Wishing everyone a very Happy and Prosperous Chinese New Year and may the future be bright for all of us in this industry of Swiftlet Nests.

Gong Xi Fa Cai.

If I may add, it is the young birds that will move into a new BH and it is the old existing BHs that will provide the young birds. So the greater the number of young birds are being produced the better the chance getting a new BH filled up, quickly !

The other criteria is whether the surrounding area will have enough food for all the birds, perhaps Sarawak will not face that problem.

Everyone is robbing BH owners !

The burglar breaks in and clears a BH of it's nests, once only and you take measures to prevent a second time. The burglar makes off with what's in the BH, burglars' success will be dependent on the Bh's success.

The robber might rob you of what you are carrying and after that you'll be extra careful. Again the robbers' success depends on how much you have harvested

There is somebody else who'll rob you blind, whether your are successful or not ! The moment you submit your plans, you'll be robbed until the day you give up the BH.

Local council charges plan submission fees by the sq. ft. That is regardless of whether you have a single nest or not. Regardless of whether you are making any structural modifications or not.

Upon approval of plan, you'll be charged a yearly license fee. Kedah state charges Rm0.50 per sq.ft. on all floors except the ground floor. You can apply for the ground floor but it'll cost more per sq.ft. That is Rm 1000 for a 25ft. x 80ft. overall plan area per floor every year ! So, whether your BH is successful or not, local Council makes the money first.

Success or failure, pay up to local council to be allowed to operate a BH legally !

One has to question what services the local council provides for all the money collected from the BHs. Veterinary Services? But vet dept. also collects on the seminars, Vet dept. plan to introduce electronic tagging, I'm sure that won't be free ! Vet dept. also collects on Nests inspected for export, in cash and in kind !

Soon IRS will be knocking on our doors, at least they'll Tax according to our profits..............that's the rule, we hope !

This post has been edited by tuckfook: Feb 9 2011, 09:55 PM

The integrated Farming concept is practiced worldwide to maximise returns for a given plot of land.

It is taught in all books regarding farming practices BUT that was before the emergence of dangerous pathogenic diseases. All the time there have been diseases that caused all sorts of complications to humans caring for them but none quite as dangerous as Bird flu, swine flu, Japanese encephalitis etc.

With proper management, these risks can be reduced, if not eliminated.

Usual treatment involves applying a vaccine and or anti microbial to the CAPTIVE stock.

Note that swiftlets fly free and will return to the BH at night but the do visit other BHs on their foraging flights. So, application of treatment will be extremely difficult and spread of disease will be fast as the vector can have a daily 50km. radius of travel.

With humans required to feed the swiftlet chicks, the risk of cross infection is of course multiplied by innumerable times. With the swiftlet feed being produced by humans, of course there are very many unknown factors involved.

If cross infection control, eg. change of clothing, disinfectant spray/bath, gloves etc. are not diligently followed, Integrated farming practices will open a pandora's box with the potential to destroy the whole industry. As is usual with most farms, such controls are next to impossible to follow. Even in the youtube clip, there is no cross infection prevention being used, eg. head cover, gloves, clothing, masks etc.

Theory is good but practically impossible to follow, especially in the integrated farming community being required to operate on a daily basis like a hospital.

How many farmers follow the recommendations in the GAHP rigidly, a simple thing like a chlorine foot bath is not present in 99% of Poultry farms and BHs.

Those of us who can have influence on the Vet dept. eg. Dato Beh should talk to the heads of dept. to forbid the use of Integrated Farming Practices that include Swiftlet Ranching. For the time being, they should also disallow the artificial feeding and rearing of swiftlets unless only for authorised research until we know enough about swift diseases to be able to safely prevent the spread of any dangerous pathogens.

There is no necessity for the artificial breeding of swiftlets as Malaysian Jungles are abundant in their natural feed and for now and in the foreseeable future. It will be simple to arrange for all future swiftlet ventures to spread along all feeding routes of swiftlets, in doing so ensuring that they will always be well fed. Interestingly, the insects that love the flowers of Oil Palm also are loved by the swiftlets.

