The 1GP Swiftlet Farming Is Actually A Copy & Paste From A Chicken Breeding Booklet !!!

When you meet with so many swiftlet enthusiast you find that on certain occasions they seems to talk about something strange and similar to one another.

This was what happened during my recent meetings with some high level Executives who both drove Mercedes Benz cars.

The first person told me precisely about a few weeks ago that the 1GP swiftlet guidelines was actually copied from those guidelines used to raise chicken.

His main focus was on certain pages that was not meant for swiftlet farming.

Good example was the handling and transportation of baby birds.

The second was the recommended food for baby birds.

This first guy followed what was recommended in the guideline and all his baby birds died.

He was so furious and wanted to slap the person who put the guidelines up.

I just laugh out loud and forget about the issue.

Then I met a second person a few days back.

He seems to be a bird expert.

While having a cup of coffee with him he open up and start talking about 1GP.

He was well versed about all birds especially chicken and swiftlet.

His knowledge about chicken breeding and all the guidelines on how to breed chicken is like a bible or koran in his brain.

His comment about 1GP makes me pretty scared and concerned.

"Pak Harry 1GP is actually or more or less a copy and paste of chicken breeding guidelines.  If I was given the right to review the 1GP guideline I will ask the person who compiled the guidelines to redo the whole thing.  There's no need to even review page by page.  They are not proper and no good for the swiftlet industry."

He might be joking but from his expression I don't think so. I don't think a cup of coffee will make someone high !!!

I was a bit shocked that this person says the same thing as what the first person I met a few short weeks ago.

Hey how come both are saying the same thing?

Both were with the agricultural ministries (one ex) and to say such thing they must have some weight in making a similar comment.

I do not wish to humiliate the idea of having swiftlet farming guidelines but don't you think if it is true that they are for chicken breeding it is worth to review or rewrite the 1GP?

Why must it be pushed to get the cabinet approval when many knows that it was a copy and paste for chicken?

Now I begin to wonder who is this person who wanted to push something that is not right.

Hmmm.....hmmm.....


Note: I am not an expert in 1GP and the above article is just my thought after talking to two different persons on the same subject matter.  I have no intention to humiliate any party or parties associated with this article but just something that every layman to know something strange.

More Birds During Full Moon !!!

(His BH after some modification)

An interesting email from a newbie who happened to be my blog reader.

He wanted to share his experiences.

He came to KL to meet me in person and I gave him my opinions about his problematic BH.

He got a good selection of those sounds and attended my Seminar in KK.

Now he is a new charged person.

This was what I wish every person will be after meeting me.

What I like about this email is his observation during full moon.  The number of birds seems to be affected by it.

I hope there is a proper explanation but at the moment I have no idea or reasons to make:

Hi Harry,

How are you doing?  Hope you remember me Mr B from Sdk (Sandakan). The last time we met when you brought me to collect fig trees cutting and visit you Kepong BH. Here I would like to share some of my BH progress, the BH design is not the ideal design  expected but I manage to turn the environment to be swiftlet friendly.

My BH went through major revamp on April 2012 after personally meet you and join your seminar (at KK) and it took 3 months to complete revamp deal to uncertain of weather, 1  major adjustment of solar power system to maximize the power storage to carry the 120 tweeters and 2 sound system adjustment to optimize between power usage and volume control to attract wild swiftlet. There are a lot obstacle that I have to went through to improve the BH environment, sound system and the safety of BH (after being sabotage by intruder by throwing rock to spoil the speaker)

The performance up to August 2012, only 3 pairs of swiftlet live in the BH by observing the dropping spot .  another minor adjustment being done and servicing on the BH environment.

1. Cover 70% of the ventilation holes because the BH location was at the top of the hill the movement of air causes the RH and temperature fluctuated very drastically. RH 70%~90% temperature 27°~30°
2. increase water piling to increase humidity ( Humidifier usage unable to utilize because limitation of power supply)
3. applying the wall with Mutiara Aroma and Pheromone
4. applying the last tango system

All these system have been stable up until now.

