Thanks Cergau for the advise above.
I saw this writer post about the Perhilitan . Has this problem been solved ? What happen to the law now for exporter of bird nest.
Can anyone take out the raw bird nest out from Malaysia now?
The article was written back in 2008, i wonder if that has change ?

Yeah! Why only pick on EBN only and no mention of others under their wings.....why no mention about taking out snake skin, tiger tooth or elephant tusk....and many others like turtle eggs when turtles are going to be extinct already. I believe it all boiled down on someone, somewhere must have some hidden interest in the matter cos' I never seem a gov dept. taking so serious about their job otherwise we should have saved our turtles ......going out all the way to stop and prevent anyone taking out EBN, a Malaysian products. It not simply like paying Rm100 per Kg tax but where and how to pay is another problem......meaning that exporting EBNs are only for the selected few only and who they are, I don't know. Never saw anyone prevented a tourist from taking Malaysian products for own use.......until now and that's EBN !!!!!!

Do you know that most of the Indo buyers are here not shopping for their processing factories in Indonesia but to smuggle the nests to their buyers in China thru HongKong runners because their country do not produce quality nests like Malaysia do and that their country do not have good friendship with China like Malaysia do and that Malaysia is given special privileged to be exemption from paying import tax on EBN.

DSMB,
You are right, very very busy. I wish you the best in your new BH. If successful, don't forget to belanja 1 kopi O, especially to West Wing :-).
chiongguo,

make sure your agreement is done by a good lawyer. Disputes normally come into play when

1. The birdhouse is successful and money comes in sacks

I hope others can contribute ideas.

They should understand that the industry has risks, and not everyone makes it good in 2-3 years.

Someone with formula on it may wish to answer this as this problem has been with us for a long time as long as we are using the Taiwanese humidifiers and the humidity must be high and temperature warm...excellent for fungus growing, too.

As for me, nowaday, I use a steel brush to clean the plank which is not the best way but I don't know of any perfect method of cleaning fungus off the planks.

By the way, I don't know if the spores are harmful or not but then, I must have inhaled alot by now and I am still OK and the recent Med C is still good. Better safe than regret later so best if someone has a solution for it.

Maybe, we have new inventors here wishing to do research into this as there are money to be made here but it must be safe for the swiftlet and that the swiftlets must love the anti fungus solution......otherwise, I rather leave it as it is and lots of nests activities. My personal  opinion on the matter.

A very wild idea, anybody tried this in a BH b4? i used a similar unit in my room 
http://www.sharp.com.my/images/56590-1614-AIRPURIFIER.pdf

Raymond

Dear aeiou228,
Pls share-lah, why difficult to apply? Timer problem? Need 85% ALL the time?
If it is to be limited to current practice for discussion, can't contribute -lah, got no BH experience.
Maybe there is an element of prevention here as after you've found a 'safe' (from health perspective) way to clean it,  you still have to prevent recurrence? No?

My apologies I may have gone off tangent. Out of habit-lah, when brainstorming & thru practice, I do not make a conscious decision of what can or cannot. I just say what comes to mind, the more outlandish the better. List them all down and each of us look at the pts no matter how silly at 1st impression, we assume each pt works and discuss the implementation. The idea is to make a silly suggestion work. Sometimes it's known as a guided way to thinking out of the box. Works better with people unrelated to the subject matter.
If that is not what you meant, I misunderstood.

I'll jump in if no BH specific knowlege applies.

For my benefit, do yr walls near the NP with fungi have the fungi?

WW, thks.

aeiou228,
Fire
I figured fire which you have tried turns it a diff colour, I will presume already toasted?
But it doesnt come off easily without hard scrubbing? As WW mentioned, can it be left alone w/o disturbing the birds?
Instead of a lighter , can you try a bigger fire power like as in picture here?
I think, if flame is applied evenly throughout the all plank and not just the fungal parts, you may have a chance to toast even the spore that are about to germinate. Also the heat will 'treat' & dry the NP somewhat? But I think it will leave some residual smell with unknown effect on the birds?

About swiftlets... recently discussed about cctv. the reason i want to install the cctv is for both security & observation... a friend familiar with thse gadgets (and has experience installing such systems for banks/hypermarkets) suggested i use those that can erm... rotate & zoom. but the cost was rather erm... high. Now i'm fantasizing a mobile camera on a remote controlled car so i can view the birds anywhere in the house.  T.T

aeiou228,
I recall someone mentioned that the eggs may be 'stillborn/dead' so the birds reject them.
Also someone suggested bouncing them, it ought to bounce like ping-pong ball.
Just my recollection, not experience.

When the egg is bad............or if the nest is done in a rush as the formal one being harvested.............when the bird plan to start a family, inside their body, the two eggs will begin to grow larger and will harden in time decide before hand and since their nest has been stolen, they will try to build one as fast as possible and about a finger and a half and then lay an egg, then they will build alittle bigger to accommodate the other eggs due in 3 days time and there is no way to stop the egg for coming..............so next time when you harvest fresh unused nest, think alittle for the poor swiftlets couple who are planing for their babies to be borned when there are enough food for their babies.

Good recommendation.  Since you are a expert in electronics, may I ask the followings.

Do  infra ray camera or ultrasonic oscillation of a ultrasonic humidifier disturb the bird in any way?

Or any Sifu in the field can pls. advice.