Why Those Birdhouse Above Medical Clinics Are Very Succesful!!!

I have never been that observant on this special finding which I came across yesterday.

I was in Ipoh to meet a new blog reader who would like me to evaluate a shop house that will become a BH soon.

One of the thing that he brought up with me was about BH above medical clinic.

"Harry why do you think most BHs that are located above those medical clinic seem to be more successful?"

Hmm.......I was taken back and feel very embarrassed for I could not provide any good answers.

Okay let us evaluate the possible reasons:

First normally these clinic will store those medicines on the upper floor. So there must be some smell generated from these medicines that might make those birds feel attracted to the BH.

Okay, what do you think the type of medicine that these general practitioners stored?

What about those medicines which can cure the common cold and fever?

If you are sick, you will normally feel tired, have high fever and of course cough.

So it might be those paracetamol or the cough mixture.

Hmm ...... which of the above too can be very addictive?

What else the cough mixture ...........

So I think it must be this addictive black colored mixtures which attract most of those wild birds into the BH.......

Well if so why don't we make a concoction with fish oil, fermented bird shits, seaweeds and cough mixture for a trial?

You might want to try but if it chase all those birds away please do not blame Harry.

He just provide the ideas but never the guarantee that it might work .....

Cough cough cough !!!!!

Three Days Without Any Internet Connection !!!

Feeling very stressed up when my house Internet connection is down for almost three days now.

How am I going to reply to all those mails?

The best for now is to take a short ride to those coffee bean or Starbucks coffee shops.

Today contacted those TM guys and their answers are absolutely unacceptable.

"Sir, I think your Internet line was disrupted due to those landslide."

What a joke but I just could not loose my temper on this poor guy.

As for today I met Mr.T and GF from Cambodia. He came down just to meet me over some equipment for his new BH in Cambodia.

At first it was just a morning meeting but later he wanted me to take him to Sungai Rambai to view the BH where you can see the inside from a glass room.

I then took him to see those Sekinchan BHs in those padi fields. On the way back stop at Batang Berjuntai for a bird call test.

It was a quickie and he was pretty satisfied and wanted me to get a wide range of BH equipment.

Tomorrow will be making another trip to Mr.A second BH in Melaka.

It will be something which I hope to be as successful as the first unit.

Black Cloud Doing Well In Rawang Selangor !!!

This afternoon while driving from Sekinchang to Kuala Lumpur, I received an interesting call.

" Harry this is Mr.T of Mutiara. Remember the other night I was complaining to you that the BC sound similar to my own BH sound? I am now at my BH in Rawang Country Home and looking at those birds "Jumping In" It is true those birds are behaving like what that guy in KT said".

Excuse me Mr T, what do you meant by "Jumping In"?

"Well they behave like jumping into the entrance hole. They simply dive in"

Hmm... this is the first time the word "Jumping In" being used in Swiftlet Farming vocabulary. I am very pleased to receive this positive report.

"Harry I also played my own sound which I told you that they sound quite similar. Well your Black Cloud is far better in pulling in those birds. Thank you for sharing the sound."

Mr.T can be contacted at this number 019212AABB (Just call me for the last four digits).

Sorry that I have never met Mr.T in person and those descriptions given was not my words.

If you have yet to purchase one, make sure you get it before 31st December 2008. Once year 2008 end, I will restrict the sale of the sound.

A short email from the above tester:

Taiko Harry, Your BC is very good ( kow kow ), I tested this morning like you told me, the birds jumped into my BH, that's truth. So i must call you taiko. tq.

Two Is Better The One !!!

Today I forced myself up early just to meet a young man in Sekinchan, Selangor. I drove 2 hours up and after about 1.5 hours meeting I took 2 hours to be back in KL.

His came back from Klang just to introduce me to his father who have been thinking of having a BH on his rice field.

It seem that the father have been doing lots of research on swiftlet farming and due to his lack of proper guidance he is heading to the normal way of doing a BH.

His so call advisor have convinced him to built a 3 1/2 stories about 34' by 80' at a staggering cost of 350,000 all inclusive.

His young son have been reading my blog and it seem that he was worried that his dad might make a big mistake. He called me to make his dad understood what is the best way to own a BH.

Well since I happened to meet his dad I tried my best to tell old man to reconsider to use the same amount to built one first at about rm160,000 and later perhaps built one more on a new piece of land.

