How many nests are considered good after first year of operation.

How many nests a farm should have after a year or few years of operation is debatable. Many had indicated from 10-100 nests or even more.


I guess it is somehow debatable. It is very much depends on the location of the farms. Definitely it is not fair to use the same yardstick to judge a farm at a Prime Zone birds area compared to those which are not in the Prime Zone birds area.

( this is a harvest from a farm of 1 ++ year old)

In a good Prime Zone bird area after a year of operation it should have at least 30-50 nests. I had seen some achieved many times beyond these figures. Any number below this the farmers need to find out the underlying factors.


If it is below 30 nests then it is definitely something wrong. Those that have less than 10 nests showed that the farms are in red. ( Alarming Red). And those that have non or just one or two in Prime Zone birds area are considered totally failed badly.


Well as in non prime Zone areas , achieving 30 nests in first year of operation would be considered good. In such area the farm needs time to build up its birds population. Most cases such farms are those that are located in areas that are not famous for Swiftlet farming and in areas that have no Swiftlet farms.


So how many nests a farm should have after a year of operation its all depended on the location the farms located.


If a comparison is to be done it should be compared with the average nests per year of farms of the same location, not other location or state.


So to compare your farm with others and see where your farm stands , check around with your friends and find out the figure from here you should get the average. Every town , state and country the average is different.


So find it out today!



.

Selamat Hari Raya

To all my Muslim readers " Selamat Hari Raya & Maaf Zahir Batin"

Have a joyful & happy celebration. Hope that I could join you all .....! But during this long festive holiday I am doing farm visiting. Happy holiday.

..

Making Swiftlets Stay in Farm (Love Potion & Sound)

Here is a video of Swiftlets entering a successful farm that uses right Aroma and Cd sound. There are so many of them charging into the farm after a long day of foraging food.

One trying to pass the other to get into the farm first. This scenario is common among successful farms and all Swiftlet farmers are indeed looking forward to this one day. I bet you would

I’m sure many of you are wondering why some farms can attract so many birds and some so little and some non at all.

There are few factors that actually influence the above. The most common ones are the Aroma and Cd Sound.

The Aroma has the ability to make Swiftlets feel comfortable as they enter the farm thus this would make them stay and make nest. As baby Swifttlets hatched from eggs the first thing they could sense is smell.

(look at the eyes, yet to develop seeing ability so smell is important)

At this time they are blind as their eyes are yet to develop seeing ability. Therefore smell plays an important role here. This sense of smell has conditioned them from the very first day of life.

If your farm especially new farms do not have the smell that resembles the farm that they had grown up in then attracting young bird to your farm would be hard.

Through this observation, research, field test and many field visits therefore the "Love Potion" was invented for these purposes to make birds feel comfortable in new farms and encourage them to make nest at the faster period of time.

Many birds entered the farm for the first time and later turned back and never come back again. This is because they don’t find it good or comfortable in that farm. So to counter this we farmers have to make farms that liked by Swiftlets. We don’t have a choice, if we want to have a successful farm.

Besides Aroma Cd sound is also one of the important factors that influence Swiftlets to your farm. The right Cd sound would attract Swiftlets from far away working as an advertising instrument promoting your farm to birds.

It has to be good in a sense that it must has the ability to persuade birds to enter farms. There are many sounds in the market nowadays good ones are those that are specially re-mastered and remixed to adapt to different farm’s location. As for me, mine are all re-mastered and remixed type.

Nowadays there are so many farms (approximately 60k-70k). You won’t be surprised that the sound that you are using is of those duplicated one from one farm to another and the effectiveness of it to attract birds is somehow questionable.

Therefore paying attention on the above (Love Potion & CD sound) is very important as it would help you to improve your farm’s performance in a way of increasing nests if your nests growth is stagnant. For those newly set up farms it would help in attracting birds to your farms and make nests.

A clear understanding and knowledge are needed if one needs to achieve good result and to become a Millionaire Swiftlet Farmer within few years.

Good luck to all!

.

This is How Malaysians Invest in Potential Area - part 2

It was huge inside, with such size the capacity of nests would be massive if in few years time when this farm is inhibited by swiftlets.

( farm inside)

All inside walls are perfectly plastered for smoothness even my house walls are rougher. The owner is very detail about the finishing of the farm. It uses good grade of red clay bricks. It is the best grade amongst red clay bricks. Definitely No to sand bricks.

The walls are multiple layered. You can’t imagine. I respect the effort and the amount of $ spent on this farm.

(concrete reinforced ground floor)

The cost of labor is high as all finishing is of perfection. The target of completion of this farm is 6 months. He won’t want to miss this year swiftlet breeding season.

For many years I had thought of using good alternate material for nesting plank instead of the commonly Meranti wood. The Meranti wood won’t last long especially in condition of high Rh. It also invites termites and mould.

