WW,

Interesting DIY nest cleaner.
Thanks for sharing.

Its nice to see kinds words being said about Charles after his premature death a few months ago. I hope his aesthetically pleasing one of a kind super swiftlet farm is doing well... I visited the link provided by Bobby C which goes to one of Charles's blog... I visited the site before... going through it again... one can see Charles certainly had a good sense of aesthetic in his articulate writings and the photos taken from nice angles; he was not only erudite and cultured but most importantly, he had times for others and his deeds spoke louder than words...

Before his death, I thought that perhaps one fine day in the future I might took some days off to pay a visit to his farm in Thailand and spend some time enjoying his company in his little kingdom (Where he was the sovereign among his wild life subjects such as various specie of birds(the most important are the swiftlets), animals, fishes, insects, microbes, etc) ... discussing not just about swiftlets
(As Lewis Caroll would observed in his rib-tickling poem- The Walrus & the Carpenter):
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."

but also simply in enjoying the splendor of nature and in observing the starry starry sky...

I like to think that the character of a person can often be judge from how he or she behaves towards those who are powerless; and when one render kindness in whatever forms (time, effort, food, items) to another person in need who can never repay... well, it need not be a great help or a large sum... but the actions and thoughts will serve to cheer up the persons receiving help and perhaps inspired them to help themselves and maybe pay the kindness forward in the future. Charles's attempts to raise funds for helping the orphans in Thailand was the manifestation of his noble character (Since now the cinema is playing SKYFALL; so in James Bond' term, Charles was The Man With the Golden Heart) which perhaps is best described by these words of Dalai Lama: "My true religion is kindness."

I would like to mention about a likable guy whom I knew in my town who was in his early 30s; he was in the swiftlet farming business... he kept a farm and also did renovations for others.... suddenly he became quite ill (painful headache) and was diagnosed as cancer of the brain... not long after he died... This happened a few years ago.

Death is not something we can expect only at old age.... So do seize the day, guys!

I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately,
to front only the essential facts of life,
and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,
and not, when I came to die,
discover that I had not lived.
Henry David Thoreau
Read more at http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/authors/...4JVdpmikBtlg.99

A short intro about Thoreau:
The woods refers to Walden, a place of nature besides a pond. Thoreau was an American thinker who think highly of the Red Indians at a time when the general attitude was that a "good Injun was a dead Injun". He was deeply against slavery and actively helped runaway slaves going north to freedom by helping them as part of a network known as the Underground Railroad. He rather went to jail than to pay a poll tax in support of a government than condone slavery... out of the experience, he wrote the essay-Civil Disobedience which Gandhi read and formed part of his strategy to confront the British Overlords of India. Thoreau spend two years of his life living in a hut he build himself by Walden lake, on land belonging to his great friend-Emerson. He raised some crops for his needs and for cash so as to enable himself to spend most of his time contemplating life and nature and did much writings. The result of his time at Walden produce a seminal masterpiece-Walden that had since became part of the world literary heritage. Thoreau was a pioneering environmentalist at a time when the Industrial revolution is only just starting in UK... the earth was still shrouded in greenery and few person can identify with his worship of nature... for example, he would eulogized about the death of a venerable citizen of Concord where he lives... it was an great big tree that was fallen for its timber...

Thoreau had since became a prophet of the environmental movement... see how the manifold global perils of environmental wholesale pillage of resources and pollution that is causing great harm to human society, the foremost danger is climate change with the large output of carbon into the atmosphere... some believe superstorm such as Sandy that lashed NYC recently is a manifestation of the changes in our climate... See how the polar icecap at the Northern region is melting at an alarming rate? The largest of the land carnivore-The Polar bear that had adapted so well to the forbidding climate and flourished for so long is said to be facing extinction!

With the melting of the icecaps, its only a matter of decades before sea level will rise that will cause massive disasters to coastal cities around the world... about the only people disregarding such perils and actively argue against the science of climate change are the US Republicans who only care to loot from the economy for their selfish gains... see how they loosen the control in place for banks to sell junk investments to customers worldwide... US Republicans are morons that are warmongers and Robber barons that did not just the US great harm but the world as well... Lincoln who was the founder of the Republican party (GOP: Grand Old Party) must be turning over in his grave at the insidious creeds and deeds of his political heirs...

