If you think that Good Aroma and Good Sound is not important in Swiftlet Farming my sincere advice is that you better put your money in the bank instead, and I can assure you Swiftlet farming is not your cup of tea.
I was rushing back from Kuala Selangor in the evening so that I could meet up with my cousin which I haven’t seen for many years. He drove all the way from Johor with few friends. He was in K.L to do some businesses and at the same time to visit my Auntie.
He had called me earlier while I was visiting a reader in Kuala Selangor. He came with few friends which 2 of them were into Swiftlet farming.
He didn’t tell them that I am the James from www.swiftletfarmer.blogspot.com.I was late and there were already waiting in a seafood restaurant in Subang.
My cousin was from Taiping but had settled down in Johor for many years. While we were having dinner he told his friends about my involvement in Swiftlet farming (without elaborating much). One of them started to talk about Swiftlet farming and how he’s got involved in it and bragged about how to build a good swiftlet farm.
Well I just listen as I believe a good listener could learn lots of things be it good or bad things.
One of them asked whether I use Aroma and special sound in my Bhs and I replied certainly yes without elaborating further. They still didn’t know that I am the James of www.swiftletfarmer.blogspot.com. and my cousin just smile. (They thought that I am just an ordinary Jo that has a Bh).
He said, he doesn’t believe in all these things and swiftlet farming is all about luck and black magic and so on…… ( wo..woo..)
Well I just kept quiet and listen.
He asked me again and wanted to know what sounds I am using and where could he get some cheap sound for his Bh in K.L.
I told him I recorded and remixed them myself.
I told him if he wants cheap stuff he could download them from web and most are duplicated and it is equivalent to Pasar Malam stuff.
He asked again, what about the sound I am using. I told him the sounds that I am using cost few hundred ringgit and they are different from those from the Web.
He laughed…..ha …ha.. ha... Are you sure…? He asked again. “Few hundred ringgit?” He laughed and laughed. He doesn’t believe and said all sounds are the same and told us he is using a sound from his consultant which is free of charge and it seemed ok..
Then with my instinct I responded, if I am not mistaken your bh is not doing well, perhaps a failed farm. My sincere apology, please correct me if I am wrong.
He was not comfortable with what I had said and asked me “what do you mean by failed farm?”
I replied “a failed farm in your case is a Bh with less than 20 nests in 3 years”.
He was speechless. And my cousin who was sitting next to me whispered “Hey how did you know that?” My cousin was surprised that I knew about his friend’s farms which I had never met them before.
I told his friends ‘no hard feeling ha” we all are here to learn, In fact everybody is learning every day.
My cousin took out his Iphone and shows them my blog. They were surprised, after glancing thru my blog they want my advice and want me to help them to salvage their farms.
I told them if they want my assistant they need to be sincere with me otherwise I can’t help them. One of them admitted that he has 2 Bhs in Johor. One operated for 3 years and another one had operated for 4 years both have less than 15 nests.
I told them nowadays it is not the same anymore, competition is so stiff now. It is unlike 10 years ago. There are few thousand new Bhs coming up every year. We can no longer monopolize a particular area anymore. The techniques used last time no longer work now. It’s evolved, things constantly change and we have to understand how it changed and follow the changes.
Now it is more of attracting others Bhs young birds to come to our Bhs to stay and make nests. There are no more wild birds or cave birds all birds are from our neighbor’s bhs.
The growth of Bh is faster than the growth of the Swiftlets population, this happened everywhere. Therefore those Bhs that used good aroma and good sound would have advantages and we cannot deny it.
After explaining to them out of curiosity they ask me how I knew that their Bhs are failed Bhs even without visiting.
I told them, “what you know and how much you know represent the performance of your Bh”.
Secondly you guys believed in Luck!
Good Swiftlet farming all!