I Was In Kluang Johor !!!

I took about 3.5 hours drive to reach Kluang Johor.

Main reason was to inspect a BH owned by someone who called me the day before.

"Pak Harry I cannot wait any longer.  My consultant was given enough time to get the proper number but he failed.  He keep assuring me that give him a bit more time.  20 months only 19 nests.  I have decided to let you help me to increase the population."

That was the summary of what the owner told me on the phone.

I quickly took the challenge and met him at Kluang railway station.

The moment we met we have a cup of coffee and proceeded to the location.

The BH was once a factory lot about 30 feet by 100 feet long.  A one and half stories shop houses converted to become a two stories BH.

It was pretty big and long.

Due to its size the contractor cum consultant must have tried to cut corners and did some common errors.

1) The BH entrance house was a top entry but the most successful BH about 100 feet away was using the side entry with a monkey house.

2) The top entrance hole was very small and I can increase it by at least 50 percent more.

3) The size of the roving area just below the opening of the roof was about 30 feet by 30 feet.  A bit too big and a shear waste of space.

4) Those birds needs to travel at least 30 feet towards a window leading into the BH nesting room.  A bit too far for me.

5) The roof areas seems to have very little gadget to lure more birds to come to the rooftop.

6) The nesting rooms both upstairs and downstairs were too bright. The ground floor were bad.

7) The top floor have about 10 nests while the lower floor only 9.

8) The top floor was with a number of partitioning but was not well done to encourage more birds to stay in side.

9) The ground floor was totally empty without any room.

10) The sound system was the key reason why very little birds came to stay.

11) The setting on the low quality amplifiers were not right.

12) The selection of internal sound was a king of colony sound.  I told the owner to change it to superbabyking.

13) The external sound seems to be similar to his next door neighbours BHs.

14) Nearly 50 percent of the internal sound tweeters were dead.

15) There were only two lines for the internal (upstairs and downstairs) and two lines for the external sound tweeters (outside and inside lines).

16) The BH was very dry even with the use of those mist pumps.

There were a lot more to be reported but let me take care of the rests.

What I need to do now is to come out with a proper recommendation on how to improve the nests population.

The owner is a humble hard working electrical contractor and after listening to his struggles to be what he is today I feel very sad how he grew up as a rubber tapper.

A good man who deserve batter than 20 nests in 20 months.

The Birds Seems To Be Streaming In Like No Stopping !!!

Remember the wooden BH (above picture)  in Semporna Sabah?

After the owner carried out a few modifications based on my short visit to his BH his  BH now is streaming with swiftlet.

"Pak Harry after implementing those recommendation plus your amplifier settings adjustment I think my BH is streaming with birds." he commented.

What I actually did was to tell him to do three to four things that I feel will help him to get those birds to stay.

1) Erect a wall to block those bright light from polluting you nesting rooms.  This was his BH major issue due to the fact that his consultant told him everything was all right.  I disputed the brightness and told him to erect a number of walls to block the bright light plus instructed him where to open a door.

2) I also convinced him to erect a wall on each floor to create those VIP rooms.  I specifically pointed to him where to erect and where the entrance door should be located.

3) I showed him the number of bird shit spots were equal to the number of internal sound tweeters he installed inside the nesting room.  My advise was to increase the number to at least twice.  Showed him where to install them and where they should be facing.

4) This BH was with no external sound inside the nesting room.  I forced him to install at least one kite tweeter inside the VIP room to be connected to external sound amplifier.

5) On each door wooden frame he need to install at least two external sound tweeters on them.

6) All the amplifiers were not properly set and I corrected them.

7) Install at least 20 fake nests inside the VIP room I told him and he did just that.

8) Why don't you get the Super Pheromone and spray them onto all your fake nests?  This was my last recommendation.

Now after just three weeks his BH now is alive.

The birds were seen to be entering non stop.

It is nice to know that your simple ideas works and make the BH owner happy.

Good luck to him and I wish I can use his BH as my example during my next seminar in Semporna Sabah.

His Super Pheromone canister should have arrived this week.

Research Works With Local University Will Start Soon !!!

At last my mission to carry out research works on swiftlet farming with close association with a renowned local University materialized.

I make a bold approach to voice my opinion to a Professor in the said university about four months ago.

At first I thought that it will be a waste of my time however it turned out the opposite.

They responded positively and eager to start work with a number of BH owners who enrolled into my list.

A few days ago managed to sit down with him and a number of his student.

We roughly agreed on the scope of operation and how to go ahead.

The first thing that we need to do is to choose at least 5 BHs that meets our criteria.

Most important is the total distance from Kuala Lumpur must not be more that 2 hours drive.

