Swiftlet Farming, New & Good Farms

One of a very unique Swiftlet farm in the Northern of Perak. It was purposely built on top of a river. This environment has good vegetation.The food supply for the Swiftlet will always be sufficient.

The quality of nests would be good and the control of the micro environment is easy as the surrounding is good. So selecting a good location for Swiftlet Farming is very important as it will

affect other criteria of a good and successful Swiftlet farm.

Below is a video of a Swiflet Farm also located in Perak belongs to a friend of mine "Chee Wooi". It has just started about 2 weeks plus. The farm attracted lots of birds as you can see from this video. The birds are eagerly wanting to enter the farm without any fear.....................................................................................................................................................................

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This is what we called "Free Flow" . Currently the are many birds staying at the farm from looking at the patches of birds dropping and it keep on increasing. Free Flow mean the design of the farm accommodate the flying path of birds.

The Birds chirping Cd sound is good and it attracts many birds to come and play ...................................................................................................................................................................

This is the most important for newly opened farm. Not only we want the birds to come and play but we also want the birds to enter the farm and stay at the farm. ............................................................................................................................................................................

If the birds decided to stay the chances of them building nests are high. If they only come and play without entering the farm that mean there are problems with the farm. Some of the problems are, the entrance, the size, the position,micro environment,etc................................................................................................................................................

If you observe closely there is a pooling speaker at the roof of the farm. The sound from this pooling speaker will promote your newly built farm to birds. As the CD sound could travel far. ............................................................................................................................................................................

You may also use the DIY long distance speaker (PVC Type) which I had posted here earlier. So for a good farm everything has to be balance be it internally or externally.

Pillars in Swiftlet Farm

Last week I met up with my blog reader who has a farm in Johor. After a few tele-convesation we decided to meet up to discuss about his farm.

He had started his farm for more than 5 months. His complain was no birds. Then I asked him what about bird dropping? His answer was " no , only few patches ".

He was very uncomfortable with the one who he entrusted to build his farm. The cost was 100k for a 2 storey shop.

Every time when he asked him why there are no birds staying? His reply was "success comes with patient and u thing this is rearing chicken meh" you have to wait lah!

When I observed the farm I noticed that there are many pillars in it. There were these steel beams
that supported the roof were erected in the middle of the farm to support the concrete ceiling.

This is not advisable as the Swiftlet may knock on them while flying as the Swiftlet echolocation
may not be able to detect these pillars.

This is one of the limitation of his farm. The pillars also blocking and preventing a good flying path. That's why after trying the farm for a while the Switlets decided to leave and never came back again.

Secondly the ventilation holes were placed at the inappropriate place and only few VHs in the farm of 100 feet long, could you imagine that. This will affect the temperature and the humidity of the farm.

(the bird dropping in this picture was placed by the person he entrusted to build his farm. Look at the pillars, one is right in the middle of the entrance. The Swiftlet head sure "bengkak")


The bird chirping sound was not attractive enough to encourage young birds to stay so does the external sound. Besides that there were too few tweeters in his farm.

For that size of farm it should have more. Wrong type of tweeters were used in his farm. He has no idea of what is to be used in the farm.

So I have to advise him on this and recommended a set of external & internal sound for his farm and at the same time advised him where to place the Ventilation holes to accommodate the micro environment.

I also explained to him the criteria of a good and successful farm and many more advises which I could not mentioned all here.

Hope my advise will help his farm to attract more birds and building nest in the shortest time. Poor guy, I guess he would learn a lot from this experience. Good Luck to him.

email me if you need more info, swifjames@yahoo.com

mobile: 012-3173811

Swiftlet Farming " Dog Kennel, Open Roof & Window unit"

I’ve received many emails regarding the above, especially from those who are new to Swiftlet Farming. I hope the information provided here would be useful.

There many types of design of Swiftlet Farm as you could see from the pictures that I have posted here. It comes in varies sizes, designs, shapes, etc. To name it the most common ones are Dog Kennel, Open Roof & Window Type.

