Gambang BH Burglarized !!!

The whole row of shop houses with BHs above them were burglarized last week.

Two days ago while having a cup of coffee in Kuala Lumpur a BH owner called.

"Harry are you in Gambang? You did not closed the BH door do you?" his questions.

He received a call from a neighbor who happened to pass his BH.

Nope I have not drop by your BH for almost a month and I am now in Kuala Lumpur.

Oh no there must be something wrong when the door of his BH is opened and no one is responsible for it.

I told him to quickly drop by and check what went wrong.

After about 45 minutes he called back and confirmed that his BH was burglarized but the sound system remain intact.

"The whole row of doors to BHs were pieced opened and no one was safe, Harry" he explained.

It seems that the burglar use a kind of door cutter to remove those lock extension on the door frame.

Well the only choice he has is to replace the door and come out with a new method on how to prevent those rascals from hitting his BH again.

It is great to own and operate a BH but it comes with so many challenges.

Sometime these so called challenges are not fair to the BH owners.

After putting in so much money and effort, some one else came to steal the output.

Well the owner need to be prepared and this kind of mishap is common.

Rantau BH: Those Owls Are Everywhere !!!

Yesterday visited Rantau BH.

Revamped it and left to the owner to take care.

After one month away the BH shows lots of signs that a group of owls entered the BH.

Their white colored shit, swiftlet feathers and owl vomits were found on all the three floors.

Called the BH owner and explained to him the conditions.

He need to do something fast.

The first thing he need to do is to activate the electrical power lines that seems to be dead.

After that he should look into installing a few owl traps inside his BH.

He should quickly clean all those owl shits found on all the three floors.

If he wanted to get rid in a much faster way, I recommended to him to engage a licenced gun owner to shot those wild owls.

Perhaps allow him to come around 7:00 pm onward and shoot them before they enter the BH again.

In the mean time I spoke to him about installing a monkey house at his top entry hole areas.

Gave him the rough sketch of how the monkey house should look likes plus where the main entrance hole should be opened.

He agreed to get a welder to come by to do the needful.

I offered my service to come and explain to the welder how the monkey house should be erected.

With the monkey house erected the owl can be easily contained.

The entrance hole can be wired and if those owls should try to enter they will be electrically shocked.

A much easier method of preventing those owls.

Another Very Effective Idea On How To Install Your External Sound Tweeters !!!

If you wanted to be a very successful BH owner try this advice of mine.

Try to be very observant and improve your idea all the time.

I was inside the Kepala Batas BH and was very excited to see those wild birds playing at the main entrance windows.

While watching them flying in and out of the entrance holes I observed something which most of you all will not take any notice.

When you play a new and very attractive external sound, you will see these wild birds flocking at the rooftop and many will start to enter and leave your monkey house.

Before they entered your main entrance hole I think you should watch what most of them do at those external sound tweeters.

Many of these birds are attracted to those tweeters and many will want to cling on them.

I have adopted this my own way of installing those tweeters around the entrance hole perimeters.

My current method is to place two pole tweeters (three tweeters) standing at the two sides and one sleeping tweeters (two tweeters) on the upper most frame.

It looks something like this picture:

The most active or greatly attractive to those birds will be the two at the top most frame.

These two tweeters will become very heavy with traffic.

So what can we do to improve the traffic?

My next arrangement will look something like this:

I plan to install another set of two tweeters on the frame.

The two sets will help to reduce the traffic but also to get more birds at the entrance hole.

The more the birds at your entrance hole the more birds will be coming in into your monkey house.

Try this new idea and please tell me that I was wrong.

Please challenge me and proof that my idea is stupid and useless.

By the way how many ideas have you shared with others so far?

Remember if you want to help the industry try to share your constructive ideas.

Write to me and enclosed with diagrams.

I promise to put them into my blog.

Please provide your details so that people can call you directly.

I am not scared to share my ideas.

Call me any time at 017 7551318.

Kepala Batas BH: Suddenly Those Owls Came !!!

(Barn Owl a protected species)

My happiness after completing the revamp operation of the Kepala Batas BH was short lived.

On the very last night at the BH me and my workers detected a few unwelcome visitors.

They came at around 7:30 pm and from one direction.

Three of them came and landed on the BH roof.

My workers tried to shoo them away but they stayed away for a very short time and came back.

