Hi everyone,

I am new to swiftlet farming and I desperately need some advice here. Any form of advice is deeply appreciated.

I am one of those pitiful shoplot owners in Bandar baru Nilai which we invested ten years ago at. However, it has been totally abandoned since. Recently, I noticed that a number of shop lots in the vicinity have been converted to swiftlet farms.

After browsing through the internet forums for the past two weeks, I thought swiftlet farming may be a solution to our failed investment but hate to lose another RM60-100k if this investment fails again.

I have never visited a BH and have a faint idea of a BH layout plan. I deeply appreciate it if anyone could share some advice or info to minimise my investment risk.
Questions:

1) Anybody heard of any successful farms in or around Bandar Baru Nilai ?

2) From a newbie point of view, my three storey shop's location seems strategic for swiftlet farming. Visually, Bandar Baru Nilai seems to be surrounded by a vast lush green jungle. In front of my shop is a secondary jungle and further off, I can see a large hill 1000-2000ft high covered with green forest. There are a lot of swiftlet flying around but not sure whether it is the right type of swiftlet. Does this place looks promising for BH?

2b) I am thinking of engaging a consultant do a test call , to evaluate the swiftlet in the vicinity?. What can I expect from this test call? Is this test worthwhile? What is the norminal market rate for this form of service?

3) My shop lies in a commercial center, 1 km away from residential but two shop rows behind are shops operating with food centers nearby, is there any potential problems from the local council? Does anyone have any info on the BBN local council guidelines and requirements?

4) I have spoken to one person who owns a BH in Port Dickson and in less than one and a half year, he has been harvesting 30-40 nests every three months and he claims that the harvest will increase exponentially with time. Is this considered OK, considering the time frame? He strongly recommends me to go into this business as Nilai is geographically very near to PD. Any comments?

5) My shop is a standard 22 X 80 , three storey. Maybe for a price, can anyone offer me a proven detailed construction drawing of a successful BH, inclusive of a bill of materials.

6) One consultant briefly quoted me 70k-80K to do up the first and second floor only. 80K includes 3 inch concrete roof top for security purposes. Is this necessary? I was told 20%-25% of the costs goes into securing the premises. Can we put these investment later when there are signs of success?

7) Can anybody recommend me an experienced and reliable consultant?

8) I have read briefly somewhere in this forum which says that the average costs is about 25K per floor but could not find a breakdown of the costs. Any advise?

9) Can anyone provide me with a "check list" to set up a sucessful BH with minimal investment. I am a believer of scientific approach and appreciate use of technology, I read some where that a go between, a mix of traditional and technology method will be ideal. So I wish to adopt this method.

10) From the forum, it appears to me that the farm needs a lot of constant monitoring and attention especially in the first year. I do not want to spent too much time and effort here, so anybody knows of genuinely trustworthy person who can jointly operate the farm on a profit sharing basis. Where can I find a guide line on operating procedures for this type of operation? For that matter, any form of guidelines is also appreciated.

11) To minimise investment risk, is it advisable to invest and build just the top most floor first, with minimal security on roof top until signs of good swiftlet occupancy rate occurs. What is will be the estimated investment costs?

12) Alternative, is it adviseable to renovate the first floor first, then do the second floor in the future? FYI, ground floor is vacant with no business activity.

13) Out of the norm, (this maybe a silly idea) but can we use the second floor windows (kernel type) as swiftlet entrance and revolving area and encourage the swiftlet to fly downwards to first floor to nest. The reason for doing this is that I hate to tear of the roof. If this BH fails, I will need another sum of money to restore back to normal shoplot condition in the future. Any advise. (I thought this may save some initial setup costs).

14) I deeply appreciate if any person can offer me to visit their BH to gain an insight of the BH setup. My contact is mentioned below.

15) Is there an Switflet farming association or interest group that I join in KL or PJ area?

16) Or anyone out there willing to JV with me with an option to own the BH in future on a pre-agreed terms. Please forward me your proposal. (Anyone wishing to buy the shop lot now can also be considered?).

I can be contacted at wong88tt@gmail.com

Best regards

Thanks Lucas and Coolandy for the advice and encouraging words. I will certainly read thru V1 and V2.

Benchai, I would also like to attend the seminar in Jarkarta. Could you give me the contact. My email wong88tt@gmail.com

BTW, Is there an Switflet farming association or interest group that I join?