Mr.G from K.L owns a Swiftlet farm in the south (sorry owner advised not to reveal location). He took over from someone about a year plus ago for his retirement. It is a 1.5 storey building and it has about 50 plus nests inside.
Since then the nests have not increased much. His friend who owned a very successful Swiftlet farm recommended and encouraged him to use Love Potion. After a month, he took some pictures and he wants my interpretation.
He has never seen so many feathers before , he doesn't know what it indicates. Mr.G knows very little about Swiftlet farming he often calls for questions. He is a keen learner and I am a keen teacher.. ha.. ha.. ha..
(White shit patches and feathers cover the old black shits after using Love Potion. This is what we want.)
(Feathers are everywhere....birds mating above..ha..ha.)
( More feathers and white shit indicate New birds stayed)
The white shit and feathers...if you see lots of these it means your Swiftlet farms have attracted lots of birds to stay. The white shit indicate young birds and they are the future of your Swiftlet farms. You would rarely see all these in stagnated Swiftlet farms.
Often after the white shit and feathers appeared soon you will see nests markings. Averagely it takes about 45 days. If you found white shits together with feathers on the floor chances are 95% a nest will be built right above them. In such case if your farms have many white shit plus feathers you will see many nests soon.
Every trace in a Swiftlet farm tells something knowing how to interpret them is an added advantage.
Mr.G also wanted to know whether the design of his Swiftlet farm is correct. According to him everything is good, the temperature is acceptable and the average RH is 80%. But he noticed most of the nests were built in one area. He has no clue why this happened. He was to know.
He had tried to explain to me.. They design.. .. Blah.. Blah... and he is very certain his Swiftlet farm is in a perfect condition.
" Mr.G....there are problems in your farms otherwise the number of nests could have increased. If the condition of your farm is good..with Love Potion it would have even more white shit and feathers".
"Oh...James I do see lots of feathers and White shit then what should I do. I really need your help?"
" Mr.G Why don't you send me a sketch of your Swiftlet farm's plan. Let me have a look first then only I can advise you. Without seeing the plan it's hard for me to comment."
So a week later Mr.G sends me the plan of his Swiftlet farm. ( see below)
Can all of you see any fault in this Swiftlet farm? ...Well it is yes for those who have vast knowledge in Swiftlet farming and No for those who also do Swiftlet farming but with little knowledge.
Let's start...by looking at the structure 1.5 storey with the front part has and additional 0.5 storey that means this is a light industrial building. What is wrong with this light industry building ...nothing wrong.. But if not all 99% are using zinc roof. Often the height between the zinc roof and ceiling is very low...it needs good design that take into consideration of the heat. Wall and roof insulation material are needed. You can forget about bubble foil they don't work. Recommended Double Ventilated roof for long term.( I was correct Mr.G said it is an industry unit.)
The temperature is not stable in this Swiftlet farm. It clearly indicates in the Plan , most nests (33 nests) were built at Area A. They were below the water pool area, this is the coolest area in the farm. It is a double insulated area, the top is the pool and above the pool there is a roof. The heat is shielded by these two.
Why there are only 8 nests in Area B though the roof is higher while Area C tends to have more nests (14 nests) with a narrower roof ? By theory Area C should have fewer nests because of its narrower roof that pushes up the temperature.... I am sure Mr.G and many of you would ask?
Area B , looking at the design and the adaptation process of this Swiftlet farm, birds in this area particularly this farm prefer the darker area to build nests. Strongly indicated in Area A which below the pool. This is the area which has no direct light glare from the Entrance hole as it is not located opposite the entrance hole.
Whereas Area B which is located opposite the entrance hole has the direct light glare and this affects Area B thus the number of nests is less than Area C.
Though Area C has a higher temperature due to its lowered roof but it still managed to attract more birds than Area B. This has got to do with the intensity of light in Area B. If a correction partitioning is erected at Area B to reduce the glaring I believe in no time the number of nests would surpass Area C.
So how can one say ..everything is good?
I have visited and revamped many Swiftlet farms there are many things the owner themselves didn't notice. Every trace in the farm indicates something. The success of our farms depends on how well we interpret and rectify the problem. Understand all these signs would help us to manage our farms better.
Good Swiftlet farming All!
