Hi folks,

I have been lurking around this forum for years. Perhaps right where V1 just started. Unfortunately I didn't have the fortune to be able to start a BH yet then and so kept a very low profile. However, things have changed and I am on the verge of starting a BH soon in Sarikei,Sarawak on a plot of agriculture land not too far from town. Will be doing the bird call test when I go back for CNY although my sis and sis-in-law have seen the area and saw a number of BHses around the area and the birds are rather visible too.

I must have listen to tons of swiftlet sounds (samples off the net) but to date, I still find it difficult to postively identify whether it is an external or internal sound. Baby chicks sound are probably more distinctive but the others I am not too sure. There are categories of sounds I believe for eg:

Playing
Warning
Fighting
Mating
Duress/stress/in pain
etc

Is there a way to classify these sounds accordingly? Perhaps there are some traits to look out for? A library of sounds perhaps? I have seen on the net claims for sounds that supposedly fit for use both internally and externally. I have purchased 4 different external calling sounds CD from Ekawalet and tried to "benchmark" against ambiguous sounds ( those not stated internal or external) in an attempt to spot similar traits of external sound. Not very confident at all even after so many hrs of listening!

2ndly I am in need to come out quickly with a bird call testing gadget. Nesttech in JB selling for abt Rm800 and I dont think I want to spend that kind of money at the moment. The plot of land is not accessible by car currently so the idea of playing the car stereo is out. Will a stereo portable set be sufficiently loud to do the test? Most bird sounds that I have is quite soft when I played them off the home hifi. The louder ones are usually heavily distorted/clipped. Initially I thought of getting one of those china made 12V Class T amp, wrapped some rechargeable batteries around it and stick in a tweeter or 2 and I'd have a something usable. But I think time is not on my side at the moment. Any suggestions?

I probably will need further advice and tips as I go along but so far I am very touched by the levels of generosity seen in this forum.

And please no sales call to any consultants out there. Don't call me, I'll call you. They are everywhere I tell you!.

Regards,
Eric

If the car is not accessible to the site, then you need something portable power by battery.
Here is my zero cost instant portable bird call gadget to share it with you.

"Play the loudest music phone like Nokia N73, N95, 5800 etc inside any cone shape object then aim the cone with the opening towards the sky." Done.

If your don't have a loud music phone, find an alternative such as MP3 player with built-in speaker. The cone can be any thing. As a matter of fact, My combination of Nokia N95 + cooking wok worked just fine though admittedly not as good as the ones powered by car stereo.

This post has been edited by aeiou228: Jan 15 2011, 08:41 PM

You may wanna try put together something similar to what I did & shared in V2 (link below).
It runs off a 12V motorbike battery so it should be portable for your site.
http://forum.lowyat.net/topic/938524/+1740
Best of luck.

Welcome to the swiftlet club.

For a cheap and effective bird call unit, you can use a type of amp that runs on Power Supply 230VAC and 12VDC costing anywhere from RM220 -350, two pieces of cheap tweeters costing RM3-20 and wires to suit you needs and the whole system can be hooked up to your car battery. It is affordable. I use the same amp for my BH.

Cergau, thanks for the link

This post has been edited by coolandy: Jan 15 2011, 09:38 PM

Yup, coolandy is right. You can get the same amplifier at Jln Pudu, $200-$230. After use, can reuse for ur new bh. Alternatively, can hire/buy from Sam Klang bh accessories shop too.

Audax amplifier also available nowaday. Just got a unit ac-dc type. Quality better others of similar class, with larger transformer and fan.

This post has been edited by Bobby C: Jan 16 2011, 01:08 AM

Guys, Thanks for the tips. Unfortunately I am in JB and I am not local either. If you can point me to shops in JB or Singapore that sells these items , that would be very much appreciated. Last week spent half a day in Singapore Sim Lim Tower looking for such items but not successful. However bought a Fluke infra red thermometer and a laser distance meter instead!

hope you have already identified the source of the "noise" issue.

analogue timers are easy to set up. Presumably yours come with battery backup. If not the dial will not be in sync with the correct time whenever there are power outages. I have stopped using the analogue timers as i find the digital timers more reliable and versatile. The battery backup last for days vs few hours in the case of analogue timers. When the power resumes, all the settings - clock, date, timing programs etc remains. The only drawback for digital timers is having to be careful when doing or redoing the settings, make sure there are no overlap. Once you have the hang of it, digital timers are just great gadgets.

The Hager EH711 analogue timer. French made, very popular among the old timers. Can say most old timer ONLY use this brand. New comers said it's expensive, better buy digital timer. Digital=modern Analogue=Grandfather.
Each interval setting is 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes on other cheap analogue timers. How reliable is it? A 2 year old Hager can still keep the clock running accurately after 15 days unplugged. It not only can be used to turn on and off electricity. Under certain circumstances it can be used to cut off sound signal of speaker cables. And easily set up as relay switch for player switching.
This timer even got imitation units from China and Korea. If it's lousy then who would bother to immitate it?


Attached thumbnail(s)

A cheaper alternative that performs the same task as Hager EH711 is Malaysian made Maxguard . I have both Hager and Maxguard relay timers which controls the switching of 4 amps. So far Maxguard keeps the timing and switching as good as Hager after several power outages over 1.5 years. I can only tell which one is better when the built in battery of either timer wears out. I bought the Maxguard for RM59 in june 2009. as compare to Hager at RM90+ at that time.

This post has been edited by aeiou228: Jan 16 2011, 01:22 PM

on eway is to just observe the BH nearby your area. how many, how old, number of birds etc. if all of them are new and not having lots of birds then you really need to do a bird call test.

