What Would You Do If Your Are In This Position ?

A very interesting message and I think I have a good answers:

Hi Harry,

i have complete my BH (RM250,000). i get my advise from my friend that are owning a BH in the same town to build the 2-storey 72 X 24 feet concrete BH. he introduce to me a consultant that will cost RM 20,000.

He provide:

installation of external and internal sound with no backup duirng a blackout.

visit every month to change any sound if bad result of swiftlet. i saw him using your 'superbabyking'. is it out-dated?

Does the price is fair?

Mr L.

This looks very familiar and something common which one day you will be facing yourself.

My question is not the fairness of the price but how long will you be dependent on him?

Twenty thousand ringgit is a lot of money to a layman.

But if you pay him that amount and every time there is a problem inside your BH you need to call him.

He will continuously send his bills unless you are independent.

My answer to Mr L was, why don't he use the 20K to learn as much as he can and master the BH sound techniques.

He can use the money to learn as much as he can about those swiftlet and the type of sounds should be used in his BH(s) and do his own selection of his BH tweeters, amplifiers, cables, auto changer, a range of good sounds and so forth.

He might be also able to learn how to install those tweeters himself.  Wired them to his fancy and I am sure he will be able to be independent once he mastered those technique.

My offer to him was to consider using getting someone who will be willing to help him to master the skill and after that he can be on his own.

If he keep using those consultant he will never be able to be an independent person.

Those of you who face a similar situation please write to me and I am prepared to come out with a proper programs to teach, on a person to person basis, on how to install a proper sound system plus the selection of gadgets.

Give yourself a chance to learn and not to waste those money to a third party with little benefits from it.

Write to harryswiftlet@yahoo.com and I will be happy to be your host.

Instant Results when someone tried the Idea about Modifying the External sound to be internal sound !!!

READ THE LATEST ON A TEST CONDUCTED IN RAUB, PAHANG YESTERDAY.

Sometime when you are thinking of new ways to improve your BH nests population, you will be surprised to hear what other people's ideas.

I was on my way from Kuala Krai to Kuala Lumpur, about 3 weeks ago.

Suddenly my mobile phone rang.

"Yes sir what can I do for you today?" I asked the caller.

"Pak Harry since you are very fond of sharing your ideas and new discoveries, I wanted to share this special advise from my Sifu.  He told me that one of the best way to quickly populate my BH is to find that particular external sound that will make those birds become crazy and will cling to the external sound tweeters at the entrance hole."

"Once that is done modify that same sound to include a higher percentage of those baby sounds, say 60:40 ratio.  60% baby and 40% the selected sound."

Hmm..... I have a good feeling that this might be a very special and interesting formula.

I have not tried the technique but I thing we should consider trying this interesting technique.

To those who know how to use those sound editor's software please try do the needful and perhaps provide some indication if this idea is right.

However those who are not that computer literate you might want to try a set.

I have a set of sound, external and internal, using one of my latest sound call super Pukau 1.

Since it will a trial, you only need to pay RM500 for the set of sound plus postage and 2 thumb drives of RM50.

Total cost is RM550 and I am sure this latest idea will improve your BH nests population.

All you need to do is to remit RM550 into Cimb Bank 14300000226109 awesome swift enterprise and let me know where to send the set to.

I will place suitable labels on the thumb drives.

Latest:


I send a set of super Pukau1(External) and Pukau3 (internal) to a newbie in Raub.


After using it these were his SMS messages:


"Hi Pak Harry, tested your sound, many birds, they all get crazy bang on the wall boom, boom, boom."


I asked him the actual sounds he was using:


"Pukau 1 and Pukau3" was his answer.


"Are they pecking the tweeters at the entrance hole?" I asked.


Yes Pak Harry, was his answer.


I replied:


"I know about it but I just wanted you to try out.  Please read my article dated Nov 8th, 2011"


"Okay will read tonight." was his answer.


