Dear bro,

where is this location and I cerainly will like to invest in such a location where swiftlets fly in and out all the time. Not that birds fly in during the evening only and daytime, too but then only during the evening you will alot of birds coming home to roost and the time depend on the location, climate and your birds. Some tend to return earlier than others.

1. Birds fly out during dawn to feed  and will return to feed chick at about 9 am and will retun many times during the day to feed if your BH has chicks. Since, yours must be a new one, it is rarely that you will see alot of birds all the time during the day provided your bird sound must be dammed good.........or trouble sound but then it wouldn't be whole day.

2. Most birds that visited new BHs during the daytime are birds surveying the BH and will return during the evening if they like the BH. Then, they shall decide whether to make their home there or not will depend on the conditions of the BH. I have seem birds starting to make nest after 3 night of stay and I also have seen Bh with hundred of birds and still no nest after a month.  but then, if the birds are coming, then you have good chances that they will stay. It is that kind of BH without any bird return at evening that it the most difficult to correct.

3. Personally, I will like to observe the birds returning during the evening to determine my success in the new house thru CCTV.

4. Your question is not funny but birdmen (rancher) are and you can find them standing for hours looking at the entrance and day by day. Trying all sort of things and mixtures to attract the birds and even those having over few thousand still seem to be trying to outdo the neighbor in loudness and modification. Greedy, I guess and no offend intended and SIFUs out there, pls. comment on my little understanding and experience if any.

An act of barbarians ! take them to court for mistreating the wilds, it is "wild abuse"!

DAYLIGHT LICENSED AND AUTHORIZED ROBBERY ON THE SWIFTLET’S NEST HOUSES BY THE SARAWAK FORESTRY CORPORATION
On 14.10.08 morning, two units of bird’s nest houses operated for more than 10 years in the Mukah township of Sarawak were forced into and robbed by the officers and rangers of the Sarawak Forestry Corporation. Guns were pointed at the owners to force them to open the bird’s houses. These ‘robbers’ destroyed the interiors of the buildings and took away all the nests leaving behind thousands of baby swift lets and broken eggs on the floors.
The owners alleged that these ‘robbers’ in uniform claimed to be from the above-mentioned corporation, refused to show proof of their identity with authority cards and failed to disclose any justified reasons in legal papers when demanded, only claimed that they had the power and were instructed by the Sarawak State Secretary Office through their head office to tear down all the existing bird’s nest houses in the town of Mukah.
Police were called in by the locals but were told that they had no power to stop them as they were directly instructed by the State Secretary and thus refused to interfere.
A large crowd of hundreds of locals managed to stop these ‘robbers’ from further destroying the 3rd bird house and the rest for the time being, but the ‘robbers’ promised to return the next day to finish their duty. Existingly,there are more than 200 bird’s nest houses operating in the Mukah Town District.
In the same afternoon, at 4pm, these robbers sent a copy of the so-called ‘letter of authority’(attached) to the locals, pleading with the locals to allow them to finish their duty. If not, the ‘robbers’ themselves would be in troubles.
The locals rushed to the police station trying to lodge report and seek police protection on their properties but were rejected on grounds that they are not allowed to interfere into this State affair.
The locals also tried to ‘SOS’ to their respective YBs for help but in vain.
The local news media informed that they are intimidated and instructed not to report and publicize the case.
On 15.10.08, almost a thousand of worried Sarawakians from across the state rushed into Mukah town to attend a dialogue session fixed between the locals and the ‘robbers’ in the evening.
Lawyers were appointed to represent the locals in the dialogue together with few hundreds locals and a handful of the ‘robbers’. Throughout the dialogue, the ‘robbers’ couldn’t show any legitimate proof or presentation of valid and legitimate claim of their actions to destroy the bird houses. They could only argue that they are under the strict instruction and order given by the tops to do this and they have to complete the duty whether they like it or not or whether it is legitimate or not. They kept on pleading with the locals to allow them to carry out their duty without hindrance and in peace. They advised the locals that they can go ahead to sue the State Authority later. By hook or by crook, they are forced to come back the next day to carry on the destruction as they don’t have choice even if they themselves don’t like it.
Up to now, at this wee hour, 0230 hrs, 16.10.08, the locals are at a loss, in fear, frustration, desperation and anger, but nothing much they could do. I bet the whole Mukah town residents are now laying on the beds with their eyes wide open till morning. No solution, no help up to now. We don’t know what is going to happen the next morning except to make prayers.
From the investigations and the speculations gathered that a certain syndicated group with links to certain very powerful politicians are eyeing on this lucrative industry in Sarawak and are trying to monopolise it by closing down all the bird’s nest houses in the region.
Not long ago, a subsidiary development company belongs to the State ever interviewed many bird’s house owners inquiring whether they would prefer to buy up new bird’s houses in Eco-parks to be planned and developed by the State Authority nearby and shift their operations to the Eco-parks. It seemed that the local owners’ feed backs and respond were not encouraging as most bird house owners prefer to do it themselves at own choice of locations and of own designs. So, could this be the ROOT OF THE EVIL ACT? May god have mercy on the Bird’s nest house owners in Mukah!