The best option I told him was to expand the 1st unit once there are positive growth in the nests population.

Why should you built a gigantic BH at double the price just because he saw others with such a massive buildings around?

In the beginning he was adamant on the idea and think that I was telling him to do the wrong thing but after some tabulations of figures he later saw the logic why I keep pushing him to go with a small one and later expand from there on.

I first stop at his humble single story house and we talk about the things that he needed to know.
What I know was that he is a down to earth person who received no education, cannot speak or read English, been a rice farmer, owned a 3.5 acres of rice field, raised three kids and wanted very much to have a BH.

After lengthy discussion he took me to the rice field and asked where to begin.

I was looking at those many BHs around his plot of land. There were nothing less then 10 units of 4 to 5 stories BHs.

Hmm .... that was why he was very firm in wanting the same size and the same height.

I begin my question about how many birds that he have seen flying above his plot of land.

"Harry, a lot."

How Many?

"A few hundreds."

Hmm ..... a few hundred is not good enough. I wished he could have said a few 100 thousands.

Uncle P, a few hundred is not good enough. If there were a few thousands then I will support your idea. It is a very high risk to built a massive building when there are only a few thousands.

If I were you go for something smaller. I propose a 2 1/2 stories with a total cost of around 160K all inclusive. Once this unit show you that the number of nests are moving at a healthy growth per month, then you may want to expand to the left and right hand side.

Why must it be 3 1/2 stories high costing you a whooping 350K?

If you have this small unit you can still keep 190K in your bank.

Uncle P, the unit I proposed can easily generate at least 110 kilograms every four months, if the house is fully occupied. If you multiply with rm 3,000 a kilogram, you will harvest at least Rm 330,000 per cycle. Don't you think that is more then enough?

I just hope all those who happened to read this article use you common sense. Do not be carried away with those promises by your "Consultant" that the only way to be successful in swiftlet farming is to go big and tall.

You should look at the most optimum size with the lowest investment cost.

Once the first unit show a positive nests growth, then you move towards the next level.

I am sure this advise is something that is proper and allow you minimise your entry level.

Keep learning and once you are full of knowledge then grow with those knowledge.

Do not be carried away with those false promises which are untrue ....

If you need more information just call me at 017 755 1318.

An Advance Technique To Cut Down Your BH Room Temperature !!!

One of the biggest nuisance to your dream BH is the hot sun.

Added with the so called global warming, keeping your BH within GAHP range will be a very tough work especially those stand alone BH in an agricultural land.

The morning sun will hit your exposed side BH walls. By noon the roof will be receiving this cruel energy and by evening the other side walls will become a heater.

These heat will take some time to travel from the external surface to the internal surface. The moment they reach your BH internal wall surface, your internal temperature will keep shooting upward until a reverse flow takes place.

Usually the temperature will start to move upward at around 4 pm and will peak up by 6.00-7.00 pm and start going down by 10.00pm.

You can imagine how bad the heat is when those birds start coming back home (around 7.00pm - 7.30pm, Peninsular Malaysia). Yes optimum disaster.

If you face this heat problem, my suggestion is go and find the right solution.

You can spray water on the roof and side walls or inside your BH, you can put shades all around the house, you can put those bubble sheets sandwiched with cemboard, you can consider using Styrofoam, or perhaps rock wool.

What else do you think you can do?

I came across this scientific way that can reduce your room temperature by 6*C.

This special method is by applying a layer of a ceramic water based paint called "Temp-Shield".

(See picture above).

This was the report given by the manufacturer:

Test were conducted to proved the ability of TEMP-SHIELD to reduce energy and cost saving. Below is a summarized test report of one of the test conducted.

1) Two 100m³ were designated as A & B. Room A was painted with white acrylic paint and room B is just painted with TEMP-SHIELD coating in white coloured.

2) There rooms were then oriented to sun's ray. Heat flux through the rooms as well as the room surface and back plane temperatures were measured.

Result: ROOM A ROOM B
Temperature of outer wall 40 °C 40 °C
Temperature of inner wall 39.5 °C 34 °C
Temperature reduction 0.5 °C 6 °C

(Clearly, TEMP-SHIELD out-performs the white acrylic paint)

Temp-Shield is a natural environmental friendly product with exceptional insulation properties, according to the report. It is lightweight, easy to install and due to its "Fluid" consistency it covers the entire surface areas, leaving no gaps to cause heat loss or transfer.

