Dear Sifus,

I am totally new in swiftlet keeping and we are planning to build a standalone BH in Bentong. None of my friends involved in this have any experience in building a BH nor owning one. I have been following this thread since V1 and have certainly picked up some very good points as to how a good BH should be, many thanks to all unselfish gentlemen out there!

As we are working on with a limited budget, we just could not afford to engage consultants... besides those scary stories of some Please allow me to brief on this: The location is approx 4km away from Bentong town, on a piece of durian orchard with fish pond. There are already swiflet activities there during evenings and we think that its on the flying paths as its a big valley there. Genting can be seen there too. There are already 3 or more standalone BH near our place, within 2-3km I think. We plan to build it next to a fish pond, on a slight slope.

My questions to all sifus

1. Is there any difference in terms of productivity of a BH if we build it 2 or 3 storey? excluding the dog kennel.. The other side of the wall which faces the pond have no objects (overgrown trees etc) to block the birds from flying into it. Besides, its elevated about 6'-7' from the pond level. Will it have any effect on its the temperature and humidity?

2. Is Bentong area a hotspot area for swiftlet farming? How potential is this area?

Many thanks in advance!