A Bit Shaken With News About A New Friend Who Fell Down Inside His BH!!!

I was driving home yesterday from Port Klang to Kuala Lumpur.

I think I did not pick up the phone of someone from KK.  I return his call and ask him what's up.

"Pak Harry, not a good news to share with you.  Remember Mr Liew who ordered those items from you for his newly completed BH? He fell down from a ladder and now in the hospital. He fractured some bones but the most critical is a crack in his skull around the forehead".

Oh no I lost a heart beat when the words about the crack in the skull.

Currently recovering in the hospital and latest from his pal was that he is recovering but do not want to talk.

The Doctor told the family that he was very lucky to be safe from a 10 feet tall ladder fall.

This should not have happened if the following were followed:

1) He should have not visited his BH at night.
2) His BH was not properly lighted.  It was still under construction and maybe have yet to install those lights.
3) His BH was not installed with any staircase to move from one floor to another.  He uses those movable ladder made of wood that are not design for him.

He was very lucky to have his wife and kid with him during the visit.  If he was alone, I can assure you he might not be safe.

I hope this article, truly yours, tells us something.  Try to be very careful when visiting your own BH.

During the design stage make sure a proper staircases are included.

PS: It seem that he is recovering but seem to refuse to talk.

The Kite Tweeters !!!

I love new ideas especially when the idea shows result.

While in Kota Bahru, Kelantan, two weeks ago, I was given the opportunity to visit a BH under the care of Mr.E, my blog reader.

The item was hanging on the nesting plank and it was something new to my dictionary.
"Mr. E where do you get this idea of putting 6 tweeters into one and it looks like a Kite to me?"

Well Pak Harry I was just trying to lure those birds.  My boys came out with this idea and you can see that there are lots of birdshit below it.

It was true that this "Kite Tweeters" seem to be attractive to those young birds.

I would love to try out using this new idea.

To those who wanted to try please get about six square or rectengular tweeters and arrange like the pictures shown in this blog.

The Kite Tweeter is recommended to play the external sound.  Hang it in your VIP room.

If you can move them from one location to another to pull those birds to areas that are not heavily populated.

The Insect Barn Project In Sugup, Sabah !!!

While in Kota Kinabalu, from Feb 15th till Feb 17th 2011, I was given the opportunity to visit a three stories BH equipped  with a sizable insect barn.

The insect barn was about 20 feet by 8 feet and about 6,5 feet high. Divided into two separate units with one slightly larger then the new unit.

The owner installed those steel racks ready to receive those 2 feet by 3 feet black trays.

Unfortunately there was a small set back.

During her first time into operation the owner faces some unusual problems with the following:

1) The amount of insects it generated were plenty however there were at least two types of swallows that came to the BH.  The first was the Martin (make nest with clay) and swiftlet ( make nest with saliva).  It seems that the Martin were very aggressive when they are in a larger group.  They will chase away other visitors with smaller in number.

2) The smell generated by the insect barn was very strong and the owner indicated that you can smell the sour smell meters away from the building.  He was a bit disturbed with it and currently prefer to hold the insect generating project.  He was concentrating in finishing some rearing of special chicken dent around the fence of his BH.

I could not say much but he was very sure that the insect barn do generate lots of interest of insect eating birds however currently due to disturbance from those Martin he prefer to wait until more swiftlet stays inside the BH.

Once the number of swiftlet can reach about 50 - 100 staying inside then he will re activate the barn.

Beside follow up visit to this BH I was roped in to view three pieces of agricultural land in Kinarut (1 piece) and Mengatal (2 pieces).

Conducted the birdcall tests on all the threes.

One very interesting finding during the bird call test was the reaction of those "Palm" swiftlet to the Duress sound.

This Mr C wanted my help to asses a piece of kampung land to see if it was suitable or not.

While having a tour on the land I saw about three to found looks like swiftlet flying closed to a tall palm tree.

Mr. C was unaware about palm swiftlet.  The moment I observed their shape with very thin and long wings and a very sharp tail I told him that those are "Palm" swiftlet.

"Pak Harry what do you mean as Palm Swiftlet?"