Situation very serious and critical.Unknown numbers of FRU are on the way to reinforce the 100 forest rangers already there having a stand off with 500 local peaceful protestors. FRU expected arriving any time now. Understand more Sarawakians are rushing across the state to join in the protest. Insider info confirms the State Govt insists to close down all BHs in whole Sarawak.Only ECO-PARKS under State Govt are allowed in future.Calling all farmers to use whatever channels or methods have the situations reported and exposed worldwide.

DAY LIGHT ROBBERY!Anyone who had taken pics and video please load it up in YOU TUBE so the world can see.Animal lovers will help putting strong protest to this event.

Tiong KS? Who is he? Sounds familiar. Is this the Bintulu MP who is involved in controvertial multi billion ringgit Port Klang scandal?

If so, habis lah. All abang adik.

Check out his back ground if you have Sibu/Bintulu friends. Doubt they will destroy all BHs. Believe some will be granted protection. Just see.

Sitiawan already under the jurisdiction of a new state government, BH owners theoretically should be safe.

Long time no surf and no post. Cannot tahan seeing this in W.O.S.G. We must help to spread the truth.
CK, dont mind huh? Borrow from your site. I am helping to do something for our brothers in Penang. Someone who knows the Merchants Asso of Penang, must reveal to us, who are these committee, wolves under sheepskin. Expose these bastards. Give us their names and where are their BHs. Someone must do something to teach them lesons so they dont cheat again.  Thursday, November 27, 2008
Penang Crisis : Author : from one of my reader.

