Birds is all I want nest is all money

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:41 PM

My previos post appeared to be misleaded. I've found pneumatic/air operated nail gun at machinery shops. Price below RM150. Some cheap China made model even below RM100. You'll need an air compressor to use it. It's uses special nail like staples. I'm going to use it to install 45degree wood to cover up the 90degree corners.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 16 2007, 05:20 PM

Dog kennel or roof is the same

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:42 PM

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This post has been edited by tongserseng: Feb 9 2009, 12:03 PM

hi Swifbuild,

Your place seems to be a very strategic area for swiftlet farming. If everything go smooth it will produce very good results. I presume birds from other farms will migrate to your farm if they know about the existance of a farm in such rich food source area.

40 nests collected in 2 years is considered a failure. The high temperature should be the core problem. 62%RH in humidity I guess he's not using any humidifier at all? My farm's lowest humidity without humidifier on is higher than that. Mine can reach over 80%RH without humidifier at night because the place is at river side. We have exactly the same reasons to DIY swiftlet farm. Those consultrants, Their "can" and "cannot" all based on what others are doing. If there are people using such method, it can be applied. When I come out with some new ideas are "No no" just because nobody is using it. All without any explaination.

My nesting area is about 18'x38'. They finished the horizontal planks today. I've requested for 24" vertical partitions for each lines. They were mumbling about more corners created will results in lower grade nests. Yes of course I know. My goal for the 1st year is to generate as much bird population as possible. That's why those 24" partitions I requested them to use screw on. I can easily remove them when I have satisfied population growth. My corners will all be covered by 45 degree hormone treated wood by Nest Tech. So the grade of nest on 135degree surface will be better than 90degree. The tukang kayu mumbling again! The triagle holes after the 45degree wood nailed on will become cockroach nests. They thought I haven't thought of that? Just cut some PVC carpet then gun staple them to cover those holes.
The planks I'm using is 1" thick, 6" wide. Consider standard size for swiftlet farming. 1200 feet = 1 ton. I was thinking combining 2x 1" thick 3" wide plank. Up to RM500 cheaper for a ton. But I worry those carpenter will not do a fine job at the joint part. The length of my planks consist mis of 8', 9' and 10'. They have up to max 14' but I worried too long will be a problem when carrying them up the stair. I ordered mine from those "setor kayu" where they supply woods and building materials. I ordered 904 feet cost me RM1,950. One of the question before you order planks is to ask the supplier whether the woods are dry or not. New sawed woods from trees need to keep for about a year to be completely dry. Some big sawmill have a drying room to heat up the wood to make them dry. "Setor kayu"=no way. Lower density woods will be a lot different in weight for dry and wet wood. My meranti bukit as a type of middle density wood still can feel some weight difference. They supplied me with 20% of dried wood and others are new wood. My supplier only have 1" thick wood and their price is the cheapest I can find. So no choice of other thickness. I've asked another supplier in Kota Bharu Kelantan they supply "7 hoon" wood. Include shipping to my place is RM3K/ton. My price of RM2.6K/Ton is considered very cheap for meranti bukit.

My carpenters are those old fashioned kampung men. They've no intension to travel elsewehere for more profits. From their progress in my farm I predict they will take around 1 week to finish a 20'x70' farm for only nesting plank job. Your ground floor as an office is good idea. Can monitor the farm from CCTV there.

The purpose of roving area is to cut off lights from entrance hole and the curved flight path is the make swiftlet feel their nesting area is not too easy to reach by their predators. Swiftlets need 4'to 5' to make a turn so a 6' to 10' wide should be enaugh. My farm is small so I only reserved 5' wide for roving area.
You think 14" distance between planks is narrow? My tukang kau said they've made 6'-7' before. That's too narrow. Birds will suffocate when more nests built there. Mine first 1/4 using 14" then the others i changed to 16". Dr. Chris recommended minimum 12" and Mr. Phang Kam Wah recommended 16". I think 16" is more comfortable. BTW most successful farms can't even fully occupied after 5 years.
Correct. My ceiling is those with 4'x4' asbestos ceiling boards. Above that is very high zinc roof with over 20' height. It's very hot. Above the ceiling max 35degree. Below in the farm max up to 32degree. I have covered half the ceiling top with rock wool for heat insulation. Later will fully covered and add a layer of aluminium foil which people use for insulation in big air-cond ducts. Got the foil and rock wool FOC from a company previosly doing air cond ducting jobs. They're now in closing down stage. I have 2 spinning water sprinkler to be installed on the roof later on to cool down the zinc roof. Ventilation turbines are a bit costly to install though it doesn't need any power. One of my friend installed 4 units on the roof top of his farm. 2 units jammed after 2 years. I have an infra-red thermometer to measure the ceiling boards surface temperature so I will know which part need more heat insulation.
I only hope to achieve below 30degree all day long. That's the primary goal.