My answer to him was, Mr C if you observe the shape of these swiftlet you can see that they have a longer but thinner wings with a longer span.  They also have a sharp tail like those nail.  They normally make their nests on palm tree leaves.

Then suddenly we can see that these palm swiftlet surged to the leaf and went missing for a few seconds and they come back flying in the air after that.

Swiftlet will never stop or make their nests on trees.

The next interesting thing to watch was their reaction to a bird call test.

Mr C wanted me to test the land to see if there were any swiftlet in the area.

The moment the duress was played about 20-30 birds flew about the gadget.  To our surprise about 5-8 of them were palm swiftlet.  They seem to behave exactly the same with the real swiftlet but we should not count them as the real one.

How interesting and is a new finding in my swiftlet farming career.

So be advise on this new finding.  Try to know how to identify them and deduct their numbers if they happened to joint the crowd when you conduct your bird call test in the future.

Ulu Langat BH: So Far So Good !!!

I happened to stop by to deliver some items to finish up the 3 stories BH.

The owner was not around to meet me however his supervisor was there to receive those goods plus showing around what he completed so far.

The nesting planks were well taken care of.

The VIP room on the first floor seem to be nearly completed with all the corner covers in place.  The 2"x5" tweeters were also well installed (as per my instruction) and the best were those 6"X6"X1" wood that were all nailed to those nesting planks on the wall and the beam.  Excellent and well done.

The only shot coming was that they installed them without any 90*curved corners to support it on one side.  I brought along with me and told the supervisor to do the needful.

You Should Consider Not To Throw Away Those Nesting Planks Leftovers !!!

If you happened to eat out and after filling up your tummy there are still lots of leftovers, what do you think you should do?

Get the shop assistant to pack all the balance to take home.  In English we call it a dogie bag which means that they wanted to take home for their dogs.

Well if you build a BH and if you happened to have lots of those nesting planks laying around to be thrown away, try to make full use of all of them.

My suggestion is to cut them to about 6-10 inches long and nail each of them onto those nesting planks on the cement walls.

The idea is to create more 90* corners on those planks temperorily.

Swiftlet simply love these 90* corners and the more you create them the higher the chance in getting them to say "I do" to your place.

The installation of these 10"X6"X1" wood is very simple and you just need to use those air gun to nail them one by one.

Make sure their stand straight with no gap with the base plank.

The moment those swiftlet choose to build their nest on these 90* corners you hit the jack pot.

As the rule of them thumb once they have used these corner making plank you just need to harvest the nests and quickly remove those temporarily installed planks.

The marking left on the base plank will eventually attract the previous tenant to come back but this time they will be forced to build a 180* shape nests.

The more you get these birds to build their nest on those temporary 90* angle the better is you chance to populate you BH in total.

The above pictures (new ones) were taken today at a new BH under construction at Ulu Langat, Selangor.

I believed this BH will be up and running within the next two weeks.

March 5th 2011 Seminar: Evening In Manjung & Kampung Koh

To those who have registered for the March 5th 2011 Seminar in Setiawan Perak please take note of a special evening tours on Friday March 4th, 2011.

You will be given an opportunity to take a short tour to see a few BHs that are unique that are only in Manjung & Kampung Koh.

You will have the chance to view the return of swiftlet in the evening from 7:00 till Darkness.  There will be at least 100K to 200K number of birds returning home into the most successful BH in Kampung Koh.

Prior to that I will be taking you to visit a couple of BHs in Manjung which have special design that are unusual.

The first is a BH whose walls were covered with wall climbing tree.

The second BH, just opposite belongs to the most successful BH owner from Sarawak, Mr John Cheng.

We will also have a chance to pass a BH that uses cement as the BH nesting planks.  The nesting plank was said to be about 1.5 feet wide.

After about two to three years old in operation the BH now has about  300 nests and growing.

A good example where BH does not need to be using Red Meranti all the time.

Please assemble at the hotel lobby at 5:00 pm on March 4th, 2011.

To those who are prepared to wake up early in the morning, there will be another tour at 6:45am on March 5th, 2001.  This time is to watch those birds flying out of a BH.


Please assemble at 6:30am at the hotel lobby again.


I want to make sure that you get more then what you have paid for.

