. I have no intention of talking bad about the project and I am sure this kind of project should be encouraged so that more people can owned a BH. A BH that is approved by the Local Council.


I heard so much about this special project and just could not resist the temptation to drop by.

After finishing those BHs visit in Setiawan, Mr.D asked me, what else do I want to do?

I opted for Manjung Taman Eko Burung Walit.

The complex was beside a factory and a Tenaga Nasional Transformer yard.

Those pictures shown on the billboard just opposite the main road was not exactly accurate. They shows that the complex is located in an area covered with forest while the real truth they were not.

Well the moment we arrived, Mr.D parked his 4wheel drive, I drop down and started to click my camera.

There were many fascinating things to comment but overall I feel quite strange that the only thing familiar was that the building have a large pond area on the top most floor.

But there were not Lubang Antara Lantai(LAL), no data room, no steel doors, no entrance hole for the birds, no water pipes for the humidifier, no special electrical wiring for those equipment and so forth. They look exactly like a new factory lot or shop house complete with toilets, sign board (Keluar), normal windows and so forth.

I believed the developer built as per local council requirements and later try to get the Certificate of Occupancy (O.C). Once in hand will hack those walls and start to install all those LAL, pipings and electrical works.

Hmm.... if that is the case the owner will need to fork out nothing less the Rm80,000just to redo the building. If you add those swiftlet's nesting planks, tweeters, amplifiers, additional walls and so on the additional price might be as high as RM 180,000.

Also strange was that all the units were said to have been sold out and all those owners are outsiders (shared information from Mr.D). Just imagine Setiawan have a total of 4,000 BHs and not one of these owners care to buy one unit for themself.

Hmm.... very strange and I wonder why the locals opted not to participate in such a massive and well advertised project.

One more observation made is the front top view of the building. The contractor have this triangular shape arches that simply are not suitable for birds roving. They hinder the flying path and I am not sure how come they opt for such a shape.

I might be totally wrong but looking at various features the building was designed there are lots of things that could have been better.

The good thing about this project is that the location is away from residential areas and this will give little disturbances thus easier for the local council to approve it.

I would say that the developer have a good intention but he should have put more effort in reducing the cost to reconstruct to become a proper BH. Maybe this is his first mega BH project and there are lots of things to learn from the 1st.

I support the whole idea of locating BHs far away from residential and commercial area but one must be sure that there are Birds to share among so many BHs.

A VERY BEAUTIFUL DRAWINGS WITH LOTS OF FOREST AT THE BACK.



ANOTHER OF THOSE ADVERTISEMENT PICTURES.



BACK VIEW



FRONT VIEW (LOOK AT THE SHARP TRIANGULAR SHAPE ROOF?



GROUND FLOOR VIEW



ONE MORE VIEW OF THE GROUND FLOOR.



FIRST FLOOR WITH NO LAL?



THE POND AREA ON THE TOP FLOOR, THE ONLY FEATURES THAT LOOKS LIKE A BH?



EXIT DOOR ON THE TOP FLOOR, NOT LAL?



MAIN DOOR MADE OF WOOD NOT NORMAL STEEL DOORS?



TWO TOILETS UPSTAIRS AND DOWNSTAIRS FOR WHOM?



WASH HAND AREA FOR THE BIRDS?



A "KELUAR" SIGN FOR THE BIRDS?



JUST ACROSS THE FENCE IS AN UNSUCCESSFUL BIRDHOUSE.

Have You Seen This Birdhouse Along The NS Highway???

I have been passing by this Red Bricks Birdhouse building for many occassions. This particular trip I stopped my car and snapped a few pictures to share with all my blog readers.....

The design looks okay and you can see that the house is as if it was not yet completed. Based on the number of pillars I guess it is three stories high 40 feet width by 80 feet length.

The red color bricks are not covered with any cement and it is a bit sore to my eyes but it works (I guess).



The building is located in Perak roughtly about 10 kilometers from Bukit Gantang R&R area toward the north.

One thing that I can see was the use of rectangular vents holes. Just look carefully on the side walls. If you are very observant you will notice that there are no signs of those pigeon holes ventilation holes, like most birdhouses have. These rectangular shape air vents looks more pleasing to the eyes and I am sure it works.

It uses Dog Kennel entrance system on the top of the roof and if you look carefully, the owner have at least three separate entrance holes. He shut two of them but I am not sure of the other one facing the fourth side. My theory is that he was not sure which is the best direction to open. So he got all the four sites of the kennel to try out. Whichever works well then he will stick to that.


Beside swiftlet farming this owner have goats and chicken farms at the site of the building.



Hmmm hmmm very enterprising....... Nowadays Malaysians farmers are getting more and more sophisticated .........

Who Do You Think Will Move Into Your New Birdhouse ???

Have you ever think who will eventually tenant your new birdhouse? I mean where do you think those birds are coming from?

If there are so many birdhouses around you plus the fact that there are also many natural Caves in your area, how come there will be birds coming to stay in your new birdhouse?

Oh ya lah, I never thought about that? Hmm hmmm ......... I really don't know.