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Added on May 16, 2007, 10:52 pmI'll ask the machinery shop whether they have the type of nail gun which come with mini compressor tomorrow. Otherwise I will just buy the normal nail gun. I can borrow the air compressor from a friend. Now this solved my riddle about how Nest Tech installed their 45degree planks on the corners. Because in their photos I can't see any nail heads. Confirmed they were using nail gun. The whole staple will go into the wood few mm below the surface. That's why they got a clean surface.

I chose dog kennel because my flooring in the farm is wood. No doubt open roof top style is the best. Flying swiftlets can easily see its existance. But under the hole you'll need a water catchment pool with proper drainage system. The catchment pool need to be water proof or the water might leak to the floor below. So in the buiding process the builder layed down a layer of fiber glass before cover with cement.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 16 2007, 10:54 PM

[quote=seeseng,May 16 2007, 10:37 PM]hi Swifbuild,

good location ? oh .

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:44 PM

The birds do not afraid of light but they won't feel safe to nest at bright places. There are some self-coming swiftlets at the stair case in the front part of my farm. They've been living there for many years. People going up and down the stair, no humidifier, bright flourcent tubes, no bird chirping sound system. For many years the numbers of nest still the same. Mean there won't be new bird coming. Only the loyal old birds. In Thailand the situation is different. In some area birds don't have much choice of farm to live in. I've heard of a new farm in Songkla harvested 1KG in less than 6 months started.
The 45dg corner boards I used is to convert one 90dg angle into 2x 135dg. Birds still favour 135dg than flat 180dg. The boards I'm using are not ordinary plank. They're potion treated boards by Nest Tech. They've tested and proven birds prefer potion treated boards than ordinary corner boards. My aim at early stage also to build up populations. My planks design has more cubicle than others. More partitions=more corners. Size of cubicles are 48"x16" and 24"x16". This is to see they favour bigger partition or smaller partition.
I've bought the nail gun. RM195 for up to 2" brad nail. The smaller size for 1" nail is RM70. I'm using 1.5" brad nails to nail the corner boards. To lure those lazy birds to nest fast I have 30 synthetic nests to install at random places of the planks.
I started bird calling test 6 months ago from one of the window of my farm to test results of my CDs. Each CD play for a week. I have 8 CDs of chirping sound. I DIY 2 mid-range tweeters from 4" PVC pipes. One of my CD is quite a good one. Over 30 birds came into the farm to explore when I was still in there. They like the CD so much 2 birds charged into the PVC pipe and died inside. When I found them they already became 2 bird skeleton. Must put grills in front of long range/mid range tweeters.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 18 2007, 10:42 AM


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My nailer, my planks, my mid range test tweeters and .... errrr may they rest in peace.


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thank you

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:44 PM

Yea... pahang got new law... AGAIN
now they said they not allow dog kennel entrance anymore!!
mine is dog kennel... and soon i have to renovate due to their stupid law...

Now they not allow to build any farm in town area oledi...

The nail gun is for up to 2" brad nail. I borrow a 2.5HP compressor from a friend. There's a smaller size gun but only can handle 1" nails. I'm using 1.5" nails for the corner boards. Your bird call test was very successful. I predict your farm will AT LEAST a 5A class farm after 6 months. So better get it start ASAP. I've no idea how bright is 1-2 Lux light intensity. Haven't tested. I will borrow a light meter from a photographer friend to test the light intensity for sure. Ideal light can be up to 3 Lux. For best accuracy try to find Minolta light meter. But I heard it's very expensive. Some photography people will have that. I heard with digital SLR camera also can test light intensity. Just take a snap without flash. The info will display on the screen.

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Added on May 20, 2007, 2:46 pmThey really got nothing better to do. Keep thinking of new rules to create more headache for swiftlet farmers. What's wrong with DK style entrance? What's their reason to ban it?

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 21 2007, 01:25 PM

thank you thank you. Thats the way

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:46 PM

stop this nonsense plsss... i have a neighbour also DREAMING to get more than 10k evry 4 month.. u know what.. THEY bombard me with SHIT on my land and car. u guys balik kampung laaa..dont plan anything stupid here..in the middle of the city.. how stupid was that??? we have son to take care k. dammn i hate swiftlet now...

I make more than 10k every month already from my other business .This swiftlet thing is just an interest. I guess u r unable to make that money so u trashed it out on other people. Sad , loser. I guess u should pick up some books and improve yrself n hope one day u r free of financial stress. We all swiflet farmers r free of financial stress. Please buck up or else you may not be able to take care of your son n he will blame you for the rest of yr life for unable to send him to the best university. Good luck, may good bless u!

