( Fax from Mr.L)
Hi Sifu James, how are you? I am Mr. L from Jerantut.
Remember me? I spoke to you that day on the phone.
Oh .. Mr.L… the 2 storey Swiftlet farm that has 20 nests
from Jerantut. OK …how could I help you?
James, I have just faxed the dimension of my Bh to you. Did
you received it?
Let me check, and I will get back to you.
Before this Mr.L had invited
few peoples to revamp his Bh.., but the number of nests has not
increased. He claimed that the micro is good, and all are under control. The
light density and design are OK as his consultant claimed. But sadly there are
only 20 nests after 3.5 years. Whereas some of his neighbors, farms which started later are doing very much
better than his.
I can’t make any judgment as I have not visited his Swiftlet
farm. All I could sense was, there are problems which Mr.L and his Consultants
unable to discover.
20 nests after 3.5 years in Jerantut is unacceptable. That
area could easily do 50 nests in a year. Obviously it depends on how it is
being setup.
James …did you get my fax? This Bh is built by a very well
known consultant. I don’t see there is a problem with it. Furthermore, 2
experts from K.L had visited my Bh, and they did some revamp already.
Oh…I see..Mr. Lee…I got your fax, and I am looking at it
now. Wow….that design look interesting. It looks like a maze. I wonder how
Swiftlets going to get to the last room.
James, don’t worry .. Currently the 20 nests are located at room no.1… so
maybe later they will build nests at the last room (2,3,4,5 & 6). My
friends and many others asked me to wait. They said it is a matter of time.
Oh…..I see…so you wait lah. Since you had already waited 3.5
years I don’t see any reason why you can’t wait for another 3.5 years.
No..lah James…3.5 year is enough lah.. I hope you can help
me because I kena scolding from my wife and my father in law already.
I though you said you Bh has got no problem?
Yes, …no problem, but
I don’t know why birds don’t fly to the
back of the farm.
Mr.Lee..as I had told you .. Your Bh is like a MAZE …. hard
to go in and hard to get out..I wonder why these people designed it such way. I
will look at your Bh design and make necessary corrections, and I will let you
know once it's done. I have not visited your farm to observe it personally, but
my feeling tells me that the Micros are all screwed up too…judging from the
design itself. I will get back to you soon .. Please allow me a few day as you
know I am busy.
Above is the fax from Mr.L .. The dimension of his 3.5 years
Bh. Let’s not move to other things and just concentrate on the design itself.
Did you all not noticed anything wrong with this design? Sometime big name of
consultant doesn’t count..what matters most are the skill and talent one have.
I am not going to touch on other Micros as I have not
visited this farm. I shall elaborate on
the dimension from the fax.. The design itself already tells why this Bh
failed.
I will discuss the
design especially the partitioning. What is good for one particular Bh is not
necessarily good or applicable to another. As I had mentioned before none one
Bh is identical even both built side by side with the same design, same sound
system, same building materials, etc.
As shown on the fax, a 2 storey 20x80 standalone. It adopted
the ..I don’t how to call it.......It
seems to be the trend now adopting such design. A porch type where all sides
are opened. So it is neither a Dog Kennel nor an Open roof. There are 2
entrances, both opening 1.5ft…. Way too small ....small entrance hole is
adopted from the Indonesian Bh.
I guess this design was chosen because the designer
cannot decide between DG & OR..
Coffee or Tea...can’t decide so “Cham Loh”. In Swiftlet farming can’t simply
mix.
Also, two entrance holes.... same principles cannot decide.. Not decisive enough so chosen two openings. For a 20x80, 2 storey, 1
entrance hole is good enough. Since 2 entrance holes were built this has caused
the roving to be too bright. To reduce this effect they opt for a small
entrance hole which is 1.5x1.5ft. Too small of an entrance hole deter birds
from flying in and stressed the adaptation
time much longer. So you could see from here an alteration of one thing
effects and changes the other.
There are 2 things I
noticed here, either:
1) To reduce the light density more partitionings were
erected. Therefore, this Bh has become a room type which has 6 nesting areas.
2) Or the designer just follows his previous design without
even thinking about the cause and effect.(or not knowing at all)
With many rooms and small inter room holes it makes the back
nesting areas too dark for birds to stay and build nests. This was mentioned
and ascertained by Mr.L himself that most nests were located in area 1. But I
guess he didn’t know why. Now he knows.
The design also restricts Swiftlet to fly freely. With so
many rooms, it is more like a Maze, flying in and out is not easy. Those
that could get in may not find it ways out.
Room type restricts the movement of air. On this particular
farm, I reckon that some rooms are
hotter than the others. The partitions restrict air from exchanging. Bh needs
some movement of air .. controllable
movement of air. Too much is not good, and too little birds hate it.
The design also restricts smooth flying. Swiftlet needs a
certain degree of angle to maneuver freely. This design pushes birds to fly
closer to the walls restricted them from
flying deeper into the Bh. I am not surprised that room 3,4,5 & 6 will not
be inhibited by birds even in many years to come.
A 2 ft inter room holes making things worse. I don’t need to
know the high. Two ft wide is good enough to kill the farm.
Personally I won’t opt for this “Cham” type design….either
Dg or Or..I already make up my mind once I visited a particular area.
There are still many unknown things here.
I don’t know about the thickness of the wall. I don’t know
what planking system he is using. I don’t know what type of tweeter and
Amplifier and the formation. I don’t
know whose sound he is using. There are so many things unknown to me. All I
have got is a piece of fax with the dimension of a Bh.
From the dimension,
it shows defected design.
Let’s not talk about the ground floor, the 1st floor already
has so many problems.
The best is to visit this Bh in order to salvage it.
It is absolutely disastrous….. 20 nests in 3.5 years in
Jerantut! Unbelievable.