This post has been edited by philoswiftlet: Nov 6 2012, 07:29 AM

See on the left hand side box with words: GRATIS Cek Lokasi, click for download stress sound

http://duniawalet.com/index.php/Kasus/Cek-...ai-HP-saja.html

I hesitate to offer you any advices as your problem is serious but perhaps some suggestions might help you to decide the road to take.

Think back why you want to buy in the first place.
Now because you cannot get higher loan and has become the main problem.

If you really cannot afford more down payment and also in servicing the mortgage; then there is a danger that you might be drag into stressful financial difficulties... In this case, to lose the down payment might be the better option. Otherwise, you will put great pressure on yourself so much so that you may not get any good night sleep thinking about servicing a large debt. To cut loss or not is due to your own financial health...

If you are confident of the locale and also in your ability to attract sizable number of birds to nest within a few years; you might want to take a chance of not just saving your down payment but also to make a profit by selling the BH within a few years down the road... on condition that it become a successful farm that will boost the selling price of the BH.

Since the journey to and fro is very lengthy, if you decide to buy it and run it as a farm; you should make sure its very well design and equipped with all reliable items.

Stay there for a few days after official opening to survey and iron out any kinks.
Use good amps (internal amps running alternately) and run the tweeters in parallel and not serial fashion.
Use a gadget that can reset current after tripping.
Use a high quality hygrostat to control humidity.
Use good quality 100Meter Malaysia produce 100% copper wires in silicone coat.
Use reliable humidifiers instead of those ultrasonic humidifiers.
Install a hand phone inside the farm to check on sounds.
lock the water meter/tap on the ground floor to prevent itchy fingers from closing the water supply!

Indonesia cannot export before due to bird-flu... whereas Malaysia is free from bird-flu... while Malaysia's bilateral relationship is very good with China; Indonesia is also quite good without even the dispute over the spratly isles, if I'm not mistaken. So the good relationship between China & Malaysia is of no use when it comes to food safety...

There is a saying: "And this to will pass away." It means everything will come to an end... good things, bad things, everything except this saying...
So our problem of not being able to export raw nests will not go on for ever and ever... but only god knows when... and hopefully the prices will rebound to a more respectable level eventually...

Life is full of ups and downs; just like a ship sailing in the ocean.
Sometimes the sea is calm and peaceful...
Other times, the water is troubled and churning...
Now for those in the swiftlet farming business,
the heavy sea is engulfing ships in a great storm.

But never fear, the storm cannot last forever...
One day, the gale wind will drop and the mighty waves will slacken..
And the stormy clouds will be broken up and dispersed...
The blue sky will be seen and there will be rainbow...
The ship will sail safely back to its home port again.

Lets see how many ways we can export nests into China:

Through the 4th dimension...
Via the wormholes...
Or we can just dig a tunnel to China
like what Palestinians did in Gaza...
But ours one will be known as The Great Tunnel To China

Or we can DIY a sub to sail under the South China Seas and sneak into Pearl River...

Or maybe we can export via our dream...
And receive payment in the dream also.

Sorry, just joking... or maybe some of the ideas can just work;
what they say about thinking out of the box, or lateral thinking...

They also say that where there's a will, there is a way.

Maybe we can simply blaze a sort of Ho Chi Min trail through the jungles all the way into Thailand, Burma and Yunnan.

Its call LOOTING FROM THE TOP

Not just politicians but leaders of all sorts, business leaders, religious leaders, charity leaders, etc.

Not all leaders are corrupt but a great many.
Remember the idiot in Singapore heading the Kidney Foundation whose downfall begun with the installation of the gold plated water tap in the toilet of his office? And how about the New age Christian leader in Singapore who used multi-million of his church funds to "promote" his wife to evangelize in the US as a Pop singer. Their lives are anti-sermons.

Closing down town farms is easier said than done unless there is extremely good reason such as the case in Penang and Malacca being world heritage sites.

Setiawan is now a full fledge swiftlet town with several thousands of farms in the town area. Think its possible to close down all the farms there? There are many other towns that are close behind Setiawan in terms of the number of bird houses renovated.

I believe town farms, if not overly many are beneficial to local government in term of the extra revenues; and there are summons also should such farms go against regulations.

Most likely is greater enforcement of rules and regulations by the local authorities for existing farms in towns. There are always bad hats in any groupings and the rules and regulations will serve to control the undesirable actions of bird houses that cause troubles in town areas.

