I had visited this Swiftlet farm couple of months ago. It is located in Pahang, in a small town towards Rompin. A 3 storey , 30 x 80 Swiftlet farm stands next to a stream. A beautiful location for Swiftlet farming and that small town is famous for one thing "Bird Nests".
This Swiftlet farm belongs to Mr. T, a Swiftlet farming enthusiast. He designed this Swiftlet farm all by himself. He acquired the so called Swiftlet farming skills from books, forums, local Sifus, blogs ( not my blog),etc. With sheer confidence he engaged a local contractor and built this Swiftlet farm.
That was exactly 3 years ago.
Observing from outside it has too many Ventilation holes. I hope Mr.T knows how to manage and control them. This Swiftlet farm is not doing well. Mr.T had tried many things....... he had tried to revamp it but the result remains the same. The Birds came but they don't stay. There must be something wrong somewhere and he couldn't figure it out.Therefore he decided to call me and ask for my help. It is a big farm, managing the internal environment is a daunting task. The movement of air is too much.
It is not easy but with experience and skill I am confident it can be turned around.
When it comes to security he really knows what he is doing. This farm is thief proof. Double chained locks from inside. After opening the front Steel door there is another wood door. After the wood door there is another Steel door.
One thing really caught my attention was the Control room. It is separated from the entrance of the second door to the Swiftlet farm. A room by itself, grill locked with shackle. I was wondering why it is necessary. Well, this is to prevent the precious Bird Sounds from theft.
Brilliant idea, yes it is not uncommon to have Bird Sounds stolen from Swiftlet farms. I had experienced it before at my Swiftlet farm. Not only they took the nests but the Bird Sounds as well. Surprisingly they left the Amplifiers. They really know what they are doing. #%$@#$##
He opted for a Open Roof type, a 12 x 12 ft opening, then towards the end there is a door type second entrance hole on the left which leads to the Nesting areas. So in other words it is a 90 degree turn to the left. I don't favor this type of design unless the Swiftlet farm is small or a ready-build building where options are limited.
But this is not the case for Mr.T 's Swiflet farm. This is a plan and build Swiftlet farm. He could do what he wants with the design and the measurement. Why limit to a 90 degree turn? It is a big farm there are huge spaces to accommodate whatever design. This design restricts the birds from flying in smoothly.
Making it worse a water tank placed right at the flying path of birds. This would obstruct birds from flying into the farm especially during home coming at dust. A black colored tank imitates an Entrance hole during low light at dust. Young birds may bang on it.
The height of each floor is 18 feet. Is that necessary? My answer is "NO".
I asked Mr.T, "why do you build such a high ceiling?" He replied, " many Sifus say the higher the better and birds like them".
I asked again, "then how are you going to harvest the nests in future? "
He replied, " Oh no problem. I will build a ladder with trolley so that it can be pushed".
"Who teaches you this Mr.T?" I asked.
Mr. T replied, "Oh..those Sifus from forum and internet".
If fact, it is very misleading. It shows those Sifus who taught Mr.T totally have no experience in Swiftlet farming. They have little knowledge about nest harvesting. I could confidently say they had never harvested any nest in a Swiftlet farm that has more than 3000 nests.
They were mere sharing their ideas and thoughts but these ideas and thoughts may not be practical or applicable. A mere theory and idea.
So now Mr. T' Swiftlet farm is practically their guinea pigs.....a place to test their ideas.
If one has gone inside a Swiftlet farm that has more than 3000 nests. He would know how thick the bird's dropping is. Easily 1-2 inches thick...or even more. Then how could one pushes the ladder with trolley or trolley ladder? It will stuck. The rollers won't move. Unless that particular Swiftlet farm has got no bird shit then the rollers could move. If that is the case then one doesn't need a ladder. No nests, No shit.. No need to harvest...so no need trolley ladder.
Secondly, an 18 feet ceiling needs a very high and big trolley ladder. It has to be solidly built otherwise it won't stand. L channel steel of 2 inches at least is needed to make the structure. It has to be solid thus extremely heavy. Therefore it is 100 % not portable. That means it cannot be folded or collapsible. It can't be easily carry around so every floor must have one trolley ladder.
Because it is unfoldable the whole Trolley ladder have to be place inside the farm at all time. It will obstruct the flight of young birds. Young birds that have yet to develop the echolocation will bang on the ladder.
The unfoldable trolley ladder works as a stand for Owls and other predators to reach the nests on the nesting planks.
As the Trolley ladder is kept inside the farm's environment of high humidity and dropping that produces amonia in no time it will corrode.
I wonder has any of the Sifus that came out with this idea has ever thought of these difficulties before encouraging an 18 feet ceiling? Definitely not!
Poor Tweeter formation. As we know young birds build theirs first nests on corners which are closer to the walls. Why people still install Tweeters at the middle. It is not that Tweeters can't be installed at the middle sections or strictly restricted to wall areas but at least the priority should be given to areas near the walls.
He must have learned from somewhere or from someone. Why is this Swiftlet farm not doing well? Simple....because it doesn't accommodate whats Swiftlets want. In fact it goes against what Swiftlets want.
As I have mentioned before, Swiftlets fly in a circular motion. They circle many rounds inside the nesting areas before hanging on the planks. If you observe this you would know where they are going to build their nests.
By understanding Swiftlet behavior it will help you to design and build a good Swiftlet farm. If you don't understand and don't know what is Swiftlet behavior then you can say good bye to Swiftlet farming.
Besides that this Swiftlet farm was designed with the pillars inside. Swiftlet farm shouldn't have pillars inside as Swiftlets could bang on them. Perhaps Mr.T didn't know about this. I have written about the disadvantages of having pillars inside a Swiftlet farm and it should be avoided, but many still repeating the same mistake again and again.
There are two Inter holes in this farm. One is the Inter-hole which made for birds to fly up and down. The other one is the staircase. I don't encourage such design. It confuses the birds and it slows down the adaptation process. If one stands at the ground floor a ray of light can be seen from two places. The staircase and the Inter-hole. Now the birds are confused. They have to make prompt decision on one which to use. Later..... once they flied out they will never return.
These are just a handful of problems....there are many more .
I have pointed out all the necessary things that he needs to do. I taught him how to observe birds' flying patent.
He was surprised. Now he realizes how little he knows about Swiftlet farming.
Good Swiftlet farming All!