Of course every each of them have their own advantages and disadvantages over the other. These 3 types of farm are commonly seen in Malaysia where in some Swiftlet Farm areas you could see one of the 3 types predominate over the other. The reason being is "Adaptation".

Dog Kennel (DK)

The purpose of DK is to prevent light from reaching the nesting area. The opening (entrance) usually small thus the movement of air is not easily sweep into the farm. The height also deters intruders. It is good for small farm that has a small build-up area as the roving will not take up lots of space.

The disadvantages are, due to the small entrance, it takes a longer time for birds to enter the farm and manoeuvre is a problem if the farm is not designed properly. It may take a long time for birds to nest, furthermore younger birds may find it hard to fly out from the farm if the flying path is designed wrongly.

It also create eye sore as it can be easily seen by others. This will invite people from the local council and intruders. Secondly, since the entrance is facing horizontally this creates sound pollution. The sound from the external tweeter can be heard by the public.

The DK is very famous in the West Coast of Malaysia.

Open Roof (OR)

It is the favorite of the East Coast Swiftlet Farmers. Majority of them in the East Coast of Malaysia (T’ganu, Pahang and Kelantan) favor this design.

The entrance is facing the sky making it easy for birds to enter the farm’s entrance rarely smaller than 4x4’ (most are bigger). It takes up lots of space and it is not advisable for small build-up farm. Due to the large entrance air is easily draw into the farm thus creating an environment disliked by Swiftlets.

It is not easy to control the micro environment of OR farm, initially there are many birds visiting the farm if the micro condition is not right after couple of weeks they will leave.

The large entrance also invite intruder as it is easy to break in. The light could reach the nesting area if the design is not done properly. The advantage is the sound pollution is at minimum as all tweeters can be placed facing the sky.

No eye sore for OR farm, if the sound could be controlled properly no one will notice, there is a farm around.

Window Type (WT)

This is very similar to the DK except the opening is at the window or the wall parallel to the building. The reason being is to save cost. It is the easiest to make and cheaper than the both above (for Shop lot ). No renovation needed on the roof.

The WT are very common in Indonesia and especially for Stand Alone farm where there is no obstruction at the opposite of the entrance. There’re few very successful farms using this design here. Once again, sound pollution and eye sore shall invite people from the council and complain .It is easy for thief to go in from the next building’s window. All he has to do is just climb over. (Shop lot)

It takes a while for the birds to go into the farm. The light can penetrate right to the end of the farm unless partitions are made.

For more information you may email me at swifjames@yahoo.com

Swiftlet Farming Cross Fostering (A.Fuciphagus & Collocalia)

In Indonesia you could buy the Swiftlet eggs or the newly hatched chicks that are few days old. It is much better to buy the chicks as the certain percentage of eggs put in the Sriti nest will not hatch or rejected by the foster parents. This technique is called Cross Fostering, which the adult of Sriti (Collocalia) will take care of the A.Fuciphagus chicks.

(swiftlet eggs)

The A.F eggs take about 30-40 days to hatch and another 30-45 days before they leave their nests. Incubation in the incubator with a temperature set at 40C at a 70% humidity. After the A.F eggs hatched the chicks are left in the incubator for 2-3 days before they are transferred. This is mostly done in areas where the A.Fuciphagus population is low and the Sriti population is high.

Identifying eggs that have embryo

This done in a dark room, by placing a flash light underneath the egg, you will be able to identify it. Those eggs with embryo will be sold to Swiftlet farms or send to incubator for incubation.

(newly hatched Swiftlet chicks)

They have been doing this for many years and this is how they increase their bird’s population. In Malaysia we are very lucky to be blessed with an environment that has very small percentage of Sriti. So we should take advantage of this beautiful natural resources. Most Swiftlet farms in Malaysia are colonized with A.F, rarely you will see Sriti in it.

The Sriti are dark deep blue in color. The colors of their eyes are brown and there are very small in size. They are in colonies like A.F and hunt in the same area with A.F. To differentiate them is not easy, commonly identification is through their nest.