See Seng's setup is absolutely correct. It is almost foolproof because when one is ON, the other is OFF and vice-vesa. I once visited a BH where a consultant used the cheaper alternative with no battery backup and after sometime, the time was off a little but enough to upset the on-off timings resulting in both amps shorted!

I also tried digital timers before and the unit I used was used for lighting but unfortunately, sometimes the fluorescent light blinks too long and the timer was reset.

Now all my timers are Hager but willing to try Maxguard if I can find it. Thanks aeiou228.

Yes folks, go for quality.

Hi everybody, I have 4 questions

about how much does a retractable alluminium ladder around 6-7m cost ?

I think it would be a worthwhile investment rather than using DIY wooden ladder for access to the entry hole and rooftop.
Safety and weight issues are the primary reasons for this.
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My partner insist on applying the pheromone but I would like to avoid buying from NT in JB, any other place to buy ?

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There are currently a few buckets of fermenting wet guano in paint buckets placed on 2rd and 3rd floor.
The 2nd floor bucket have tiny black flying insects while 3rd floor bucket have white crawling maggots inside, are there any precautionary steps I should do next ?
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The row of shophouses where my BH is located have pigeon-on-roof problem.
We have tried to seal up all the visible entry holes above our unit but the pigeons returns to roost near the swiftlet landing strip.
In a desperate attempt, we had to on ext and internal tweeters to discourage the pigeons from eventually entering even when the incomplete BH was lacking the correct internal bird song .mp3 thumbdrive.
The most recent visit we spotted pigeon droppings directly below the swiftlet's entry hole.
I have read on some blogs about certain products such as electric wire, razor wire, pigeon spike carpet but I don't want to turn the entry hole into a dangerous place.
Is there any solution to this problem ?


Thanks in advance, hope to contribute in the future when I have experience.


This post has been edited by BirdNest_Satay: Jan 17 2011, 12:42 AM

Is there any better idea to manage the bird shits in a BH ?

If you ask me, BS isn't a problem but no nest is. Let them shit where ever they want and how they want to do it in the BH...ha.h.aha.

Every cleaning, I need 35 to 40 bags full and I did it by rolling the fertilizer bags down the stair to save me energy otherwise I will be out of breath by the 3rd. times I climb up the stairs. Using plastic sheet isn't a good way to solve the waste problem as how to roll 30 bags full of BS in plastic sheets.... it's only practical for new BH and for new BH, shit isn't a problem as lack of shit is a problem. Sooner than you thought, you will get fed up with the cleaning of the plastic sheet and end up sweeping the BS like I do but now, I use my own designed PVC half pipe to pull the shit instead of sweeping the BS as all you need is to pull the PVC like Padi farming to a location and there, you put all BS into bags. Afterward, you may want to wash the BH as washing do remove most of mites in the BH.....like someone did ask how to remove mite without using chemical.

Someone may want to invent a vacuum cleaner to clean the BH as I have this idea of wanting to invent one but can't find the time to do it. Maybe, some young men may want to try this. This way, every thing including mites will be suck into the bags for disposal. One suggestion is to have the Vacuum unit outside and only the long hose in the BH so that the sound will be minimized.

It can work and the inventor will definitely make money.

Hope all agree with my opinion on the matter concerning shit management.

U from sarikei as well? Where do u plan to build your bird house? Most of the new BH in town especially premises one, doesnt show a good result unless u build beside BATA tauke or the coffin shops one. Because the town is sooo saturated with bird houses. But then recently the area near to the swimming pool got a lot of bird houses.

Thank you WW.
Friend told me he will harvest BN first before cleaning the BS to prevent BS dusts dirty the BN. Before cleaning, he will sprinkle water to dampen the floor a little before shoveling the BS to a pile.
My views on this method is that the sprinkle of water before cleaning is good to minimize dust gets airborne but disadvantage is the collected BS in the fertilizer sack is damn heavy to move out of the BH.
What is your opinion ?

Because the sweeping of BS cause the dusts to fly so now, I drag the BS instead of swiping and only shoveling the BS into bags away from the nests...
. By pulling the BS dry is a easy job but Wet BS is damn heavy so I don't wet the BS when using pulling the BS.

Using my new method, it talk less than a hour to do a job normally tale me 3 hours and plenty of dust in my nose......remember it's BS dust but I am still OK after so many years of doing the BS cleaning on my own, therefore, BS is safe; just look at me but then, better safe than regret later........use something to cover your noses. and alittle water spray over the BS will lessen the dust if you are to sweep the BS....try the dragging method and it fast and easy; only leaving very little remain to clear if you are the clean type.

Hope it can help you...

Run the humidifier for about 30 mins before clearing up the BS. it'll make the BS denser and therefore not fly so high but without making it heavy with too much water. Fine dust will settle quickly so you'll breathe less of that. Also use a surgical mask if it'll make you feel better.

The best method will be using a petrol or diesel powered blower that is blowing though a gunny sack. Attach the suction side to 3" PVC pipe system for each floor. Connect suction hose at each floor to be cleaned. This is relatively expensive as the motor, blower and suction hoses are expensive. Gunny sacks are also difficult to find nowadays plus it needs 2 persons to operate as the sacks fill up very quickly. If using electric motor, you can use a remote control but someone still has to empty or change the sacks.

Yes, born, bred there. St. Anthonian too! Looking at out of town maybe 15km out.

Hi,

Anyone try using dehumidifier in BH before?
Any comments or recommendation would be highly appreciated.