Thanks for your response.

From observation, the birds fly into the East wing but only to the sections nearest the well(centre) not the innermost section near the eastern wall. In fact most of the nests on the 3 rd floor are in the East wing near the well.

Planks are new, unlikely to have mould but I will check.

There is very little shit from flying birds in this area even though there are 2 tweeters playing external sound at the wall.

There are no obstructions in the flight path as there are no columns or partitions in the entire BH.

My initial hunch too was 'difficult flight path' as per aeiou228.
You have entrance/exits with diff features.
The west entrance is a free fall to the airwell whereas the north and south ones require some gliding to the airwell.
Is your west entrance the more popular one?

If none of the suggested problems rings true...I will hazard a wild guess....sound turbulences (if ever there was such a thing)??
I will assume all your tweeters will face the entrances as such may cause/cancel/create a sound phenomena that the birds dun like at the East end?

Planks are new??? Does it give off a strong smell??
Insufficiently dry? Sun/kiln dried?

Long holidays give us so much time to play ! Also much time for the YBs to delay announcements arrgh the suspense.

There are 3 entrances, North, East and South. Many people have mistaken my doors as in/out holes so I've an improved picture uploaded.

All the planks are from the same vendor, same batch and had been installed 2 yrs ago. The birds have avoided this area since the first day.

Most popular in/out hole is the South hole as it overlooks a large unobstructed area. It has been noted that these birds like to fly over all obstructions and seldom fly in between trees, structures etc.

Judging from my case, birds prefer entrances that open over flat unobstructed areas of 50m or more. My north hole has the tree line about 30m away whereas the South hole is flat to 100m away. The East hole overlooks the flat roof and is the least popular though also used by the birds.

The North hole requires a clockwise turn, the South hole an anti clockwise turn and the East is a straight flight in.

Hi I am a new player in this field. Having been planed for my new BH, can someone enlighthed me of this new building material/method called LCM (stands for Lightweight Construction Methodology ) I am from Kedah and is there any company who can assist me in this type of construction?

Count it be your bird prefer some light? From the nests distribution, it show so.

East side is the darkest. You might want to put a low watt bulb that only turn on at 7am and off at 7.30pm to simulate the sun light.

90% of my nests at nesting plank that face the entrance hole. Some only 1 meter from my roving area.

Just back from Hari Raya Holiday; compliment from my birds...joking lah and happy to see alot of postings in the forum.

Just a warning to anyone who want to try lighting up any internal part of your BH.

Case history,,,,,,,,

A local BH owner after listening to his consultant, installed a florescence bulb near the entrance in the roving part of the BH because his consultant told him that it will increase his birds.

After installing the florescence lighting, the very next day, he came to see me and told me that the night before, he saw a hugh increment of birds in his roving area where the lighting was installed...............me knowing that he had make a silly mistake didn't tell him so as he has received his advice from his consultant so I leave it as it was. Next few days were the same good stories on how good his BH was but after a week, he reported that there were no more birds cycling around the light during the night.

Since he asked me why and my reply was that what he saw at the roving area were infact his own birds from the nesting area and he was disturbing the birds with the light during the night and he has scared away most of his birds. Sure enough, his next nests counting drop nearly by half although his BH has only 100 nests before the incident. Wonder where has the balance of the birds went and hopefully temporary and maybe.....hopefully, to my BH near the same area.

External lighting is OK but never internal lighting.

Beware and Be careful always.

Thank you for your response. I have always had suspicions it could be because of lighting, since as you pointed out that this area is relatively the darkest.

We have known for a very long time that new birds are afraid of the very dark areas and they eventually migrate to the darker areas after living in the BH for awhile. Which is why a new BH should be relatively bright to allow new birds to come in deep as soon as possible.

Several of my friends have found success in using low wattage light in very dark un populated areas.

I am not planning to use a light but would employ a more permanent and simpler solution as follows;
The East hole has enough sunlight in 7.30am to 10am to brighten the whole 3 rd floor that the west wing is almost as bright as outside but the East wing remains relatively very dark. The contrast is great especially for a bird flying at 30+mph and it may be 'blinded' by the darker area therefore avoiding it. Closing up the East hole partially and gradually may be the solution.

Before that, I plan to try out some aromas in part of that area to see if it will attract birds. In other parts I'll glue some nests in the corners to see if some lazy birds will use them.

Will report on the progress when I get everything together.

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Added on September 13, 2010, 1:11 pmMy neighbouring BH uses a flourescent light to keep owls away. This light is inside the roving area just above the in/out hole. Note that this light has been there since the first day and is always on

These birds do not like sudden changes to the conditions of their home, just as humans don't like to be disturbed.

Any new and sudden installation that will have an impact on the conditions of an existing BH will cause the birds some stress. Some are lucky some not.





This post has been edited by tuckfook: Sep 13 2010, 01:11 PM

Tuck Fook,

Notice the no bird zone located at the furthest end from your control room at the ground, correct me if wrong. Could it be the tweeters at the furthest end emit no sound as such attract no birds?

Thank you for your response,

Got birds everywhere except top floor East wing eastern most end section. Did not bother to mark middle and bottom floors in my pic..

You should check the volume of internal tweeters in this area. Are they working well?

Thank you for your response.

All tweeters are regularly checked and replaced if not working. In fact that was the first thing checked. Not only checked if they are working only but also checked if the correct sound is being played out as sometimes tweeters are faulty and make a crackling sound instead of the normal sound.

