tuckfook,

cleaning nests with air compressor is a new idea to me. May I know what sort of air compressor you use and how much it cost. When I think of air compressors; I normally think of the heavy equipments at tyre shops or workshops but I understand that there are portable models that are more suited and less expensive to bird nest farmers.

Tuckfook,

Thanks for sharing the idea of cleaning bird nests with air compressor; now when buyers are picky, any good way to improve the condition of the nests for better prices is always welcome.

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Added on October 28, 2012, 4:23 pmJust a note of caution when it comes to using air compressor. Every so often, one would read in the newspaper of such incident where an unfortunate fellow would become a tragic victim in which his fellow technicians or foremen (when business is lax in the workshop) would gang up on one whom they like to bully and after the victim was overpowered and his trousers taken down; the business end of a hose from an air compressor would be inserted into his rectum for the fun of it... and guess what... the victim's rectum and intestine would be ripped apart by the force of the compressed air.... don't aim it at the face of someone or yourself for the matter as the eyes might be injure by the compressed air... don't play play when it come to any power tools... safety first.

This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Oct 28 2012, 04:23 PM

I seldom wear mask (good quality type reusable after washing) when I go to work inside a farm except when it comes to cleaning the guano... I think for health reason, one must use mask to prevent the dusts and bacteria from guano going into our lungs.

I think WW's idea of using vacuum cleaner is a bright idea as most of us already have one and if not, they are much cheaper than air compressor. Its great to have such discussions that result in more than one solutions to a problem.
I believe that some or most vacuum cleaner can switch to become a blower... so one can try blowing or sucking (naughty minds!) and see which action is more effective...

However, I think the air compressor is probably the much more powerful tool.

This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Oct 29 2012, 10:04 PM

How about using an industrial fan? Will it be more powerful if we attach a sort of funnel to the face of the fan that would concentrate the air into a smaller hole where we hold the nest for cleaning.

Hi WW,

Instructions for uploading photo/image file to forum:

1) At FAST REPLY, see and click MORE OPTIONS

2) Down the bottom, see FILE ATTACHMENTS

3) Click the BROWSE button and navigate to find your photo/image file at FILE UPLOAD box (for example if store at DESKTOP)

4) Then click to select the file

5) Then click to select ADD THIS ATTACHMENT and soon you will see a file of your photo/image registered under FILE ATTACHMENT that give you details of the name of the file and its size

6) Then finally, click ADD REPLY

This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Nov 1 2012, 01:15 AM


Attached thumbnail(s)

WW,

Less kung-fu power in computer is OK;
Most important is powerful kung-fu in nests producing...

Tuckfook,
Thanks for providing the data about the industrial fan and other answers to queries...
You should design a search engine especially for the swiftlet farming community;
something like google but is known as tuckfook....

Hope you are not embarrass by this public compliment...


This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Nov 1 2012, 07:06 PM

I bought a freezer few months ago... but did not bother to use after using it once after storing for a period. The freezer is about 2ft tall x 2ft wide and 4 feet long; cost me $810.

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Added on November 2, 2012, 9:15 pmI knew Charles briefly and after a period of correspondence, there was silence on his part until someone informed that he passed away from lung cancer. He told me that he was planning to visit Malaysia and might drop by for a visit at around May this year... well...

The little I know of him was his generosity; such as in sharing his DIY projects on his various blogs... there was as you mentioned- the fuciphaga pedia, which was his conception of a project to scientifically understand the various asppects of swiftlet farming enterprise in depth. This project promises much labor and pain for him but maybe to him, it must also means a stimulating intellectual challenge.

Although he was very well off and had an interesting life wondering and exploring the South East Asia region while making his living as an intrepid forex trader which was underpinned by his great love of maths. Yet, he had genuine emphathy for the less fortunates so much that he became an activist in helping to sponsor a school (for orphans?) in Thailand.

His style of conversation is clear and gentle and his generosity in his desire to share findings shines through. Its very sad that he died so prematurely when there is so much he had yet to furfil but its sometimes observed that Man proposes and god disposes... All we can see is that life can be so unexpected in all the twists and turns... Yet he seemed to have lived life to the fullest as in living the motto-Carpe Diem (To seize the day)while he was alive and his magnificent swifltet farm which was the result of him utilizing all his scientific skills to plan and build will now serves as a tangible monument to his genius and the success of which will serves to take care of those loved ones he left so grudgingly behind.

Allow me who counted as his friend to eulogize him with the eloquent words of Ralph Waldo Emerson who in an eulogy to his friend-Henry David Thoreau, observed:

"Where there is love,
where there is beauty,
he will find a home."