Sharing some of my  observation result (at least around my BH):

1. The birds come back late when full moon. Through my observation it comeback 30 minutes after the sky totally dark. ( probably insect activity increase when full moon)
2. The birds prefer to chase one another through one entrance to another entrance in the monkey house before dive in to the roving area and the nesting area.
3. The birds attracted to changes of sound volume, they will come and inspect every time the volume being tune up or tune down.

4. The latest discovery I observe. My sound system is kind like below setting:
5. 
   
6. 
   
1. Internal system playing internal sound for 24hrs none stop ( sound tune nod to 9 o’clock)
2. External  system 1 playing external sound from 6.30am to 10.30am continue 12noon to 7.00pm (sound tune nod to 9.30 o’clock * external tune turn of for 1hr 30 minute to allow solar charge battery)
3. External system 2 playing external sound from 3pm to 6.30pm ( sound tune nod 10 o’clock * act as the last tango system but kind an early tango)

The systems have been running for 3 months now and the number of bird increase week after week from 6 birds to 16 birds.

Last Friday there is lack of activity on the monkey house only 3 or 4 birds chasing each other near the monkey. Acting on my curiosity I go and check out the system and all the system is okay; I waited until the day getting dark *around 6pm (which normally birds will come home) and not many turn out near the monkey house. So I went into the control room to check the system again, and this time I accidentally trip off the 2^ndexternal sound system (last tango) and the sound stop. In my mind say ~oh boy, I mess thing up~. Surprisingly what happen is an eyes opening for me. All the sudden I heard  flocks of swiftlet calling each other in the  sky around the monkey house and I can see all those birds coming back from all direction flock near to the monkey house entrance waiting turn to getting in as if they being chase by predator. Apparently those birds were still searching for insect around the forest and the pond near by. The sound has become their homing point while their searching for insect 50 to 80 meter away. When the sound suddenly stop before 6.30pm those bird get scare and wanted to go back to safety as  fast as they can.

Now I know the number of birds staying in my BH increase more the 20 birds. Is not a big population, by the increase of number of birds provided me indication that the BH environment has improve. Now inside have 3 full cup nest, 4 new nest marks, and multiple new spot of dropping. I hope next service I could improve more on the solar power system to upgrade the external sound system 1 to operate none stop for 13 hours.

 Every BH has their unique problem and solution as long as owner willing to learn more. And I hope I could learn more  and also share more of my observation.

Thank you

Mr. B

What Might Be Wrong With Your Nesting Planks !!!

Just imagine that your BH is more than 5 years old.

The number of nests is okay around 3,500 nests but they seems to have very little attention to those still vacant areas on your nesting planks.

What can be to probable reasons for this weird behaviour?

My latest story, gathered today, might be of special interest to you.

This is very true and it happened about two weeks ago.

I was on my way to Sabak Bernam Selangor to meet someone who happened to order a set of my insect generating powder.

I took the opportunity to meet an old friend at Setiawan Perak (capital city for swiftlet farming).

We have a good lunch and this was where he came out with this interesting story.

"Pak Harry recently I discovered something that we have never thought before.  Do you know how to reactivate those nesting planks that seems to be ignored by your tenants?  Use those steel brush and clean them.  As time goes we never realize that the plank surface are covered with thick dust.  This make these dirty surface not attractive to your swiftlet.  If you should just brush them you will be surprised what happen after that."

This simple but effective method to reignite the smell of those wood is not made known to any body but there was this couple who happened to discover by accident,

The moment they realized what happened after a few short weeks they gave a total brushing on all those nesting planks that have no tenant.

What really happened was that within a few short weeks those spots that they brushed using steel brush were with nests.

This confirmed their suspicion that there BH nesting planks were dirty and covered with dust that were not seem by your naked eye.

Remember those birds have a very strong sense of smell and if the plank surface is dirty they will not select those areas.

So use this information for your future maintenance operation of your BH.

If you happened to experience a similar fenoma you should take those steel brush and clean a few spots.

Check on these selected spots during your next trip.

If those cleaned spots are occupied with markings you know or confirmed that your nesting planks are dirty and need brushing.

If Your BH Is Doing Well Try Not To Disturb The Growth !!!

I was having a cup of teh tarik (hot tea with milk) with a newbie who owned a four stories BH somewhere in Dungun, Trengganu.

