There are many reasons swiftlet test out your place and dislike to stay in it.
1) Too hot or too cold. ideal 27-30 degree
2) Too dry or too humid. ideal 75-90% RH
3) Too dark or too bright. ideal 2-3 lux
4) Presence of predators. (Even rat dropping smell will scare them)
4) Wrong chirping sound. Too loud / too many tweeters / bad quality tweeters.
5) Wrong material of nesting planks / no grooves on planks.
6) Poorly design entrance
7) Presence of chemical smell
8) Internal air pressure results of not enaugh ventilation holes
34 degree max is very high. Your farm is concrete or wooden? The roof is tiles/zinc/asbestos? Need to know these to come out with solutions. Normally to reduce heat you need to install heat dissipitation turbine to draw out hot air from inside the farm. Or install 12" exhaust fan (with grills on both sides) to draw out hot air. Turbine type is silence operation. Is the humidity enaugh?
The device to auto on/off humidifier that trigger on humidity level is call hygrostat or humidistat. I'm still searching for that up and down. There's one supplier selling and I think the price is too high. RM550 for one sucks model that with internal sensor with range of +-15% that sucks. Another good model with external sensor that can screw to nesting plank for best result and range of 1%. That's perfect. But price at RM850. Bummer. So I'm still seaching from other sources now. You can still use timer switch to control humidifier but would fail its purpose on rainy days. Are you using chicken farm humidifier? It's better to wrap it with sound reduction jacket. If you're going to do renovation in the farm remember to off chirping sound better still close the entrance.

This post has been edited by seeseng: Apr 13 2007, 04:21 AM

seeseng... who snap the pic? where was it? and how come got this kind of "blood nest"??? very rare one wor....

thanks man will try to get the above mention details to ya soon
very helpful

That pic I took from Dr. Chris forum. But poster doesn't give any info about the pic. Don't quite like the forum style. Cannot attach anything in typing posts. To upload files there's another section where all the files uploaded there but no info at all. I heard the Indonesian already can produce "blood nest" in swiftlet farms but the formula still remain a secret.

anyone of you mind to sharing 1kg of nest is how much or not?i know different quality got difference price.

i heard someone told me 1kg of nest can cost RM3.5k is it true?


i am a newbie about this industry,if i want to employ someone to renovate my place + consult me until make place got nest,how much will it cost? is there so call consultant market price in this industry?

This post has been edited by GameMonster: Apr 13 2007, 10:32 PM

According to "Complete Introductory Guide to Swiftlet Farming"
In 2006, white edible birds nests were being sold by swiftlet farmers in Malaysia at around RM4300 to RM6500 per kilogram, depending on the quality of the nests sold.
In 2006, whilte edible birds nests that have been processed and sold by retailers to consumers in Hong Kong averaged around RM21500 to RM25000 per kilogram.
That's according to book. Maybe you need to ask Sam for the per kilogram price.
Currently there are many swiftlet farming consultant companies out there. You can survey around. Among those famous are Nest Tech, Crystal Swiftlets etc.

This post has been edited by seeseng: Apr 13 2007, 11:26 PM

wow....what a good business with very very good future.

It's not so simple. Investment is high, failure rate is as high as 50%-70%. Many not fail but fairly passed with poor results. But if after a year your farm is successful, the future is very bright.

This post has been edited by seeseng: Apr 14 2007, 05:01 PM

Latest Update:

Last saturday my swiftlet hse pipe leak... so i go in and repair and then go and have a count on the shit....

so far my swiftlet has operate for 9 weeks and i have more than 30 piles of shit + 4-5 nest base.

Is the result good?

seeseng... regarding on this hygrostat, now i have to consider it oledi...haha

few questions here...
- Where can i get it?
- How to use? details...

Thanks man

With duration of 9 weeks for such results is consider good. Furthermore now is the main mating season. All new bird farms will have very low increment. After June your farm's bird population will increase faster than now.

