The CCTV depend on how many camera you want to use. The need for recording and online viewing. The distance from each camera to the monitoring room. Nowadays installing CCTV pretty cheap already.  Mine all DIY.  If don't want DIY can hire those CCTV installers. Nowadays more and more people doing this. 

1) CCD sensor based 24LED-30LED IR camera is around RM200-RM300 each. (Mine below RM200 because dealer price. Need RM2K/ invoice)Be sure to get those with water-proof housing.

2) Cable. Use only real coaxial cable. No TV wire. Got RG59 or RG58 spec. RG59 is 75Ohm range from RM70 to RM100 / 300feet in 1 box. RG58 is 50Ohm & slightly smaller size. But RG58 is softer cable. Easier to do wiring job. RM50-RM80 per box 100Meter. Both spec price difference depend on China made or US made.

3)BNC connectors. Get those screw in type. Very comvenient no need soldering or clipping tools. Be sure to match your cable size. RG59 and RG58's BNC different size.

4) DV Recorder with network/Online viewing support. - RM880 - RM1000
    4 channels, no need to use PC. Just pair up with a TV. Price come with no          HardDisk.

5) Installation work.  Normally RM120-RM150 per camera.

6) Internet. You'll need a phone line/account then a Streamyx A/C lah.

ok, hope some of you guys can help.

my relatives they live in some old pre-war house in penang where they have stayed for umpteen years. recently one fella bought the next door house and turn it into a swiftlet farm. the sound is bloody noisy and irritating and my relatives really cannot tahan.

i'm not against swiftlet farming per se, but please la have some empathy and common sense. how can you do this between 2 houses where there are ppl (including old ppl and children) staying? actually the whole stretch there are occupied either by families or some small businesses (like sundry shop, clinic, etc). i really wonder how they get the license to do so.....some neighbours claim they probably bribed the approving officer.

so, i hope you guys have some suggestions how to cope with this problem. i'll try complaining to the local council but if its true someone "makan" i doubt it'll work. since you guys are experts at making the swiftlets come, maybe you'll know ways how to keep the swiftlets away too? maybe some counter-noise? or certain smell the birds don't like?

if the venture not successful, then maybe the fella will give up and go somewhere else la... please help!!!

Is a hse or shoplot?
How loud was it? above or below 40DB??

well it's those type of pre-war terrace houses, with those 5-kaki side walks. maybe you wont see much of it in kl, but penang and other small towns still have many of these.

i don't really know how to measure the loudness but i can say that even if you stand 5 houses away, you can hear it loud and clear.

Hi seeseng,

All my farms are not yet full. There's still quite a fair bit of space for new swiftlets to nest in. According to the timetable given to me, I go in to both my farms once  month to collect the nests. My 5 year old farm is doing better than my 3 year old farm, as can be expected - about 4 to 5kgs from the 5 year old one and 1 to 1.5kgs for the 3 year old one. Even if they both don't upgrade (touch wood... hehe), I'm really happy with their performance... the farms have helped me pay ofs the construction and design costs as well as have become valuable assets for me to leave to my 4 children when I'm gone. However, I'm feeling abit daring again to establish another farm... but my wife is really nagging me about not taking aon ny more chllenges and to stick to my retirement... just as well, got to get my colestrol level lower.

Well, your farm sounds a bit small, but the size should't matter much. What I've learnt about successful swiftlet farms is that as long as you get the design of your farm correct and that it's not noo hot,  even swiftlet farms that have internal temperatures of more than 32 degrees celsius have swiftlets breeding in them. The most important thing is that we must install a reliable and good swiftlet sound system together with high quality tweeters in the farm in order to attract swiftlets to breed in them.

Just like my accounting profession, the use of advance accounting software allowed my firm to compile accounting information more quickly and efficiently as compared to recording the transactions by hand. a good swiftlet sound system together with high-end tweeters will be able to play swiftlet chirps more clearly and realistically than an average sound system ever will. Try not to use cheaper alternatives if you can... IC callers, DVD players, CD players, modified car amplifiers just can't compete when a new swiftlet farm that has a good swiftlet sound system is set-up close to yours.

All in all, I purchased about 100 litres of CS Mating Potion and sprayed the solution according to the timetable given to me by the poeple at Crystal Swiftlets. From my observations over these last few years, the mating potion actually works. Many swiftlets from other farms that flew into my new farms when I had turned on the swiftlet sound tended to stay and breed within my farms very quickly and stopped going back to their old ones. The visiting swiftlets really like like the aroma from the mating potions. At the same time, after every breeding cycle, I go into my farms and spray the mating potions all over so that when the baby swifts leave my farms to fly off, they will not be able to get used to any other farms that do not spell like mine. It's really working so far, as I see alot of baby swiftlets returning to my farms in the evenings. I know this strategy sounds devious, but it's free competition right? Also, one good thing about Crystal Swiftlets, is that they assured me that they have a company policy not to sell the mating solution to any farms within 5 km vicinity of mine. As long as this policy doesn't change, I'm quite confident that my farms will continue to grow and update.

Meranti Bukit should be alright as nesting planks. Swiftlets have sharp claws so they can pearch on anything that is abit rough. You are headed in the correct direction. Keep up the ethusiasm. Your farm will definitely reward you in the near future.

