Hi guys, my name is Sam and I've just signed up to join this forum. Guess it's only customary to introduce myself to the established forum members. I live in Tok Soboh, Terengganu. If not many people have heard about Tok Soboh, don't worry. Even my outstation family members can't seem to find my home during CNY. I've just retired from accounting practice, about 56 years old, and have 2 operational swiftlet farms in the Tok Soboh district.

Let me humbly add more useful links about swiftlet farming to seeseng's list in this forum in order to help increase our knowledge about this growing industry.

Make Millions from Swiftlet Farming Book
The Complete Introductory Guide to Swiftlet Farming
Swiftlets City - Swiftlet Farm Consultant
One day beginners' swiftlet farming course
EBN Resources - Swiftlet Farming Equipment
Swiftlet Locator CDs

Ok, that's all for now. Once again, nice to meet you guys and thanks for letting me join. If anybody has any more useful links, please post them up for all to share.

Regards,
Sam

Hi seeseng,

Nice to hear from you. Don't worry, I'm not surprised. About half of the residents from Kuala Terengganu have not heard of my town before. Tok Soboh is actually 45 minutes from KT, near to Kanpong Sg. Pinang and on the outskirts of Kuala Besut. It's easier to tell people that I come from Kuala Besut becoz even outstation folk know where the town is located

I currently have 2 farms. One is about 5 years old and the other is about 3 years old. By the grace of God, I can humbly say that my farms had helped me to retire. All the nesting planks that I use are Meranti Merah, about 6inches wide, 1 inch thick. To tell you the truth, I never did the construction, design and fit-out of my farms myself. Never had the courage like you have. However, I'd spent close to 6 months visiting and talking to swiftlet consultants all over Malaysia. One of them is from Johor whom the members have been mentioning here but I've read that their experiences with him are very similar to mine.

Even went to Kuantan to visit another one there. No luck as he doesn't even speak English and sounded more like a mediine man than a professional consultant.

Finally, I selected Crystal Swiftlets from Penang, whose link you have mentioned in your post. They have their own factory producing swiftlet farming equipment for export, their employees at their Penang office are all graduates and best yet, they could converse with me in English. Quite rare for a swiftlet consultant to do so I also met the boss, a Thai national, and he has many swiftlet farms all over Malaysia and Thailand. Their charges are not cheap, nor are they expensive. Cheaper than the Johor guy but dearer than the Kuantan one, I calculated.

So Crystal Swiftlets constructed and designed my swiftlet farms for me. I go in to harvest the nests according to the timetable that they had given me and whenever I have a problem, it's quite easy to get one of their employees on the line to ask for advice.

I have Dr. Chris' book too. It's quite informative and good to read. I also bought The Complete Introductory Course on Swiftlet farming as well. It's just as good as Dr. Chris' book but contains a case study on an atual swiftlet farm that shows that a farm with afternoon temperature of more than 32 degrees celsius can still have swiftlets nesting in it. Very interesting. You should give it a read when you have the time. Apart from these 2 books, there are just not enough swiftlet farming reading material available.

Regards,
Sam

Yeah, I know what you mean about people not wanting to share and people who appear willing to share but may have the hidden motivation to lead you astray. I can remember that during my 6 months of research and travelling to learn more about swiftlet farming, I just couldn't believe that there are so many such people here in Malaysia. What's their proplem anyway? Don't they know that the greater the number of sucessful swiftlet farms there are in Malaysia, the better and more profitable this indsutry will become and the greater the chances of new swiftlets from other farms visiting and staying in theirs. The goverment will also afford the swiftlet farming industry better recognition as one of the elements driving our country's export performance if the industry can show that it is exporting more and more edible birds nests overseaas. Aaah... headache man.

I've also heard from some of my friends in China that the supply of edible birds nests there have become so limited that only around 20% to 25% of demand edible birds nests are being fulfilled by exporters from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. So the more swiftlet farms there are the better we, as swiftlet farmers, can help to fulfill this demand. If birds nests become too expensive due to the constant lack of supply, the market for this birds nests may start to turn away and look for some other product substitutes and this may end up hurting all swiftlet farmers. It's only a question of economics.