BTW it is absolutely BULL that there are only 2 captive swiftlet bred swiftlet farms in the world. Hand feeding of artificially hatched eggs has being going on for several years. Ranches with a caged/netted colony is ongoing and has been for at least 2 years. Note also that those with netted colonies will open up after their swiftlets start breeding in the BH as then at least there is a greater chance of them remaining in that particular BH .

Yes it will be a great idea for anyone wanting to invest in a hatchery and the rearing of the hatched swiftlets, especially near my BH. All will be welcome with open arms, especially the swiftlets.

I will also be happy to sell them the eggs from my BH at a discount.

That is the type I use. They allow a certain amount of water absorption and helps keep the BH cooler. To allow this to happen, the walls must not be painted and plaster should contain a high amount of lime. Double layer bricks and plastered on both sides.

After saying that, I am currently having problems keeping my BH cool due to the intense heat of the sun from this unseasonal weather in the west coast, Kulim area.
The dry period has almost completely dried out the insides of the bricks walls so I have to increase the number of humidifiers. In all the past 3 years, it has never been like this.

Thank you WW for your views.

I was probably not clear in my saying that my walls absorb water or allow water to seep through them.

All concrete is porous to a certain extent which is why some concrete requires additional water proofing when it is a requirement that they remain absolutely dry.

The bricks are also porous, much more so than the concrete or plaster.

The plaster is about 30% lime which makes it slightly porous to water and painting it with lime based material as in a lime wash allows water to permeate through the plaster.

When we talk about porosity it is not water flowing through but very very small water particles moving through the bricks and plaster, much like our perspiration. eg. If a hose is turned on full blast at one side, the other side does not get wet even after several hours, but it'll feels cooler and maybe damp.

The wall built as such will allow minute particles of water to move through it as one side gets dry, it'll suck water(from the humid air) from the other side. As this happens the drying action cools the wall.

For centuries, before the invention of refrigerators, earthen ware pots had been used to cool water stored in them.

To make concrete and plaster absolutely impermeable to water, some plastic are added to it, eg. acrylics, which bind to the concrete crystals and make them resist water. Acrylic based paints are the usual outdoor paints used nowadays even though some are diluted with water.

So, it is the amount of porosity that will determine the cooling effect possible.

At no time is the wall 'wet' but it does contain water from the humid air it encloses.

Water flowing through the walls as in a crack is totally different. Water will dissolve the calcium salts and draw the binding material of concrete out leaving behind only the aggregate like sand and eventually you get only sand remaining.

All my nesting planks sit on poured concrete. The planks are never in contact with damp walls. The planks are fixed directly onto the beams and onto the poured concrete ceiling/floor of the above. So they never get in contact with any water except if water condenses on them.

My humidity is controlled at 80% so it should never condense.

BHs built with Styrofoam sandwiched in the walls suffer from 100% humidity as there is no drying possible through the walls. Note that even if you get 80% Rh most of the time, when the temperature goes down as at night, the Rh will increase to 100% and water condenses on the planks because the walls cannot help dissipate the extra water in the air. This is often seen in a car when all the windows are up, the aircon is not working and it's suddenly rains outside.

Hope this info will be helpful to everyone.

[quote=Cergau,Mar 8 2011, 12:42 AM]
TF,
I hope this is not BH@agriland?
If so, that's exorbitant!

[/quoe]
I have been told that it will be the same on agri land. Will inform when I have to pay up.

Dato Beh is fully aware of the charges as all his shophouse BHs and standalone BHs suffer the same fate. This has also been highlighted to him personally by many BH owners in Kedah.

It had been pointed out that the license fees are not reflective of any services the local council provides as well as being not in line with other industries/businesses.

It would seem that the local council are "CASHING IN" on the plight of BH owners and yet Kedah association has not taken any action.

Isn't that Harry's ?

Again Harry trying to sell Swiftlet Sound? Is this allowed in this forum ?

What happened in Penang ? please enlighten .