Check your Tweeters with DIY Tool

Once a farm started, the first 1-6 months period is most crucial where any short comings have to rectified immediately so that in the shortest period of time the farm could attract Swiftlets to stay.
One of the problem arises during this period is some of the tweeters may be malfunction (averagely 10-20% ) .

The causes are poor quality of the tweeters, poor wiring connections, using wrong Amp, wrong tweeter, wrong & different wiring were used, combination of different watt of tweeters and many more.

If you have hundreds of tweeters in your farm, are you going to check one by one using a ladder? If you could do that I respect you man! A simple way is to use this DIY “Submarine Tweeter Test Tool" which I called it. It is cheap to make, reliable and best of all it will last for many years...

Probably some of you already using it, but for those who haven't use it, make one yourself you need it in your farm. All farms should have this tool unless your farm doesn’t have any tweeter at all.

Parts that you need

1) 1” or 1-1/2” PVC pipe. Length depends on the height of nesting plank in your farm.

2) 2 pieces PVC elbow joint

3) * as in the picture, mine has a joint in the middle for dismantle for easy storage.

It’s so simple all you need to do is to place the opposite side of the “Submarine Tweeter Test Tool” to the tweeter and the other end to your ear.

If you don’t hear anything or the sound of chirping is not clear or low then it shows that the tweeter has got problems. You may need to change it.

This helps in saving you the pain on your thigh and neck where you have to climb up and down the ladder to check those tweeters. I would suggest that the tweeters to be checked once every 3 months.

Go and make one today, you will realize how useful the STTT when you use it. I am sure

most have no regret making one. I wonder has anybody patented it.

If not, I will..ha..ha..ha..

Extra Feeding " Culturing Drosophila for Swiftlet"

I am culturing different kind of Drosophila for Swiftlets, as most market available Culturing Powder only produce one type of fly. The ingredients that we put inwill produce different kind of flies. As we know different fruits attract different flies.So adding different kind of fruit extracts and culturing base shall produce different kind of flies.

(All labeled with ingredient & formulation so that it won’t mix-up)

Wouldn’t it be great with a single culturing powder with a multiple mix formulation that could produce few kinds of Drosophila? That is exactly what I am doing. As more varieties of fly available in your farm, it will attract more birds. I am culturing about 5 mixed formulations with different kind of fruit base. In about 5-7 days they should show some results. This means that in a single jar you would have few different types of fly (D.Melonogaster, D.Funebis, etc)

(Turned yellow /orange, reaction)

It’s just like we are going to a buffet fest and the restaurant only serves one dish and the next door restaurant serves 5-10 dishes, so which one would you go to? I guess most of you knew the answer already.

(Different ingredient base)

Swiftlets like to fest, most of the time you will see them in colonies charging at group of different insects especially after rain. So if your farm has varieties of Drosophila it will attract more birds than those that have only one type of flies or none.

Ventilation Hole " How Many?"

We have seen many farms with Ventilation Holes, some have many, some have few and some have none. What is the purpose of the Ventilation Holes? Practically, for air movement in the farm. As we know that the Temperature and Humidity are important factors in the farm. Of course there are many more important factors that needed to be considered as well but for now let’s have some insight of Ventilation Holes.

(Inside all facing ground)


(Too few Ventilation Holes so an Exhaust Fan is needed)

The common Ventilation Holes are made with 4” PVC pipe jointed to an elbow (90dg) inside. (some use ventilation bricks) The elbow is to prevent light from reaching the nesting planks therefore most are facing the ground. Of course you have seen some farms VH, where the elbows are placed outside. I prefer the first.

(Using 6" PVC pipe)

The number of VH to be placed in a farm is very important. As too few, the temperature will rise and too many the humidity will drop. This is like a juggling game. Having the right numbers of VH and placing them at a strategic location will reduce your remedy works of having to add water sprinkler, exhaust fan, water pump, etc. I am sure some of you had seen farms that have hundreds of nests that do not use the water sprinkler, exhaust fan and mist machine. Most have some water pools in it.

(Many Ventilation Holes)

If the design of the farm and the placement of VH in term of numbers and location are right it will solve your headache of remedies works of adding the above. Movement of air is so important in a farm. This is a decisive matter of between success and failure.