The hygrostat/humidistat / humidity controller. I've ask my friend to find the product in China. If he can find one then budget is below RM500 I asked him to buy 2 units. He'll be back after 5 days. The local supplier selling too expensive but the product is great. With 2 meter length sensor. So the sensor can put at nesting plank for best results. The accuracy range is +-1%. Price is RM850 including shipping. The RM550 is their old model stopped selling now. That one only build in sensor. Same like the type Nest Tech build-in their humidifiers. Accuracy range is +-15%. That's way inaccurate. It works like a timer switch but it trigger by environment humidity. If we set the trigger % to 80%RF. It will stop sending power to humidifier when the humidity reach 80%RF. Will start the humidifier when environment humidity is less than 80%RF. You know we can't predict the weather humidity. Sometimes the time suppose to be less humid but the humidity appear high. Such as on rainy days, even after rain we can't predict how long the humidity will stay high. Over humid for a period of time will result in nests become yellowish colour. The grade drop then price per kilogram also drop lah. If humidity not enaugh also the nests will become smaller, thinner, got gaps between the strands. If too dry nests will easily crack, some fall to the ground and in some cases the shape not nice. Not half cup shape. Another good thing is if you can maintain stable humidity. Mean the environment humidity not go up and down too much. The swiftlets will feel very comfortable. Swiftlets will build bigger, thicker, heavier nests. According to Nest Tech, in this situation you will get weight increase of 10%-15% more weight for same numbers of nests than before. E.g. normally you need around 120 nests to make up 1kg. Fore nests build in stable humidity/temperature maybe you only need 105-110 nests to make 1 kilogram.

This post has been edited by seeseng: Apr 16 2007, 01:34 AM


Attached thumbnail(s)

- Local selling how much?
- if i got 2 floors, means i have to buy 2 right?
- you mean the sensor only can detect 2 meters only?

Local selling RM850.
The hygrostat come in few models. Cheapest 1 is RM850 with 13amps plug. Max can control up to 2 units of humidifier. If 2 floors you have to buy 2. Because 1 unit only 1 sensor. Can sense 1 floor only. Correction the sensor wire is 3 meter long.

This post has been edited by seeseng: Apr 16 2007, 10:22 AM

my humidfier is located on the 2nd floor. So if i buy 2 hygrostat, how do i connect it because the distance is too long.

Another problem is... my farm is quite long. So in every floor, if i put 1 hygrostat, i dun think is enuff. Is it correct?

If it is correct, means in each floor, i need to buy >1 hygrostat right? then how do they get connected??

What type of humidifier are you using? How many unit? How long and wide is your farm? Floor to nesting plank how high? If you have 2 floors you need to put 1 hygrostat each lah. Each floor sure different humidity level. So for 2 hygrostat you can use/control up to 4 humidifiers. Each floor 2 units.

Hi seeseng.

I using those humidifier like starbucks / coffeebean. They will spray tiny water drops...
I use one unit control 2 floors. Currently i'm using timer to control it. So like now if the temp is gettin hotter, i have to adjust to spray more frequently... so thats not really accurate.

If not mistaken, my farm is 20 x 80 (i think)

The hygrostat control the power to the pump. Since you only have 1 pump you'll only need 1 hygrostat. Hygrostat will stop the pump when the sensor sense the humidity level you set. To purchase hygrostat locally you can email markindo88@yahoo.com Mr. Alan to order. Price RM850 including postage.

This post has been edited by seeseng: Apr 18 2007, 02:46 AM

bro remember to tell me on ur exprience on the hygrostat oh hehehe, yea regarding my place there just came back with the readings, 33.5 C n 90% higest reading, min reading is 28.5 C n 68% so in that case the min i think should be nite time dy ler haha coz my timer never set for it to work at nite, any idea to bring down the heat ? like extra layer at the celling top or fan mayb ??? wat is the most ideal opening for the birds to fly in ?? hight from the ground lvl to the place where the hole is located at, and the turning point / partition of S curve? really need to save that place up coz its still empty

Who will help you to do the renovation??