The pic taken with digital camera or mobile phone? I think the easiest way is to use a memory card reader to copy out the JPG file. Can't wait to see 100 birds circling your car.
What's your advantage of using car stereo system? I've heard story of an experience farmer advising people not to get branded players. Himself using full set Pioneer player and amplifier for his first year. They lasted for a year only. They he changed to cheap China made VCD player. Also lasted for a year or so. For internal sound it's normal to play 24/7. Amplifiers maybe can last longer. The CD player may not. To extend the life of CD players we need to isolate them with the farm's humid environment. One way is put players and amps outside the farm's humid area. For me no place to put outside. So I made a wooden cupboard with aluminium foil as inside layer to isolate the humidity.
For people who's buying new players I'd like to recommend those DVD players with USB port. Even the CD player "kong" we still can use the USB port to play MP3 chirping sound from USB flash drive or memory card through card reader plug in to the USB port. So the player lifespan will be longer. An electronic shop in my town is selling a China made model for RM188. A friend of mine bought 2 units for his farm for internal and external sound. I heard Tesco selling even cheaper.
1 bad thing about car amp from my experience. It run hotter than normal integrated amps. Also you'll need 12v DC adapter to run each unit of player and amp. Before I had this idea of using car stereo also because I thought they should be cheaper. Then I found out they're more expensive than those Made in China systems. I'm not expert in sound system but I know if you don't want to stress your amplifier too much can add a condenser to each tweeter. The condenser I asked last week was RM1.20 each. Piezo tweeter special offer. 95 cents each.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 22 2007, 12:35 PM

thank you thank you thanks

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:47 PM

Piezo tweeters are the cheaper type and widely used in swiftlet farming. The difference with coil tweeters is piezo technology is simple, low cost of making and very durable. Very unlikely to short out. It doesn't contain magnet like coil tweeters. Piezo is technically water proof. Though it will no sound when the IC part soak in water. When water dry up it will still works fine. For entrance caller piezo is a must. I drill a hole at the back of my 45dg upwards piezo tweeter for water to come out. The sound from piezo is louder and crispier than coil. It require less input to produce sound. So at the same output we're able to install more units of piezo than tweeters.
As for coil tweeters it produce more natural and realistic sound to human ears. For example coil tweeter= black record. Piezo=digital CD. Or maybe coil=vacuum tube amplifier VS piezo=electronic IC amplifier. Crystal Swiftlet recommended "Carbon Carbite" tweeters for best sound qaullity. But I've no idea what type of tweeter is "Carbon carbite".
For piezo and coil so far nobody can prove which type is better for swiftlets' ears. Soon I'll try to prove it. Guess what? I will use both types of tweeters for my internal sound. My email address: seeseng@gmail.com

Are you going to use expensive Kenwood sound system? I personally think for swiftlets the sound quality from expensive sound system and China made player/pre-amps won't make much difference. For example MP3 is a lower quality sound format compare to CD. In real situation those IC players, SD memory card players which plays MP3 chirping sound perform equelly well as CD players.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 22 2007, 10:05 PM

its depnds

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 19 2008, 11:17 AM

Actaully been busy with my full time work lately. Because when the carpenters at work I need to go supervise on and off so many work postponded. So now need to clear up some work. Watched the movie. Very successful bird call test. They really circling the car. I think in average the bird size is slightly bigger than average town area swiftlets. Is that true or just angle problem? I went to see a farm at urban area. The birds are also bigger. Due to more than enaugh food source and only a few farms operated there. Your farm is the pioneer farm in that area. Sole pioneer some more. I predict at least X3 population every year. My carpenters had finished their 8 days work. Finished nesting planks, leakage reapir, roof sprikler pipings, dog kennel entrance. Now left all my DIY. Tomorrow will do wall insulation with aluminium foil and ceiling board. This is a main disadvantage of wooden farm. Need extra work to conseal heat and light. Experimenting which type of heat insulation is the best. I'm trying rock wool, reflective aluminium foil and polysterin board. My tomorrow schedule includes paint inner part of the DK entrance.
Now got a problem. My roof top sprinkler using a water pump to suck water from ground floor water tank. My chicken farm humidifier take water direct from ground floor to 2nd floor tap. When the sprinkler running for few hours, the tank water level go down. Main water will flow into tank to fill it. When filling process not enaugh force to go up to 2nd floor tap for humidifier. Any suggestion? My idea is to use a small size plastic water tank to reserve water for the humidifier so it can still run when the main pipe not able to supply water. Then sprinkler timer controlled for 20 minutes running stop 10 minutes. So it won't suck the tanki so much.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 25 2007, 01:27 AM

Hi, let me introduce myself. I own a birdfarm in Indonesia and concider myself as a beginner in this field also and eager to learn more. I had read all the postings in this forum but have not post anything yet so far. Is the movie that you guys are talking about the same as the one in the youtube website?