( a very clean white nest)
( a processed nest)
(a 5 " huge nest without feather)
(weird shape nest)Did you know that the nests quality in our farms tell tales? The shape, sizes, coloration, etc all tell us about the condition of our farms and where the future of our farms are heading.
I bet many of you have not realized this. If you are experienced enough by looking at the nests you would know whether the Swiftlets in the farm are happily living there.
Some might even wonder why a farm that is harvesting many kgs of nest every month but over the time the numbers of kgs is reducing. (They are not happy)
Why nests are dirty with feathers and dropping, some even turn brownish and so on. Many have resorted to increase the humidity in farms to counter this problem. In fact they knew it has got to do with the micro condition, but knowing this is not good enough. You must know spot on which and what is the exact problem. Well this might takes years of swiftlet farming experience and having sharp observation.
Indeed yes, humidity plays a role in nest quality but to certain extend. Increasing humidity would reduce the dryness of the nests thus reducing cracks and holes gap. Having good acceptable humidity would make the nests more of a shinny looks but it doesn’t 100% eliminated the dirty weird shape of a nest.
Too high of humidity will cause the shape of nest elongated, coloration and so on. In fact it is not a good thing to have high humidity the quality of the nests will be effected. While for the birds it takes a longer time to complete the nests as it is harder for the saliva to dry. The birds may give up making the nests and look for another farm that suit them.
Dirty nests, weird shaped nests, small sizes of nests and so on show the birds are not completely satisfy with the condition of the farm. Though the temperature and the Rh may be at the acceptable level but swiftlets are looking beyond this.
Thru my experiences of having seen so many farms besides the above Swiftlets want a place that is safe and easy to access. They must feel safe in the farm In order for them to produce good quality nests. If there felt the farm they have been living somewhat not safe and not comfortable anymore then birds will have stress thus this will affect the nests making process.
Over the time every changes, that included your farm’s condition. A farm’s condition couldn’t remain the same over its life span. What might be perfect 1-2 years ago may be imperfect now. Bear in mind population of Swiftlets grow, this will generate heat, the accumulation of the dropping also affect the micro condition and (bad and good) and so on.
By understanding the above we need to constantly observe the changes and rectify what is needed to maintain a good continuous condition. If your farm has reached certain kgs of nests and you are happy about it and you leave it as it is. In no time you would see your harvest reducing when there are more new farms building next to yours.
But you can’t blame yourself can you? If you didn’t know how to look for sigh of deteriorations in your nests then how could solve or rectifying them?
Then you might want to call me…..!
Good farming All
.