Sam

Hi seeseng,

All my farms are not yet full. There's still quite a fair bit of space for new swiftlets to nest in. According to the timetable given to me, I go in to both my farms once month to collect the nests. My 5 year old farm is doing better than my 3 year old farm, as can be expected - about 4 to 5kgs from the 5 year old one and 1 to 1.5kgs for the 3 year old one. Even if they both don't upgrade (touch wood... hehe), I'm really happy with their performance... the farms have helped me pay ofs the construction and design costs as well as have become valuable assets for me to leave to my 4 children when I'm gone. However, I'm feeling abit daring again to establish another farm... but my wife is really nagging me about not taking aon ny more chllenges and to stick to my retirement... just as well, got to get my colestrol level lower.

Well, your farm sounds a bit small, but the size should't matter much. What I've learnt about successful swiftlet farms is that as long as you get the design of your farm correct and that it's not noo hot, even swiftlet farms that have internal temperatures of more than 32 degrees celsius have swiftlets breeding in them. The most important thing is that we must install a reliable and good swiftlet sound system together with high quality tweeters in the farm in order to attract swiftlets to breed in them.

Just like my accounting profession, the use of advance accounting software allowed my firm to compile accounting information more quickly and efficiently as compared to recording the transactions by hand. a good swiftlet sound system together with high-end tweeters will be able to play swiftlet chirps more clearly and realistically than an average sound system ever will. Try not to use cheaper alternatives if you can... IC callers, DVD players, CD players, modified car amplifiers just can't compete when a new swiftlet farm that has a good swiftlet sound system is set-up close to yours.

All in all, I purchased about 100 litres of CS Mating Potion and sprayed the solution according to the timetable given to me by the poeple at Crystal Swiftlets. From my observations over these last few years, the mating potion actually works. Many swiftlets from other farms that flew into my new farms when I had turned on the swiftlet sound tended to stay and breed within my farms very quickly and stopped going back to their old ones. The visiting swiftlets really like like the aroma from the mating potions. At the same time, after every breeding cycle, I go into my farms and spray the mating potions all over so that when the baby swifts leave my farms to fly off, they will not be able to get used to any other farms that do not spell like mine. It's really working so far, as I see alot of baby swiftlets returning to my farms in the evenings. I know this strategy sounds devious, but it's free competition right? Also, one good thing about Crystal Swiftlets, is that they assured me that they have a company policy not to sell the mating solution to any farms within 5 km vicinity of mine. As long as this policy doesn't change, I'm quite confident that my farms will continue to grow and update.

Meranti Bukit should be alright as nesting planks. Swiftlets have sharp claws so they can pearch on anything that is abit rough. You are headed in the correct direction. Keep up the ethusiasm. Your farm will definitely reward you in the near future.

Sam

My farms are usually kept at a light intensity factor of 2 to 3 lux. That's not very bright... maybe around the glare of the luminious paint from a wristwatch inside a dark room. Some swiftlets also nest near the entrance hole of my farms where the light intensity is alot brighter... so I do think that trying to achieve total darkness may be quite marginal.

Yeah, I truly agree that quite alot of swiftlet farmers and consultants always want to keep something to themselves even after we have paid them alot of money for their consultation and advice.

But let's not let them get the better of us. Just remember, swiftlet farming is like any other industry... it takes alot of research and a great deal of common sense, not to mention hard work to see it through to fruitation. The common sense being that these swiftlets are animals with their own natural habits and charatetricstics. Their natural habitat is in caves... so lets' renovate our swiftlet farms into cave like environments to make it conducive for them to breed in. Anything else that these swiftlet consultants seem to be hiding, which doesn't not square with our common sense and logical thought, should probably continue to remain hidden. They can have it. No sense designing and installing the illogical into our swiftlet farms.