Don't miss this Golden opportunity to visit the town where swiftlet farming started and view something unusual that will make a high impact in your life as swiftlet farming.


Those who have yet to register please get a seat now.  Remit RM 1500 and SMS your detail to 017 755 1318 now.

Those Figs Trees, Fig's Wasps and Fruit Flies !!!

Why Fig trees are called  the "Queen Of All Trees"

View this video clip:

 http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episodes/the-queen-of-trees/video-giving-food-and-shelter/1358/

They will not be able to produce seed to generate new trees if not because of those Fig's Wasps.

Once their young fruits reaches a certain days old the flower inside the fruits will generate a powerful smell that will attract those female fig's wasps.

This will be the time when fig's wasp will bite their way through and into the fruit's chamber.

The flowers need the helps of these female wasps to bring pollen from other fig tree to pollinate their seeds while the wasps needed a sack to nature their young one.

This is how the two are dependent on each other.

Have a look at how those fig's wasp enter the fig's fruits:


http://www.figweb.org/Interaction/Video/index.htm

Once they entered their main function is to deposit their eggs into those sacks that are designed specifially to hatch the eggs and allows the insect to grow. The female once finished laying all their eggs will die inside the fruit.

Upon maturing the males will be the first to borrowing out of their nursery sacks.  They know their function  is to help their female sisters out of those sacks and mate with all of them.

These female wasps will then perform their duties to crack the pollen sacks and stack them into a kind of pouch to be carried out with them.

See this:  


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZCYoEdavDk&NR=1

While those females wasps crack those pollen sacks the male will borrow the fruit to create the passage for those female to come out with the pollen.

The male, without any wings, will die while the female will be ready to fly and find a new home for their eggs.

See these female wasps coming out of the fig's fruits:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDYAPrlqN90

Another interesting personal observation that I made was that after the ripe fig's fruits falls onto the ground their will normally invite lots of fruit flies. The decaying fruits will attract lots of fruit flies to deposit their eggs to multiply.

These fruit flies will also be a good source of food for your swiftlet.

So you might want to grow some these ara or fig trees around your BH.

There are many species and maybe you need to have a few species on your land.

If you happened to be in Kuala Lumpur there is a place at Jalan Ipoh where you can see a few fig trees.

Those who wish to visit the trees please call 017 755 1318.  There is a small fee for the visit.

The Lamtoro Swiftlet Attraction !!!

I remembered writing a few articles about the usefulness of planting Lamtoro tree around your stand alone BHs.

About a week ago one of my blog reader from Sarawak called to ask me for some seeds.

"Pak Harry, I read from your blog that lamtoro plants are good to be planted around your BH.  Is there any specific reasons before I proceed?"

I gave a short explaination about the plant ability to attract insect to pollinate their flowers, the leaves are also suitable to be a source of food for some insects and I also know that there are lots of insects that lay eggs in the plant seed pots.

After listening to my biology lecture, he bought the idea and order some.

Since he purchased I need to collect them from a plant nearby my area.  I told him that I will sent to him after harvesting the fresh seeds.

While doing the harvesting I keep reminding my self to be on the look out for any signs of insect worms on the leaf or the seed pods.

I was not surprised when  I found that every seed pod there will be at least one worm about 1-1.5cm long.

I am pretty sure that when they are well fed they will turn into insect which are well liked by those swiftlet.

Please have a look at more pictures.

A Smart Idea On How To Increase Those 90* Corners !!!

While in Kota Bahru Kelantan, on February 9th and 10th 2011, I was given a chance to visit a few BHs that were recently converted by one of my student who now is a very successful swiftlet farmer.

"Pak Harry since you are in town I would like you to visit a few BHs that I have been working on."

The first unit was about 5 minutes walk from where I was staying, Ridel Hotel.

The second unit  was about 20 minutes drive away.

I love to discover strange things in every BH I visited.

In the first BH there were two strange things but I will try to write my findings once those pictures taken by another new student are in my custody.

While visiting the 2nd BH, I was very attracted to this simple idea on how to increase the number of 90* angle on your nesting planks.

This KB student of mine indicated that after finishing his revamp works there were still lots of those corner covers.  He asked his general worker to make full used of all the remaining pieces.

