Monday, March 2, 2015

CHOOSING THE IDEAL CORNER BOARD

Ideally a good quality Nest should be white, big in size, round shaped and have a straight back of
180 dg. Often this type of Nest is harvested from straight plank. They fetch a higher selling price.

Not all Nests harvested from a Swiftlet farm are 100% from straight planks, some are from corners, walls, ceilings, etc.  It all depends on how the Nesting planks formation being designed. Obviously Swiftlet farm opted for the checker box type design would have more corner nests than those opted for straight plank design. Averagely, there is at least 20-40% of Nest built in a Swiftlet farm comes from the Corners. 



If given a choice I am sure all would prefer Straight Nests but, in reality there is no Swiftlet farm that could produce 100% Straight Nest. What we could do is to reduce the number of Corner Nests by installing Corner Boards. 

Corner Nest is not favored because the price is lower. In some instances it could be as low as 50% lower than the price of Straight nest. If your Swiftlet farm has lots of Corner nests then your monthly yield profit would be affected.

Then again one must know which and what types of Corner Board to install. For your information, not all types of Corner Board are the same.  The shape and its size affects the quality of the Nest that built on them.

From my many years of experience building Swiftlet farms, let me share with you how Corner Board affects the shape and size of the Nests in your Swiftlet farm.



The above picture shows 3 types of Nests. 

1) Nest from a Straight plank. This is the most sort after because they are bigger in size and heavier. They could be processed into full cup nests.

2) From a Crescent corner Board, could pass for a Straight nest. 

3) From a Cut Plank Corner Board. Though the 90dg angle has been increased to130dg. Often they are still consider as Corner Nests.






This is a Corner nest from a 90dg Corner without any Corner Board. The price could be 30-50% lower than the Straight Nests.

Many still believe that without the Corner Boards a Swiftlet farm would have a better growth rate. This is a myth and it is untrue. 





The above picture shows a Nest from a Cut Plank Corner Board. There is still a hump at the middle. It only reduces the angle. As most Nests buyer still consider this as a Corner Nest. This type of Corner Board was favored many years ago when the Crescent type was not available then.

There was no option to choose from. The left-over planks were cut to make into Straight Corner board. The left-over Planks were used and this saved the builder some money.




Above is a picture of a Nest harvested from a Crescent Corner Board. It is almost straight. It could pass for a Straight nest. It increases the angle up to 160dg. I consider this as the best Corner Board available. 

( Comparing Nests from Straight Plank and Cut Plank Corner Board)

( Nest built on a Crescent Corner Board)

( Nest built on a Cut Plank Corner Board)

The disadvantages of the Cut Plank Corner Board:

1) Buyer consider them as Corner nests.
2) It only increases the 90dg angle by a small degree.
3) There is a gap ( hole) at the back of the Board. Pest could hide and breed there.
4) Birds may build Nests inside the hole. ( Increases the number of Corner nest).

In term of wood material I would choose those brownish colored ones. They could withstand fungus and not afraid of water ( high humidity). Good Meranti is hard to find now. Often expensive. 

If you could get hold of them buy some and keep.

Good Swiftlet Farming All!

Tel: 012-3173811
email: swifjames@yahoo.com