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.

---

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?

Welcome to the forum Pak liurmas. Can you introduce a bit about your farm? How long is it being operating? The movie we're talking about is not from Youtube. It's taken by our forum member Swifbuild himself when doing bird call test. Youtube have so many movies on Aerodramus Fuchiphagus. Which one in your mind? I've watched Youtube movies. Most are inside Indonesia farms movies. The 30 thousand Voux's swifts flying into a school chimney movie is amazing. But they're not Aerodramus Fuciphagus. They're migrating Vaux's Swift in Oregon, USA.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 25 2007, 06:54 PM

[water is important too but air too

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:48 PM

I have just started the birdfarm about 3 years ago. Here in Java, we all start our birdfarms from converting grass swiflet populatioin to Aerodramus Fuchiphagus population by replacing their eggs and let them be foster parents. I have 3 farms of my own and 4 of joint ventures. Out of these 7 farms, one starts producing and I can harvest about 1 kg every 4 months. The others are still in the process, one already has 18 nests of Aerodramus Fuchiphagus, one has 2 Aerodramus Fuchiphagus, the others are still grass swiftlets. This year I want to start using bird chirps to attract more birds and still in the process of designing the sound system and what types of chirps I should use. I have a humidity controller, but do not use it. In one of my farms placed bricks on the floor and sprinkle some water everyday using a timer. I like using these bricks as they are porous and therefore release a lot of moisture due to the large surface of evaporation. So far this method has been successful for me. As far as the humidity controller, I will use it in my other farm where currently I have 900 nests of grass swiftlet which I am trying to convert. All of us are still learning I supposed and therefore exchanging information is always beneficial for us.

best way indon way

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:49 PM

A secondary tanky is a good idea. But must put at higher level than the primary tanky. 2nd tanky take water from direct pipe then flow into primary tanky. So my double sprinkler pump can have more water to suck. BTW the pump will only be turned on during hottest time of the day. Later will add timer switch for the pump. Let it run on and off every 10 minutes. Rest 10 minutes. Main tanky got time to fill up and pump motor won't stress so much.
My chicken humidifier will not use timer. I will use humidistat/hygrostat instead for better accuracy. My hygrostat will arrive from China 15th June. My chicken humidifier take water from main pipe. Because the humidifier tap is on the first floor, the tanky is in ground floor. When the tanky water level low main pipe will only flow to the tanky and not enaugh force to go up 1st floor. Maybe it's better to add another small size tanky at 2nd floor just for the humidifier. Since humidifier consume a lot lesser water than double sprinkler. The small tanky can still supply water to humidifier when main pipe cannot push water to 1st floor.
From my test chicken humidifier won't help much in bring the farm temperature down. Only 0.x dg celcius only. The double sprinkler really help to cool down the zinc roof. Without sprinkler zinc roof surface temperate over 50. After on sprinkler down to 30dg. I'm not installing 2 layers of aluminium foil to all the walls then cover up with asbestos ceiling boards to cut down heat from the walls. If concrete walls can save lots of insulation DIY.
Swiftlets won't mind to stay even the humidity is low. Just the nests at low humidity farm may crack and fall because too dry. I tested piezo tweeter with multitester. No ohm at all. It's made in China and come it big carton so I don't think it got any manual. The structure is very simple. Just a piece of IC buzzer and a piece of black paper inside glued to the buzzer.

---

Added on May 26, 2007, 3:10 amFoster method is very time consuming. Can't they use the same method as in Malaysia? Design a AF specialise farm then just use chirping sound to attract AF to stay? AF is originated from Java so I presume there got more AF than Malaysia. In foster method how they lure grass swiftlets to breed in house farm?

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 26 2007, 10:26 AM


Attached thumbnail(s)

Grass swiftlets are lured the same way as the A.F. It is just that most of the time the house is populated first with the grass swiftlet. I guess they are easier and more abundant around the suburb and they have had the habits of nesting in residential houses since I remembered, whereas the A.F. were used to be found in caves only

What if the chirping sound change to A.F. chirping sound and the internal light intensity change to 2-3 lux only? Then can directly lure only A.F. into the farm to stay lah. At that low light intensity common swift cannot stay in the farm.

Pic of my dog kennel style entrance hole. Not yet painted and long range, mid range tweeters not yet install. The holes size @2.5'x2' one facing south and the other facing river at west.

This post has been edited by seeseng: May 26 2007, 11:46 AM


Attached thumbnail(s)

[water fro river

This post has been edited by swifbuild: Jan 18 2008, 07:50 PM

swifbuild,
The south is where most birds from nearby farms fly to for food searching. Then in the evening most birds fly home from the south to north. So my south entrace is waiting for them. Telling them no need to waste energy fly home so far. Can stop here half way to stay.

Both piezo tweeters in the pic I bought @ 95 cents each. The shop directly imported from China to sell in their few shops. Other shops selling RM2.xx each. Crystalswiftlet price of RM2.30 i think should be normal selling price. The shop selling 95 cents tweeter finished their 1st batch of 500 units in the first day of promotion. Did you try to find in Jalan Pasar? Do you know any swiftlet farming accessories shop in Klang Valley? I'm looking for more rubber synthetic nests. Nest Tech selling RM68 for a pack of 10 pieces. Super expensive man. Looking for cheaper source.
To attach picture in post just go down to File Attachments section. Press the "Browse..." button to find your picture file in your computer, choose the file the press the "Add This Attachment" button. Then "Add Reply" to summit the post.


Attached thumbnail(s)

Our houses were designed in that they have twilight and dark zones. The birds are therfore capable of choosing where they want to stay. We like to have grass swiftlets also to stay in our farms, the purpose is that in the case in which we are at the point where we can harvest the AF, the grass swiftlet can be use as foster parents when the AF's nests have eggs in them and we get the best quality of nests which sell for higher price.

---

Added on May 26, 2007, 7:55 pmSeeseng, I saw your home made long range tweeters which were made of 4" PVC. How do you find them in delivering the sound, do they deliver the sound very far? My thinking is that it is better if we can have the cone shape as the sound wave is reflected at the same angle as the incoming wave (measured from the perpendicular axis. This way the sound is channeled outward. However, if the ones you made are satisfactory to you, I will do the same as it is the simplest way. Today I bought 3 CD's from Eka Walet (Attracting CD, Population CD, and Chicks's Chirp CD). Unfortunately, their qualities are not that good in the sense that the sounds are not clear. I found out that the one I recorded myself using Creative MP3 player was better in quality than theirs. The only challange of recording ourselves are getting the mating sound. Population and Chick's sound are easy as long as we have an established farms.

This post has been edited by liurmas: May 26 2007, 07:55 PM