Just for my knowledge.

1. KILN DRIED planks. Do plank after kiln chamber drying produce any smell.
During old days, we insisted on sun dryed planks and not KD as we are afraid of the chemical if any in the chamber. Since I am no expert in the kiln chamber process, maybe you can enlighten me and maybe if good, I may also used KD planks.

2. I have seen some white fungus that grow in meranti wood and they look just like BN base layer until I have a closer look at the fungus. It's rubber like type of fungus and I recommended it to be removed with steel brush and water or any better suggestion?

Hi tweeter

planks get moldy only if they are moist over a prolong period due to contact with water or if they are not dried properly after they are sawn from the logs. As mentioned by aeiou, kiln dry is best if you have not installed the planks yet.

If the planks are dry enough the high humidity even at 95% is unlikely to cause molds. So make sure the planks are not moisted from mist humidifier or roof leaks etc.

I have no problem with my air dried red meranti as well. What type of wood are your planks? From the write-up you posted susceptabilty to molds also depends on wood types.

Today I checked my ceiling temperature as it had been cloudy for 3 days running.

Max. was 27.5 deg.C   min. was 26 deg.C. that's not ideal for hatching eggs fast. I hope the sun will come out soon. If the next few days remain cloudy, it might get colder.

I am wondering if anyone has employed some system of heating to maintain optimum selected temperature. May not be required very often but nice to have when needed.

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Added on December 6, 2010, 12:39 pm
Hey, no wonder that they say, birds of the same feather fly together. Like me and you, because a few days ago, I was toying with the idea of using heater in the BH during monsoon time and what best way to do it without overheating the BH.

Any bright idea.

I have a friend who has tried almost all the aroma in the market. You name it, he has got it before.

For some it worked, for some, it didn't. That is not the way to move forward. A doctor cannot prescribe a medicine that is not proven.

The importance of other factors in making a BH successful is not disputed. What I need to established is the importance of aroma in luring the birds to make love or at least stay at the spot where the aroma has been applied.

I can take pictures of my BH where hundreds of birds group together but no aroma has been applied. There are also places where the birds do not gather.

Making aroma is not that difficult if you apply basic sciences to it. Extracting oil from the feathers and distilling it is not rocket science. So are other methods. At the end of the day, the efficacy of the aroma needs to be established. Some promoters are real gentleman, only claim aroma is complementary. Some claim like IT IS the magic. So why not subject them to a proper test?

This challenge so far is sponsored by myself and another forumer. The results however will be posted in this forum for all to see.

Let's see how many aroma promoters are willing to subject their products to this test. After all, you don't want to give untested medicine to your sick child.

Good post tuckfook.

Some say large planks result in nest with less feathers and even illustrate the "postures" of the bird in large and small planks.

In my BH, I experimented from 2"  to 5" planks. From my observations, there is no correlation between plank width and feathers in EBN. I have ebns adjacent to each other, one very clean and the other more feathers. I could be wrong and need to experiment more.

There are very clean ebns on all the sizes and feathery ones too but more often than not, a lot more clean ones than heavily-feathered ones. Having said that, a few buyers mentioned that my ebns are much cleaner than the one in the market from the same area.

Hmm, still trying to figure out why and has been bugging me for a long time to come up with a scientific explanation. Hope some sifus can shed some light on this matter.

how do u clean the taiwan humidifer? Mine is pretty dirty and one of it malfunction. Do u clean ur humidifier frequently? alot of bird shit

TQ Tweeter,
I believe many here will appreciate your posting of the site and although it is in Thai, the picture should explain it so well that anayone shall now be able to maintain his Taiwanese Humidifiers without any problem at all.
TQ, again.

Hi all,

it's really glad to see that everyone here is willing to share your experiences in Swiftlet farming. So nice of you all!

.......

Close ALL other V.holes when operating the air-sucking-out process. Turn on timing as advised.

All will be well.

A blessing in disguise ( who knows:  find out when BH operate after a year)

A seasoned environment for swiftlets quicker !

Let's TC if you don't mind

With so much in the internet, you really don't need a consultant but rather a good contractor to make your BH as one friend just mentioned to me the other day, " I can get basically everything about swiftlets in the net"

Rightfully said but just you need to distinguished the Rights from the Wrongs or rather I would say"Bull Shit"!!! (If birdshit, then it is OK)

There are equally amount of good information as well as bad information so you only need to be careful and filter when selecting what you need to do so this forum is a best forum to forward your worries.

Likewise, there isn't a prefect way of doing BH cos everywhere is different in solving teething problem with BH or rather I would say just use your big brain to ponder and you may come out with a better solution to your problem. Having PHD in the field (I don't believe there is one anyway) isn't going to ensure 100% birds success and if there is one solution to all problems, then he must by now a Billionaire.......@ Rm4K a kilo.

Coming to my TC, one very closed friend that went into one of my BHs and before he ask his question, I told him what he is thinking why the entrance to the lower floor is only 2 by 3, I told him that long ago, when I first did this BH, I was worried that the local government will disallow BHs @ town so I did the lest damage to the building in case I need to restore the building and also that I would accidentally fall into the hole. I was surprise that the birds just start their buz at the lower floor and since then, I allow the entrance hole to be at it was till now. Why disturb and renovate when the lower floor has over thousand of nests.

If the birds don't mind, why should I?????
Thanks for hearing my TC story and if of help to you, I shall be happy.