The second is more on the current nests population.  They must have at least 50 -100 nests.

Once selected the owner will be required to sign a non disclosure agreement to ensure that the research can be carried out without any interruptions or disturbances.

I hope this interesting research works will benefit all of us especially those newbies who have just started or about to start their swiftlet farming operation.

I promise to do my utmost best to help the owners and the local university to get something out of the research works.

Our first field trip shall be at the end of January 2013.

A number of BHs will be visited and within a few days after that we shall start the research operation carried out.

Keep your finger crossed and pray that there won't be any thing that will disrupt our noble intention.

I am not sure how others can help in our work but if you can please let me have you contact number if you wanted us to apply some of the invention inside your BH.

The university is currently doing their part to activate a special room for young birds to be stored or raised.

An incubation system is about to be ready.

An old BH is to be activated to.

There is a very strong chance that the latest tracking technology will be utilized.

I feel very proud to be able to convince this University to work towards the improvement to swiftlet farming industry in Malaysia.

Serinti Adoption Of Swiftlet Babies !!!

Since my involvement with swiftlet farming, I always receive calls for emergency advises.

Some are weird and many were easy to handle.

Last week for example I have this BH owner who have very little choices but to forgo his BH.

In doing so he was required to remove all those nests and nesting planks.

There were a number of those nests with eggs and baby birds.

"Pak Harry I need you advise.  What shall I do with these baby birds?" he asked.

I was a bit dumb founded.

I need to come out with something that can help him with his unusual problem and it must be practical.

"Why don't you put them into Serinti nests?  Choose those nests with eggs and you slowly remove their nests and swap with the swiftlet eggs and swiftlet babies.  One nest please put not more than two eggs or two babies." I suggested.

My idea was well received and he managed to scout around town for a couple of serinti nests.

After a few days he came back with something interesting.

"Pak Harry you are genius.  It works except they refuse to accept those babies that are with feathers.  Those young featherless babies were accepted and I do see them feed these babies.  The bigger size babies were totally ignored.  Now I got to babysit them."  he reported.

I was glad that at least half of his burden was taken over by those serinti birds.

I never thought that my simple idea works.

Bagan Serai Two Stories BH Latest !!!

The owner of the stand alone two stories BH at Bagan Serai Perak have the following to say when asked hows your BH doing so far:

"Look ok"

"Lots of bird shits"

"After two months no visit"

I told him that I am glad that those birds have finally accepted his BH and they are staying.

It is a matter of time when those nests will be built and ready to have eggs in them.

The BH was completed last year and due to very high temperature inside the owner decided to cover the BH with those metal roof sheet.

It looks more like a BH with a green blanket around it.

Temperature now within 29-30*C.

Only after that the birds started to be show interest with the BH.

After two to three months of operation his humidifier's timing were making the BH too wet.

This allows those fungus to grow all over the nesting planks.

He started washing them away by using salt water and sprayed all the fake nests with my super pheromone.

The result so far is encouraging and it is a matter of time when he will get some nests.

I was surprised that the sound that I used from the beginning until now is still effective.

Have a look at the latest video clip posted on a facebook:

Kubang Kerian BH Is Doing Well !!!

Yes a message just obtained from the owner of a BH at Kubang Krian Kelantan says that nearly all tweeters were occupied.

Remember the BH at Kubang Krian Kelantan that I was involved to install its sound system?

It was put into operation nearly six months and I was curious on its performance.

After exchanging a number of SMS messages the owner confirmed that during his last entry lots of bird shit spots were found inside the VIP room on the top most floor.

How many Doc? I asked.

Nearly all those cluster tweeters were with bird shit markings on the floor below them.

I remembered installing at least 30 cluster tweeters per VIP room.

This sound like having 30 spots on the floor.

Not a bad performance.

What about their nests?

Well wait for two more weeks.  He advised on his next inspection.

I hope that all the 30 will materialized into nests.

I also would like to remind my readers that each cluster consisted of 4 tweeters.

If all were with a set of birds the total number of birds might be as high as 30X4X2 = 240 birds.

Not a bad performance but even half will be a good start.

I look forward to get good news from the owner and I hope he will start having some result within the next 2 weeks.

One Very Successful Two Stories BH in Sabah !!!

Very proud to be engaged by a two stories BH in Sabah as his advisor.

"Pak Harry I understand you will be coming to Kota Kinabalu this December 2012.  I need to book 1/2 day for you to come and visit my BH."

I never rejected any offer from any BH owner if I sense that he is having some problem with his BH.

In this particular case the BH owner wanted my personal help to set his amplifiers (Nikkodo).

