There are many ways to install the External sound tweeters at the Entrance hole but which is the best and most effective way to entice Swiftlets to enter the Bh especially new Bh?
The purpose of the External Tweeters is to call Swiftlets from far to guide them to enter the Bh. Once the birds are near the Entrance hole they would investigate the source of sound. Obviously the external sound that comes out from these tweeters has to be attractive in term of clarity, its tone of high and low pitches and so on. Otherwise the birds wouldn’t want to come near the tweeters at all. Some may just fly near it and turn away and may not return at all.
The correct installation of tweeters is vital for the success of the new Bh. Have you ever wonder why after the External sound has been switched on but birds only flying few feet away from the entrance hole and some just trying to fly close to the Tweeters but didn’t enter the Bh and later many didn’t return. Well it could be the sound which is not attractive or the positioning (placement) of the tweeters is wrongly positioned or it could be both.
Let’s examine the later which is the positioning of the external tweeters. Traditionally many Sifus often encourage or advise that the external tweeters at the entrance hole should be placed at the top and at the sides of the left and right of the entrance hole. Sighted that this is the best way to attract birds to fly into the Bh. It is common to see many Bhs adopting such technique. It doesn’t mean this way of placing the external tweeters is not workable. But if you were given a better choice or a much effective way of enticing the birds to enter the bh faster, then which would you follow?
Swiftlet farming is all about the flexibility of switching techniques to adapt to what birds wanted. Don’t forget it is not about following our wants or what others commonly done and we just follow.
Look at the picture above which I had drawn. If you have observed often how birds responded to sound at the entrance hole (new Bhs) you would discover that they would fly to the top tweeters and drop back. Often couple of times and some may fly into the bh and most wouldn’t. The drop back naturally forces the birds to fly out instead of flying into the bh.( for tweeters fixed at top of entrance hole)
Picture A shows that when the birds drop from the top tweeters they would automatically fly off and out from the entrance hole because of the drop off forces.
Whereas for picture B birds can’t perch to the lower tweeters that is on the bottom. In order for them to listen or perch at the bottom tweeters they have to fly above the bottom tweeters thus push themselves into the Bh. It is even better if the roving is fixed with 2 external tweeters at the opposite end. This would encourage them to fly into the roving to play and reduce the adaptation time.
Nevertheless, in order for this to work effectively do remember that the external sound has to be good, the entrance hole has to be at the right position and right sizes, the size of the roving has to be appropriate, the Bh has to have good effective Aroma smell and so on.
By understanding such behavior I conclude that if the Tweeters were to placed at the bottom of the entrance hole instead of the top then this would changed the drop back forces thus increasing the possibility of the birds to fly into the Bh.
In fact all my Bhs are adopting such technique and I see higher percentage of birds flying into bh compared to those that the tweeters were placed at the top.
You could always disagree with me or argue that the traditional way is much better but I stick to what I have observed and the result that I see from those bhs that using such method.
After many years of observation and visited numerous of Bhs I cannot deny that the positioning of the external tweeters really have an impact on how birds entering bhs, especially new bhs.
So never simply install your external tweeters at the entrance hole. A little change makes lots of differences.
I hope my sharing of techniques and info would help all Bhs to increase birds population and nests.
Good Swiftlet farming all. The Best is to Share!