On the next day, November 11th, 2011, early in the morning,  I gave him a call:


"Morning Mr Philip,  how was the birds reaction to the new set of sounds?"


"Very good Pak Harry and they are still effective this morning.  I used your Blackcloud before this but now your Pukau 1 as the external and Pukau 3 as internal.
Roughly there were more than 200 birds that came and play and many stayed in the BH.
I think you are very right on the idea of modifying those sounds into internal sound Pak Harry.
Thank you for allowing me to try it out."

China Lifted EBN import from Malaysia !!!

Something that was expected.

The Chinese have lifted the ban on edible bird nests originated from Malaysia.

I was asked about the issue during my last talk in KK, Sabah.

"Pak Harry what is your opinion on the current ban on edible bird nests by China?"

My answer was simple.  "It just a glitch and it will be resolved soon.  The matter is something like those gold prices.  It was going upward but suddenly crashed.  But you know that gold is a very stable precious metal.  Once the glitch is over it will rally back up."

"Just wait until the end of the year, I am sure the Malaysian Government and our Swiftlet Associations will not sit still." I replied.

Yesterday this was reported in the Star newspaper:

Found at: http://thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/11/9/nation/9864398&sec=nation

Wednesday November 9, 2011

China to lift ban on Malaysian bird’s nest products

By CHOW HOW BAN
hbchow@thestar.com.my

BEIJING: China recognises the presence of natural nitrite in bird's nest and will lift the import ban on the products from Malaysia after determining a permissible level, Health Minister Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai said.

He said the Chinese authorities understood that the presence of nitrite was a natural occurrence when swiflets were raised.

“We reached a very important consensus today after we explained to them why there is natural nitrite in our bird's nest.

“We agreed that there should be no nitrite additive in Malaysian bird's nest exports to China during the production process.

“But the Chinese authorities will allow the presence of natural nitrite in the product,” he said after meeting Chinese health officials here yesterday.

Liow said both sides had set up a working committee comprising food specialists and experts with immediate effect, to determine the permissible level of nitrite in bird's nest products.

The committee will be headed by the ministry's food safety and quality division senior director Noraini Mohd Othman and two Chinese officials from relevant agencies.

“The committee started work today and Noraini will stay in China to discuss how we will work out the details and the timetable for nitrite standards,” Liow added.

He had led a delegation of officials and bird's nest exporters to China to discuss the issue with the Chinese authorities following reports of fake Malaysian bird's nest.

Federation of Malaysia Bird's Nest Associations president Datuk Paduka Beh Heng Seong said Malaysian bird's nest exporters would adhere to the nitrite standards as long as the permissible level was reasonable.

“We have assured the Chinese authorities that we will further improve the quality of our products and restore Chinese consumers' confidence in Malaysian bird's nest,” he said.

Technically Speaking, Using The Same Sound Might Be A Good Idea !!!

Sometime when you are thinking of new ways to improve your BH nests population, you will be surprised to hear what other people's ideas.

I was on my way from Kuala Krai to Kuala Lumpur, about 3 weeks ago.

Suddenly my mobile phone rang.

"Yes sir what can I do for you today?" I asked the caller.

"Pak Harry since you are very fond of sharing your ideas and new discoveries, I wanted to share this special advise from my Sifu.  He told me that one of the best way to quickly populate my BH is to find that particular external sound that will make those birds become crazy and will cling to the external sound tweeters at the entrance hole."

"Once that is done modify that same sound to include a higher percentage of those baby sounds, say 60:40 ratio.  60% baby and 40% the selected sound."

Hmm..... I have a good feeling that this might be a very special and interesting formula.

I have not tried the technique but I thing we should consider trying this interesting technique.

To those who know how to use those sound editor's software please try do the needful and perhaps provide some indication if this idea is right.

However those who are not that computer literate you might want to try a set.

I have a set of sound, external and internal, using one of my latest sound call super Pukau 1.

Since it will a trial, you only need to pay RM500 for the set of sound plus postage and 2 thumb drives of RM50.