"I sense that they are not playing properly and at times the sound they produced were like hissing sound and not very loud." his main concerns.

Right on the dot he fetched me in the evening and with his new Hilux he got me to his BH within less than 25 minutes from my hotel.

The first thing I observed was those figs trees that originated from my house.  I send him 10 pieces of those twigs with some roots and he managed to get all of the 10 to be grow to nearly 10 feet high.

"Pak Harry can you listen to the sound and tell me if the sound is right or wrong?" the first thing he wanted me to do the moment I step out of his Hilux.

It was a bit too low in volume and not properly tuned.

When the data room door was opened I surveyed the four amplifiers and I told him the actual problem.

"I can tell you that your consultant have not touched any of these control buttons and right now they are not properly set.  The equalizer were not properly adjusted and they were not turned on."  I spoke my mind about his gadget.

He confirmed that his consultant dare not touch any of those buttons and told him not to do so too.

He begin to wonder the credibility of his consultant but dare not question him.

The best is to get Pak Harry over and let me do the necessary check on these sophisticated gadgets.

He was lucky that I came over and managed to set the who setting properly.

The moment all those buttons were adjusted and set the sound that came out of those tweeters were different and louder.

"This is more like it.  Before this they seems to be wrongly set and the sounds were weird." his comment.

I took a new sound from my bag and inserted into his external sound amplifier.

See how those birds responded.

He was so delighted and keep smiling all day long.

"Thank you very much Pak Harry.  I have been having some weird feeling about the sound system and now you managed to fix it."  He commented.

How About Brushing The Plank Before Applying???

Remember the article I wrote recently about a story when this BH owner was presented with a wire brush?

This friend of mine was having lunch with me and told me about how he was given a present.  The present he got was a wire brush.

What for?

He was wondering why wire brush?

The person who gave him this present was telling him about how this wonderful piece of gadget help to improve the number of nests in his BH.

What he did was to brush those selected points on the nesting planks and within a couple of weeks those birds will start building their nests.

Main reason being the spots cleaned were clear of dirt and also those fungus spores.

Well I listened to his story with a very deep thought and I told him that it might be true.

Once your BH passed a few years old there will be lots of dust accumulated on their surfaces.

Not only there be dust but fungus or their spores waiting to grow if we are careless enough to make the room too wet.

If you should use these steel brush on them you will clearly see the amount of dust produced.

Let let me show you this video clip which I took yesterday when I was about to apply this aroma on the nesting plank.

You will get to see how much dust were removed.

Look closely during the brushing operation.

Look At Some Signs That They Are Building New Nests !!!

If you are observant enough you will see some signs that those new birds are building their nests.

I was in Gambang Pahang yesterday and wasted no time in inspecting a BH that have a very peculiar problem.

"Pak Harry, every evening there are at least 150 to 250 birds entering my BH but up to today there are only about 20 nests. What can be the problems?"

From the number of birds entering and the number of nests currently inside, it seems to be very unusual.

I told him to be patience and perhaps gives more time for them to start their nest building.

During yesterday's trip I took a long look at any signs that those 150-250 birds left.

What I can see was that they are not leaving many markings on the floor.

The number of bird shit spots on the floor was too little and not commensurate with the number of birds that was seen to enter the BH.

If there are 150-250 birds I would expect at least 75-125 bird shit spots on the floors.

What I can see was about 50 or so.

There were a number of new nests under construction plus a number of new markings on the nesting planks.

So what can be the reason why they are not shitting?

I think they are not staying once the external sound stops.

The internal sound was not well like by those birds.

Or maybe your internals sound is dead during night time?

My recommendations for him were as follows:

1) Check the operation of those internal sounds.  If you have two amplifiers try to test one by one.

2) If your amplifiers are working check which areas they are working and which areas they are not.

3) If possible try to change the internal sound to something that are proven to attract them to stay for example :  BabyKing or SuperBabyKing.

4) Make sure the sound volume of those areas that you wanted those birds to stay be a bit louder.

Have a look at some signs that those birds are making their new nests:

My Next Swiftlet Farming Seminar Might Be In Kuching Sarawak !!!

My current plan for 2013 is to organize more swiftlet farming talks in areas that are far from Kuala Lumpur.

In this way I can come closer to those who have trouble with their BHs.

For 2013 the first target will be Kuching Sarawak and after that I plan to hold one more in Tawau Sabah.

The Kuching Seminar will be arrange by an old friend who owned a few BHs and one of which was recently launched.

"Pak Harry this new BH of mine is 100% with everything inside was from you.  After just a few months they started to come and now this particular BH is doing very well. I think we can use this model BH during your Seminar in Kuching."