HIDDEN REASONS BEHIND THE PENANG BIRD HOUSE CRISIS

Understand by now that why Penang Bird House owners still got into real big trouble despite there is the existence of a Merchants Association which is supposed to shield them. It is speculated that the chairman, the vice chairman, the secretary, the treasurer, and most of the committee plus their Adviser of the association are not having bird house at all on the Island of Penang. Most of them are illiterates and can’t read, can’t write and can’t speak Bahasa and English. Only one can read and write broken Bahasa and English. He is the one eyed Jack and so, he is the Secretary. When the association started 4 years ago, they started with 40+ members. Today, they are still having the same numbers with many either dead or disappeared. There are no less than 3,000 bird houses in the state of Penang. All this while, they did not accept new members who are with two eyes or better ability and quality than them. They scare to be out voted so next time they cannot make use of their beautiful and impressive name cards of the committee to be the CON-sultants, or to do bird nest business locally or in China.
Understand that during the 2005 Penang Bird House License Crisis, this Merchant Association which was already in existence also couldn’t do anything to bargain with the BN state govt for the owners. Luckily, hundreds of owners in the state of Penang appealed to one Senior from outside the state to help them. This Senior was the one who organised and led a group negotiated with the Minister in Putrajaya 2002, and he successfully convinced the Federal Govt to recognise and approve the Bird Nest Industry in Malaysia. The Malacca Crisis in 2002 and also the Parit Buntar license issue were also mediated and settled by him. This Senior led a group of selected good local volunteers negotiated, protested and fought very fearlessly with the Penang BN state Govt and the council high ranking officials using laws, street protests and picketing. There was an incident in which more than 400 owners turned out voluntarily to respond and support his call with less than 24 hours of his SMS notice. Finally, the Govt conceded and agreed to his terms and issued BH licenses to the thousand of owners in 31.12.2005. After this mission completed, he disappeared.
Recently, due to the Penang Heritage Trust (PHT)’s strong protest and objection to the renewal of the license expiring on 31.12.08 of the bird’s houses in the Heritage zones under the jurisdiction of the Heritage Trust, the newly elected Pakatan Rakyat Govt of Penang invited all the parties concerned for dialogue sessions to discuss for a win-win. Out of the 3 meetings, the Merchants Association representatives attended only the last meeting on 06.10.08 unprepared. They couldn’t make any proper presentation and neither had they made any valid arguments as to why license should be renewed. As a result, they lost the case and decision was made by the Authority not to renew the license for all the bird’s houses in the whole state of Penang starting effective from 01.01.09 with those in George Town and in a total of 4 phases of 6 monthly that gradually all the bird’s houses in Penang state must close down voluntarily in two years.
All the owners in Penang woke up and jumped like monyet kena balacan and in emergency; they forced the Merchants Association to call for meetings on 07.11.08 and 14.11.08. The 1st meeting attended with less than 50 turn out. The second meeting with more than 100 turn out. In the meeting, the Secretary proposed every bird house owner in George Town who is not a member to pay RM800 per house to a fund which must collect at least RM100,000/= before the Merchant Association mobilizes to organise to engage professionals to help in the appeal. Anything less than the amount, the association will not do anything. During the meeting, many owners suggested that now is the crisis and that all owners must be united together and join into and support the existing Association with membership of only 40+ to make it strong. Some suggested that since the entrance fee is RM500 and the yearly subscription is RM120, which makes a total of RM 620/=, if only 300 owners join in now, the collection is total to more than RM186, 000/= already more than RM100, 000/=. But all these proposals were shot down as the Secretary claimed that enrolment of new membership is already frozen. The association only interested to assist the owners who are non-members to pay the RM800/= and elect among themselves 3 representatives to form an external Task Force to work with the Committee for the appeal. Since these owners are not members so they must pay for the service.
Reluctantly, the owners elected among themselves 3 very credible and high calibre persons to represent them. One of them is Mr O, a prominent high profile businessman cum a professional. Next is Miss L, a lady lawyer cum senior lecturer of a college. The 3rd is Mr C, a locally well known credible businessman.
This Task Force immediately recruited a few more good volunteers of high standing with the support of numerous owners, met and discussed many times with the committee. The Task Force concluded that for long term plan it is better for the Merchant Association to open up for as many owners as possible to join in and to have an emergency re-election of new committee for new leadership due to the urgency from the gene pool which is widened with more able men to help in for the appeal. It seems that the committee agreed to open up for only selected members by them and they refused to hold immediate re-election as their reason is that it is unfair for new members to take over as the old committee has already been holding the position for so long.
But most of the Penang owners not only had no confidence but also losing in trust in the leadership of the present committee as not only there isn’t any professional among them, but also that most are illiterates and many don’t own bird house in Penang Island. Their sincerity and honesty are also in great doubt! So, how could they place the faith of their fortune and future in their hands as if taking a tossing chance? It was this committee’s irresponsible attitude and poor calibre quality that led the Penang industry into this crisis. The industry in Penang would definitely doom for sure if this unscrupulous committee still lead in the appeal and the negotiation.
Now, it looks like the decision is firmed with the hundreds of owners in the dilemma and desperation. Among the many new suggestions, most owners seem more favour to embark on a new platform of a new association which should comprise of more high calibre of responsible professionals and respectable volunteers like the Task Force members with no hidden agenda. The Task Force is having a hard time to decide and they have to work very fast head hunting around. Many owners who know this group are appreciating and having confidence in the leadership of this Task Force and are prepared to give fullest support and follow wherever they go as they trust in these good men and woman’s sincerity and commitment the way they displayed. Now, it is the crucial moment for the rest of the owners to wake up and be united on one solid platform preparing umbrella to walk through the stormy days to come. Only with firm unity and support given to this dedicated and committed leadership, only then, the Penang bird house owners may stand a chance.
To all the readers, please spread this message to your Penang counterparts to look up this sincere group to offer any help and assistance to support them, so to help themselves. Look for Mr O. May god bless the owners of Penang. Clock is ticking.
ck note :