According to him his BH was put into operation about a year plus and after installing a number of gadgets and sounds his tenants increased to more than 350 swiftlet.

After some time he wanted to do something major but was not very sure if that will jeopardize or disturb those birds.

"Pak Harry I intended to open this particular section to allow better flying path for those birds.  What do you think?"

I look at a number of pictures on his iPhone and smile at him.

My quick response was something like this.

"Your BH now, on the average, is doing very well with 350 birds within less than two years. If you wanted to do something there must be a much concrete reason.  If you carry out something that is major and affect the growth you will regret for the rest of your life."

"I think the idea of moving those roof is not very crucial if it was those birds will not be showing such a drastic growth.  Try to think of doing other things that will improve the nests numbers to about 1000 nests."

"However if you are not having any growth or stagnant growth I will not hesitate to approve your plan.  At this moment they are growing rapidly so try not to carry out anything major that might cause those birds to feel threaten."

He digested my words and agree fully with my advise.

"Pak Harry I think you are right.  A newbie like me tends to be aggressive and we forget about the final outcome to our tenants and their growth.  Thank you for your kind advise and I will hold on to my plan."

Remember it is not an easy thing to receive regular visitors into your BH.

If you BH is doing well and the number of birds increase every month is more that 10% why should you revamp it?

All in all try to monitor the growth and if after a few months there was no increase than you might want to make changes inside.

Before doing those changes make sure you fully understood the potential disasters if those birds don't like it.

The best to me is to list down every item which those swiftlet dislikes and likes and see if your plan will rekindle any of those items.

Good example is brightness.  Just imagine by removing those roof the bright light entered and pollute the spots which those birds likes to stay?

This move will make those tenants feel unsafe and they might run out if they feel that they are no longer safe staying in your BH.

So be careful with your actions and make sure that what ever plans you wanted to do will not reverse the growth rate.

Avoid any major modifications if the growth is steady and stable.

There Is A Big Potential In Breeding Chicken House Fly !!!

I took some time to meet another swiftlet enthusiast yesterday and he nearly make me falls out of my chair.

"Harry I have this interesting idea about using house flies to feed those baby swiftlet.  You see a few days back I attended a seminar about how to recycle chicken dung into insect to feed chicken chicks.  This person managed to come out with a method to breed millions of flies by using chicken waste and recycle it back into food for the young chicken.  So if he can supply us with the flies, frozen, then we can use as food for young swiftlet."

I was speechless and don't really know what to say.

Something new and I never give any though before.

If seems that this new recycling technique where you collect those chicken waste and turn them into insect maggots food.

Once they turned into flies you collect these flies and store them in frozen form.

During chicks feeding the insect will be defrosted and fed to them.

In some way you turn waste materials into food.

What about if we buy these frozen flies and feed swiftlet chicks?

There are lots of advantages in using this technique since the cost of material to feed those house flies are free of charge.

The common house flies are much larger in size as compared to those fruit flies.  I think they can be 5-6 times larger and much heavier.

Each day those young swiftlet chicks need at least 5-7 grams of food per day until they reach 45 days old.

Upon maturing they can be released in BHs.

According to Sabah Jabatan Hidupan Liar, they have evidences that these young birds will usually have this strange way of embedding the house where they were released from freedom.  They will come came to the same house if they are safe and alive after the release operation.

If you release 100 young birds away you might be able to get about 10%-18% that will return to your BH.

The rest might have little chance since they will be lost, dead or cannot find food to feed.

I told this friend of mine to go ahead with his idea of activating his breeding system.

I gave him the assurance that I do have some BH owners who have difficulties in populating their BHs and this translocaaion technique might be the best answer.

I am looking forward for this new technique to be implemented, the first in Peninsular, and hopefully many BH owners will benefits from it.

Those who are interested to be a part of our research please come forward to allocate some commitment so that we can release these young birds inside your BH.

Minimum number is 30 and maximum 100. Each young chick will be only RM 35 (limited to 30) and RM 50 (any quantity above 30 chicks).

You need to create a release room first before allowing us to release the birds.

If you are an adventurous person please call 017 7551318 for more details.

They Love Those Protrusion On The Nesting Planks !!!