Total cost is RM550 and I am sure this latest idea will improve your BH nests population.

All you need to do is to remit RM550 into Cimb Bank 14300000226109 awesome swift enterprise and let me know where to send the set to.

I will place suitable labels on the thumb drives.

Latest:


I send a set of super Pukau1(External) and Pukau3 (internal) to a newbie in Raub.


After using it these were his SMS messages:


"Hi Pak Harry, tested your sound, many birds, they all get crazy bang on the wall boom, boom, boom."


I asked him the actual sounds he was using:


"Pukau 1 and Pukau3" was his answer.


"Are they pecking the tweeters at the entrance hole?" I asked.


Yes Pak Harry, was his answer.


I replied:


"I know about it but I just wanted you to try out.  Please read my article dated Nov 8th, 2011"


"Okay will read tonight." was his answer.


On the next day, November 11th, 2011, I gave him a call:


"Morning Mr Philip,  how was the birds reaction to the new set of sounds?"
Very good Pak Harry and they are still effective this morning.  I used those Blackcloud before this but now your Pukau 1 as the external and Pukau 3 as internal.
Roughly there were more than 200 birds that came and play and many stayed in the BH.
I think you are very right on the idea of modifying those sounds into internal sound Pak Harry.
Thank you for allowing me to try it out.

Confession By A JPDP Officer !!!

"I would like to make a small confession.  I do owned a BH in Sabah."

This was something that every attendee of Seminar title: The Secrets of Swiftlet Farming organized by Sarang Putri Birdnest Industry recently.

A Secret was revealed during this seminar.

I was invited as one of the Seminar speakers.

The seminar was attended by at least 50 enthusiasts and was a very successful seminar.

There were two more invited speakers that highlights on the rules and regulations on swiftlet industries in Sabah plus an Agro Bank officer who talks about the availability of funding for swiftlet farming.

I was given the who morning to present my 5 papers while in the evening the floor was given to Jabatan Hutan and Perhilitan and Agro Bank.

Once finished we have a session called Swiflet Talk Show.

The four of us inclusive of Swiftlet Putri's Director, Agro Bank Officer, JPDP officer and myself were required to answer any question posted by the participants.

There were many who asked all sort of questions.

Mostly to myself, Silvester and the Agro bank officer.

Among the many were questions about Translocation.

The person who seems to know most about Translocation was Mr Silvester.

That was when he make his confession.

"I do owned a BH"

He used the BH to conduct his research on Translocation technique.  Prior to this he was not very sure that it will work.

Only after trying out himself and proved that the technique works, that he open his mouth promoting the technique to others.

"I did it because I need to feel confident that it works in my own BH."

Now it seems that his BH is progressing very well and I hope the Translocation technique will become more popular in all BHs in Sabah.

I think this should be an example to those who are giving talks on swiftlet farming.

They should first have their own BH and try out some of those new techniques.

Swiftlet Have The Ability To Trace Where They Take Their First Flight !!!

According to Mr Silvester of Jabatan Perhutanan dan Perhilitan Sabah (JPDP), swiftlet have the ability to trace where they were first released or take their first flight.

It is something that will be embedded inside the bird's DNA.

Once released into the BH and take their first flight these swiftlet will be able to recognize their place as their home.

In Sabah it is becoming very common where BH owners, working with JPDP, have a higher successful rate when they use a special technique called "Translocation".

This translocation technique is described as when you released those young birds inside your BH.

These young birds can either be from another BHs, Caves or you breed them by hatching them from swiftlet eggs.

Once these birds reached about 40 days old, you can transfer them into your BH, make sure you create a special room for them, feed them and later allow them to fly out of your BH.  Make sure they fly out using your exit or entrance hole.

Usually young birds will be able to take their first flight on their 45th days after hatching.

So when they are 40 days old you need to keep them in a special room inside your BH and you need to feed them for at least 3 more days.

They will usually stop eating on the 43rd day to reduce their weight and practise using their wings for their first flight on the 45th day.

