sosos, just do this : wipe with your bare hand(no smell) the place you suspect has mold, put your hand near to your nose, SMELL IT.

No smell - > No mold. Bird sleeps peacefully.
Smell (the smell is like the smell of something you've kept for a very long time) - > Mold. Wipe with thinly damp cloth, reduce the RH & ventilate BH by installing exhast fans at selected Ventilation holes.

No need to call,pm,email,write me to fix this issue. FREE world. FREE to learn. Fee, if NOT to learn.

mold is not a major concern if localised...i think renovating ur birdhouse when it is doing okay will do more harm then good...

just try lower the humidity and increase fresh air flow within the birdhouse....

go visit your bh in a months time and if there is growth, then just leave it...the mold will die and birds with build nest on the mold...just like inside my birdhouse....isolated areas of molding...

there is no perfect birdhouse out there and there is no one solution to solve all problems...most importantly is you observe your own birdhouse and conduct minor tweaks till perfection (or until you are happy with result)...

my two cents...and from engineering my bh's conditions

I did an experiment on the effects of high heat air on fungi spores on 18th Jan 2011.
I used a heat gun to blow mold infested planks @ 600°C for few minutes. I also leave a mold infected plank untreated as comparison sample. Lets see what happen 1 month later.
Unfortunately, I forgot to take the pictures of mold infested planks before the treatment.

This post has been edited by aeiou228: Jan 24 2011, 10:48 AM

Why waste time experimenting ; )

Use all natural materials that will kill the mould and their spores as well as preserve it for a long time.

Alcohol : methylated spirit, ethanol, methanol all easily available and will kill most fungi, mould & bacteria on contact. This also evaporates and will not therefore remain to poison the birds. Water also dissolves in alcohol and will also dry the wood.

Who knows, maybe Mabok birds might make randy birds ! Mabok humans are usually so !

Tannic acid is a natural preservative found in wood, it is red in colour and probably the ingredient that is giving red meranti it's colour.

Tannic acid will readily dissolve in alcohol.

Mix 100% meth. or ethanol with 5% max. tannic acid by weight. Apply with brush and it will do the job. Use hair dryer if you need the wood to dry faster.

Tannic acid may make the nests a red hue but you can be assured that it is safe because tannic acid is used in leather, wines, etc. certified safe by all food and drug authorities.

I should get paid for this !

Aiyoo...Great info la tuckfook I asked about the safest method to eliminate BH mould long time liau and now only you tell.
But what kind of shop in KL selling these type of stuff ? Hardware shop ?

This post has been edited by aeiou228: Jan 24 2011, 02:01 PM

what is the smell of mold???
i smell it like smell kayu.....is it mold?thanks

open exhast fans ???what time should i open it?how long the time i open exhast fans ?
...thanks

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Added on January 24, 2011, 3:14 pmthanks all sifu give detail....solution

any one can see my photo ,which one is got mold?

how about my original plank 1 year ago??

This post has been edited by sosos: Jan 24 2011, 03:14 PM

Any company that wholesales chemicals and pharmaceuticals(medicines) will be able to sell you all you want but if you go to Pharmacies it'll cost you perhaps 10 times more.

A colouring, usually red, is added to Methanol(wood alcohol, methylated spirit) to identify it as well as make it unpalatable because if taken internally to make one mabok, it can turn the person blind.

Ethanol(colourless) is denatured to make it undrinkable for medical use but it is the same alcohol found in booze, sometimes sold as surgical spirit. Pure ethanol is taxed heavily according to percentage and volume which will make it very very expensive.

Either alcohol can be sold as surgical spirit but no colouring and denatured so that you cannot drink it. That is what I use.

Do not use Rubbing Alcohol as it contains oils and perfumes.

Tannic acid comes as a light brown powder. This you have to ask for small packaging as it comes in 20kgs. packs for industrial use.