( Many Ventilation Holes already "too many" why need another Exhaust fan?)

Besides that the more remedy works you add to your farm the more maintenance jobs you need to take care. VH also draw in fresh air into the farm and the smell of birds dropping being drawn out. I believe whatever comes in must goes out thus this will not create an air pressure in the farm that disliked by birds. Good farms always have good movement of air.

( Zinc structure yet no Ventilation Hole , do you think Swiftlet will build nest?)

The strategic location means how high or how low from the ceiling the VH should be located, how many should it be in a farm. (How many on the left and right side for a Stand Alone farm and how many on the front and back of a Shop lot unit).

For those who already have a farm go and try it out, increase your VH if you farm's temperature is high, I guarantee that the temperature in your farm will drop. Let’s go and do some home work!

If you are still unable to solve the problem of temperature and humidity thru manipulating the VH then your other option would be using Exhaust fan, Mist machine, Water sprinkler, etc to control the temperature and humidity like some of the pictures above.

( Anyway it can be done)

SWITLETs Feeding Their Babies

This is a video of Swiftlets feeding their babies, it is a rare footage shot by a friend of mine. For those who have never been to a Swiftlet farm before this is a good opportunity to see how Swiftlets feed their babies.

Parents normally will come back to their nests few times a day to feed their chicks. It depends on the season. During the dry season where food is scare the parents will travel far, during this time they may only come back once to feed their chicks.

From this observation one may learn when is the best time to enter the farm. Going into the farm at the wrong time of the day may frighten the birds.

Many thanks to my friend for sharing this video with us.

Stress Sound / Bird Sound Test

I have received many emails from my readers regarding about Sound Test.

Lets get some understanding about the sound itself. Most sound that are fixed at the entrance of the bird house to attract birds are called external sound.This sound comes with many type of chirping sounds, some consist of male aggressive sound, female heat sound, young birds sound, etc.

These sounds could also be used for Bird Test as well. If the time of testing is not right or the season is not right the birds may not respond, even they responded the number may be low. This means when the Bird Test is done during the noon where the birds are more eager to look for food and if a female heating sound is played they may not respond to the sound as they are more keen on filling their stomach.

Therefore, some have came out with sound that are so tense that even filling the stomach is secondary, this is call STRESS sound, that will attract birds from far away. Therefore this sound was created specially for the purpose of Bird Test.

So to all readers never put or play Stress Sound in your farm. Stress sound is designed for Birds Test only to attract as many birds as possible to a particular area to survey whether the area is potential for farming or how many birds are around that area .This will help in decision making and feasibility of investment.

Most got attracted by the number of birds they see. Those who know about bird sound know what I mean. Playing the Stress Sound in your farm in no time will make your birds leave your farm for another farm. Initially you would see many birds come to the source of sound curiously, months later the population will reduce. The reason why birds are attracted to the Stress Sound, it is because swiftlets are colony in character, if a member being attacked it will produce a Stress chirping sound. If any groups are around that particular area they will fly down to help or investigate.

Therefore Stress sound will attracts many birds but putting in your farm is disastrous. I have seen many doing it without knowing the consequences. So beware of what sound to play in your farm.The safest is to play a good or a normal bird chirping that have female and male sound. That is the best bet and you won't go wrong.

Flock Leader "How to Identify It"

I received an email from one of my readers regarding the Flock leader ( Leader of the colony) below is his question.

Hello James,

Congratulations on your blog. I find the articles on DIY very interesting. The caption in one of your pictures says that if the flock leader transfers to a site, the rest follow. My question is - is there any way to identify the flock leader?

Sincerely,

Dick Morales
Manila, Philippines

In a bird house or shall I call it farm has more than one colony. As we observed sometime when the birds returning to the farm in the late afternoon after the whole day searching for food, we see that some circling above the farm while other entering the farm, they might be from the different colonies. Sometimes we see batches of bird depending how many birds you have in your farm, circling a while and the whole group entering the farm later another batch out of nowhere appeared and did the same thing this clearly shown that the farm has more than one colony. Swiftlets fly in colony while searching for food, some colonies venture far from farm and some near. Therefore colonies that search food nearer to the farm will reach the farm first and colonies that venture far will reach the farm late, from here you would see batches entering the farm in different time.