Sam

Hows the quality? can show me the picture quality?

ok, hope some of you guys can help.

my relatives they live in some old pre-war house in penang where they have stayed for umpteen years. recently one fella bought the next door house and turn it into a swiftlet farm. the sound is bloody noisy and irritating and my relatives really cannot tahan.

i'm not against swiftlet farming per se, but please la have some empathy and common sense. how can you do this between 2 houses where there are ppl (including old ppl and children) staying? actually the whole stretch there are occupied either by families or some small businesses (like sundry shop, clinic, etc). i really wonder how they get the license to do so.....some neighbours claim they probably bribed the approving officer.

so, i hope you guys have some suggestions how to cope with this problem. i'll try complaining to the local council but if its true someone "makan" i doubt it'll work. since you guys are experts at making the swiftlets come, maybe you'll know ways how to keep the swiftlets away too? maybe some counter-noise? or certain smell the birds don't like?

if the venture not successful, then maybe the fella will give up and go somewhere else la... please help!!!

Guys... i have a suggestion here...

Since most of us is located in a diff location, why not we exchanging the bird chirpping CD's?

This is because buying the CD's is so expensive nowdays... might as well we exchange it among ourself...

How you all think?

How much $ is a swiftlet chirping CD sell in market?

The CS mating potion is the one to spray on walls and floor(Product code MS-88). Not nesting plank. They have another type specially for nesting plank(code LNP-25). This one only to cover up the newly sawed wood smell. Meranti wood has very little smell but the newly sawed part will have something like burnt smell that swiftlet don't like. The potion is for faster cover up those smell. There is alternative for nesting plank potion. Experienced farmers use the water from soaking bird nest in cleaning process, filter up the feathers then spray the nesting planks with pressure spray. Some of them add those broken pieces of nest that do not have economy value into the water. Boil for few hours until the nest completely melt into the water. Cool down the water and spray on planks where no nest build there before. From experience we know area that already have nests before are easier to have nests build there. So they figure out it's the smell of old nest that attract new birds the build nest in that area.

CS mating potion is NOT ammonia. Ammonia+water only use in new farms to remove cement and other chemical smell like turning new farm into old farm and the price is way cheaper than mating potion. Mating potion=Perangsang walet where they call in Indonesia is a mix of liquid that contain smell swiftlets like.

Myself don't use ammonia for the whole place because my store-room farm is wooden and it's very old. I sprayed a bit ammonia on area I found rat droppings to cover up the smell.

Hi Seeseng.

From where did you buy your ammonia? good?? how much?
My farm have a strong cement smell... i need to cover this up a.s.a.p.
For the MS-88? did you manage to buy it? i call crystal swiftlet up just now...
they say MS-88 is for GRADE A customers and i only entitled for MS-87...
I think i need someone help to buy it...

The ammonia was from Nest Tech. Other farmer bought gave me a little.
Crystal's Grade A customers should be those hire them to be consultant of their farms I think. MSC-87 is older formula potion. For MS-88 you try to ask Sam to buy for you.
Alternatively you may try Nest Tech's potions.
1) Bird environment smell liquid - RM340 / 4 Liter (Extract from bird droppings)
2) Fast grow mating potion RM340/4Liter (Half potion mix half water)
3) Bird Nest hormone Liquid RM280/5Liter (1000ml potion+500ml-800ml water)
4) Bird ammonia - RM220/5L (1000ml ammonia mix 500ml water)

Currently I haven't bought any potion. My plank work is still pending. My tukang kayu have undergoing project in hand. Only will come next week. I'm planning to buy the Bird Nest Hormone Liquid from Nest Tech as it has most of the characteristic of the other potions. For my farm size 1 bottle should last 3-4 months.

Hi Sam, Seeseng.

Regarding of this CS Mating potion, is it spray on the wall or spray on the wood?

I call crystal Swiftlet and they say they selling 2 kind of potion... RM380 / 5 liter...
So i dunno wether they rekon me the correct potion or not... i sked buy wrong thing la... what i mean is i'm not sure wether CS Mating Potion = ammonia or not...

Another question i wanna ask you guys is...

When you go into your farm, hows the ammonia smell?? strong?
When i go into my farm, i still can smell cement!!! I suspect my consultant mix the ammonia with alot of water... 

Hi Weihowe,

The CS Mating Potion that I use in my farm is not ammonia based. According to the guys at Crystal Swiftlets, the potion is made up of totally herbal and organic base ingredients. It's a patented product from their partner company in Thailand and it's not supposed to contain anything chemical at all or else it will be quite harmful to swiftlets.

I do know what you mean about ammonia solutions that are being sold in the market nowadays. My friend bought a few bottles and used it in his farm, totally terrible. The solution really hurts the eyes, and if we feel the effects, I'm quite sure that swiftlets will feel it too... although I don't have any documentary evidence to prove so... hehe.

Just ask them for the CS Mating Potion... it's to be sprayed on the walls to age the cement and make the new swiftlet farm feel like a natural old habitat to the swiftlets. From the performance of my farms, it really helps. It's not for the nesting planks, the smell is too strong. You should use the nesting plank solution from Crystal Swiftlets instead for this purpose.

Regards,
Sam