The outcome of his instruction looks like the following pictures:

1) The left over planks were cut into about 6 inches X 6 inches X 1 inches thick.

2) The piece is screwed to a standard 90* corner cover.  Once screwed together the assymbley is installed on the nesting plank.

 3) Nearly all, about 20 sets, were installed on the nesting planks installed at the wall or the beam.

 4) They seem to have more preference on the 90* as to the opposite which will generate a 130* shape nests.

 

5) I would say that this is one of the excellent idea that you should looked into when you carry out your next maintenance works at your BH.  It gives those birds a new place to call home. 

 

 6) If you want to get more benefits from this unique idea is to follow this simple advise.

Try to install as many as three to four sets on those 100 cm plank section especially on those planks installed on the room's wall or ceiling beams.

Make sure you use those screws that will allow you to remove them once appropriate.

Once those birds build their nests on these corners and finished one cycle breeding their babies, you quickly harvest their nests and remove these gadget.  Make sure those nests marking on the nesting planks are thick.

Once you have them remove those birds will soon return and will continue nesting on the marking left.  If they continue this time round the nest will be 180* shape.

From then on the nests shape will be 180 degree.  Remember this is the shape that you wanted.

As for those gadget removed, try to move them to another floor or your other BH(s).

If you think carefully this will be the best technique how to generate nests on a flat surface.  Fast and easy.

What we are trying to do is to cheat the birds by giving them what they want and after that they need to give us what we wanted.

Remember all you need is some smart ideas and this is one of my top choice.

Best of luck to all and have a good year ahead of you.

Very Interesting News From Kota Bahru Kelantan !!!

Sorry for not posting any new things during the long holidays.

Currently helping a newbie with his decision to buy or not to buy a piece of land in Kota Bahru, Kelantan.

I was in my hometown when a newbie called for my details so that he can purchased my ticket to fly over to KB last week.

His mission was to get my final confirmation about a piece of land about 25 minutes drive southeast of Kota Bahru, Kelantan.

"Pak Harry, before I part with my hard earned money, I want to be 100% sure that that piece of land is suitable for my dream BH."

That was his wish and I think he did the right thing.

Upon landing at Pengkalan Chepa airport, he fetched me for a small breakfast and we went straight to the land.  On the way I asked him if he knows any BH within 1-2 kilometers from the location.

We stopped at a number of BHs and initially I was a bit concerned over the number of birds flying above all the BHs he showed.

After the initial view I told him my two days plans and he need to comply to it.

First let me check into a small hotel and perhaps rest for a while.  At about five I told him to pick me up for his first and the real experience to observe the birdcall test and perhaps determine the flying path.

He was on time and he managed to find his way to park his car just beside the targeted land.

I was still very unsure of how many birds will be showing up but took a long look around the land.

This piece of land was only about 10,300 square feet.  Currently filled with weeds and at one time was a padi field.  It was water logged and soggy and if you dare to walk on it you will sink about 2 feet deep.

On one side the land very closed to those dry land with a new residential houses (five bungalows) under construction and the opposite site was a small road lined with a 10 feet wide water canal filled with those touch-me-not marine plant.

Just after the canal those lands were filled with padi fields.

On the first padi plot I can see those high voltage power lines running parallel with the small canal about 100-200 feet away.

This irked me a bit because I used to have the impression that the high voltage lines do create those electromagnetic fields that can disorientate swiftlet GPS ability.  However it was okay since they were more then 100 feet off.
 

After 30-40 precious minutes, at about 6:00pm to be precise, those birds started to show a kind of pattern flying towards their homes.

I showed the phenomena to my newbie friend and he was stunned plus excitement with what was happening.

The number of bird flying towards the same direction started to grow and I asked him to get ready with the birdcall gadget.

Most of the birds were flying towards North-West.

So I told him that his BH main entrance hole should be facing the South-East directly towards their flying path.

The moment we switched on the "Duress" bird call sound, those birds swarmed over the gadget within seconds.  In less then 1 minutes there were already more then 200 birds.

I told him to quickly trace which direction the birds are coming from plus which direction were they flying above the gadget.