The product seem to have the highest R or thermal resistance value of 2.5

To me Temp-Shield should be used on your BH as your front defense against direct heat from the sun and also those ultra violet radiation and not forgetting the thermal shock.

Its waterproof quality will also helps in sealing your BH from leaking.

To those whose BH are with temperature problems try Temp Shield. The cost per square foot is about Rm 3.

I will be testing the product on my BM Birdhouse project.

Once completed I will monitor the BH internal temperature before and after Temp Shield application.

Will post the result on this blog.

More details please call Harry at 017 755 1318

Mr.A Of Melaka Wanted My Help For His 2nd BH !!!

Absolutely amazing results !!!

I was on the way back from Subang airport today when Mr. A, the Bakery owner in Melaka, called to confirm of asking me to quickly do the same for his second BH.

Remember a few days ago I went down to Melaka to fix those tweeters, set the hygrostat, humidifiers, amplifiers and of course installed my"Masterpiece"?

The impact was absolutely incredible. Mr.A have no hesitation to push his second BH for me to do exactly the same like the first.

I am sure he saw something happening and it must be damn good.

He told me that the first BH temperature now have not exceeded 28*C (used to be above 31*C)and the Humidity now is stable above 80% RH (used to be 70%RH or lesser).

He loved my "Masterpiece". Those birds, according to him, could not resist my Black Cloud sound. They seem to be charmed with the sweet caress when they passed his BH.

Based on what I saw the other day, 8 out of 10 birds, will swoop into Mr.A BH.

Come to think of it, if 8 out of 10, my "Masterpiece" now can lure not only those young birds with no nests yet but it seem that their parent too !!!!

Hmm.....................very interesting development.

This is something unusual and unbelievable.

I need to do more observations on this new development and findings.

If this is true, dear all my neighbors, please watch your BH carefully. Pretty soon all your tenants will switch camp (From Barisan to Pakatan).

He he he he ........

This message is serious and I can bet it will be the best invention I ever done.....

Kota Bahru's Trip Report !!!

Two days and one night.

Yes I was in Kota Bahru for two days and came back today.

My main objective was to inspect a building whose owner wanted it to be converted to a BH.

Beside this specific job met with at least three other blog readers who have never met meet before.

The building inspection went well and the building was closed to the airport and in an industrial area.

The owner have yet to receive his CF and he wanted my professional opinion on what to do, where to open the entrance holes and where to built those walls.

All done within less then 2 hours and after the visit submitted to him a 12 pages reports on what he needed to do.

By evening Mr.A of Hospital Kota Bahru dropped by to chat about swiftlet farming. He wanted to gather as much knowledge as he can before building one.

Also met was a Polytechnic lecturer. His BH was under construction and wanted the Black Cloud badly.

This morning during Breakfast Mr.L whose how I earlier reported need to be under ICU, dropped by to discuss about his BH revamp status.

He totally agreed with my recommendations and looking forward to carry out the needful. The rain have been very unfriendly.

I told him that I will be Kota Bahru again and I am sure I want to drop by to have a good look at his BH progress.

Miss Ying, the youngest blog reader, was with me most of the time. She seem to be focusing on every words that I said. Hmmm...... a very potential candidates to be my youngest disciple.

Look Where Those Bats Are Flying!!!

To most swiftlet farmers, bats are nuisance and keep them away from your BH.

Their shit smell are not welcomed by your tenant.

The best method to shoo them away is to either catch them or apply those ammonia solution on where they stay.

On the other hand, you might want to look at some good thing about bat.

Two days ago I was in Melaka and yesterday in Kota Bahru, Kelantan.

Both days I was engaged with looking at where the birds comes back home. Yes I was asked to determined which direction those birds take their path home.

For some good reasons those birds did not appear until late 7.15pm or so.

What I saw was where those bats were flying. Most were going towards where they can find lots of food.

And you can guess where those birds were flying back from.

Exactly the same place where those bats were flying towards.

I might be wrong but both in Melaka and Kota Bahru, the bats helps me to get ready where to focus my eyes.

If you happened to conduct path direction inspection, just look at those bats.

They gives you an early indications...........

Black Cloud In Melaka !!!

Today the whole day I was in Melaka, fixing Mr.A's birdhouse.

He engaged me a couple of weeks ago to see what was wrong with his 7 months BH.

After more then three modifications, by a well known consultant, it was still closed to empty.

