Birds Reluctant to Fly Near Entrance Hole (Open Roof)

“James No birds fly into my Bh. They just circle above my Hexagonal Tweeter and all of them fly into my neighbor’s Bh. What should I do?” cried Mr.L from Johor.

His Swiftlet farm was a 2 storey shop lot built next to a very successful Bh. Every time when he switches on the Hex sound many birds come and play but all went into his neighbor’s farm. This situation worried Mr.L.

He told me there is nothing wrong with his Bh and all seemed to be perfect but he can’t figure it out why birds are reluctant to go near his entrance hole.

I told him I can’t say much until I see the Bh myself. There are many things in the Bh that many Bh’s owner may not noticed. It needs experience and skills to figure out what actually went wrong.

His Bh is an Open Roof (OR) type and his neighbor’s Bh is a Dog Kennel (DK) type. It is obvious that his neighbor’s farm has the height advantage. But height is not the only key factor that attracted all birds into its Bh. There are other things too.

In this case after looking at his Bh. It is obvious that Mr. L had made mistakes without noticing it.

The position of the Tweeters shouldn't be at the top which I had mentioned before in my previous article. For this door entrance type the tweeters should be placed at both sides (left and right). 2-3 feet from the top. Depends on the height of the door.

Having tweeters on the top of the door is not advisable. That is why Mr.L complained no birds wanting to fly near the Bh's entrance hole. Secondly the 90dg 2nd entrance to right to the nesting area is not impressive. I won't favor such design.

Though the tweeters seem perfectly facing the sky but this is not what the birds want. For us it may looks good but it takes more than just 45dg facing towards the sky. I don't favor the type of external tweeters Mr.L is using. He should have used Piezo instead of magnetic tweeters. Magnetic tweeters could not produce high pitch sound like Piezo tweeters. There are not designed for high pitch use.

With Magnetic tweeters the high pitches of chirping sounds are lost. Therefore only sounds that are recorded in low pitches could be heard. ( 80% 0f the content of Swiftlet sounds are in high pitches )

The OR is too small. I guess most of us already knew the minimum size of the OR should be at least 12x12ft. I have seen small OR, as small as 3x3ft. Of coz it never attracted any birds.

Mr.L should have gone for the DK design since the pioneer farm is DK. Birds that have adapted to fly into Dk and making them to fly into OR would take awhile unless the OR is big enough for easy maneuver and the bh's design has taken consideration on how birds maneuver.

These are the mistakes around the entrance hole . I have yet to talk about the Internal part. I guess I shouldn't mention about the internal section. Lets solve the problems at the entrance hole first before we move on to the Internal section.

I told Mr. L it takes more than just installing tweeters, planks,etc . To build a good swiftlet farm you need to understand how the birds fly, what they like and dislike, etc.

I hope Mr.L would learn from here.

Good Swiftlet farming All!

swifjames@yahoo.com. 012-3173811.