If you can look after them for these three days, you will have a very good chance to populate your BH with ease.

Once they take their first flight, they will usually inspect the BH where they take their first flight and use to trace the BH back by the end of the day.

The birds seems to be able to embed the BH position in their brain and will later locate this BH by the end of the day, according to Silvester.

No wonder why the success rate in Sabah is higher than other state.

The good news is that his department do train Sabahan BH owners on how to carry out the Translocation technique plus how to feed those young birds obtained from the Department.

Each young bird is sold at about RM5 and the maximum number will be 200 birds per registered BH owner.

Where do you thing these young birds comes from?

I understand they are from those Caves.

If you need to know more about the Translocation technique kindly visit JPDP in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

You need to attend a special seminar on how to release those young birds, conducted by JPDP.

I would say that this interesting idea is something that will help the industry plus minimize the failure rate.

Remember there is no quick short cut but if your BH is well designed and proper micro habitats there is a very strong chance that this technique will work.

I can only say "Syabas" to JPDP.

If you released say 200 birds per cycle and say 20-30% will return to your BH, you will have at least 40 -60 birds back home.

Remember not all of these birds will be able to survive and find their way home.  Some might be eaten by their predators.

If you continue doing this for at least three years, you can easily have about 480 -720 birds in your BH.

Hmm ... this is not bad as compared to not a single bird.

To those who are not from Sabah, I believed you can still attend these course and learn how to breed young birds yourself and released them as per the required ways.

Gomantong Cave Visit In December 2011 !!!

A visit to Gomantong Cave in Sabah will be like a Muslim visiting Mecca to perform their Haj, once in their life time.

Yes if you are in swiftlet farming business, a one time visit to Gomantong Cave, will cap you as true swiftlet farmer.

This was said to be the cave that started it all. It was here in the 13th and 14th century the swiftlet nests were taken by the Chinese back to their country to feed their Emperor.

The cave is huge and charming.

It has a ceiling height of more than 130 feet with two sections the "Simud Putih" and the "Simud Hitam".

Simud hitam hold those black coloured swiftlet nests while the Simud putih holds white coloured swiftlet nests.

I plan to visit this cave in December 2011 and it will a great pleasure to have as many swiftlet farmer to join my trip.

The exact date will be advised by the organiser who happened to have the right to collect those swiftlet nests in the cave.

It will coincide with the December harvesting operation.

Those who would like to join the visit please SMS your name and email address to 017 755 1318.

The number of visitors shall be subjected to the limit set by the organizer.

The full fee shall be advised once confirmed.

Low Cost BH Using Cement Boards And Wood !!!

How can you minimize your investment to own a BH on your piece of land but not sure if those birds will come and stays?

The answer is found in Sabah.

During my recent visit to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, I was given the opportunity to visit an elevated BH, about 20 feet by 40 feet, using cement board and wood.

I was impressed with the owner's innovation but I told them to be careful with the heat, darkness and termites.

It seems that there are at least 50-60 units build using the same techniques in Sandakan, Sabah that proved to be working well.  Some produced about 3-5 kg a month.

The cost to have a unit up is only about RM55,000 excluding the cost of the land.

The price looks very affordable and there is no reason why a low income person is not able to have one unit at the back of their house.

Their main disadvantages will be:

* The heat from the sun.
The owner need to ensure that proper measures are taken to reduce the temperature inside the BH.
My recommendation is to use those insulation materials example bubble sheet to cover the walls and the ceiling areas.
The roof above the ceiling must be slightly higher to allow cool air to push those hot air out.
Try to consider using some kind of sun shade like those orchid farm black mats to prevent direct sunlight hitting the external walls.
 A temperature sensor should be installed to monitor the heat inside the house.  Their recordings to be closely monitored and corrective actions to be taken.

* The room darkness.
You need to make sure that the nesting rooms are dark enough to attract those swiftlet to stay.
Too bright will make them scared to stay.
Make sure proper walls to prevent those light are properly erected.
Those walls that are affected by those light must be painted black with water soluble odourless paint.