"Pak Harry it is amazing and it seems that those birds came from all directions."


Within about 10-12 minutes the number swelled to about 1000.

All these while I said they will normally take the anti clockwise but this time more then 80% were on the clockwise.

It passed my minimum expectation of 250 but I told him the higher the better.

Out of every 100 birds only 20-30 are your potential tenants (young birds with no nest of their own yet).  The rest might not be very interested to move out unless you know some special techniques.

After about 18-20 minutes I told him to switch off the sound and try to observe what will happen to those crazy group of birds.



Immediately after we switched the sound off most of those birds were like being swept away by the heavy wind above the gadget.  Some will continue their journey home and some do come back towards the gadget to perhaps look for the last time.

We stayed back until no more birds flying above the land at about 7:30pm.

Well I told him that I would like to be at the same spot the next morning before sunrise.  I guaranteed him that it might be more excitement if my prediction was true.

The following day I was picked up at around 5:40 am and we were at the same spot at about 6:00am.

It was still very dark and it was very very interesting to observe the morning sun.

My main reason to be there very early in the morning was with a good reason.

My objective was to drill into this newbie that if he wanted to be a successful swiftlet farmer, he need to put a bit more effort and make sure he bring his motivation to the maximum.

I wanted to teach him to be dedicated and determined.  He need to be 110% sure that the land that he wanted to purchase have the right number of birds flying above it every day.  Morning towards one direction and evening in the opposite direction.

The morning sun started to show up at about 6:30-6:45 am and we can see, initially , lots of bats, but later those swiftlet started to fly back to back towards their fooding areas.

At about 7:00am I instructed him to start the "Duress" music again and this time the number of birds was nearly double the number detected yesterday.  More then 3000 of them hovering above the gadget.

To make it more exciting I told him to switch of the sound for about 10 good minutes and start it again.

The second batch was still many and I was very sure that the total number of birds passing above and nearby his targeted land to be purchased is around 30,000 to 50,000 per trip outward and inward.

My special finding was that those birds seems to have very little effect of those high voltage cables but they normally fly in parallel with it.

My final recommendation was a good buy and the grade given was A+.

Buy it and start cracking on the proper design.


Best of luck to him.

To those of you who wanted to do the same, my sincere advise is to conduct the same test methods.  Get the gadget and if possible an experience person to guide you during the first trip.

If you have difficulties to find someone just try this number 017 755 1318.

Happy Chinese New Year To All Swiftlet Farmers !!!

Next week we will celebrate CNY and as usual I will be in Sungai Patani to celebrate with my family.

Will probably spend about 5 day in the North of Peninsular Malaysia and will conduct some visit to a few BHs in Penang, BM, Padang Temusu, Bakar Arang, Segantang Garam and SP itself.

Beside the above visits, been invited to drop by to Kelantan (2 invitations), Seremban, Kota Kinabalu, Bukit Beruntung (2 invitations), Kuching, Sibu, Nilai, Tangkak, Vietnam and Melaka.

I am sure after the CNY week I will have lots of things to attend to.

These are some of the very interesting going to happen activities:

1) Force Harvesting.

I was invited to a BH to perform the force harvest.  The owner have been pushing for a date to carry out the operation and I planned to carry out the operation after a proper inspection of the BH conditions.  There will be a lot of preparation to ensure that the operation shall be carry out as such the young birds will not be harm.

2) Working With TV Channel.

I was recently contacted to help a Malaysian TV channel to capture some video clips inside a heavily populated BH.  The program will also highlight some of my revamp works in a new and old BHs.  I have yet to say yes but will think of something once I decided to.

3) Ulu Langat BH Will Be ready with nesting planks.

After CNY the new BH at Ulu Langat will be ready with those nesting planks I arranged last few days.  I am very sure the owner will be chasing after me to drop by and see how was the installation works and what next?

4) Vietnam Meranti Logs Send.

At last the 14 metric tons of Meranti logs were safely shipped to Ho Chi Min City.  The supplier used a 20 footer storage container to prevent any damage via ship.  I was informed that it will be in Ho Chi Min within 7 days from today.
"Pak Harry please get ready to fly over to Vietnam once the nesting planks are installed."