In Penang, I purchase all chemicals from Liangtraco, Chulia street.

hi all,

just want to ask, there are wide range of tweeters that can be bought online with fairly good price, but i didn't know what type of tweeter to choose from since locally used tweeters doesn't tell what and which type is it...

done some googling on audax and cheapo tweeters but none of it does not mentioned whether it is compression or dispersion type... can someone tell me which one is better for swiftlet farm since my brother bought both of it online yesterday and i can have a pair of it for bird call...

Dear Friends,
Was wondering if any forumers here have BH (s) in Gambang?
Thanks

yea, not easy to enforce but still have to let them know in advance and keep reminding them during inspection rounds. If not, the workers will use those planks for all sorts of things, make scaffoldings, take a nap or have lunch on it. If you are lucky the birds might like their sweat or nasi lemak smell.

I wud just get them to wash it immediately and they usually get the message.

Yesterday, a gang of 4 thieves tried to break into some BHs and one was caught. He was kicked and beaten and then Police came and took him away.

Someone in the crowd recognized the thief. He and his gang have broken into many BHs @ Kuantan so there isn't any use to forgive or pardon such people as they never change and they will be at their buz again very soon when he recover from the beating.

From what I heard, this is how they operate. They are all chinese and 4 are men and one is a woman. The woman is responsible for selling the stolen nests and the rest will steal. One thing that I am surprised when I saw their harvesting tools, they are the same as what we used and they even use water so that the harvested nests can fetch high price. Seem like they take their time to harvest your nests so be careful during the CNY.


So, best break a leg or hand to prevent them from committing the crime again and I am not being cruel as these aren't human but devils in human clothing only....and they never repent....may God forgive me for saying so.

They are from Kuantan and since Kuantan BH owners are watching over them very closely, they have begin their Buz in Kmn and since they are caught, they will be very soon move to Dungun or K.T, or maybe to Pekan, Gambang or Rompin, I guess. So, my friends in these area will need to be careful.

Just my opinion only........Have a happy and good Chinese New Year.

This post has been edited by West Wing: Jan 26 2011, 01:22 PM

Same thing happen over sarawak here. In my place, there are 2 men who tried to steal my uncle bird nests. The first time they succeed. The second time they try to break in, 2 of them were caught on spot. A group of 5 people which are my uncle friends and nearby BH owners, beat them with baseball bat and some woods. Then my uncle join the party by kicking them . If not mistaken one of their legs were broken. The other one just bleeding and sent to the police station. This thing happened 1-2 years ago. Since then, we tighten our security measures and nothing happen so far. I wonder how to break in if we use steel/concrete doors? Go in through monkey house would be suicide unless they have tactical gears.

I don't think that there is any BH that cannot be broken into by a determined thief.

We can only try to make it more difficult for them but then they will go for somebody else's BH

Steel/concrete doors but surrounding walls are bricks. Unless RC walls with reebars. Similarly at the roof.

Check the door hinge too, a lot of people overlook it. One knock on the hinge the whole door collapse

This post has been edited by Bobby C: Jan 27 2011, 11:22 AM

I think most BH now installed the hinges from the inside.

This afternoon between small drizzle saw about 150 swiftlets playing above other BH about 80m from mine.
My first time seeing such an amazing sight up close Hopefully some of them will come visit my place in the future.

Happy new year everybody ~

Dear All have a happy new year . I wish you all my friends good health and many good years ahead of you. may Your BN business prosper.

It has been a very fruitful year for myself and enjoying every minute learning so many new technic and thanks to so many friends from this blog who are so willing to share their knowledge with me.

Special thanks to Pak Han and our HM group for their support and helping me with designs and suggestions.

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.

Gong Xi Fa Cai to all.
May our swiftlets breed like rabbits.

Kong Xi Fatt Chai everyone!

Back to home town Sarikei, Sarawak. Tried bird call test a couple of times. At 10 am, maybe abt 100 birds. 2 days later, 100-200 birds at 6.30pm. 2 days later at 6.30pm less than 20. The next day at abt 10am less than 10. Confusing results. Shld I go ahead with the building of the bH? Intend to keep on testing till I have to go back Johor next week.