Hunting boars? Your skill as a boar hunter might come in useful when huge man made or natural disasters struck... such as those survivalists in US who prepared bunkers and cabins with years of provisions... hunting boars not only provide meat on the table but also a means to defend yourself from marauders out for supplies... see how someone even pulled a gun at a petrol station in New York City follwing the perfect storm-Sandy in order to get supply of gasoline for his vehicle. Then there are reports of looting and criminals taking the golden opportunities to prey on others....

As to your observation that many others who have information but are surprisingly reluctant to share...
I think there is already much sharing of info in places such as this forum as well as in the various blog...
And I think it may ask too much for all experienced farmers to simply throw out all the knowledge that they have painfully gathered over the course of years of farming.... many experienced farmers would share in a gathering of trusted comrades (the ideal as envisioned by Charles) but see no point to bare all they know as this industry is in fact highly competitive... As it is, the novices now are much more fortunate in having so much free info at their disposal unlike several years ago. Would it be asking too much for them to do a spot of studying all that were stated and discussed in this forum for example, rather than being spoonfeed?

This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Nov 2 2012, 09:22 PM

Greetings fellow swiftlet farmers,

Solved the mystery of second hand planks as mentioned in a previous posting. Not actually a mystery as second hand means the planks were take off from an existing farm. Anyway, there is at least one farm in my town that had renovated the farm back into previous condition for rental. And I heard from a friend of hearing at least one case in Raub and also at Kuala Pilah. Myself witnessed first hand a demolished farm at a nearby town in which two story were being renovated back thus ending the farm after a few years of operation. Several weeks ago, me and a friend were asked to collect the planks which had been taken down. We took away probably 2 tons of planks of which I kept 1/3 for future usage. Thus the swiftlet industry is at a nadir of which a number had decided to cut their losses and say sayonara to this overpromise/underdeliver industry. One can only hope that things will get better as we should be at the very bottom where the only direction to go is up... let just wait and see if the Chinese New Year of 2014 have good news for us.

I look into my crystal ball and I see future prospects should be ok... I feel frustrated but what to do but wait and see what will eventually unfold.
Many believe that prices will not go up above $4000 per kilo like before
I sold a few kilos the other day and the price sucks with a good portion selling below 1 K due to less than good condition. The trader mentioned that the broken down bits and pcs went for over $2,000 back in the good old days; now only the high quality big snow white yen chan can hope to fetch such "high" prices.

I forgot to mentioned an acquaintance told me how sick he felt like many others and when I mentioned people demolished their farms and turning them back into ordinary unit for rental... he told me about his friend who operated two story farm in a three story shop. He decided to close down the bottom floor and renovated it back.... and later, he went so far as also to stop the top floor farm which already has over 100 nests!

Maybe there will be a breakthrough in scientific findings about the special properties of bird nests that will see consumers clamoring for bird nests once again.... but probably a robust market of consumers with cash to spare is the basic requirement although the memory of adulterated toxic red nests have to go away first from the minds of burned consumers... and also the lifting of the ban of nests from China for not just cleaned nests but more importantly, raw nests.

From insecticides, lets us go to another topic also about liquid use in swiftlet farms ... I am talking about aromas or potions. Anyone has direct experiences with such products or have reliable info from genuine reports via friends or relatives using them?

I had used a potion from an established vendor several years ago before I launched my second farm. If I am not mistaken, the product was termed as "liquid engineering" and supposed to transform a new farm into an old farm that should be more liable to attract swiftlets to stay and make nests. It was quite expensive and I also bought aromas in 4 liter bottles that supposedly attract birds to stay... but it must not be spray on the planks... I did not find them useful and stop buying them but then I cannot say they are no good as my farms then were very badly designed and renovated... I also bought some potions from another vendor which I had high expectations (can be spray directly on planks) but also no results but cannot say anything bad as my farms were then still in lousy conditions...

Recently, I decided to give a brand of potion a try again in view that there has been no nest growths in my farms... problem of stagnant. So I tried principally by spraying the potion directly on the planks... I concentrate my experiment on my more successful farm which have a few hundred nests... I also sprayed about half of the farm at the roving and nesting areas... leaving the other half more populated area as control and also to better conserve the expensive product. So I had been spraying the planks since a few months ago... at an interval of 1, 2 or 3 weeks.... so far, I cannot see much difference... the various vendors would provide before and after photos of nesting areas that are almost empty (before) and densely populated (after) following the use of the aromas. But such "evidences" can be easily contrived. Similar to supposed "powerful" and highly "effective" swiftlet sounds.... for all we know, they could be using stress sounds in their video "evidence". I had bought a number of supposedly effective sounds from "famous" sifus and most of them are duds. Anyway, I still have about a liter of the product and will continue to spray at my selected planks consisting about half of my farm... this will be my final experiment with such product pending the final results after I finish up the leftover. However, at this point in time... I am sceptically that it will help to increase nest growth.