In a colony there is always a leader. If you have a farm that has few hundred of birds identification is easy as compared to farm that has less than a hundred of birds. The leader of the colony is very vocal, noisy and indeed aggressive . These are the characteristics of the leader as to protect the whole colony from danger. Thru my observation the one that always be the 1st to respond to any aggression, sound,etc is the leader. If you observed closely in the farm long enough till mid night not all birds make significant chirping sound in the farm, only few would continuously making noise or circling around .Those that continuously doing it or those frequently doing it are the leaders.

That is why when you listen to bird Cd sound you will discover a dominant sound ( like a lead singer, solo) and the rest are back-up sound ( colony). This is the leader.

Sabah Trip

Two weeks ago I was invited to Sabah to survey and check whether the place was feasible for swiftlet farming. The vegetation was wonderful, it certainly passed the 1st criteria. Rivers, mountains and hills, valleys, etc. Plentiful of food for the swiftlets if a farm is to be built here the growth of swiflet in the farm will be fast.

It was a good location. If the right way is to be implemented then it will be very potential and obviously the 1st who build the farm here gets the pioneer status.

Above is the sound test , the tweeters were displayed on the car bonnet in few directions, it was a rough and tough 4w drive so no Styrofoam was needed to protect it from scratches.

We tested the sound of house AF ( domesticated, which I call : A. fuciphagus-fuciphagus) collaborated with the sound of Sriti ( collucalia) as well as cave AF. The birds responded well and they don't leave even when the sky gets dark. We pushed further to see their respond even when we decided to pack our stuff, it was already almost 8pm ( in Sabah Its like 9pm here) the birds still circling above and tried to find the source of sound. It was wonderful. (with the understanding of the soon to be farm's owner I am not allowed to post the pictures of the birds here, Sorry readers).

The location is in the middle of the Oil palm estate. A stand alone 3 storey swiftlet friendly farm will be built here . Look at the green here!

All have to be done is a correct design of a farm that will take consideration of the birds flying path internally and externally (micro & macro) and the kacasusu those from KPW know what I mean. (for newbies you may email me I will explain).

This river is just 2 km away from the location that the new farm is going to be built. Everything is in one basket except for now are the farm ( well design one), a good sound and without forgetting the Birds.

This is a Belian tree, it is the hardest wood in the forest. The name says it all. Even after hundred years if you cut it, the inside still look new and its 100% termite proof. The owner asked me could he use this type of wood for planking? I replied certainly, if you don't mind the cost.

Currently, if I am not mistaken it is USD $8k per ton.

Wood Farms

Cost does matter, It is much cheaper to use wood and I guess if that area has plentiful of cheap wood. Provided one could control the micro enviroment otherwise everything goes up-side-down. These kind of wood farms are plenty in Thailand and Indonesia, and I have seen few in the East Coast. In these areas birds are conditioned to wood farms so if you build another wood farm here I think it shouldn't be any problem to suceed.



It would be a major disaster if the whole areas are with building of shop lot (cement&Bricks) and you start one like this. Its quite windy inside this wood farms where the air could be draw in and out from the gaps between the walls that are made of planks. The presure of air has to be very precise to control the RH & Temp. So I always believe if one could start a wood farm with few hundreds nests in it they are dam good in controling the RH & Temp and I respect them. Believe me all these guys don't use all those gadgets such as Hygrostat which automatic control the water mist. This is wood farm if the mist machine is fixed the whole farm will be full of fungus as it is 100% wood. Even the flooring is wood. Obviously no Mist maker and water pump.

So seeing is believing so aren't we lucky to have those gadgets? Or our knowledge is lack? Or we have been spoilt or influced by electronic gadgets. These farm owners truly have a good in-dept knowledge of what I call micro conditioning adaptation technique (MCAT).