In my opinion, Looks to be politically motivated. If so, it'll only make matters worse

In Penang, the moratorium on BHs in Georgetown was clear and yet many insisted on building new BHs. They took the risk

When proposed to set up an association to mediate this matter, there were very few supporters. As such, ASNI does not have 100% support

ASNI chose to confront the state government when IMHO a compromise should have been sought

So, we have brought this calamity upon ourselves

This post has been edited by tuckfook: Apr 10 2011, 09:17 PM

I quite often find it very difficult to understand what is being written here in the forum probably because of all of us coming from different backgrounds. It is important that we make ourselves clear before getting offended or apologetic.

Frankly we are all here for the betterment of the Swiftlet Industry, I think our opinions are generally positive and constructive.

Please everyone, for the sake of our future please visit.

http://polls.thestar.com.my/

Currently, those in favour of Teaching Science and Maths in BM is about 60%

Let's change that !

Seeing that seminars are getting so very popular and lucrative, I think we should get together and give seminars for Malaysians.

There are many local experts so why should we rely on others. Is it because you have to pay big bucks before you believe in what is being said?

We have been sharing useful information for FREE an yet people rather believe that they should pay to dollar for the same information. Strange world we have here.

So many experts giving seminars and it would seem that the more they charge the more respected they become.

WW, let's be quiet and stop sharing information unless we are paid

FIY some of these experts learnt from us ! The oldies in this and other forums can confirm this!

The ideal location will always produce better results. Several places in Peninsula Malaysia have such capabilities but then again for some of us, these locations may not suit us logistically. Being too far away from your Bh opens one to many risks, of course solution might be to have local partners or assistance, which again require many other considerations.

It is obvious that professional lecturers will only likely showcase their best results, but that does not necessarily mean that it can be achieved everywhere and all the time.

Similarly, with the use of "special" techniques, aromas, etc. if a BH built in an ideal location had from the very onset used these techniques, that is no proof that all these special methods are effective. If these special effects do not actually chase the birds away, do they actually attract the birds?

Greed and hope blinds us.

Marketing effectively/convincingly is a very lucrative tool. Because we do not understand these birds also adds to the mystique and we tend to get carried away with "Urban Legends".

Logic and intelligent analysis of all factors involved will gain us greater success, much more so than blind faith in any guru.

My opinion may not concur with others, but that adds colour to mankind. I truly relish any challenge from anyone in the hope that I will gain a greater understanding towards a better BH.

This post has been edited by tuckfook: Apr 26 2011, 01:45 PM

Please tell us more about yourself, eg. location of BH, details of BH etc.

New players using solid state memories, eg. sd card, thumb drive etc. do not have any moving parts so technically do not have mechanical wear and tear and theoretically can run continuously.The only moving part will be the cooling fan.

In the old days of CD drives, they needed a rest as the motors will overheat causing lots of problems...too many to elaborate here.

2 or more players are used to play different sounds at different times, not to 'rest' the players.

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Added on May 4, 2011, 6:31 pmAeroswift had been trying to sell this method for a few years now, I wonder how successful they have been ?

Soon swiftlet nests from Malaysia will be marked 'Inorganic' and then it'll probably lose it's current value

With close human contact it will be inevitable that someday pathogenic disease will pass between humans and these birds and that will be the start of many sad stories

Wisdom is elusive to many, greed blinds





This post has been edited by tuckfook: May 4 2011, 06:31 PM

Why do we have to pay for fruit flies when we can easily attract ourselves.

Fruit fly hormone is easily available and if sprayed around your BH will attract fruit flies for miles around.

Plant fruit trees like papaya, starfruit, and any rotting vegetable and fruit etc. to attract and breed fruit flies all year round. Mature Oil palm will also attract them.

So, why pay.

Yes, absolutely right, NO fruits inside the BH. I plant them around the BH in the dusun. I also get to enjoy the fruits.

Not for a single moment do I think I can feed the birds in my BH sufficiently. It is just that when it rains or drizzles, the insects leave the ground and that attracts lots of birds. Not only those from my BH but lots of passers by so hopefully they come to stay.

Why make life difficult for yourself by artificially feeding the birds, I really don't understand why. We have BH because it is not labour intensive and here we have people making it labour intensive