Hi everyone. Greetings. I`m a new member. Just registered today. An intro
about myself.I`m from Ipoh. Interested to own a farm. Still undecided whether to DIY or hire a consultant b`coz of the $. They are charging more and more. DIY means blind like a blind man.
Attended a course with Crystalswiflets last week.

Hello. swiftletfarm. Your farms were done by Crystalswiflet. Mind sharing your audio modal ? Thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Oct 23 2007, 07:34 AM

Hi to all experienced farmers. My intended farm is a pre war shop and i intended to install a ceiling before nailing the nesting planks.

Any one willing to comment or share which material is better, plywood ,abestos sheets or ceiling board. Please comment. Thks in advance.

Depends on yr budget.

The best I could said is pour concrete. Reason being= 1)thieves can't break concrete roof 2) Resist heat thus create a better cooling enviroment 3) Planks can easily nail to roof because the roof is strong.

Many are doing this now especially in K.Kuala S'gor area.

SwifBuild



+Thanks Swifbuild for your comment.

Will consider all recomendations. By the way how`s your farm`s progress ? Ready ? Still renovating ? Went around enquirying material to use. Came up with a rough caculation.The different is least RM 10K if we plan, design ,some DIY ,some help from professional to do the heavy construction. The $ saved is the consultation fees plus percentage made by contractors .

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Added on October 24, 2007, 8:05 pm Calling all members. Could any one show a picture plus description of a dog kennel entrance? Many thanks.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Oct 24 2007, 08:05 PM

Thks Skynest for your comment.

It`s not 10K to set up the farm but the different in total cost done on my own compare to the total charges by the consultant. Put the RM 10K again to lure in the birds with high eng audio,high CDS, ETC. Got bettter chance or not ?

By the way any one to show pictures and descriptions on arrangement of ventilation pipes, the fresh air coming in and the hot air going out.THANKS.


And Skynest, mind sharing which type of insulation gives the best result cause your a contrator. TKS.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Oct 24 2007, 10:02 PM

Thank you Skynest and Swifbuild for your comments and opinions.

The consultant who talked to me has a farm himself and just collected 300 g nest begining of this month and there are some more nest currently occupied by eggs and baby birds.I think about 20 more nest uncollected.He took me to his farm the other day.. But he told me to wait about three years to see result.He waited about 3 years and so he told me to wait 3 years.

So ,is his farm cosidered successful or a failed farm? All comment welcome .

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Oct 25 2007, 05:00 PM

Thanks Swifbuild.


That`s why I want to try actually not fully DIY. Get and find diferent professional person to do what i intended to build or modify.Not fully depend on one contractor. Some can DIY ,I`ll do on my own.


Back to the above consultant,surely considered fail before starting. And he keeps calling me,think I`m a ~sui yee~ (easy meat )


How many nest per season is quite subjective. In populated area ,maybe more .For Ipoh area not sure lah.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Oct 25 2007, 08:25 PM

Thks Skynest

. Actually interested in farming a few years back. Recently got inspired again after visiting the consultant farm a few days ago.

Been collecting info for past 2 weeks. Quite true that I`m still green in this field.

Looking back,if I started few years back,surely failed most of all due to financial constrain and zero knowledge. But this time around ,thks to all who posted their experience here I learned a lot, books and reading materials on swiftlets farming and courses offered by professionals ,maybe this time higher percentage to succeed. That`s a big challenge,right ?

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Oct 25 2007, 10:11 PM

Hi SKYNEST.

Nice to hear some experience farmer sharing his knowledge. It` been a

battlefield for quite some time. Been to your website too.Think it`s

colourful & informative. Keep up the GOOD WORK.

TKS .

Hi ,SWIFBUILD,

Thanks for the info above. Sad to see it`s a cruel world full of opportunist.
I`m sure thr new owner will feel like a fool and the other guy is laughing all the way to the bank. I`m new too in this field & luckily did not meet someone who showed
me his farm with birds but no nests. As a begineer with a slight persuasion
I too will fall for it. To a begineer, birds means automatically `nest.`

Poor guy. most likely he`ll lose 100K . Maybe all his savings too.

Thks again for this valuable info.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Nov 14 2007, 03:43 PM

Hi seeseng,

Mind sharing news about your Hygrostat. Is it the same as Kong Heng`s type ?
Is it effective ? How much is it ?

