As we know when temp rises it would affect the Rh and this goes vice-versa. So do these changes affect the nest quality in farms and the birds population in it
Yes, it certainly would. Farms with high temp obviously would not attract birds and even there are birds living in it, in not time if there are farms around the area could provide a better low temp environment then the birds would leave for the one which has the lower temp environment.
Farm with low Rh would affect the quality of nests. Most nests in it would crack due too low Rh. This would make it harder for young birds to build nest as it takes a longer time for them to build because every line of saliva would easily dried out before it could reach one end to another.
Therefore this unfavorable environment is making it hard for birds to make nests. Especially for young birds, after couple of attempts if they find it hard ,they will look for other farms.
(the saliva lines are thicker in Good temp & Rh environment)
With low Rh & high temp , it would affect the saliva and the easily dried saliva would become thinner thus in such situation most nests that are built are small. As we know that swiftlets use lines of saliva to build nest.
( poor control of RH & Temp , the nest is dry & crack there are gaps & holes on the nest)
Where as for good Rh & Temp farms the nests are bigger and thicker, this is due to the thickness of saliva and during the nest making period the Rh & temp in a way helped the Swiftlets to make nests much easily.
In such good farm condition most nests are completed below the average time of nests building which is 40-45days.
With such good conditions of farms the high birds populations increase are very common compared to farms that have a poor rh & temp control.
This is one of the micro internal factors that affecting the nests quality other factors such as season (raining /dry) also needed to be considered as well. Besides that food availability (good vegetation) also plays an important part.
Temp also influenced the growth of baby swiftlets. This is why sometimes we see the dead of baby swiftlets ( caused other than predators).
This could be the causes of imbalance Rh& temp especial dry season where the external temp rises to 34-36dg
During this dry season the Swiftlet parents fly far away to look for food if they didn't come back in time during dry season the baby may die of starvation and dehydration.
Therefor right level of Rh is very important. That is why the growth of swiftlets in dry season is lower that in the wet season as wet season there are plentiful of flies, nymphs and insects and parent do not need to fly far to look for food.
The desirable temp for good reproductive and growth are between 27-30 dg. If the temperature is lower below 27 dg especially for Stand Alone farms that are located in Oil palm plantation, river side,etc.
The temp could dive below this average especially at night or during raining season. This would cause fatality to baby swiftlets that are few days old that are without feathers even thought the swiftlet babies could adapt to the low temp.
So the ability to control the temperature & Rh would certainly help the quality of nest as well the growth rate in the farm. That is why some farms could have 1-2 folds of increment compared to some with non.
( good temp & Rh farms help to increase birds population & nests)
If the Rh & temp are at the favorable level it is not necessary to use a spray bottle to spray water to the nest while harvesting.
The nests would be just perfectly soft and it won't crack when you use the spade to scribe it. It will come out perfectly easy and this makes harvesting easy and fast. If you have to use water spray it means your Rh is questionable?
( Myself harvesting nest in good temp & Rh farm, it makes harvesting easy and fast & maintain the quality nest as the nests are not too dry and less broken nests are collected.
The nests in a good internal environment would be fuller in size, thicker , whitter and glossier. Obviously with this quality you could fetch a higher price per kg.
(white & huge sizes nests fetch better price)
And with such quality it would normally be 70-90 pcs per kg. Of course you would not have all 100% nest that are AAA grade having 20-40% of them in your farm it is indeed good enough.
(this nest is almost 5 inches)
So Temp & Rh play a very important role in nests quality and birds population growth.
Any undesirable changes in the temp & Rh would affect the birds population growth and for farms that have plenty of nests the changes would affect the nests quality.
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