* The attack from termites.
You need to make proper measures to prevent those termites from attacking the wood used in the BH.
The most appropriate is to use suitable poison traps to lure those termite to harvest and bring the bait home to feed their colony especially their Queen.
The cement legs should be covered with zinc skirts to prevent any predators from crawling up into the BH.

The advantages will be as follows:

*Affordable Price Tag.
The cost to own one unit is below RM60,000 excluding the land.
This is an affordable choice which many average salaried person can cough out or take a personal loan.
As such any person staying in a Kampong with extra land at the back of their house can own a BH.
More people will share the gift of god product or business.

*Trial BH.
If you are not sure if there will be adequate birds to populate your high investments, you can use this as a trial BH.
The success of this trial BH will determine your next steps to move forward with your big plan or to stop if the trial unit is not doing well.

*Learning Centre.
To those who are new and have not mastered the swiftlet farming technology, this low cost BH can be your training centre.
You can learn and apply all those techniques that you have acquired from your researches.

* Mobility.
In the event the trial unit does not works well you can dismantle and move the house to another piece of land.
If you plan to move the BH you need to carry out some sort of preparation for mobilization.  Try to use those screws that can be easily dismantle without damaging the wood or cement boards.

* Spread your investment.
People says that it is better to dispersed your investment into more than one basket.
A good example: if you have 300K to own a three stories BH, you now can own at least four BHs at different locations that will give you a better chances of success.

If you wanted to know more please let me know.  Call 017 7551318

Another Incident Of 40% Nests Increase After A BH Being Burglarized !!!

While in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, I received a frantic call from a Vietnamese lady with her husband who were in KL wanting to see me.

I cut short my stay in Sabah and rushed home to make sure the two Vietnamese got what they came for.

"Pak Harry, we would like to meet you and purchase some items for our BH in Vietnam."

Managed to meet them in Kuala Lumpur City centre, somewhere at Komplek Kota Raya KL, and try to make sure that they get what they came for.

It was during the short meeting with them they asked me why their BH nests increased by 40% after a burglar entered their BH.

"Pak Harry my BH was burglarised this year in March.  Before the burglary the number of nests was only 172 but within 2 months the number increased to 242 nests."

"How come the number increased so much?"

From 172 nests to 242 nests, up by 70 nests or 40% increment.

What I told them that there is no logical explanation but I was told that once they loose their nest (plus egg and babies) they will move to another BH.

During that few nights stay they must have make some requests for some kind of help from their neighbours to restart their building of new nests.

The increment is very common and very similar to those BH that went through a "Forced Harvest" exercise.

My advise to them was to consider implementing a kind of force harvest once a year and the best timing would be during the end or early breeding season.

In this way there will be a minimum damage to those young chicks.

After answering all their questions I was happy to see them off back to Vietnam.

They planed to attend my December Swiftlet Farming Seminar and join a tour on Swiftlet BHs Visits.

You can meet them if you enroll in the December 3rd swiftlet farming seminar.

I Was In Kota Kinabalu, For A Seminar With 50 attendee !!!

Last week was a very hectic and tiring experience with a sad incident where my brother died after falling from an LAL of a BH.

I was very sad that he did not regain conciousness till the end.

It was a very tragic incident and I got to live with it.

I was in Kuala Lumpur when the BH owner called me to inform me that my brother fell from his BH while carrying out some repair works.

I rushed back and he was in the ICU unconscious. There were about 25 stitches on his head, blue black of his neck, shoulder and the side.

Looking at his conditions I told myself to expect the worst.

By Friday his heart stop beating and that was the day that I lost him forever.

It was a very very sad event but I told myself that he is now in heaven with very little things to worry anymore.

The next day I took my flight to Kota Kinabalu, Sabah for a pre arranged seminar organized by Putri Swiftlet.

The seminar was well attended with at least 50 attendee.