To those readers in penang, one thing u can contribute is to spread this info to all owners of farmhouse....it is in english so i hope they are volunteers to translate it into chinese n send to me...

U can do even better if you can print this post out n pass it to all farmers in penang by making it into leaflets n distribute it to all farms in penang. And even more effective if u can call them up to explain to them the situation....

U guys are the local, u know where is the farm not liked me.....it will take me months to locate them..

PLEASE HELP ME TO DO SOMETHING FOR THE PENANG FARMERS....

PLEASE HELP.

This post is not to blame who ....but to tell the farmers the actual situation n to ask all of them to join in to face this together.... time is running out...

we need to do something fast!!!.....

All readers with friends in penang also pls help to distribute this post to them...

actually, are there an association in each state?? or jus certain state have this kind of association for swiftlet farming? if there is an association on each state, then what are all the president/chairman doing? y cant they jus stand up together as a whole to fight for this??

or anyone hav contact of each state association thingy? we can make a list here,so that, we can hava a reference on who to contact when problem occured...but at this moment, i think we need the contact just because we need to wake them up to inform them that there is such thing happening and need to be united...

Dear Swift4ever:

How about Johor state? Will the government do the same to us?

May be it won't coz Johor is BN's stronghold.. 

I do not worry about getting the license, but I am more afraid they will ask us to move to the so-called "eco-park".

Correct me I am wrong, swiftlet prefer to stay in city/town/pekan than in the jungle & remote agriculture land, coz they feel more safe & not endangered by the predators.

Anyway, as some sifus advised before in this forum : we must thz like a swiftlet if we want to be successful.

So, I thz I will continue to proceed with my original plan to do BH in Yong Peng's shop house, there is no road of return anymore.

Very good advice if it work. Don't they want you to give them a plan before they approve your application. I also would like to know as I never apply for any renovation and hope your way can work as it would certainly save alot of trouble in future.

Great suggestion and I shall try and ask the authorities about the renovation's approval provided they don't ask me for the plan or drawing.

Thanks, much appreciated. I believe that the seminar and course are in Mandarin,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

---

Added on December 21, 2008, 7:58 pmQuote:
Bird mites are very small; a mature NFM is no more than about .5 mm in length, and is typically no more than about .4 mm in length. A mature bird mite would be about the size of the period at the end of this sentence. Fully a third of this length comprises the front legs and mouthpiece, and so the actual body size is smaller than the total length. An unfed mature mite may or may not be seen with the naked eye. The immature nymph is much smaller than an adult mite and will not usually be seen except with strong magnification.

These are problematic pests @ BH and if you are alergy to its bite, then bister and itchiness will occur and it's last for nearly a month.

I am one of those and I hate going up to old BH as it has these mites and causes tiny red dot and a little itches but will go bad if you are allergy to it.

Now, I have found a cream to prevent these bites, I use Aloe Vera cream on these bites and it's effective; at least for me.

Just want to share some little experience and hope that it is effective for you, too.

West Wind,

I have no less than 10 friends attended. Just checked with a few of them. So far feed back is good. Half of them already started own cleaning factory. Seemed to be the only one giving such course successfully and continuously in Malaysia. The courses are conducted very professionally. My friends said the lecturers are very responsible and informatic and not selfish. The company always invite old students back for free refresher courses whenever they have new techniques or inventions. It seems the lecturers and the students have established good personal relationship after the courses. My friends said worth the money. A couple of them before attending this course, had gone to Jakarta and paid alot more in USD and found it not useful. They are happy now and having own factory. Well, hope this info helps you.