He was very fortunate to have read my blog and what he did to check on me was genius.

He confessed today that before calling me for the second time he did the followings:

1) He never trusted me in the beginning.  

However after trying out a few suggestions that I wrote in my blog, he saw the truth.

He introduced those fake nests in one of his BH and after a few weeks they were occupied with a few nests.  

I passed the first test.  Then .....

2) During my first visit I asked him to do something simple to proof that it will bring in more birds. 

 

He followed exactly and keep track on the BH progressed.  

Well the results, based on his imput, the number of his BH new tenants went up by five folds.  

Before this there were not many bird shits spots.  

Today's visit, he showed me those cardboard papers he placed below those tweeters with lots of bird shits.

After assessing these two successes, he decided to follow all the recommendations that I forwarded during my first visit.

He called nearly everyday to get me move my butt to Melaka.  After some persuasion he managed to get me today.

I was very pleased with his attitude.  He cannot speak fluent English but currently runs at least 7 bakery shops in Melaka.

He planned to have at least a 2 digits number (Exact number is a secret) of BHs soon.  He was unsure before meeting me.  

Now everything is on track, according to him.  I am very honored to be selected as his advisor.

Well coming back to his sick BH, I told him to increase the number of those tweeters, installed new humidifier systems, use a hygrostat, cool the BH with another humidifier, install more fake nests, introduce more ammonia powder in the BH, shut the entrance hole to the minimum, introduced new amplifiers, use digital timers to the max and so on.

The most crucial was the magnificient method that I used the "Black Cloud".

 I called it " Harry's Masterpiece".

What I like most about this project was to see his smiles when those swiftlets swooped in when they heard those Black Cloud melody.

I was damn sure that for every 10 birds that passes his BH, 8 entered.

He is a very lucky devil.  How I wish that BH belongs to me............

One more person whom, with my personal touch, will become a Millionaire, very soon......

 

Less The 24 Hours And Mr L. Of Ipoh Report On BlackCloud and Thundercloud !!!

Just finished answering a phone call from Ipoh, Perak.

Remember I was with Mr.L yesterday from 4.00pm till 8.30pm.

"Harry I have just discussed with my Brother and reported to him about how many birds there are in our 4 stories BH. The best is that this morning when I was there, I can see that those modifications and adjustments using your Black Cloud and Thundercloud (Not yet released) is working. There are many birds there and not like before.

Thank you and please proceed with the new amplifiers and additional tweeters that you recommended last night.

You are just marvellous with you scientific ways of pulling those wild swiftlets."

Wow just some simple tweaking and it works.

Mr.L was the one whom I reported to say that his amplifiers were from China and when he played my BC nothing happened.

After my personal touch the birds are all over the entrance hole area this morning.

Okay Mr. L, I will try to be in Ipoh on next Wednesday to deliver a new set of amplifiers, new tweeters and perhaps a hygrostat.

I am happy for him and if you wish to know the truth please call him at this number 0125202883. Let him tell U the truth and nothing but the truth.

I just hates when people think that I am not telling the truth. 

Just call him and be nice if you wish to know some of the things that I did.  Yeh just some tweaking around.

My Itinary For This Week !!!

Getting busier and busier every week.

More and more BH owners are now keen to meet me for some short advises or visit their BH for professional inspection.

I always remind them that I am not a big Sifu but I am just an enthusiast who have a very big passion on swiftlet farming.

You can judge me not on how many birdhouses I have turned around but judge me on how much knowledge do I have. Just read about 650 articles that I wrote in my www.swiftletfarming.blogspot.com. The best is that there will be more to come.

My main objective is to help those who have failed BHs. I will do my utmost best to turn around the BH using scientific ways.

Most of the time I will personally visit those failed BH and list down all the things that needs modification or upgrades.

Those who wanted to built a new BH I will normally conduct a bird call test and examine the bird's flight path. If their land or building is suitable then I will provide the most cost effective methods to construct their dream BH.

To me my only satisfaction is to built a BH that is successful. Every dollar that you spend will be like my own saving. You should not waste.

Tomorrow I will be in Melaka to rework Mr.A BH. I inspected the BH a few weeks ago and gave a 10 pages recommendations complete with sketches what he should do. I told him to carry out himself or if he may, I will be always be on the standby.

The following two days I will in Kota Bahru with Mr.E. Remember his daughter, Miss Ying, is my youngest blog reader. He wanted me to have a good look at a piece of property to be turned into swiftlet farming walet central.

