Dear Sifus,
I'm new here, but i read most of your posting, i found this forum very interesting. Very transparent. And I like Seeseng, West wing, Swiftbuild, weihow. I shared the same view as a farmer shall respect, love and care for the swiftlets then could be considered a successful one. Here i just wanted to encourage you all to keep doing what you all do to conserve this species while providing income for your family. From my research, birdnest soup is not merely as a legendary 'dish'. Just cut it short. here is my findings - Nutritional value in the nest per 100gram of diluted nest: (sorry... try to attach a table but won't work)

Protein: 37.5 gram, Fat : 0.3 gram, Carbohydrate : 32.1 gram, Calcium : 485 mg, Phosphor : 18 mg, Iron : 3 mg, moisture : 24.5 gram, other unknown substance : 5.094 gram. Resulting in a total of 281 calories per 100 gram of nest.
Aspartic acid : 0.4789%, Glutamic acid : 2.0875%, Tirosin 1.5166%, Serine : 1.6607%, Glycine : 1.2718%, Histidine : 0.8181%, Threonine : 0.6008%, Alanine : 0.7146%, Valine: 0.8225%, Methionine : 0.3542%, Isoleucine : 0.9023%, Leucine : 1.0266%, Phenylalanine : 1.1389%, Lysine : 0.3543%.
Sources from: Nutrition Section of Indonesia Health Department, cited in Drs. Arief Budiman (2002) - Budi Daya Walet, Pengalaman Pakar dan Praktisi Seri II.

The nutrition & Amino acids in our daily requirement according to RDA (US). Evaluate further below:

Type of Nutrition | Content per 100g of consumable nest | Daily Recommended Consumption per day

Calories | 281 cal | Infant:700 kcal, Adult 1800-2550kcal
Fat 0.3 g -
Carbohydrate | 32.1 g | 10-20mg, Pregnant women : 27mg
Calcium | 485 mg | 800-1200mg
Phosphor | 18 mg | 800-1200mg
Iron | 3mg | 15-20mg
Aspartic Acids | 478.9 mg | Unknown

Type of Nutrition | Content per 100g of consumable nest | Daily Recommended Consumption per day

Protein which contains amino acids as below: Average of 32.3 to 37.5 gram
Glutamic Acids | 2087.5 mg | 457mg/kg of body weight.
Tirosin | 1516.6 mg (Usually combined together with Phenylalanine with total of : 14mg/kg of body weight).
Serine | 1660.7 mg | Unknown
Glysine | 1271.8 mg | Unknown
Histidine | 818.1 mg | adult : unnecessary/unknown
infant : 28mg per kg of body weight
Threonine | 600.8 mg | 7mg/kg of body weight, infant:63mg/kg of body weight.
Alanine | 714.6 mg | Unknown
Valine | 822.5 mg | 10mg/kg of body weight,
infant : 89mg/kg of body weight.
Methionine |354.2 mg | 50mg/kg of body weight
Isoleucine |902.3 mg | 10mg/kg of body weight,
Infant : 80mg/kg of body weight
Leucine | 1026.6 mg | 14mg/kg of body weight,
Infant : 128mg/kg of body weight.
Phenylalanine | 1138.9 mg | Formed together with Tirosin : 14mg/kg of body weight.
Lysine | 354.3 mg | 12mg/kg of body weight.
Table 1.1. Source of reference: USRDA (US-Recommended Daily Allowance)

Another point is here:
In U.S. Pat. No. 4071408, Michael & Stuart (1978), the nest also contain enzyme neuraminidase induced by Arthrobacter sialophilum sp. nov. with various glycoprotein. The enzyme could be crystallized and is known for solid tumors regression treatment and further contribute to research in immunological and birth control.

So, the market for Birdnest might not only limited to CHINA-man only. In the future, it might be a good source for farmaceutical production. Just like the Horse-Shoe Crab. With their blood useful to kill all kind of bacteria. Praise the Lord for creating such a wonderful World for us!!!!

Lim

This post has been edited by Armoured.Sparrow: Aug 21 2008, 03:07 PM

Well, if new rancher give him/herself time to learn from books, scientific articles, blogs, forums (including this one), anything from the internet. Plus a 'willing to learn' attitude; buying, asking or even begging around. I guess, He/She will find a way. Or in the end, the classic trial and error - way. With or without consultant.
I believe, most of our sifus and successful indon ranchers also gone thru some of those stages. But just hope new rancher will learn fast enough to find the right spot to start up soonest before experts strike in.
This is also one of my humble opinion... Agree??

Got money, never mind. Just hope they won't go beg for ALONG's help!

AGREE!!!!!! So, say NO to PANEN RAMPAS!!!

Panen rampas = Robbery harvesting

Use good harvesting management (if your nest amount is not over Thousands) with colored stickers to mark certain stage of a nest (eggs, chicks, etc..) every week you go up to your BH, then mark the sticker on your calender. Next time you go up there, just aim on the right nest with aimed sticker color, safe time, safe energy!!!
But if you missed any stickers, then use a mirror to check eggs shells traces.

Agree West??

This post has been edited by Armoured.Sparrow: Aug 27 2008, 09:19 AM

If you wish to do that, you must prepare yourself to be troubled 15 hours a day, 7 days a week. Only going big scale, you could earn the quantity advantages and bargaining power in this 'dirty' trading industry. With less than 100 workers, you might have to prepare with at least 2 years of 'volunteer work'. Going large scale you must also have good financial background to carry enough stock to let the production runs without temporary suspension, since what cost the most is the labor cost. You won't idle your production line just because you don't have good suppliers network. It's not as easy as most people think, calculate the cleaned nest price in the shop minus the raw nest price. Even the whole sale price in Hongkong is around RM 7000 top quality for now might not sustain you with all the 'unforeseen' cost in Indon. Setting up a company in Indon with birdnest export license (cheapest price will be around RM 10.000) not to consider tax report fees by the end of the year, also will kill you in the first 2 years. And the cost of your work permit there will be around RM 8000.
So, guys... still dare to try. And managing local workers there is not as easy as we think and just do you have the right technique to process the nest effeciently? Indon is too wild for outsiders...
It's just not worth it, trust me!