I was looking at those pictures taken recently inside a BH at Gambang, Pahang.

This particular BH now has more than 25 nests after my revamp operation.

Now the number of birds staying inside is more that 150 birds and growing.

While doing my monthly maintenance and inspection I do take some photos to document its progress.

It used to be with less than 8 nests and now have reached to about 25 full nests (some are using those fake nests).

Among the many pictures taken I find this two pictures very interesting.

I remember very well that the nesting plank was so closed to the wall and we cannot screw the tweeters if they are not lifted up.

My worker came out with using those small piece of wood to lift the tweeter up slightly thus allowing the tweeter base not touching the wall.

The outcome of using this lifter wood was something that I did not expect.

Those swiftlet love the spot above the wood.

There are a few things that you might want to keep in your mind.

1) The additional wood provide a kind of lift or protrusion that helps the birds to start their BH erection.

2) The wood was above a tweeter playing internal sound.  The sound from this tweeter makes this couple feel safe and comfortable.

3) The location was also perfect.  I choose a location that is closed to those 90* corners.  The second picture proved that this smart couple not only choose the wood above a tweeter but also combine the use of 90* corner.

By being observant and use you brain a bit you will realize those things that likes and dislikes.

In this particular case they love some kind  protrusion, near to a tweeter and 90* corner.

There are many more things that they love.

To be a successful swiftlet farmer you need to know all these so that you can use these weakness to our advantages.

Be observant and make sure you list down all their weaknesses one by one and use them during your next maintenance operation.

An Interesting BH With Nice Verandah On Its Roof !!!

Another interesting designed BH located somewhere near a padi field closed to Langkap, Perak.

I was on the way for the first time to Langkap and saw something unusual.

A BH with a kind of verandah on the top most floor or perhaps its roof top.

The owner wanted to use the top floor as a place to rest or perhaps his house on the top most floor.  This will give him a nice view all around.

Well he might have a good view but what do you think those swiftlet feels.

If the main entrance hole is a hole on the wall I think it will be all right but if he uses a top entry design you can guess what will happen.

The Verandah will also block the bird's movement and I think it is not a good idea but who knows.

Best of luck to the owner of this BH.

Simply Desperate But Don't Know What To Do !!!

I was with a friend in Setiawan, Perak and the latest stories gathered from a good friend is not very encouraging.

The farming (swiftlet) industry is facing serious problems not only because of the price but the number of birds and food shortages.

People are resorting to using "Duress" stress call as external sound, that is how bad it is in this once the most number of farm houses in Malaysia.

"Pak Harry U can just walk around the town and I guarantee U that you will be hearing those "Duress" sound being played as their external sound.  Many BH owners are desperate and do not know what to do to populate their BHs."

I did not take his challenge but agree to his words.

He added a few more happenings that makes me a bit unhappy.

"Remember about a swiftlet Eco-park project that was launched about 6-8 months ago?  They cannot take off and do you know why?  Those banks are not willing to provide loans any more."

This must be due the uncertainty of the nests price.

The export into China is still hanging.

I interrupted the conversation with this special story on what was happening on bird nests export to China:


While on my way to Setiawan  I managed to phone a friend of whom I know he is very active in pushing swiftlet nests trades with China.

"Hei brother what's the latest on export of bird nests to China?"

His answer:

"Sorry Pak Harry I am now at Putrajaya taking a group of Chinese officials from Guangzhou, China for lunch.   We have some discussions with the Malaysian Ministry on how to facilitate the export of process nests into China."

"We now have at least 20 approved companies that were given license to export processed nests into China however we have no appropriate authorities or approved Companies from China to be the Importer.  They need to come to inspect those factories and approve them for export into their country."

"We hope that our Chinese counterpart will send their inspectors to check on what we have done based on the protocol terms and if approved the shipment can start.  If they delay we have little choice but to wait until such arrangement is done."

My last question:

"Do you think our Government is delaying the export?"

His answer:

"No I don't think so.  They have been very helpful and supportive of the industry and approved more than 20 exporters who proved to be able to meet the stringent export rules and requirements.  Everything are in place to export but we need our importers from China to come and help us to export."

"Do you think others can also apply for the export license?"