Given the situation in Malaysia, well I guess its better to buy the gadgets and solve the problem instantly rather than to crack your head to think about what the reason that actually affect the Micro conditions. Malaysia Boleh!

Bird Sound Test

This is the Test sound which I've done in Klang area which is not a very favorable area. If this sound is tested in areas like Trengganu, Kelantan, S.Petani,etc. The birds will swam in like bees to the sound. This test was using the DIY "BTK" you could make it yourself. Within minutes the birds will fly very low to your car.

Some sounds although it may attract many birds to come but usually they don't fly low. This is because the birds are curious about the sound but they may not like it.Their curiosity , instinctive nature make them searching for the source of sound. After couple of minutes they will leave.

As in the video above the birds are fly very low and even some trying to get into the car if the wind screens were opened. This shows that the sound is good for external sound and as test sound as well.

You may email or SMS me should you need more info. 012-3173811

Swiftlet Farming is a Right Investment

Swiftlet farming in Indonesia is a multi-million dollar industry. They supply 80% of the edible bird nest market, most buyers are from China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan. Every year the demand is increasing and the supply of Nest couldn't meet the demand. This pushed up the price of edible bird nest .

Indonesia has invested millions of dollar in this industry knowing that it will yield profit. As I had mentioned earlier their history of Swiftlet farming started as early as the beginning of 19th century. So if you are going to invest Rm 100k its very small compared to these giants, in other words you are very safe knowing that if this business collapsed there are many more people would loose many times more than you. Look at the picture below.

If this business is not lucrative do you think they would invest in such manner. It is like a fortress mega huge. Some are the size of Mid Valley Mega Mall in K.L.

In fact Malaysia has better advantages as we have less Sriti (collocalia) and our condition here produces better quality nest. Malaysia is well known for it nest quality internationally especially nests from places like Taiping, Trengganu and Kuantan. So for those who are from these places they should take advantage of this valuble natural resouce.

SKY of BIRDs

Here is a video of sky full of birds. How if your farm is one of them. The density of birds is unbelievable. If you want to start a farm here the chances of becoming a millionaire is high.This is what they call AAA area. If your farm here matches all the swiftlet friendly conditions ,you would have many nests in a short period of time. There trick is chose the right area, adapt to the local environment ( micro & macro ) liked by the birds here. You are on your way to a successful farm.

Swiftlet "Aerodramus Fuciphagus"

How to identify the Swiftlet? There are around 10 species or sub-species. Only the main 3 species produce white nest that are valuable. Amongst them is the A.Fuciphagus which produces
the white nest ,the entire nest is made of saliva is most sought after. The other are the A. Maxima which produces the same white nest but the nest is mixed with feathers which need to be removed before marketable, the C.Esculenta also harvested in cave area which with small amount of white saliva in it . To differentiate them is not easy, most differentiation is thru identifying of nest.


The AF is dark brown with a lighter brown on its rump. Its smaller in size (110-120cm)compared to House swift. House swift which has a white color rump which the nest is make up of twig and grass, that is why some called it grass nest swiftlet. The flying patent of both also different. It is quite obvious the flying patent especial while gliding, flipping of wing, diving,etc
are easily identifiable and could be differentiated. Spend some times looking up the sky in no time you will get what I mean. (between House Swift & Swiftlet)

Current all swiftlets that we are breeding here are from the sub-species from Jawa (a.fuciphagus-fuciphagus) as the farming history there could be traced back early 19th century. This is so called domesticated birds which are not afraid of human. That is why when a bird test call is made all swamed to the sound.


Swiftlet has weak legs they can't perch but they have strong claws, they can't lock their elbows so this makes them unable to stand. As their wing are longer than their tails so flipping the wing on the ground is impossible. So when swiftlets landed on the ground they are unable to fly again. Therefore in the farm planks are vitically installed for the swiflet to claw.

DIY Bird Test Kit

I received many emails regarding the DIY Bird Test Kit (BTK). For concealled speakers, especially MPV, SUV,etc. You can use the speaker connection from your front or rear doors.

You need to remove the speaker cover then unscrew it , you will find the +/- wire that attched to the speaker. Connect the tweeter wire to it. That's all simple.