Let us think for a second and find out where and what are the reasons why these birds wants to fly in and built their nests in a newly converted birdhouses:

1) Maybe there are so much food around your house and the nearest birdhouse or cave is perhaps 100 kilometers away ??? The birds, especially the young one, are lazy to fly so far to be back in where they were raised.

2) Maybe the houses around you do not have the right humidity or temperature in their house. Yours seem to be perfect. Nice temperature, humidity within range to make a good nest and the darkness is perfect. So they opt to stay in your house ..

3) What about your neighbor's birdhouse is full. There are no longer nesting planks to built their nest. So they need to find another house.

4) Then there are these houses where the owners are creating more stress to the birds. They harvest the nests not at the right timing, they spray wrong insecticides in the house, they harvest nests with young birds, they harvest nest with just one egg, they make so much noise while harvesting and so forth. So these tenant wanted to find a new house to stay.

5) What about if your neighbors birdhouse was recently harvested by a team of burgular? They take everynests that were on the wooden planks and kill all the babies? Their action upset and stress up the tenant and off they go to your birdhouse.

6) There are cases where the caves birdnests were being harvested indiscriminately by pochers. They are nothing more then a burgular. They never take into consideration of the nest generation thus leaving the bird no choice but to find a new place to stay.

7) The birdhouse, about a few kilometers away have to be taken down due to new building or torn down by the local council to make way for a new bridge or road. This will cause the birds to find a new house.

8) In cases where the surrounding are being badly affected by open burning will effect the birds population. Usually during this time of the year the birds will automatically migrate to a new area and of course to your birdhouse.

9) Migration of a colony of birds from a dry area to a wet area is another possible reason. Imagine when the dry season stretched too long, these birds have to feed their babies. No food means no nest to be build and not eggs to be laid. The best is to migrate to a wet areas.

10) Well how about your neighbor's birdhouse caught fire? Well since he used low quality electrical instruments they caught fire and the smoke smell and the trauma of affected by the fire will make them move to your house.

11) Prediators on the loose. If this should happen in any birdhouse and not being immediately tackled it will make the birds move to a safer house within the same feeding areas. If your house is in the vicinity there is a strong chances that they will pack their bags and move in with you.

12) The most important, is your birdcall sound are so soothing and enchanting that they cannot resit the temptation to drop by and make your house as their birdhouse. I wonder if their are any special sound that can make these birds let go their babies and eggs just because of the sound. Hmmmm......

I guess those are some good reasons how your new birdhouse will be populated. If U have more to add please put them in the comment coloumn......

From Brunei With Love !!!

Well guys, I received an email today and its from Brunei Darulsallam.

"Dear Harry,

I live in Brunei,and have recently began reading your
blog and have become interested in the subject.

I note from your blog that you have been to Brunei.
Have you seen the swiftlets (white-nest) here, and are
they plentiful enough to even consider starting a farm
here?" Regards Victor.

First and foremost, I am very happy to know that I do have visitors from other countries including Pak Hen Mulia of Indonesia. They seem to enjoy reading my swiftlet farming blog. That was my objective. Yes I wanted to create reference or an online informations that is applicable to anyone who is keen to enter into swiftlet farming.

Well Mr Victor, I welcome U and I would like to assure U that there is no reason why Brunei is not an ideal place to start a birdhouse ranching.

These are my personal reasons:

1) Brunei is located in the center of the Malay Archiepelago. It have the same climate, rainfall, thick forest, lots of insects to feed the birds and I understand there are many caves that are used as nesting ground for these swiftlets.

2) While I was in Brunei, I did conduct a short survey by walking around the golf club and saw lots of swiftlets that I strongly believed that those are of white nest swiftlets. Since I did not carried out any birdcall test, I reserve to make any fool proof claim.

3) If there are many successful birdhouses in Miri, Sarawak (about 2 hours drive from Brunei border) I am very sure the are swiftlets in Brunei. Trust me the birds can fly at more the 120 km/hr. To reach Brunei they take not more then 2 hours.

If I were U, I will arrange to conduct birdcall tests at a few places to check the swiftlet population. The birdcall test is not that expensive and very easy to do.

Do the test at a few locations and decide your next course of actions.

Make sure U visit the local council to check on any rules and regulations , if any, before U event think of converting any of the shoplot there.

Be sure that they are allowed and if there are guidelines, follow them strickly.

I hope I have answered your question.

A Birdhouse On An Agricultural Land In Semeling, Merbok, Kedah.

One of the birdhouse that I visited recently.

The well designed birdhouse is situated on a plot of durian Orchard land that the owner bought for his swiftlet ranching.

The total land area is about 2 acreas, properly fenced plus two small brick house used by the keeper.

The birdhouse dimension is estimated to be 40 feet width by 80 feet length and five stories high. Each floor is about 10 feet high.

The top floor is used as the bird entrance plus a roving area.

The agricultural land is about 800 feet from a main road of Bedong to Tanjung Dawai.

I believed that this is one of the best option as compaired to converting a shop lot. It will have less problems with the local council and located far away from any housing estates.

Base on Agriculture land act, as long as the ratio between building to open land is about 1/4 it is acceptable.