His answer:

"The answer is yes however they need to strictly comply to the high standard of food processing operation.  Yes if they upgrade their current operation to those approved method they can apply for export license."

"How about exporting raw nests?"

His answer:

"The raw nests export to China was not in the protocol.  As such we need to wait for the next move once the processed nests crossed it hurdle first. I am sure the necessary action will be taken to include those raw nests once the processed nests meets their approval."

You might think he is working with the Government department but I can assure you that he is not.

Currently running his father's business in swiftlet bird nests processing and 3 BHs in Tanjung Malim, Perak.

If you have any raw nests to sell to him please let me know.

The price now is about RM 1,500 to RM 2,000 depending on its shapes and dirtiness.

You you need some pocket money please call me at 017 7551318.

Just Realized About Heat Problem !!!

During my recent site visit to a BH at Chikus Perak I saw this BH that have over heating problems.

The BH must have been constructed with a single wall and the heat from the sun must be causing the room temperature too high.

This should not had happened if the owner was knowledgeable about swiftlet farming.

Something very basic and yet he was unaware of the needs inside his BH.

Now with some advise from some friends he must have decided to cover the whole external walls with those orchid mats.

He hope that this will help to attract those wild birds to come back and stays.

My personal believed that it will still not work.

My reason being if he cannot even understand the temperature he might not even know about the darkness requirements, the humidity, the sound system, the selection of sound and many many more things.

Try not to be like him and make sure you are well knowledgeable about what you wanted to achieved with your swiftlet farming.

Gather as much information as possible before getting someone to build one for you.

In the first place the use of this orchid mat will not provide the amount of heat reduction and will not last very long.

Call 107 7551318 for more detail information to reduce the heat.

It Was About To Take Off But Stopped By Local Council !!!

After second revamp operations this new BH was put into operation.

Unfortunately it received an specific instruction to stop operation.

I know for sure that the revamp works were okay and lots of birds will enter the BH.

During my initial revamp works I found that those birds have difficulties in entering the BH.  The sharp turning to enter the nesting room makes those birds have lots of difficulties in finding the entrance window.

I suggested to the owner to rework on the ceiling and relocate the entrance window into the nesting room.

He gave me the green light and I took my boys back to realign the windows, roof slanting correction, erection of a box to prevent those bright lights into the nesting room and rearranged a number of tweeters and fake nests.

After about two days the work were completed.

Just after three weeks the signs on the BH floors were promising.

More than 5-9 bird shits markings below those external and internal sound tweeters.

The sad thing was this letter from the local council to shut the bird house operation within 14 days.

I told the owner the precise thing to do and his final decision will be vital.

It was a sad thing to happen but I am sure there will be a solution.

This BH will Be Very Bright And Will Not Work !!!

Something that I came across during my recent visit to MAHA agriculture exhibition in Serdang, Selangor.

There was this area with a sizeable compound and there was a BH mock up with glass panel that your can see through.

I think the intention to show visitors how it looks like inside a BH is good however I think the chances for it to work might be very slim.

The size was a bit too small and short.

If the chances is slim why are they being display it?

The entrance hole area were not properly partitioned and those light will pollute the nesting room.

Remember my rule of the thumb the light in your nesting room should be dark enough so much so if you stand about 2 feet apart you cannot see each other's face.

This BH will fail and I think even if those birds entered they will not be your tenant.

They cannot risk with their eggs and babies from those predators.

What surprise me is the lack of knowledge on the part of Jabatan Veterinar on this simple requirement.

How are we going to ask for their help if they don't know a simple basic?

My recommendation to Jabatan Veterinar is to be a bit more responsible to improve our Swiftlet farming industries.

How I wish they recognize their short coming and try to improve and raise their knowledge before we can approach them for the right advises.

Every New BH Have Its Own Challenges !!!

I took a trip to Kuantan, Pahang during the weekend and visited two BHs that I have their keys with me.

Before reaching Kuantan I stopped at the first BH located about 10 kilometres away at Gambang.

The owner's brother was there to greet me and wanted to learn a bit more about what I was going to do.