5) Another BH ready in Kota Kinabalu.

During my previous trip to Kota Kinabalu, met a group of swiftlet farmer who wanted my help to view a piece of land at Penampang.  With them there was another person who was very quite but listening to my advises. I never realized that he was about to finish the top most floor or his 3 stories BH. Last few days received a call from the person who introduced me to about it and wanted some help to ensure his BH will be properly renovated.  Gave him the list of items for the sound system and hopefully it will be adequate to pull those wild birds in.

6) A Newbie From Seremban.


Another sad case of a BH owner who happened to visit my Semenyih BH under revamp last week.  He and his partner appointed a "Sifu" to convert a few BHs in N9, Perak and Pahang.  It was very unusual when they were not allowed to enter these so call BHs after it was renovated (mostly shop houses).  After more then 1 year they decided to force open the doors and to their surprise the BH was actually not properly conducted.  Just imagine paying more then 38K and only 10- 15 tweeters and the nesting planks were sparsely installed?


"Pak Harry I need you to drop by and give your opinion on what to do now?"


7) Kelantan Newbies.


Two Kelantanese wanted some helps to determine if those properties they wanted to purchase are suitable for BH venture.


The best was when this person who called and confessed that he managed to read all my articles within less then 3 weeks and fully believed that the right thing to do before purchasing a land for his dream BH is to get someone professional to give the final go ahead.


"Pak Harry, I will purchase the plane ticket and will advise when you should be in Kota Baru."


One more newbies wanted to test a property in Gua Musang.  I hope he will contact me before the 1st trip is done.


8) Kampung Jawa Klang BH.


Have submitted a short proposal to the BH owner to take a lead in revamping his BH.  I am hoping that he will say "YES".  My motive was mainly towards renovating the BH to accommodate my findings and help to improve the BH nests population.  I would love to use the BH as one of my reference BHs for visitors either local or foreign.

9) Bukit Beruntung Newbie

"Pak Harry I need some of your time to visit my BH in Bukit Beruntong.  Just to see if the shop house is suitable for swiftlet farming."

I told him that I will be pretty busy after CNY and the best time to view his shop will be on Monday Jan 31st, 2011.  Will spend half a morning to diagnose its suitability and perhaps provide the right sketch how to convert the shop.

10) Kepong BH Upgrading.

The owner got my visit report and was very happy with the upgrade works which I submitted.

Shall start doing those upgrade works once he gives his approval.  It seem that he wanted it to me done on the 2nd week of February 2011.

11) Semenyih BH Insect Barn.

Finally got the equipment and materials to supply the insect food for the insect barn.  My staff will be given the tasks to prepare and deliver the food on the Friday third week of the month.

The amount shall be about 15 kg of soup which will cost about 450 per batch per month.  Cost to clean those plastic containers, delivery and installation shall be included in the cost.

The Best Thing You Should Do For Your BH Every Year !!!

One of the most important thing that you should do every year is to carry out your BH audit. Main reason is to determine the status of your BH and with that you should be able to plan your next step towards a specific achievable GOAL.

If you are not familiar or have never done the audit before I suggest that you get your/a "Sifu" to do it for you.

The whole idea is to evaluate the current status and with it you can works towards an achievable nests number that will be inside your BH after 12 months from now.

For example if after your audit, the number of nests is 100, you should now make a plan to push the nests population to, let say 100% up to 200 nests within the next 12 months.

You can do this if you know what to do, what to change and what kind of gadgets to be installed.

To those who are not vary sure of what he should do I strongly suggest to try and get someone that you fully trust to help you in carrying out the audit operation and let him prepare the list of things to be done. (Remember if you really cannot find one, please call Pak Harry for some help).

One more idea that will be useful is to ensure that your BH is regularly inspected by a "BH Dentist" every six months.  The whole idea is to see if there is anything wrong with the BH that you have set to achieve your GOAL.

I used the term "BH Dentist" is because I want to let you remember that BH in your care is similar to your dental visit to your Dentist.  You need to visit your dentist at least twice a year. (My wife is a dentist, sorry)

Yesterday I visited one of the BH I was looking after and came out with the following report for all of you to follow or perhaps do something similar:

Date: Jan 29th, 2011

To: Mr ABC,

RE: BH Audit Report & Recommendations.