I might call the Tumpat guy to check on his BH turn around progress.

On this Sartuday morning, I will make a short dash to Sekincang, Selangor. Mr.P wanted me to meet his father. They have a piece of padi land to turn to be a BH. I told them that I need to be in my hometown during the weekend.

Next week I am still not booked. So if you think you would like me to drop by please call for an appointment.

Oh yes, as for today, I planned to rest at home. I thought of sending my computer server for some inspection. It is dead and lucky I bought the Acer Aspire.

Oh yah, Mr.R of Taiping is in Shah Alam, Selangor. Remember this special guy who breed those swiftlets and after 45 days they flew away. His wife cried for a few days. He will be meeting me for lunch for a short talk cock session.

You Might Want To Consider This Beautiful Idea !!!

If you are the observant type, you will notice that those wild swiftlets will rush home at high speed between 7.00pm till darkness.

Mr.K of BM told me that last few days he was at his BH construction site and it was around 6.50 pm or so.

What he did was to run those bird call test using my Duress sound.

He saw those birds flocking above the test kit above his car. They will continue to join the crowd every second.

What happened next was something which he was very surprised.

The moment the clock strike about 7.10pm or so, they dash their way home. They behaved as if the there was a Hawk around. Zip and gone into the thin air.

"Harry what do you think happened to all of them? Not a single bird left."

Well I told Mr.K not to worry about that phenomena that much. As far as I know those birds have a kind of biological clock inside them where they will rush home as quickly as possible where they need to be in their nesting home just before darkness.

The moment the time have come, they will ignore any food or sound but to rush home be inside their a safe house to roost.

In a normal circumstances they will start they journey back from their hunting ground at around 5.00 pm. Some will fly to any water source for a last drink or perhaps have a dip or final meal for the day.

So from around 5.00pm till they totally enter the house you need to lure them into your new BH.

The best method to pull them in is to use the best sound played at the right volume.

You might want to consider in having a dedicated amplifier just for this occasion.

The "Black Cloud" might be a good candidate for this moment.

You sit and watch what happened during that precious moment.

I can guarantee you that the whole scenario with be different. Those birds, high above or at high speed behind your BH, will actually make a turn towards your BH. Not all but a reasonable number.

Just imagine if you do this every day of the year, you will see a substantial increase of your bird nests population.

A word of caution, please do not blast the sound too loud until you disturb your neighbours. Also limit the time played for about 45 minutes the most.

Have a good time with this new idea.

A new idea from Harry Kok the most crazy guy in swiftlet farming. He is not only crazy but innovative plus he share it with you........

No Matter Who Advise You, Never Run The Humidifier for 24 Hours A Day !!!

While on the way back to KL I stop by in Ipoh to meet Mr.L.

He wanted me to help to set his sound system to play my "Black Cloud". At the same time wanted me to have a look at his 4 stories BH in Ipoh main town.

After looking at his sound system I told him that I need to do some magic. What I need was to visit an electrical shop to purchase some gadget to get those sound operated.

Bought a few things and came back to fix the amplifiers plus those tweeters in a programmed format.

Downloaded an additional sound and after every thing was set I started the tuning.

Upon playing my " Black Cloud" plus some tweaking, those birds were attacking the tweeters. Not many as aspect but I told him to be patience.

The come the moment of truth. When the clock struck 7.00pm those birds started rushing from a few directions and some passes Mr.L BH.

I told him to blast the sound much higher volume and by doing so those birds do change their flight path. Some move direct into Mr.L BH.

We went to dinner, tauge chicken, and noddle. Very tasty and nice.

I told him that I forgot a very important gadget. After my dinner he took me back to the BH and he invited me to take a look at inside the BH.

I told him that I do wish to see during day time but in this case I was okay.

The moment we entered, the floor was wet and I suspect it must have been the pool leaking.

Nope, there was nothing wrong with the pool but it seem that he was running the humidifier on a 24 hours mode.

His Sifu told him it was okay.

What was the sifu thinking? The whole floor was flooded and those water were sipping downstairs. Some of those nesting planks were affected.

He quickly shut the humidifier down and I told him that he need to dry the water first thing tomorrow morning.

The morale of this story is that never ever run your humidifier for 24 hours. You will actually flood your BH.

Go and slap your sifu and tell him that was a gift from Harry for being so stupid. I told Mr.L.