Usual things like sound, mould & wetness on planks, smell, draft, heat, humidity, signs of bats & owls or wasps etc are checked regularly.

At night after 8pm, light balance in the BH should be equally dark at all floors. Therefore I think the light balance during the day is the key factor. I'm of the opinion that birds decide the place for the nest during daytime.
There is a cheap and maintenance free solution to increase the lumen in the BH. Just tight a white colour plastic Carrefour shopping bags below the ventilation hole PVC elbow. You will get a soft and diffused light source in the dark area.
Try one corner with added light source without aroma and one corner with aroma only and please I wanna know the result too.

This post has been edited by aeiou228: Sep 13 2010, 11:44 PM

swiftlets will firstly arrive on the 3rd floor...hence you will notice more shit on the top floor since they will hang around there until they feel that the house is safe

then they might proceed to lower floors to find that the temperature / humidity's fluctuation is lesser than the top floor.

the lacking of swiftlets in a corner should not be of immediate concern since you have a large BH and after the house fills to the brim only should you be concern if still no swiftlets choose to stay there!

Yes you are right about the light balance.

Have tried putting styrofoams sheet under the vents but did not make any difference as i only have 2 vents there. I use electric ventilation fans instead of many small vents.

As soon as I get the aroma I'll try the experiment.

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Added on September 14, 2010, 2:55 pmYes you are right that I am not unduly worried at this small area's lack of birds which is why I'm going to use it for experimenting with aromas. It is also a long way before all the other places get filled up.

It is a good opportunity to try aromas etc.

Anyone wishing to let me experiment with their aromas are welcome to send me a sample. I will report all my finding factually in this forum. All aromas will be marked but anonymous except to me and the supplier. Only the successful aroma will be advertised if the supplier so wishes.




This post has been edited by tuckfook: Sep 14 2010, 02:55 PM

Hi West Wing

I read from a blog claimed that harvest helps to increase the numbers of birds and birdnests. My BH has approximately 100 nests now and I am considering to harvest them. But another blogger said it is wise to wait until the number of nests increase to 300 to 400.

Care to share your views?

Hello all BH owners,

I'm still new to this swiftlet farming thread. My dad has a 2-year-old BH which yields ~1.8kg of bird nests every 4-6 weeks. The BH occupies 2 units (floors) of his shops. He's just a passive 'farmer'. It's his friend who manages the BH for him and they split the harvest.

I'm interested to try building my own BH without relying on a third party like my dad's friend. I've read the book by Dr. Christoper Lim and would like to get my hands dirty. Next to my dad's existing BH, there's still a vacant unit (top floor) belongs to my dad. I suggested to him to allow me to use the unit as my testing ground. He's very sceptical because I have zero experience in this. So I'm going to gather more information and re-propose the idea to him. I have a few noob questions as following:-

1) Is it a good idea to build a new BH next to the existing BH?
2) Will this new BH "cannibalise" the existing BH?
3) Is it wise to hire a consultant? How much is the average consultancy fees. I've come across a few online but I don't know if the rate they charge is reasonable.
4) The construction of the BH will cost 50k now according to my dad. Is it so?
5) Do most of you DIY the construction of the BH?

That's for now. I hope any kind souls here will be able to help with my questions. I apologise in advance if my questions have been asked before in this thread.

Thank.

This post has been edited by iamsobloodysick: Sep 14 2010, 09:02 PM

Hi, I disagree with it but then I would like to add is that after harvesting, the next few days will see alot of birds flying above the BH as most of your own birds will need assurance before entering unlike before and this will bring many other birds nearby to fly in to have a look as swiftlets are curious in nature just like us human. When you see so many people around a certain area, you also will be anxious to see what in there, wiil you? Even more if you drop the eggs on the floor, the eggs smell will attract even more into your BH but never do it as it will lose some of those first timed new birds which may migrate to your neighbouring BHs. Secondly, it is against the Haiwan Law and also haram in any religion.

Harvesting or not, I will harvest some of it ( only those whose birds have fledged) but allow others to remain so that my birds will be OK and not feel unsure and unsafe. Harvest only where there are many nests but don't harvest all....leave some for their confidence.

Case history again,...........during the 3rd year, one of my BH has 2K nests but since I was busy for nearly 6 months, I didn't even enter the BH not to mention harvesting but to my surprise, the nests has increased 1.5 K during the period..........

I inderstand your impatience as I did during my first BH.......and the first collection, you will not even want to sell your nests but to try it yourself and take my words for it...it's really taste so good...................mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

My experience to share with you if you agree with my view and suggestion.

just wondering... larger BH = more birdie?

there`s this guy near my place build 3 blocks of 6storey BH

Hi J, remember me ? I'm your customer. So.... you want to do it in Kajang ?

1) I'm not sure whether it is still a good idea to build a BH in town but building a new BH next to a existing successful BH is not a bad idea.
2) The new BH will definitely share the birds from the surrounding BH. But to me, the more the merrier. Off course not too many BH in one area.
3) If you have all the money but time, why not ? But it's fun to DIY too. You can learn better.
4) Got cheap and expensive way to do it. some people DIY 2 floors spent RM15k only for complete set up.

1) if given a choice i will not build at ' so call town'
2) other will build also
3) DIY will learn more n better. Think b4 any final decision
4) I just completed renovate a double storey in klang valley, 20 X 70 n total cost approximately Rm 15k n that excluded CCTV system. it a open roof type.