Mr. ABC,

Happy New Year to you and your family and may year 2011 brings your more luck and prosperity.

Yesterday I visited your BH above your shop in K.

I am very glad to note that the number of nests have multiplied and increased to about MM nests from about KK nests when we first started. This is a jump of 300%.

The majority of these new nests were inside the VIP room.

I also observed that many of these nests were using those fake nests installed.

I believed the modifications and revamp works are working and we need to continue pushing the number of tenants to as many as we can.

In the meantime you need to be aware that the total number of birds in your area is not very big but I think they are growing.

Aim for Year 2011:

For the next 12 months we should push the number of nests to about RR or more. This will be equivalent to 150% increase in nests as compared the SS nests now.

Recommendations:

Based on the visit done I recommend the following to be upgraded.

1)      Replacement of amplifier.

a.       One of the two amplifiers needs replacement.

2)      Wetting of the VIP room Floor.

a.       The VIP room wet floor seem to be working well however they are very dried.

b.      My recommendation is to install an automated water meter flow system and PVC pipes around the room to distribute the water.

3)      External Sound Tweeters Check and Replacements.

a.       There are a number of external sound tweeters that are not working.

b.      I need to get my staff to carry out the inspection and replace all those that is not functioning.

4)      Internal Sound Tweeters Check and Replacements.

a.       Similar with the external sound tweeters, the internal too need to be inspected and those spoiled to be replaced.

5)      Wet Floor Extension

a.       I planned to extend the wet floor areas to the outside of the VIP room.

b.      The floor wetness helps to bring in more birds into the BH.

6)      External sound replacement.

a.       I encourage the replacement of external sound on a regular basis.

b.      My suggestion is to replace the sound for every three months.

7)      Application of Insecticide.

a.       Your BH is due for the insecticide spraying.

8)      Internal Temperature and Humidity.

a.       I planned to install a data logger to monitor the exact temperature and humidity of your BH.

b.      The data collected shall be collected and downloaded into our computer for us to check the actual status of the environment inside the BH.

c.       I will also carry out a check on the heating conditions on all the walls in the BH.  Shall use a laser beam thermometer for this purpose.

9)      Forced Harvest.

a.       A forced harvest need to be planned sometime after the renovation works above are done.

b.      My suggestion is to carry out the forced harvest in zz 2011.

10)  Regeneration mode:

a.       After the about yy days of the forced harvest I planned to carry out the regeneration exercise.

b.      This exercise is to remove about DD% of the eggs laid thus making the young birds to be inside the house all the time.

c.       This will encourage those young birds to come back after they are able to fly.

11)  Insect Generation inside the Roving Area.

a.       Insect generation inside the roving area can increase the number of nests inside your BH.

b.      I would like to carry out this experiment if you allow me to do so.

c.       The idea is to stack about CC plastic containers with insect food.

d.      Inside one of the container will be about DD kilogram of insect maggots to help is creating the insect.

e.       These insect food shall be renewed on a monthly basis.

12)  Metal Plates Installation:

a.       I planned to install about BB pieces of 2 mm X 5” X 2 ‘aluminum plates on your BH nesting planks.

b.      The plates will be specially made grooves of 1 mm deep will encourage more birds to build more new nests.

c.       This idea is still in a research mode.  Any positive results will be reported to you.

13)  Ammonia Bicarbonates Application:

a.       Your BH aroma smell needs some beef up.

b.      I planned to install about x bags of ammonium bicarbonates.

c.       The 25 kg bags shall be placed at ....................................................................

14)   Fresh Bird Shit:
            a.  I need to supply at least xx bags of fresh bird shits into the BH.

15)  Love Portions Spray:

a.       Love portion needs to be sprayed ..................

b.      This year.....................

Thank you for your kind attention.

The cost to apply all the above will be discussed with you and I will bill you in accordance to the job carried out.

This year I will be charging you my maintenance cost of RM AAA a month to cover my labor cost, the cost of those insect foods, external sounds replacement and love portion.

Harry

The above recommendations are meant for this particular BH.  It might differ to other BHs with different type of problems.