I was given the whole morning and were joined by Jabatan Hutan and Perhilitan and Agro Bank representatives.

It went well and I was happy that those who attended gain all the knowledge that they needed to be a successful swiftlet farmer.

Twin Power Tweeter Pictures !!!

These pictures are taken just before my workers install the TwinPower Tweeters in Kuala Krai BH.

My idea was to install a reasonable number of these tweeters on the rooftop, both the BH affected and my neighbour.

Each set will be facing the direction where most of those birds are either flying home or on their last leg of hunting for food.

To minimize the noise pollution I have instructed my electrician to connect the cable connecting these set of tweeters to the allocated amplifier with a Hager digital timer.

The some will be set to be switched on from 6:30pm until 8:00pm.

A very interesting innovation which need some testing works.

I am not very sure how effective it will be but let not unturned those rocks.

A True Story About How A Dead BH Was Re Activated !!!!

You need to read this very interesting email from someone from Bangil, Indonesia.

His BH was dead for almost 10 years.  Only 20 nests after 10 years but after reading my blog, bought a few good sounds and revamp as per my recommendations, he got the BH back its life.

Just read this email and view all the latest pictures he provided:

Dear Harry,

I will inform you the progress of my dead BH in Bangil (10 years just max 20 nests) after revamping on Mei 2011.

I studied the methods you described in your blog and  found many mistakes on that BH.

The temperature was to low (24- 26) , humidity (65-75%), and too bright  and i have found many2 geckos...

I used your Blackcloud and SuperBabyKing after that. and install styrofoam and Duck egg above and around the tweeters.

I am surprised with the results. although i have not harvested yet, but i have already seen the improvement. i see many new markings and new Nests.

Yes, my BH is alive again.

Let look at  the pictures attached.

Thanks for the infos, you share in your blog. I appreciate it very much.

I hope to inform you again on Nov 2011 after harvesting the nests.

Thank you very much

Dr EH

What do you think I can say?


Good for your Doctor and I hope it will continue with lots of birds until they are full to the maximum.


May God Bless you venture.


All of us are looking forward for your next BH visit report.

Paracetamol, Antibiotics and Cough Syrup !!!

While revamping the Kuala Krai Swiftlet Ecopark BH I intentionally called one of my student who happened to be a practising Doctor in the local Hospital nearby.

He was so excited to receive my call and decided to join me for lunch during his lunch break.

"How are you Pak Harry and I am glad that you called.  Been thinking of talking to you for sometime."

I can feel his excitement and I was pretty sure he got something interesting to share with me.

"Yes Doc, how are you and how's your new BH progress?"

He gave me a wide smile and I know there was something interesting to tell me.

"Pak Harry, after attending your Seminar, purchased your recommended sounds, keep reading your blog at least two times, carry out my own modification and so forth, the result so far is encouraging. Two months into operation and I have about 40 bird shits spots."

Wow that's a very good result and you should be very happy with that, I told him.

What sound combination are you using?

"Black cloud as my external and superbabyking as my internal."

"I have this interesting discovery that I wanted to share with you.  Remember that article you wrote long ago about why those BH above clinic are doing well?  You said that you suspected that those smell from the clinic store rooms with files, drugs (antibiotic, pain killers and cough mixture) and some other things can be the reason why those birds love the place."

"Well after reading that article I started to make some observations in Kuala Krai BHs that are located just above those clinic.  The answer is yes, you are right."

So what happened after that?

"What I did was to do some research.  I managed to collect a reasonable amount of those expired Panadol and antibiotics and I stored them inside my data room.  You know what happened?"

Yes please tell me !!!

"Most of those bird shit spots were just beside the data room facing the wall that I stored those expired medicine."

Wow wow wow, that was a very interesting story and I hope my reader enjoyed it.

So why don't you drop my your Doctor's office and ask for those expired medicines?

I think I need to ask my wife to collect some from her clinic.

If you wish to try please let me know.  Will try to get some expired medicine for you at a price.


he he he.......