Greeting to all Sifu and members,

I'm a newbie.

Not sure if anyone heard this company called Golden Nest Properties (M) Bhd located at Jaya One, Jln University, PJ.
Would greatly appreciate if anyone of the Sifu could advise or comments if the investment plan offered below sounds reasonable.....

I was "invited" by a freind to attend a bird nest biz oppurtunit talk and the approach is some sort like 'MLM/Referral' marketing. 
This company (public listed) is planning to setup a bird house (convert from factory)  in Kapar Klang with total floor size of 20K+ sqft,
and looking for partners to join for the investment. 

The biz model is  ;

  Investment    :  RM26,800 per lot

  Total number of lot for investment  :  600 lots

  Contract Period : 12 years

  Projected Return  :  RM  88,800 per lot. 
        i.    RM200 per month for first 2 years (guaranteed)                      Sub-total  RM4,800 
        ii.  RM700 per month from 3rd to 12th year for 10 years              Sub-total  RM84,000
  Calculation is based on :  115 Kg bird nest per month  (for 20K sqft) @ RM5,000 per Kg
     
    Other rewards :
        i.  Suceesful Referral  RM1,000 per person
      ii.  Sign on the spot  (initial visit only)
          a.  RM3,00 discount,
          b. Contract period extend for another 3 years to 15 years
BTW,  i didn't sign up for the plan as i don't really feel comfortable with the initial sign up reward to
attract people to sign just based on simple illustraction.
Thanks.

Merry Christmas.

What is the criteria to be a Swiftlet consultant and the answer is no. A PHD holder or a Doctor of Haiwan doesn't make him a consultant either. As this industry is young, we need to let it grow naturally and just like the dentist, long ago, the barber may also be the dentist.

Presently, the so called swiftlet consultant is someone who know about how to build a good BH, proven records and can draw in the birds and convince them to make nests. How and what isn't important at all. Presently, no sincere guy no matter how good and sucessful he is can go round telling everyone that he know all the science and art of true BH and that any BH he make will be 100% successful.

If the guy can convince the birds like he convince the newbiz, then he is a good consultant until we really understand the swiftlets. The research done on this subject is so little that the facts cannot filled up a book.
So, I maybe even looking for a bomoh if my BH is unsuccessful, maybe he can put charm to the birds to stay in my BH. Although,I must admit that we now know much more about the swiftlets than we knew 10 years ago, but then that not really very much as no one really go studying  and do research on the birds because all he want to learn  about the birds is to make money from them............. my humble comment on Consultancy with no ill intention or offence at all.

I agree 100% with what Sifu West Wing said. Newbie like me really have no confidence at all with the consultants (even though I still need them to help me). We have no law or any professional body whatsoever to monitor on them and hold them responsible when thing goes wrong. The terms & conditions drafted in the quotation is very ambiguous & interpretation could be much to the favour of the consultant side and there is no standard agreement being used yet (not like real estate S & P and standard form of contract recognised by PAM/JKR/FIDIC, being used in the construction industry). Newbie like me is easily subject to the risk of being conned and taken for a ride to Holland by the "kham sal tant" (cantonese) or "raja palsu" (Malay/Indonesia), if we do not familiarise with all the tricks before venturing into this swiftlet BH business.