What do you guys think? Too simplistic a view?

Sam

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Added on April 9, 2007, 11:27 amWow, you've really done heaps of research seeseng. Good on you.Sound's like you are beginning to know more about swiftlet farming than those swiftlet farming consultants seem to do.

Dr. Chirs has a forum? Is it online? It would be great if you could forward me the link if there is one.

I'm not too sure what's inside the mating potions... but it has a real pungent cave like smell. I spilled some of it on my hand the other day and it took 2 days to get it off. Even my wife seem to not want to come near me during that time... hehe. Confirm that the price is RM350 per 5 litres.

If you can, better not spray ammonia into your farm. Most ammonia solutions in the market are quite strong (even when diluted), and the vapours really hurt the eyes of the swiftlets living within the farm.

The photos you uploaded are quite informative, especially the tweeter with the metal piece on it. How much are you paying for the nesting planks? Are they affordable?

Sam

This post has been edited by swiftletfarm: Apr 9 2007, 11:27 AM

No lah... got to use it as it is, can't mix with anything. I usually use all 5 litres up within 2 months...

Sam

Hi Weihow,

I'm not sure about the types of potions that nestech sells. All the while I've just been using the CS mating potion and I've found that almost all the baby swiftlets that were born in my farm continued to return every day. Kinda afraid to rock the boat by trying anything new, if you know what I mean.

The timetable that Crystal Swiftlets provided me is that from Jan to May, spraying the potion will help to retain the new baby swifts in my farm while spraying the potion in the 2nd half of the year will help to retain the visiting baby and adult swifts from other farms that fly into your farm to play during the day. The theory is that once these visiting swiftlets get used to the smell of the mating potions by playing inside of your farm, they will find it unfamiliar to stay in their own farms and subsequently migrate to yours.

From my own personal limited experience, the potion truly works. But the drawback is, it costs quite a lot of money. However, I don't mind paying to keep my farms competitive, just take the money out from the sales of edible birds nests. Better to spend a bit than to lose my swiftlets to others. In the end, I may end up spending (losing) more, kinda like penny wise pound foolish.

Thanks for Dr. Chris' link, seeseng. Will check it out later. But they ask questions in order to join? Like what? Will give it a try and report back.

regards,
Sam

Hi weihow_2000,

You can check the decible level of your swiftet chirps using a decible meter and focusing it towards your tweeters whilest standing about 6 feet away from the tweeters. The 6 feet distance requirement is stated in the guidelines for swiftlet farming in most of the districts in Terengganu. Heard that it's around the same in other areas of Malaysia.

A swiftlet farm can become quite dirty due to the waste and feceas of the swiftlets... however, most of the time, we just scoop up these waste in 5 kg bags and sell them to other swiftlet farmers or as fertilizer... a swiftlet farm won't be any more dirty or unhygenic than some of the coffee shops around my area. You just have got to manage your farm properly and hygene and cleanliness won't become an issue. Suistainable management is very important in swiftlet farming.

Sorry for the long silence guys, just got back from a holiday.

Regards,
Sam

Hi Weihowe,

The CS Mating Potion that I use in my farm is not ammonia based. According to the guys at Crystal Swiftlets, the potion is made up of totally herbal and organic base ingredients. It's a patented product from their partner company in Thailand and it's not supposed to contain anything chemical at all or else it will be quite harmful to swiftlets.

I do know what you mean about ammonia solutions that are being sold in the market nowadays. My friend bought a few bottles and used it in his farm, totally terrible. The solution really hurts the eyes, and if we feel the effects, I'm quite sure that swiftlets will feel it too... although I don't have any documentary evidence to prove so... hehe.

Just ask them for the CS Mating Potion... it's to be sprayed on the walls to age the cement and make the new swiftlet farm feel like a natural old habitat to the swiftlets. From the performance of my farms, it really helps. It's not for the nesting planks, the smell is too strong. You should use the nesting plank solution from Crystal Swiftlets instead for this purpose.

Regards,
Sam