If you read the report carefully you can see that the BH in question is not having too many problems.  The nests multiplied by 300% within 12 months.

I actually planned is to push the nests population to my target of 300% (hope the BH owner will not read this article) but would like to put into record only 150%.

There is no reason not to achieve the 300% but the owner must be willing to provide all the necessary assistance to ensure the number is achieved.

I also try to use the same BH for some research works.  Good example is to introduce about 10 pieces of grooves aluminum plates inside the BH. This new idea will be of great help to all of us if those birds will choose to build their nests on these plates.

The second research operation will be to introduce those insect food inside the roving areas using plastic containers and stack them to about 7 feet high. (Will take some pictures to show once done). If this simple introduction of insects method works I am sure we can all introduce the same concept.

So far I can safely make the following comments:

a) The construction of a VIP room into this BH works perfectly and it works exactly as I predicted.  Those birds choose the room as compared to the main hall due to fact that they feel safer and further from the entrance hole. Nearly all the new nest were inside the VIP room. I hope those who read my blog will try to erect at least one VIP room for every floor.  It must be about 4 meters in width by not more then 5 meters. If you have any doubt about the design please call 017 755 1318.

b) The wet floor is working well too however due in proper auto wetting system it was not to my satisfaction. The water dried after a few weeks and there is lesser smell of rotting bird ship if they are wet.  My suggestion is to install an auto wetting system consisting of a Auto Irrigate meter and PVC piping system to wet the floor on a periodic basis.  For emergency arrangement I spend about 25 minutes to water the floor using two pails and running up from the lower floor toilet up.

c) Those fake nests are working pretty well. I should have brought a mirror on a stick to check for more occupants.  My rough estimates without the mirror stick there were more then 60% of all the new nests were using these fake nests. For this particular BH I deployed both the plastic, aluminum and Styrofoam types. The plastic and the aluminum fake nests were their favorite.

d) One more interesting observation made were the effectiveness of the chandeliers.  Tweeters chandeliers were installed for the purpose of playing external sounds inside the VIP room and the main hall.  Inside this BH four chandeliers were installed.  I was not surprise to see the number of bird shits accumulated below the chandeliers.  It seem that the chandeliers pull the birds into the respective areas and make the birds fell very much at home around it. On the corners of the nesting planks just above two of the chandeliers there were nests and nests markings.

Those who wanted to visit this BH which I am talking about can  make your arrangement to come and visit during my revamp operation.  Call me at 017 755 1318 for your booking and there will be a small fee for the visit. It will be on first come first served basis.  I will only allow 2 person per day of works.

A New BH at Ulu Langat Ready To Begin Operation Soon !!!

Located only about 35 minutes drive from Kuala Lumpur, this new BH might be something to look up for.

The BH wall is with two layers of unfired red bricks with 4 inch thick Styrofoam insulation materials in between.

As at yesterday the nesting planks and corner covers were seen arriving at site and the next few days it will be installed.

I am pretty lucky to be invited to closely monitor the progress of the construction.


The owner indicated that he got my contact from my blog after facing some crucial problem in getting some gadget to help in his amplifier switching method.

Originally he attended a short course in Subang Jaya and his mentor was said to be of help to approve his BH design.

Once he started construction he begun to feel that the mentor was no longer willing to reply to his questions and inquiries.

He turned to the website for some answers and that was where he found my contact number.

From the way he begin with me I truly understand why his mentor was not able to attend to so many inquiries about the BH.

This owner is no ordinary man.  A highly educated and used to holding a high position in the Agricultural Sector.

He is very inquisitive and seems to wanting the best for his BH.

I am not surprise if will start the insect barn all over his BH and maybe start up a breeding barn inside the BH.


So far I have been giving him all the relevant information that he needed and have been visiting the construction site every 1.5 weeks or perhaps upon receiving his request.

I am looking forward to the launching of the BH and I hope all those ideas provided will result in all those birds in Ulu Langat will visit this new landmark.

Those of you who have never entered a newly build BH please contact 017 755 1318 for a visit.  Suitable for newbies or those who intend to DIY their own BH. 

There will be a small visit fee lavied. 


Don't miss an opportunity of your life time.