Should you need help you may SMS me at 012-3173811

How DARK is GOOD?

I am sure you have heard that farm should be dark or total darkness, some claimed 2-3 flux would be ideal. Who has got the answer? "No" no one has the answer. For those who have visited many Bh they will tell you that some farms with total darkness have few hundreds of nests and some farms with brightness where one could read newspapers have the same amount of nests. So what is ideal? It depends on that particular area, if the pioneer farm started with total darkness then those who want to get a share of the young birds flying to their farm should follow the same.

The young birds have been conditioned in such condition, if your new farm is different from what the young birds like then attracting them to stay in your farm is hard.

It will take a long time for the young birds to adapt to your farm if the lighting condition is different. That is why some farms could attract many birds in just couple of months and some may take years to do the same. This is only the Darkness and lighting parts there are many more things to be considered like RH, Temp, Flying Path, Sounds, etc. All these have to come in one, all must be at the best level any of the above is out of proportion where one is imperfect then chances of becoming a good farm will be reduced. So it will be good to look around the area where you want to invest and check around with the locals and gather some information. It will be a useful tool.

That is why many successful farmers in a particular area and later when investing their 2nd farm in a new place and later discovered that their 2nd farm failed even tho they follow100% their 1st farm in term of design, darkness, entrance hole,etc.

Well I guess it works the same for human too, It is just like you have been adapted to a certain conditions for many years and suddenly you were given something different (condition) or asked to change, so you might not like or you may take time to change. So this goes the same for Swiftlet.

Visit to Rawang

I was asked by a friend to accompany him to Rawang today to do some works at a construction site. So joined him and took my digital camera along as I knew Rawang was a Hot area for swiftlet farming. It was a beautiful area with great vegetation as it is surrounded with mountains and valleys. There are many farms here, of cos some fails and some good ones.

One can not miss is the number of shop lot at B.Sentosa which 80% abandoned. So what are you going to do with it? Well only swiftlet farming could salvage these shoplots.

There are so many farms here, so the best farm that is swiftlet friendly will attract most birds.
The below is the window unit type which is located on the 2nd floor and the 3rd floor is occupied so does the ground floor. The owner of the farm must be a great swiftlet enthusiast.

As you could see some failed one the entrance hole is way too small.

This one claimed to be the oldest in Rawang and has harvested 5kg per months. It is a 1 storey shop with an additional floor for roving. I was amazed to see the number of birds going in and out unfortunately my camera does not have the capture speed, so its unable to show the birds around the farm.

Rawang is a true swiftlet farm area and for those who want to invest here I guess it won't be costly as there are many abandoned shoplots here "But Make Sure" your farm is swiftlet friendly.

Below is the big one in Rawang town source says quite successful and it is huge.

Hope the above pictures are informative to all readers.

Creating Your Own Sound "Know What U R Doing"

In fact its fun and great to make your own bird sound. You could save some money and a sound that no one has. Provided you know what you are doing, otherwise you are creating a disaster and all you know, few months later you discover that you birds are getting lesser and the numbers of nest is lower.



There are hundreds of free sound editing software on the net where you could download and use it for free or you could purchase it. But do you know what is fighting sound, mating sound, aggressive sound, panic sound,etc? If you do not know, my sincere advise is not worthwhile to even try it unless you are familiar with the sound. Nowadays, all CDs Bird sounds are collaborate with the above to create birds to come to your farm this due to the demand of most farmers mentality the more birds come to the sound the better it is, this is always not the case. I am sure many of you have heard that once the sound is played, many birds come and week by week or months later the number birds reduced. Or even some had experienced that many bird stay but no nest-lah!





Above is the frequency of bird sound between them there are some unfavorable sound. One need to understand it before starting to edit it. Not all parts of the CDs are favorable to birds. In fact, some part really frighten birds away. Remember, Swiftlets have good memory once they labeled your farm,"you farm is history". Imagine, they could find their own nest among thousands of nests.

Currently, synthetic sound has been added into the bird sound too, this is to create a sound that curious to birds so that they would follow the source of sound.