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Added on December 1, 2007, 12:57 amTo all readers. NO OFFENCE to anyone. It`a personal feeling of mine. You can read on or skip this. Your choice. It`s like a trend now ,many new people including me also jump into this venture,( BIRDS NESTS WAH! WAH ! )many opportunist also jump in to advice of setting up farms,of course with whooping amount , easy money eh ?.Quite many poking and stabing at each other over the net. I`ve used about 210K to set up two farms, the first one my own shop,the second one share with my relative. Hired a consultant total cost inclusive everything 78K and easily the consultant make 30K to 40K from me .All in all about 2 months.The reason why i`m venturing into this is ,the first and the last venture.Make it or do nothing in future.I`m not that damn rich but I`ve prepared to lose the $. I`m wondering if I can get back the capital used or have to wait for how many long years.Most of us are attracted by the stories like so many kilos lah per month. Wonder how true it is ? The bigger the farm the higher the success rate? Small farm like mine is already doom even before it`s started ? Just some thoughts from a newbie.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Dec 1 2007, 01:01 AM

Hi Kenkoh, I think what your bought is a hydrometer not a hydrostat. The function of a hydrostat is like an automatic device where a humifier will be activated when the humid level that we set has gone down. Eg we set 80% humid, hydrometer show 79% humid, hydrostat function humid will go up. SO condition of nesting place almost always constant. Don`t know whether it works like that. I was hoping that SEESENG will give us a better view to newbie like me.Using a hydrostat is the so call purpose of it if it`s functional is to cut down guess & guess work. For example my consultant said, you adjust the humifier to work longer when the whether is hotter. Ah yoo ? How to know for sure whether the weather is hotter or cooler. The whether keeps changing by the hour. Ah yoo !!!!
Hopefully SEESENG will be willing to share his experience with us. THKS in advance.

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Added on December 1, 2007, 10:15 amHi tongserseng for yr comment.

At first i really wanted to try DIY. The joy of DIY is to fully enjoy the fruit or fully bang one`s head if fail. Who to bang if it`s a failed farm if we emplyed a consultant ?.More RM to put in to make it work ?DIY means modify the building and one must really know what one is doing before we can employ people to knock down here & there. So you see CONSULTANTS COME INTO THIS AREA.To get people to work is another big problem.Small job don`t want to do. if not cut throat price.I think there are lots of construction job out there so all these people `tarik harga`. GET pull along on one`s ba--- all the way.Try getting someone to repair the roof and see.
And the workmanship is very costly. I moved the 2 air con blower which is outside my 1st farm yesterday . I think about 8 -10 feet away and it cost RM 1500 for 6 hours job.Take it or leave it attidude.My official pay is less than RM3000 per month. 6 hours job cost more than half of my pay. To install a TNB meter cost RM1200 not include charges by TNB RM 750 just to connect a few wires to the shop.Charges in Malaysia is 1st class developed country.
DIY also cannot don`t DIY also cannot. Ha! Ha! Ha!

In Malaysia,the cost and workmanship of doing things is no joke lah. One need a mountain of RM.

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Dec 1 2007, 10:26 AM

Hi Seeseng. Thks for the infor on your product. By the look of it, does it control one humidfier or two humidfier ? And mind telling the RM does it cost for all to consider to add or not ?

This post has been edited by ccheongf: Dec 1 2007, 11:28 PM

Hi arong.

DIY is a great way to save $. You`re great to be able to fix a meter. One can only DIY provided if one know for sure or else very serious consequences.Many services providers like TNB and Water Works do not let us touch their meters as far as I know.
Where are you staying? They called it tempering with their meters and could be fine.So can we touch these meters? Any one can comment ?

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Added on December 3, 2007, 12:06 am Hi Kenkoh, Yr`re welcome.

Just sharing what I`ve seen in Taiping today. So many birds farm in town.

5 ,4,3, 2 storey entrances hole,so many different entrance height.But one really awe me lah. It`s a pre war old double storey end lot entrance hole beside a road. If your are familiar with pre war shop usually you`ll see wooden frame upstairs as window.It`s half of the window only. I think it is about 18 ft or less from the road. You can see birds practically diving down into it bcoz it is so low.Really defy bird farming rules of high entrace hole.



This post has been edited by ccheongf: Dec 3 2007, 12:06 AM