Granted there are a number of states and towns that are hostile to the swiftlet farming industry in urban areas; but I still think that in many towns with successful farms, it will not be easy to get them out. The many successful farms with so much to lose will certainly do their best to neutralize any challenge to their industry. I for one am certain that we as a group will not take any such blatant challenge to our livelihood lying down. In any case, I believe there is reasonably good rapport between the town farms here with the local authority. The town folk are also more or less used to the farms amidst the town area; town farms and town folk can coexist peacefully.

The thing is those of us who are already in town areas have to face whatever challenges that come our way; break-ins or whatever. Those wanting now to renovate shops into farm in town are taking a huge risk. At least many farms in town areas already have licenses.

I heard about a case in a pioneering town many years ago... when local authority wanted to close the farm; the case went to court and the farm won because the birds come by themselves into the shop.

Its something like illegal immigrations in the west; once so many illegals had joined the US or UK society for generations, there would be a general amnesty with conditions to legalize the illegals so as to reduce all the problems that came with so many illegal immigrants in society.

So there being so many farms in towns already, the approach of legitimizing them with licenses will then allow enforcement to solve problems of trouble makers. The thing is that no new farms will be allow to go up since a few years back.

This post has been edited by philoswiftlet: Dec 2 2012, 07:36 PM

Is there anything an average swiftlet farmer can do except to wait out this excruciating slump? Even if one cannot stand the pain, one have little choice and still have to stand... at least until the turning point finally comes.

When? Don't know. As a rough guess, I would put it by the middle of 2013.... Why, because after the agreement for the raw clean nests finally goes into effect hopefully not in the too distance future, we still need to get the agreement for the raw unclean nests to be signed which will again take months... so perhaps by the middle of 2013, we might be able to see some good news finally...

This is not a bull nor bird market but a bear market. From what I see, the bird farm had fallen from the sky, way up high... but wait, there is a faint wisp of a rainbow...

Allow me to share a little idea. When we go into the farm for maintenance or harvest or whatever; I often bring along either in a box or pail containing the tools needed for the mission.

I think its a good idea to bring along a tin of Class IV insecticide spray. Keeping such a can of spray handy will allow us to quickly deal with any cockroaches that suddenly appear out of no where. Be sure to spray just enough and not too much because one is inside a swiftlet farm, after all.

A 4 feet long rottan (not too thick) would also be a good idea to keep in the farm to deal with lizards.

This post has been edited by philoswiftlet: Dec 20 2012, 07:24 AM

This Christmas, Santa Clause did not drop what we want down the chimney...
Chinese approval for allowing export of nests into China...

Maybe next Christmas?

IMHO, many produce white nests due to harvesting newly made nest not yet lay with eggs; or they replace nests with artificial nests or just throw them off. Keeping a regularly clean farm will help.

Interesting to know that there are actually 2nd hand planks for sale in this industry from farms that had stopped the business. Will it be useful to attract birds to build their nests on planks with nest marking... I really don't know but feel that good location, design, and sounds are much more important that planks with nest markings. Sorry for the farms that close shop... must be a heart wrenching decision to stop after such high hopes when they first started. Currently my farms are stagnant in nest growth for the past year and its kind of depressing.... this industry is kind of over-promised and under deliver for many participants...

Actually, I think nests growth is ongoing in other farms in my area as for example, a friend whose farm is also in the same area and he reported good growth after he made adjustments. And the best farms are reported to keep adding planks to accommodate more nesting areas. One of my farm probably did not show growth as one of the internal amp would be silent even when the light was running; replace with another amp and once in a while it would not play... very sakit kepala lah as we know how important internal amp is...

The other farm has autogate that is crazy; that would sometimes not function properly and would close when it should be open-it has spaces for birds to fly in and out even when its closed but birds don't like it. So now I have to check it daily to make sure its open at the right time. Another problem was when a joker closed off the water supply and I was horrified to go up and see the humidifier spewing air up into the nesting planks... I had since locked up the water valve but I think damage had been done in scaring away many birds when I did not realized what was happening in the farm ... not sure how many days this unfortunate situation took place. Hopefully, things will be much better than the wasted 2012 year for my farms.

I think the authorities will get involve in this industry sooner or later. Is it possible to maintain this business as a secretive undertaking? No way, what with the birds flying all around and in and out and also the sounds blaring all over...

Terms can often means different things to different people; what you are getting into is semantics. For me, get involve simply means regulations and regulating by relevant government authorities.