So anyone have stories and care to share their experiences with aromas? Whether you think they are valuable or a waste of money?

I have no wish to disturb any vendors' rice bowls... So I suggest anyone giving feedback not to name the vendors or the brands of aromas or potions especially if they have negative experiences. In this matter, I would like to follow the counsel of Benjamin Franklin who advised: "Speak ill of no man, but speak all the good you know of everybody."

Yet it would be helpful to the many farmers out there struggling with little nests syndrome or stagnant problems to have info from fellow members other than from vendors only... after all as a Chinese saying goes: "Those who sell flowers will say their flowers are very fragrant." And such products does not come cheap which hits especially hard when nests had seen such dramatic decline in price for over two years.

This post has been edited by philoswiflet: Sep 8 2013, 09:32 PM

Thanks all who participated in this discussions for the feedbacks on this issue. Its is said that extraordinary claims require extraordinary proofs.
So we have extraordinary claims by most of the aromas/potion vendors supposedly back up by various "evidences", either before and after photos, videos of interior farms with many birds, or testimonies from supposed satisfied users. These are very weak "evidences" that can be easily manipulated and contrived. Buyers will often try the products at their own risks and it the product is not up to par, then they will put it down to tuition for experiences and move on. Only recently, we have cases of primary students consuming "smart pills"!

I guess now it is up to farmers themselves to make up their own minds... often farmers thought that with some money, they can solve their problems relating to some problematic aspects of their farms. Where there is a market, there is a supply and there are always less than scrupulous vendors out to take advantage of the ignorance and credulity of consumers. That is why business still require trust for when vendors earned the trust of their customers, they will have repeat business and also referrals whereas when customers found that that had been taken for a ride, they will simply stop. So conclusion is that guono is still the best bet as aroma.

"Our life is frittered away by detail. Simplify, simplify, simplify! I say, let your affairs be as two or three, and not a hundred or a thousand; instead of a million count half a dozen, and keep your accounts on your thumb-nail."

- Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862)

I also read about the amazing endurance of the Alpine swift and think that its a good metaphor for swiftlet farmers in that we should have their level of endurance to survive until the breaking of the dawn with increases in prices for birdnests.

Negative news in Selangor for swiftlet farmers in which the state government plans a phasing out of swiftlet farms from urban areas starting from 1st January 2014. This will mean a tough fight for survival.

This long long wait for the upturn in birdnests prices is so draining.
Any rises in prices of birdnests for this coming CNY season?
Still the break-ins occur even as the prices remain in the doldrums.
Only those with large populations in the farms are still doing well...
Strange that such a promising ventures can turned out to be so challenging in so many ways...

Very sorry to hear WW got caught in the flood... 6 feet is very dangerous... must be very careful not to fall into the water. This time, the flood is fast and bad... and this is just the beginning of the flooding season.

Anyway, I wonder if any experienced farmers care to clarify whether birds will fly to other farms if their nests were repeatedly harvested before or after eggs are laid? Heard some farmers are doing this...

Wonder whether this current flood havoc has anything to do with the climate changes such as the recent Haiyan storm that devastated part of the Philippines?

Farms that are not well care for during this rainy season may see molds on their planks especially if they are of poor quality. I believe many farms in the flooded region may see water going into their ground floor and cutting off the water and electricity supplies.
So many challenges in life!

It will not be the end for existing swiftlet farming in urban and semi urban areas. Street protests is of little use as farmers are in the minority. One way is via the legal avenue.

Would prices of ebn go up to 4,000 range next year?
Yes, if the cow can jumps over the moon.

Maybe if scientists discover that ebn can cure cancer or can enable people to live to 120 years healthily, then ebn will not only go up to 4,000 but even surpassed it to break the old record of 6 to 7K.....

But all this is idle talk... to reach 2K for average grade nests would be a godsend for now. My neck is long like a giraffe waiting for price to rebound.

May this new year of the Horse bring more good news for ebn industry...
But this coming year will sure to be a tough one in terms of inflation...
Imagine this country after years and years of corruptions and daylight robbery that resulted in deficit spending; suddenly decides to "rationalize" almost overnight the subsidies and throw the full weight of the yoke upon the hapless citizens... tolls increasing follow by others... Everything is pricier except for edible birdnests! Crimes which is already rampant will surely gets increasingly so when hard times became even harder....
Yet one must stay positive nonetheless to ride out the difficulties ahead.