To me this is one of the very common predator when your BH is located in the middle of a padi field.

These owls were provided by the local farming authorities to rid those rats.

However when there is a easy meals for a pick they will venture to eat what ever they can find.

I told my workers not to be too alarm about their presence but we need to install some of those gadgets to deter them from entering inside the monkey house.

My idea is to install those electricity wired cables on areas where they will perch.

There are gadgets that can invert the ac current to dc current and once connected to these wires will be a good deterrent to these owls.

We shall try not to kill them but to scare them away.

Next job some where at Padang Serai, I plan to bring along the gadget to be put in place.

At the moment try not to worry too much.

Coaching A Masters Degree Student On Failed BHs Revamp Procedures !!!

A golden opportunity to get my effort on revamping of failed BHs documented.

A few weeks ago I was contacted, via email, by a student who wanted to do her Masters.

I wrote to her on some suggestions and I think she is going ahead with those ideas.

I was told yesterday that she has enrolled with the University and luckily her coaching lecturer is my good friend.

My idea was more towards how to repair a failed BH.

Every 10 BHs in Malaysia, I think 8 to 9 failed to produce enough to cover the operating plus the financial cost.

With the current raw nests price per kilo of around 1,600 ringgit, a productive BH must produce at least 3 kilograms a month.

To harvest 3 kilograms a BH must have a total of about 10 kilograms inside.

10 kilograms is equivalent to 120X10 = 1200 nests or 2400 birds.

How many BHs around you have this number?

I doubt that many.

Many of these failed BHs are being abandoned by its owners.

The low price give very little motivation to do anything with it.

Most of them will wait until the price per kilogram move perhaps above 2,500 ringgit per kilogram.

Remember it used to peak up to 7,000 ringgit a kilogram and it went down to 4,000 ringgit.

Now below 2,000 ringgit and those white buildings are abandoned.

Total number of BHs in Malaysia is about 40,000 units (according to the latest report).

If 80% failed to produced 3 kilograms and left abandoned, the amount of asset worth at least 250,000 per unit is idle.

80% of 40,000 is 32,000 units.

Each is worth on the average about 250,000 (excluding cost of land).

We are talking about 32,000 X 250,000 = 8 billion ringgit going to waste.

Many of these abandon BHs are being ransack by burglars who go not only the remnant nests but also all those fitting in the BHs.

The logger these BHs are left unattended they will be housing more predators, nesting planks rots, roof leaking and who know it will become drug addicts den.

Something have to me done and I hope the research work by this Master's student with my helps will be useful to many of these BH owners.

Bujang BH: Nearby Neighbor's BH External Sound Is Dead !!!

Last week while doing some grass cutting works at Bujang BH I realized that my neighbor's BH is dead.

What I mean was its external sound was dead.

In the meantime all those wild birds were having a good time over the Bujang BH rooftop.

The external sound played was the new sound invented a few days before.

It looks very attractive and I hope there will be some new nests within the next few weeks.

The birds continue to play around the top entrance areas nearly the whole day.

The grass cutting went well and I am sure by now they are mow down.

Have to instruct the grass cutting guy to carry out the job every two to three months.

If left without cutting they will eventually covered the whole land and prevent sunlight hitting those Nangka and Soup sop trees.

I am glad that the neighbor did not realized his external sound went dead.

If he did nothing for a few months all his tenants might migrate to my BH.

The lesson here is make sure your BH external sound runs continuously (daytime).

If you let it dead for a couple of weeks you will find that your nests increase will not happen.

These wild birds are easily swayed and they will become more attracted to the nearby BH with good and playing external sound.

Increase your external sounds library and make sure you put the necessary gadgets to make sure your BH sound will run all the time.

Call me if you wanted to upgrade your sound library.

I have enough external and internal sounds to make your BH active all the time.

Call me now at 017 7551318.

Kepala Batas BH Revamp: Found A New Sound I Now Called Super BML !!!

A very unusual experiment and secured a very attractive new external sound.

This is the best news to share with all my blog readers.

I have accidentally discovered a new sound sound that is very attractive to pull those wild swiftlet to your BH rooftop and into your BH LMB (Lubang Masuk Burung).

I called is "Super BML" .

BML is a short word for Burung Masuk Lubang.