His complain was the followings:

"Pak Harry, after your revamping operation the number of birds now jumped up to more than 100 -150 birds every evening.  They will start to rush in at about 7:15 pm upwards and in a group of 4-5 birds.  What I don't understand was the nests counts.  They seems to be stagnant. What can we do to improve?"

What I replied to him was as follows:

"We have solved the first issue but we need to find some ways to improve the nests count."

This BH was put into operation about 2.5 years ago and during the first one year there well less than 8 nests inside.

The owner call for help and I managed to make some changes inside by improving the nesting planks arrangements, create a few VIP rooms, installed more internal sound tweeters, install soundless humidifiers, improve the roof area around the top entry hole and added a few hexagonal tweeters.

The walls were applied with Mutiara aroma and installed a sizeable numbers of fake nests.

The sound used were the best sound in my collection.

The moment the BH was put back into operation those birds seems to like what I did.

They came and stays however they have yet to start building their nests.

During this visit I was able to ask the guy to spray those Mutiara Aroma on the key areas and told him to come and spray it on a regular basis.

I prepared an area with those containers soaked with those formula.

After finishing a few jobs we adjourned and decided to come back at around 7:00 pm to see what will be those birds reactions.

At around 7:15 pm onwards I was very impressed with the activities above and around the rooftop.

It seems that all those works that we did inside was producing a very high number of birds that will stop from flying further away but to jump into the top opening.

From my observation the number of birds that came to join the activity was more than our neighbour's BH just beside us.

My rough estimate was that the number was about 150-200 birds that flew inside and I have a strong feeling that the love the aroma and the new sound.

"You see Pak Harry you have improve the number of birds coming in to stay but ......"

I told him to continue applying those aroma once a week and make sure the humidifiers inside works perfectly.

I will drop by next month and check its progress.

Let see if we can do something interesting during my next visit.

I was thinking of using this BH as my research centre to run those external sounds (two sounds) on a continuous basis (24 hours).

The performance of this BH looks very promising and if I can install the new idea more birds will stay and eventually there will be more nests.

The second BH was the one that was burglarized about two months ago.

I have advised the owner on the possible precautions but unfortunately they did nothing on the advise.

The best thing that happened now was the nests were back and the number was much more by almost 25% up.

They seems to prefer those fake nests made of silicone and those sponges.

I was impressed with it however those burglars will come in again and all will be wasted.

I need to remind the owner and see if they can allocate some fund to install those burglar detection system.

After applying those aroma I came back home.

An Interesting Way To Set Your External Sounds !!!

Something new, interesting and it works well in Trengganu, Malaysia.

This BH owner used to count his tenants from day one.

He told me that the first one to two months only two then it grew to four and then eight and so on.

When he attended my Swiftlet farming seminar about six months ago he started his own method to install those external sound inside his nesting rooms.

After toying with various methods now he has more than 350 birds staying inside.

His method is extra ordinary but he was cock sure it works.

He runs his BH with three amplifiers only.

Two playing external sounds and one playing the internal sound.

However two amplifiers runs on a twenty four hours basis.  One the internal sound playing amplifier and the other you can guess what sound.

Yes he runs the second amplifier on external sounds (two different sounds one on the left and the other on the right) for 24 hours.

The third amplifier he runs the same two sounds for 13 hours a day (daytime).

His unique method is the using of two separate sounds one on the left and one on the right playing on a 24 hours basis.

He ran two lines for the two sounds, one to one VIP room and the other inside the other VIP room.

Those sounds on the door frames of the VIP rooms will play the same some played inside.

What happen here is that you can easily separate two different colonies into two separate rooms.

The next important thing that he did was to play both sound on a rotation basis on the main amplifier that operate those tweeters on his rooftop and at the main entrance window.

Those that listen to sound A will enter the BH and enter VIP room one and those that like sound B will enter the other VIP room that plays the same sound.

The internal sound for both VIP rooms are the same.

I think this is a very interesting idea and you can now lure two different colonies into the same entrance hole.

The moment they entered your BH they will stay inside the preferred VIP room.

Very unusual and something new that you might want to try.

If it does not work please don't blame me for giving the idea.  However if it works please let me know.

I will be very happy to visit your BH and do more investigation on how to apply this new technique to many other BHs that are not having enough nests.