Sometimes I like to relate and compare this swiftlet farming business with the real property development, and I find  that most of the time when thing goes wrong (like BH being demolished, fail BH no BN, complaints for noise, etc), always the BH owners "kena" and at the losing end, and the consultant seems like sitting there doing nothing & can't help much. I am not blaming the consultant per se, (and I understand some BH is DIY) coz I know that they are not  really the so-called "consultant" that registered under a certain professional body, not like the construction industry where the consulting engineer has to register to BEM, (similar goes to architect register to PAM) to ensure their competency and so that they can be held responsible when thing goes wrong like building collapse, substandard design & construction, etc). In fact, strictly speaking, IMO, swiftlet consultant should not be called "consultant", they can only be called contractor, more specifically : a "turnkey contractor*". Reason? Very simple, do u thz any Tom, d***, Harry, Ah Chong, Ahmad or Ramasamy can be a consultant that can design, draw a high rise building? No, right? But, a contractor (like Phua  Choo Kang that BSBH) can undertake to "sub" to construct a building under the supervision of a professional consultant. Most of the contractor who undertakes to do big job, need to register to CIDB & PKK. Some plumbers even also need to register to JKR/PBA/JPP.

What about our BH consultant? None, so far, correct me if I am wrong. (and their professional fee is very much higher than the architect, in fact, where they only command a 2-3% percent of the contract amount, & building contractor generally 20-30%)

(* In construction industry, a turnkey contractor is a contractor who involves in design and build, they will handover the final product to the client during the completion time, the turnkey contractor is solely responsible on everything(where they have to employ design consultant and specialist in construction if need to and the subcons to implement the works, except on the financial aspect which will be taken care of by the client)


What I am trying to say is that what we want for this industry is a qualified professional consultant (PC). That is. We want PC that can coordinite on the design, construction, liaise with the local authorities or other external government departments, educate the client, undertake the operation & maintenance (O & M) during defects and liability period (sadly to say, until now there is no law or regulations cover on this), whereas in building construction we have 24 months of liability period and the client could hold retention money and choose not to release if found not satisfactory.

We want our consultant to be more responsible(no play play, no ding dong) and really mean business, we want law that could bind them if the BH fail or the BH cause complaints to public and where we can sue them, penalise or ban them from this business. Of course at the end of the day, we have to pay a high price in exchange for their service, which I feel is worth it, for all the compliance, we can be rest assured and sleep well for our investment (our sweat and hard-earn money).

However, this is only my new year wish. There is still a long way to go coz for the time being, we don have the luxury & resources to have all this implemented.

Once again, like to say that this is just my humble 2 cents. Not intended to hurt anybody. My apology if any.

Happy new year!

Hi Tong & all the sifus out there.
I have to disagree with your comment  that we do not get FOC information . I have been learning a lot from the sifus here. I do not have much to share at the moment as I am a newbie trying to learn the ropes after being abandoned by the consultant after  his contract term expired without learning much.
I can say I learn more from this forum than fr my consultant. Thank you all the sifus out there who share their experiences without asking for any returns back.

It is not my intention to hurt or denounce any consultants , but for those intended BH owners do select yr sifus properly. It can make or break yr piggy bank!

May all the sifus like West Wing , Lucas ,  and all other sifus continue to have  abundance  birdnests harvest in the years ahead & a Happy & Prosperous New Year.

[attachmentid=752780][attachmentid=752780]Let’s have a break. Come back to farming. From the pic attach below. A, B, C, D, E, F or their combination which is the best inlet to the nesting area. All boxes are same wide 4’x4’. 

All are welcome to give comments. Please give special comment on F.

Thank you.

[attachmentid=752780]

coolandy,

be cool lah...it is ok to let others to promote here, and it is your rights whether to go n click n see or you can ignored it. we are not BN that tell anyone what u should do n how u should behave n u must follow what we said....we are not Dr M, The Dictator. oopss...sure kena tembak mati by his fans....

GEM is a bumiputra company that promote Swiftlet farming to Bumiputra which is very good to me. THe more bumiputra investors the merrier...

You guys should also check out Putera Forum discussing abt swiftlet farming !!!

The forum too is very active n you can get info about how our govt is promoting swiftlet farming to bumiputra by giving loan to them to buy land or build farm in agricultural land.

I pity GEM as they also did the same by promoting their website in that forum n also kick out by the forum members too.....

We are no dictator, we dont own this forum. So we should welcome everyone to this forum whether they contribute or not.
..