A friend of mine told me how he had successfully increased
the number of new nests in his Swiftlet farm with a simple, easy and economical
way. He has been doing this for more than a year now. What really surprised him is
that, this unique way is better and more effective than putting any other type
of artificial or fake nests. .
( All the sharp ends have to be trimmed)
He uses Satay sticks.He said the birds like to clinch on
these sticks more than other fake nests. He claimed, every 10 Satay sticks he stapled on the nesting planks at least 5-7 of them have nests built on it. (You
can imagine if you put 100 sticks how many nests would that be?). This is what
he had told me. I would like to see myself, therefore last weekend I tried it
out on one of my Swiftlet farms. There is no harm in trying it out furthermore
a pack of Satay sticks only costs a few bucks (dirt cheap).
( Satay Stick in my Swiftlet farm. Shall see how it goes.)
If I staple100 sticks in my Swiftlet farms, in the event
there are only 1 or 2 nests being built on the sticks, it is still worth it. Because it cost very little, and all I need to put in is
time and some climbing up and down the ladder. (“good
exercise”).
He said never use recycle Satay Sticks, which had been used
before as they have the “kunyit” and burn smells as birds dislike these smells.
He also discovered most nests that are built on the Satay sticks are from young
birds. Through his many years of experience by looking at the nest’s shape and
sizes he knows they are from young birds.
( On the middle section of the plank)
He stapled them in the middle of the Nesting Planks which is
the last place the birds would choose to build nests. After that, he sprays 1 to 2 bursts of Love Potion on
them. He said a light burst would be good enough. I am happy that he had found
an alternative way to use Love Potion. The reason is to encourage nests to be built in the middle of the planks so that more straight cup nests are built. It
is a brilliant idea.
Often young birds would prefer to build nests at corners. By adopting this technique more nests would be built in the middle of
the planks.
I would know in a month's time and would update it on my
blog. He had invited me to visit his Swiftlet farm which is located in Sungai
Petani to see his discovery. I told him let me try it in my own Swiftlet farms first.
Perhaps I would pay him a visit next month.
Well you guys should try it. There is no harm in trying it.
It is simple, easy and economical.
Good Swiftlet farming All.