I hope he will keep me inform on a few arrangements which I proposed him to do.

"Go to the right Government Department and ask them to help us to organize this Seminar.  All you need to do is to get the date that they are willing to give a talk about the Sarawak State Swiftlet Farming Guidelines.  Let them choose the date and their free time.  Use me as a stand bye to slot in between those time chosen."

The idea here is to work closely with these Department and we become their partner to promote the industry.

If they think carefully and agree with our win win solution both parties will benefit from it.

They will have their Guidelines promoted while we will help to inform the industry on how to be a successful BH owners.

We can also arrange to have all these participants to visit your new BH.

At the same time we can also visit those BHs that are facing any type of problems that need our helps.

I am sure my small contribution will help a few fellows in Sarawak.

Those of you who are in Sarawak and Tawau please be informed and let me know if you are keen to participate in this.

Call or sms your interest to participate at +60177551318.

A Three Stories Stand Alone BH With Most Nest In The Middle Floor !!!

(The most successful BH in Bruas Palm Oil Plantation.  More than 50% of nests on the lowest floor)

What do you think the most logical reasons why when a three stories BH with most of the nests only on the middle floor?

A newbie wanted to test my knowledge about swiftlet farming.

He just stumbled onto my blog and became a new follower but with some kind of test on my knowledge.

It was about 11:00 pm on the last day of 2012.

I received an SMS asking about those insect generating set.  I thought everybody was getting ready to usher for the new year but this guy was more involved with his swiftlet BH.

 I took my time from those meals and called him asking him what was bothering him.

"Pak Harry I am a newbie and my BH is in Raub with 100 nests so far.  I need some advise on how to populate my BH."

I think he must have put this populating his BH in the shortest possible time in 2013 as his main objective for the year.

Talk to him for about 20 minutes and later adjourned to my new year celebration with some friends.

Come the new year he continued sending in SMS with more and more questions.

One of his question was about his BH status of which most of his 100 nests were found mainly on the middle floor and little on the lowest floor and the top floor.

He wanted to know why and it seems that all his friends who owned BH in Raub are facing the same problem.

My answer to him was these simple:

Your BH entrance hole is not facing the East and your LAL might not be properly located with little external sound tweeters.

I wrote a similar article when a newbie whose BH was in Bruas Perak a few months back.

This newbie have something very the opposite.

I remember him telling me like this:

"Pak Harry my BH after one year is with about 200 nests.  Most of the nests were at the lowest floor and the rest of the floor are okay.  What do you think about it".

I told him what his BH looks like and he agreed in total.

My prediction was like the following and his answers were:

1) Your BH is with a staggered LAL hole on the top of each other and at an angle which allows those birds to fly direct to the lowest floor.  (His answer:  Yes you are right).

2) One of your entrance hole is facing the east. (His answer: Yes Pak Harry one of the hole was facing the morning sun).

3) You put adequate number of external sound tweeters along the staircase walls to pull those birds town to lowest floor. (His answer: Yes you are right).

4) You top floors were without any walls to block any of the light. (His answer: Yes my consultant never believed in putting up any partition.)

All the four prediction were correct and he could not understand how come I knew all of them without even visiting his BH before.

It was my first meeting with him and yet I can provide him with something that he have never thought before.

My answer to him was simple:

I have seen so many BHs that does well and very sick and by listening to your stories I can safely predict how your BH look like.

This is something which everyone of us should be able to do.

We need to make sure we know why many BHs failed and try to avoid repeating the same errors.

We must not allow our consultant to carry out their trial and error with your investment.

They must know that a proper designed BH can easily be populated if they do not make too many mistakes.

A BH With Many Entrance Windows !!!

The first that I have came across where the owner used a kind of circular shape monkey house with  multiple windows.

I was driving home from a trip in Bujang Kedah recently.

After a very interesting trip I saw this unusual three stories BH with a kind of circular monkey house with many entrance holes.

An unusual and a new concept.  It looks like a Chinese Pagoda.

I will reserve my comment on what the owner have in mind but let see if it works.

The chance is yes if he uses the right sound and his internal system are perfect.

I will continue to discover more new BHs with odd designs.

Enjoy the picture.

The Most Unusual Swiftlet Nest !!!

We have seen 90*, 130* and 180* shape nests.

These are common nests shape in every BH.

Those 90* comes from the corners without any corner covers.

The 130* from corners that were installed with corner covers and the 180* when those swiftlet build their nest on straight planks surfaces.

What if these birds build their nest hanging from the ceiling?

It will look something like this picture:

A very rare and strange shape nest will result.

The bird will anchor their nest with two attachments and build their nest like a swing.

A very strange and interesting picture found in the internet.