What would you do if your neighbor's Swiftlet farm is harvesting tens of kilograms of nests per month while your Swiftlet farm hardly reaching 100 nests? Would you just sit and wait for luck to come or do something about it?
The owner of this Swiftlet farm had sat and waited for many years for miracle to happen but, miracle never came. Interestingly, his neighbor's farm started not long before his and now it is one of the most successful Swiftlet farms in that area. A 4 storey shop-lot located at the middle of the town. Two upper floors were converted into Swiftlet farm.
The owner didn't do anything until his friend approached him. He explained to him, something needed to be done otherwise the number of nets would remains the same. The owner knows very little about Swiftlet farming. He started it because everyone was doing it. It was many years ago when Swiftlet farming was "talk of the town". Those days one kilogram of raw nest could fetch from rm3.8- 6k per kg. It was called the " White Gold" then.
I had postponed this visit for many months as I was travelling extensively in Indonesia.
I knew I could not postpone it anymore as calls and messages came in everyday reminded me of the appointment. Well there I was, one beautiful morning at Kuala Lipis, Pahang.
This small town is not unfamiliar to me. I had built quite a number of Swiftlet farms here with many hitting more than 4000 nests now. I guess this is why I was invited to save this farm.
There are many errors and problems in this Swiftlet farm. Below are just a fraction of the whole problems.There are more which I didn't put it up here. These are the very basic ones that the owner should know if he wants to continue to be in the Swiftlet farming business.
1) The Entrance- hole is too big. Not necessarily the bigger the better. Most people championed big Entrance-hole cited easier for Swiftlets to fly in and out. Bear in mind big Entrance-hole has its limitation too. Drought air could easily flow into the farm making the whole Micro unstable. Other related problems are predators, thief, etc )
2) Light could easily penetrate into the Swiftlet farm making it too bright. As in the above picture to counter the brightness the Roving area is painted black. A smaller Entrance-hole would have solved the problem instead of painting the Roving black. There are correlations between Entrance- hole and all parts of the Swiftlet farm. Adjustments or changes to the Entrance- hole would affect the Micro thus the whole Internal Design ( partitions) need to be readjusted if the size of the Entrance- hole is altered.
Most would follow suit, painting their Roving areas black without knowing the set back. After having visited thousand of Swiftlet farms, I discovered many Swiftlet farm had their Roving areas painted black. It has become a norm, a standard and a must to have them painted black.
It is all misinterpreted. Who says Swiftlet farm must be painted black? I can tell you not all Roving areas or Nesting areas must be painted black. Only when it is necessary, when all efforts had been done and we still unable to reduce the light density.
2) The Inter-floor is too small and located at the wrong area. The size is about 3 x 5 ft. I knew why the Inter-hole was built this way. It was to reduce the light density as the Entrance -hole was too big.
The previous consultant should have made a smaller Entrance-hole. By doing so he could opt for a bigger Inter-hole. Big Inter-hole allows Swiftlets to maneuver easily into the lower floor Roving areas.
( Nest at the staircase area)
3) From the observation most nests were built at the staircase area. This area is cooling and the light density is good. (Not too dark nor too bright). If all Nesting areas in this farm could duplicate the same condition as the staircase area then this Swiftlet farm could be harvesting many kilograms of nests. It shows this Swiftlet farm could be saved and turn around.
( Nest at the staircase area)
4) All corners should be fitted with Corner Boards. Young birds like to build nests at corners as their claws could hold onto the gap lines between the plank and the Corner Board.
Without Corner Board there is only one gap line as can be seen in the above pictures. With Corners Board it creates 2 gap lines. Many claimed that Corner Board prevents Swiftlets from building nests. It is not true. It is a myth. In fact Corner Board helps to boost up nests growth.
5) Too few tweeters. As I had mentioned before, everything must be in balance. Too few it won't attract Swiftlets to build nests. Too many it confuses the birds. For this Swiftlet farm it is definitely too few tweeters. Tweeter doesn't cost much. If one could spend tens of thousands of ringgit to convert it into a Swiftlet farm what is few hundred ringgit for tweeters.
I guess the decision didn't come from the owner as he knows very little about Swiftlet farming. It came from the one who built the farm for him. It's all about cost saving. It seems the consultant concerns more about cost saving than building a successful Swiftlet farm for his customer.
6) Tweeters are not installed at the corners. They are installed few inches away from the corner. If you have seen pictures from my previous articles you would notice most nests are built at corners with Tweeters. They like building nests right above the tweeters. Why this Swiftlet farm is not doing it?
7) There are cockroaches everywhere. Many feasting on the nests. They are out even during the day time. I am sure they will come out in thousand during night.
When asked about pest control the owner replied " What is that? Do we really need that. I have never heard of it".
When they are circling an area, at the opposite of the circle where they started. Their heads will be facing the opposite direction. In order to attract them to stay and build nest it is important to have some Tweeters facing different direction. ( for reference please refer to previous articles on sound system formation)
Swiftlets had tried to stay and build nests as I had witnessed a large number of Swiftlet entering the farm but the current condition has prevented them to do so.
10) Internal temperature easily reaching 32C on a cloudy day. Imagine how hot would it be on a hot and dry day.... 35..37..40C..?
11) There is no humidifier in this Swiftlet farm. By looking at the shape of the nests I already knew the humidity is very low. I don't have to check with a hygrometer. The nests showed everything.
Now I have to come out with a revamp plan to turn it around. After the evaluation of the Micro and Macro. I am very confident within a couple of months the nests growth would increase to double.
The Swiftlets are already there by thousands it is a matter of making them to stay. It is a gold pot and no one knows what to do with it all this while.
Good Swiftlet Farming All!
Makes Young Birds Stay and Build Nests. #1 in the Market.