I think this new found sound will be my weapon to populate all those BHs whose owners wanted me to revamp their BH.

The sound was officially tested at Kepala Batas and Bujang BH yesterday and works well.

During a short visit into the Kepala Batas BH, we saw those wild birds stuck to many of the AG 35 tweeters playing the super BML.

Many in pairs and they seems to get stuck to nearly all the chocolate and pole tweeters inside the nesting rooms.

This special sound can be used as an important tool to lure those wild birds to your rooftop and pull them into your BH.

This strange sound can be used as your anchor sound to pull in while you use a second sound to draw them to your roof top.

This was the way I did at Kepala Batas BH.

While hunting for insects around the BH they could not resist the two sounds playing simultaneously.

The other sound used as KingkongMax.

A beautiful set and available for you to try at your BH.

Call me for its prize.

My number is 017 7551318

Kepala Batas BH: Using A Mini Bazooka !!!

(The mini Bazooka Used At Kepala Batas)

One special gadget that I tested at Kepala Batas BH was this mini bazooka.

The bazooka was installed at one corner of the roof areas facing a nearby neighbor's BH.

My main intention was to pull those birds flying above the neighbor's BH over and perhaps allow them to check what's new in this BH of mine.

Well at first I give very little attention to it.

I let it operate and hopefully it will work as per my prediction.

I think I should have installed more of it.

Yesterday, November 13th 2014, I was given a big surprise.

While watching the birds activities on the monkey house rooftop I focused at the mini bazooka.

To my great surprise I saw many of them going towards it and some wanted to cling on it.

Hmm not that bad.

If this is the way those birds reacted to this mini bazooka I might want to use it more on my next revamp project.

My idea is to install at the two corners of the LMB (Lubang Masuk Burung).

This can maneuver more birds to the main entrance and once many are at the entrance hole they will fly into the monkey house roving areas.

Once they enter I think I know what to do to pull them into the VIP rooms.

Yes once they entered the monkey house area there must be a method to pull them into the monkey house areas.

Have a good view of the attached video clip.

Lord Cranbrook: The Father Of Malaysian Swiftlet Industries !!!

I was having my hair cut at a Barber shop and stumbled onto this very interesting article about a man whom I call "The Father Of Malaysian Swiftlet Industries"

Details can be found at 

: http://www.thestar.com.my/Lifestyle/People/2014/11/17/Lifelong-commitment-to-nature/

Biologist receives top honors for his exemplary commitment to the natural world.

Few of us know it, but much of what we know today about swiftlets in Sabah and Sarawak is thanks to a member of the English nobility. Studying the biology and behaviour of the tiny birds which build edible nests has been the lifelong interest of British conservationist Dr Gathorne Gathorne-Hardy, Fifth Earl of Cranbrook.

But that is not all that this chartered biologist is passionate about. For over 50 years, Lord Cranbrook has been a global leader in the fields of mammalogy, ornithology and zooarchaeology (the study of faunal remains). He has helped pioneer wildlife research in Malaysia, Indonesia and Britain, along the way raising awareness on biodiversity and ecology. At age 81 today, he is far from calling it a day and continues to participate in field studies and programmes advocating wildlife conservation.

For his exemplary commitment to the natural world, particularly for supporting conservation efforts here, he has been presented with the 2014 Merdeka Award for Outstanding Contribution To The People of Malaysia – a category presented to foreigners in recognition of their outstanding work for the country.

“I was pleasantly surprised by this award, it’s been an absolute thrill,” says Cranbrook, who was born into a farming family in the countryside of Suffolk County, an upbringing which instilled in him a love for nature. He is a descendant of the first Earl of Cranbrook, a prominent politician who was Secretary of State for India in 1878.

Intrigued by swiftlets

Cranbrook started investigating into swiftlets in Niah Cave while employed at the Sarawak Museum in the mid-1950s where he was responsible for tasks such as sorting out bird specimens and proofreading catalogues. He also sorted out animal bones and remains from archaeological excavations and introduced systematic identification.

He went on to pursue his PhD at University of Birmingham in 1958 and completed his post-doctorate on swiftlets in two years – “quicker than anyone has ever done,” he says, chuckling – mainly because he already had two years of research data from Sarawak. He became a post-doctoral fellow in Indonesia for two years before returning to Malaysia to lecture at Universiti Malaya, from 1961 to 1970.

