For a new BH,

(1)can forum members recommend a good song for the center sound (internal)? What type of sound is normally used for the center sound? Inap? Population?

(2) In terms of volume, how should this be set for :
a) pooling sound for the hexagon speakers
b) entrance hole
c) roving area
d) nesting

For example, should the pooling sound be softer/louder/same as entrance? Roving vs Entrance, Internal vs Roving, Internal Center vs Internal surround/side.

Selamat Hari Raya to all my Muslim friends and Happy Holidays to everyone. May multitudes of AF invade your BH and the price of raw EBN reach US$2500/kg. again.

hi ,

i am quite new in this venture and have the following questions:

1. found 4 t0 5 eggs drop on the swiftlet shits below the nest (same spot). what is the possible reason for this.

2. found 1 baby swiftlet with feathers already dead on the floor below nest (this particular nest has 2 baby birds). what is the possible reason.

hope senior members with similar case or knowledge can help.

thanks alot .

Check the temp. Of yr. Bh . Sound like it's too cold. Usually happen on the ground floor.

thanks a lot ben for the advice. will set up my data logger at that spot.

Check the dropped eggs if the shell is soft if u have many non-hatched eggs on the floor. If soft means dead eggs due to over temp. Parents kick the dead eggs out to make room for new eggs. Eggs can survive up to 35-36dg nesting spot temp but not more than that. Got to stick your data logger on the ceiling to get nesting spot temp.

See Seng,

It is always pleasant to read your post again. :-)

hi,

thanks, will do as suggested

Dear Sifus,

It's finally time for the moment i've been waiting for! First! Yes! First Harvest!

I've been asking around abt harvesting alot. The most confusing now for me is whether to
1) turn on the BH lights for harvesting? or
2) use a torch light?

Many BH owners say use a torch light, but some of my friends say turn on the light within the bh....

Would appreciate if sifus here can shed some light on the matter.

Thanks!

Turn on the lights, it is safer for yourself, there are people whom actually fall to their death inside their BH.

I would turn on the lights on the particular floor I'm working on and leave the other floors dark, since it is your first harvest it would probably wouldn't take a very long time anyways.

Another interesting note, I once forgot to turn the lights OFF for the ground floor of a 3 storey BH for abt 2 weeks. When I went back to the BH for inspection I found the birds roving around as usual like the lights didn't affect them at all, very strange

This post has been edited by northface: Sep 2 2011, 08:41 PM

If temp is 35 to 36 the birds would have abandon your BH and therefor no eggs. So is most probably is too cold. If you, like so many new BH owners entering your BH trying to count your birds at night this will spooked your birds resulting loss of eggs and chicks.

hi ben,

for your info. i did not enter the BH during the night. if in fact is the coldness, any suggestion how to increase the temperature.
the coldest temp. recorded at the center of BH is 25 degree.


cheerss

If your BH is standalone and located close to plantations/jungle during night it is possible the temperature can go down to 25 C. You can try sealing off some ventilation holes and see how it goes.

Don't be alarmed is there is one or two eggs on the floor, only if there's a lot you should be alarmed. Just like some fledglings will fall down from the nests while learning to fly and perish, it is just natural selection. Nothing much you can do abt it unless you are inside the BH 24/7 .

Thanks! Indeed my first concern would b safety of the harvester! And my observation did tell me that light is not really so big of an issue to the birds. It is humans that they r scared of.
I will turn in the lights then for harvesting. =)

From my observation thru the years

1. For urban BHs, there shall not be a problem of temperature @ night as the walls will slowly release the heat accumulated during the day. The problem of too cold may only apply to BHs @ Agriland.
2. I only find too hot esp. on ceiling and wall @ BHs that seem to be of a problem and by raising the humidity do solve the problem most of the time but as for the ceiling being too hot, no bird will build nest there so you need to find way to prevent the heating up of the ceiling by many methods like using Styrofoam over the ceiling or adding extra layer of asbestos or some using water or even to the extend of adding another roofing over the roof.
3. Light is definitely a problem so refrain from using light in the nesting area unless necessary as in darkness, you will be just a pillar to the birds to avoid but with lighting, you are another predator.
4. Less disturbance to the BH will ensure better increment to your BHs.
5. Some people try not using humidifiers in their BHs or possible because there isn't water supply to the bhs and there are some reported of success but from my point of view, these are due to the facts that their area maybe normally at agriland where cold and dampness arise without the usage of any help.

Just my points of views to share if you agree but if you don't, please enlighten me.

Does this industry still got future? Price 3.4k now. So ridicolous low

What is the require documentations for export the processes/unprocessed raw bird nest to China at this timing?

As i know below is required doc.
1. Health Certificate from DVS
2. COO
3. Form E from MITI
4. Microbiological analysis report from DVS
5. Invoice.

Do we need ?
1. export permit from Jabatan Perhilitan? (Somebody tell me no need already, i am no sure )
2. Report for Sodium Nitrite ?
3. others???

Another Question is , Health Certificate issue by DVS consider export permit ?
or we need another export permit from DVS ? and How ?
or any registered company can export bird nest without any export permit?
I am confuse.

Thanks for help in advance.

One buyers mentioned Rm3700 for 1/2 cups but actually, there is no quote at the moment on EBN for Indo as the authorities in China is now taking action against illegal EBN and I presume over 90% of nests in China are illigally exported from Indo into China thru HK and that's the reason that cause the so called Crisis of SN in the nests supposely from Malaysia but actually from Indonesia under water thru HK. Documents of trade like import invoice maybe fraud easily

Therefore, all retail outlets and importers are stop buying and infact trying hard to hide nests not imported legally and therefore, here we experience a time where there is no quotation for EBN and what price quoted are from local middlemen trying to speculate and even buyers for Vietnam which is buying our corner nests are lowering the price of these nests since they are offering Rm3700 for half cup and what about 1/4 cup nests which should fetch lower than the 1/2 cup ones.

The right price for 1/4 nests should be the same @ Rm3500 as the manufacturers @ Vietnam aren't affected by the crisis in China. One buyer in Malaysia even quoted everything, 1/2 or 1/4 cup and even broken ones @ Rm3100...

So, my advice is to hold back and not to sell as by selling will only cause the price to drip further downward.

This post has been edited by West Wing: Sep 5 2011, 10:40 AM

Sifu WW,

Very nice explanation of things happening right now. I got the same quote, Rm3000/kg for both 1/4 and 1/2 cup all lump together from some middleman. Like any commodity, prices would always fluctuate, and in this case the fluctuation isn't caused by the real demand and supply but by the actions of certain parties and the subsequent government actions.

I agree not to sell low, if you need to sell very low because you need money you can call me, haha just kidding. Anyways, hopefully the Chinese government can give a clarification on this issue soon.
If only they would come up with the conclusion that "Red/blood nests are fake and white nests are real" then everything should be back to normal in no time.

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Added on September 5, 2011, 11:53 amFound an interesting article for sifus here that can read chinese:

http://finance.qq.com/a/20110905/001361.htm



This post has been edited by northface: Sep 5 2011, 11:53 AM

I am just being paranoid. This may be just testing water by China and watch the reaction before forcing the producer to sell all raw BN to china and have them process to China 's standard.

This will then open up thousands of BN processing plant and create hundreds of thousand of jobs in china . Also imagine the saving in foreign exchange!!!

Just my paranoid mind.