So be careful and know what you are doing.

How Do You Know You Are Using the Right Planks (Meranti)

As timber being exploited every where, the availability is scare and some species extinct everyday . So getting the good planks for your farm may not be that easy as you may have thought. How many of us know how to identify the type of plank that we are buying? I am sure most won't know, not even some "Sifu". Most just accept what is being delivered by sawmill or 3rd party supplier. The question here is, are you getting what you are paying? I think most will accept as long it is cheap.That's why many questions and complains about fungus, termite, bird not making nest.etc. Lets have some understanding about the plank. It will help you in selecting the wood. In practical all woods can be used for planking, as long they are odorless, semi-hard, fungus resistant, etc.

That is why Meranti was chosen, it has all the above quality. The pores on it is smaller so the ability of absorbing water is less, therefore, chances of growing fungus is less. Since the pores are smaller, the secretion is less and it is almost odorless. The below is the microscopic picture Dark Red Meranti.

In Peninsular Malaysia , due to the scarcity of Meranti another wood call Bintagor has been widely used as substitute. It's less hard and not as good quality as Meranti but some successful farms have been using it. The durability in long run is a problem.

The above is the Dark Red Meranti that has a good plank quality. Good woods will last many years as we are looking at a long term investment of 5-15 years or more, it would be a big set-back when birds don't build nest or when they build the planks start to have problem (rot). As we know farm is a high humidity environment any woods that can't take humidity is not suitable for planking. Honestly getting Red Meranti in P.Malaysia is not easy unless one knows how to identify it and willing to pay more for it. This due to limited forest areas that allowed timber to be felt. In years to come no area will be allowed to fall timber. This is to protect the forest and the environment

DIY Your Own SOUND TEST KIT

There are so many cars in Malaysia and all of them could be used to TEST Birds call. As long it has a stereo player in it. It cost nothing to make this Sound Test Kit "which I named it" . I had been using it for many years it works perfectly and the sound is good if you have a branded stereo player in your car. Nowadays most stereo players come with high RMS (RMS is power out put by Stereo) 25-50w x 4 channels, so to boost up your little tiny tweeter is no problem. Here I would like to share with all readers how to make it "DIY".

It is simple less than 1 minute to fix it. Best of all unlimited numbers of tweeters you can use but be reasonable-lah 3-4 tweeters are good enough. Use any side of your Speaker (rear) un-plug the wire and attached the wire to the wire that connects to your tweeters. Make sure it is long enough so that the STK could be put on top of your car.

Use an old Styrofoam box from your radio,etc that fits the tweeters .The Styrofoam (to prevent scratches on your car) shape could be round, rectangular,etc to create a formation of the facing of the Tweeters. So here your own imagination has to come in.

When all are ready, adjust your stereo set fader & balance so that the volume is concentrated on the side where the Tweeters are attached to. Nowadays all cars are fitted with good stereo player that produce powerful good quality sound and most have in build Amp (mosfet) 50w x 4 = 200w, if the volume is too high it will crack your ears."Go and try you will know what I mean". Good Luck.

For those who want to have a clearer pictures of how it works you may email me at swifjames@yahoo.com.

Everywhere you could start a Farm

We are blessed with such a beautiful place called Malaysia to be precised Peninsular of Malaysia. The condition here is suitable for White Nest farming as the the number of black Nest (maxima & collacalia) is lower compared to Sarawak and Sabah. Most farms here attract only the Aerodromus fuciphagus, where as in Indonesia and East of Malaysia the farms there are occupied with also the black nest. This is why in Indonesia cross fostering technique is being implemented in most areas.

So in general all areas in P.Malaysia are suitable for Swiftlet farming ,even in the heart of the city.The pictures showned here are in S.Alam. Some are already started harvesting.

I believe if its done the correct way everywhere is a good place the only set back is time factors and quality of the nests. Of cos with good vegetation around the quality of the nests are better. These farms here really impressed me as most are very well camouflaged. One may not noticed if you are not into this field.

So the whole differences are, doing the correct way and doing it because the trade is lucrative. I would rather choose the first.