Bujang BH: The Grass Were Taller Then Those Young Nangka (Jack Fruits) Trees !!!

(The wild grass and weeds were taking over the land around Bujang BH)

I was very disappointed when I visited the Bujang BH.

The grass and weeds were growing too fast.

Nearly 3/4 of the land was covered with tall weeds and grass.

These weeds were affected the growth of my prized Nangka and Sour Soup trees.

They covered them and prevent direct sunlight.

Something need to be done fast and managed to make a few calls.

A local guy came to cut the grass and now it looks okay perhaps for about two months or so.

He stays around the place and will make a point to come and cut those weeds every two months.

I hope once those Nangka grow bigger grass cutting will be minimal.

Have a look at some progress of the land and the Nangka.

Kulim BH Owner Looking For Investors !!!

(Provided with a cage and insect breeding barns)

Looking for investors to reactivate one of the many failed BHs at Sungai Tegas, Kulim, Kedah.

I was busy working at Kepala Batas when a call came from someone which I was not familiar with.

"Pak Harry, I was highly recommended by someone to talk to you about my BH problems.  I was involved with this Ecopark BH project in Kulim where the developer assured me that the concept is full proof.  He breed those birds and release them in a cage and force them to stay in the complex.  However when he ran out of fund the project was discontinued and there is no new birds breed.  Can you help me to sell or find a JV partner to reactivate the project?"


That was how I came to know about the stranded project.

There are nine units of BHs on a piece of land about 1 acre size.

All the nine units are now laying idle with no future if nothing is done to revamp or reactivate.

One of the owner wanted me to find a solution and she would be flexible in the terms and conditions.

Any interested party who wanted to know more please contact me at 017 7551318

I will be visiting this BH on November 19th 2014 for an inspection.

You might want to see and read my visit report.

Kepala Batas BH: After Clearing All Those Zinc Roof Sheets and Woods !!!

(A young Papaya plant)

The Kepala Batas BH owner left his birdhouse for me to take care for him.

The whole house inclusive of the land around it was in a mess.

I mentioned to him during my first visit that those rubbish accumulated will breed more predators that can harm his BH.

My biggest concern was those rats and snakes.

Well during my revamp operation I forced my two workers to clean out the rubbish and cut those long grass.

I took some effort to buy young Papaya trees.

Everyday we cleaned and clean the place.

Lots of wood and zinc sheet and many snakes, rats, giant monitor lizards and frogs were chase away.

Now after some weed killers applied the surround land looks more like a BH.

I hope while waiting for the BH to be populated I can harvest some Papaya during every trip.

Used to be something like these pictures:

Experiment: Two External Sounds Playing At One Time !!!

The Kepala Batas BH is my third test case where I run two different sounds at one time.

The first BH tested with running two external sounds was at Lenggong, Perak.

My second test case was at Segamat, Johor.

And my latest is at Kepala Batas, Penang.

I don't know about you all but I enjoy every moment when I see the birds flying above my BH monkey house, even if they don't enter and be my tenant yet.

These three BHs are doing well but is still under my close observations.

The key to the two external sounds will be the proper selection of both sounds.

What I did was to test all the good sounds in my collection at the specific BH and choose the two that attract the most number of birds to the rooftop.

Once the two were selected I will try to run one on the last tango tweeters and one as my main external sound.

The last tango sound is played only at prime time (three or four times a day) while the main external will run from 6:30 am until 9:00 pm, non stop.

The sound combination seems to double the number of birds to the BH.

Some were attracted to the main sound but some will be attracted to the Last Tango sound played.

You will be surprise to see that many of them will be attracted to both.

When both are running simultaneously they become frenzy and start to search for a window to enter.

Many will start to enter the main entrance hole and will start flying around all over the place inside your monkey house enclosure.

If you are able to pull them into your nesting rooms you stand a very good chance to turn them into your tenants.

The way to go is to plan very carefully how to install those external sound tweeters inside the monkey house enclosure and lure them towards your VIP rooms.

If you are smart I think you will catch them a couple at a time.

If one day you can lure one couple, within one year you will have 365 couples.

Let them stay and adopt your BH and when you have them inside you can start to "Kickstart" their nest building.

Use my idea of NKS procedures and I am sure you will be able to trap them inside.