Some of the plank materials that I had thought of which are good like Marble but the cost are extremely exorbitant. Due to this therefore all my farms are opted for Meranti.

But somehow for those who can afford it then they would choose the best. This farm is choosing the best. It is using good grade of Marble as nesting planks. All Marble planks are specially grooved for easy perching of birds (hang). It was specially order- made.

( marble nesting planks with groove)

To accommodate the weight of the Marble the building was built with reinforced material to support the weight of the Marble planks. This pushed up the construction cost of the building.

( Crates of Marble 2 tons each , here are less than 10% of the amount needed)

Furthermore being built on a soft soil at the river bank, imagine how many piling poles it needed.

The Marble planks are so expensive that the cost itself for this farm could easily equivalent to the cost of construction of a common 2 storey farm.

(grooved ceiling for installation of Marble planks)

The installation of the Marble planks is another huge task. It needs many skilled workers to do the job this is due to its weight and the progress is slow. A 6 ft Marble plank weights about 20kgs. Imagine how many planks are needed in a 50x100ft, 6 sty farm. So this is what I call “How Malaysians Invest in Swiftlet Farming”

The cost of the planks and the labor itself are killing so not many would build it in such way.

The reason being that many had resorted to build farm with expensive material is to achieve a good internal environment liked by birds so that birds would stay and make nests.

The owner is a true investor as he see the opportunity and the potentiality of this area he really banging hard on it “good entrepreneurship”. For such huge farm we are talking about 20 years investment or more how many of us really look beyond it.

Swiftlets farming is a long term investment .For those who want to get quick bucks out of it I guess they had invested in the wrong place.

.

This is how Malaysian Invest in Potential Area - part 1

It was another trip to the North for farms visiting. It was a beautiful small sleepy hollow town with many beautiful old pre-war building which some of them are more than 100 yrs old.

( beautiful pre-war building)

This small beautiful town is located at the bank of a river. If you talk about humidity this is a right location. Most of the pre-war building here had been converted to Swiftlet farm. The ideal of it is that the structure of these building which the formation of bricks laying was different from today's brick laying techniques.

(good environment , perfection)

In such the pre-war build has a thicker wall thus creating a better heat thermal barrier. Therefore most of the successful farms are from these old pre-war building.

As you walk around the town you would see most of it if not all, the upper floors were converted into Swiftlet farm. The result here is fantastic, looking at the swiftlets entering the farm at 12 noon clearly shown that there are many nests in those farms.

The location itself has the advantage over many places. There are many birds here, with such high density of birds I supposed even a not so well made farm would also attracts birds. The only difference is how many nests could one farm out performed the other.

( side narrow entrance but birds still love it)

The uniqueness is that all sort of shape and sizes of farms here attract birds. Most farms here have nests. Even those that are simply made with zinc and with little knowledge won't deter birds from making nest. What a wonderful place! I was wondering what if I build a farm of my own here. Wow.....definitely....

Due to such wonderful environment this area has attracted lots of outsider to build Swiftlet farm here. Some are Mega ones. You'll be surprise to see how these investors going all out to capture a share of this lucrative Swiftlet Farming business especially in potential area like this.

(Mega farm 50x100ft, 6 storey . currently complete at 4 storey)

They are talking about millions of Rm not hundred of thousand. One of them is this Mega farm that I had visited. It is a 50x100ft size. A 6 storey with standby steel beam for future (2yrs) extension of additional of another 50x100ft , 6 storey at the side. Imagine how big it is.

For those who commonly invested in shop lots that below 1M would be an eye popping experiences. So for all swiftlet farmers, you all had chosen the right investment because if it is not potential this Mega farm's owner wouldn't have invested heavily like this.

This is one of the most perfectly done farms “in term of finishing, workmanship and material”. As far as internal design and layout that is another thing.

(looking over a beautiful river, tranquility)

The ground floor's wall is of concrete to prevent theft and flood. The building is currently completing the 4 storey .There are another 2 storey yet to be completed. As you look at the steel extruded from the concrete pillar indicate concrete will be poured on it.

This is heavy investment and the owner is happy about it. There are many more, wait till you see the inside………

To be continued…

.

Farm Visit to the North again

I will be leaving for the North tomorrow. I had planned this trip for quite a while. It was an invitation from my reader. He is a nice guy.

We had met before and had dinner many months ago in K.L.Tomorrow I have to get up early to catch a plane.

My reader has 5 farms. He is a true Swiftlet enthusiast. I shall keep you all updated about the findings.

Got to sleep early........zzzzzz

.

Atap for Roofting

My friend called me up and asked me where can he find "Atap" for his farm. I cracked my head to figure out where to get them. It is not easy to find it nowadays especially in town unless you go the rural area.

.

People have been using "Atap" for 100 of years before all those new roofing materials were available. It is cheap and reliable. It has good insulation property as it is made from natural material.

/

The disadvantage is, it is highly flammable. If its caught fire especially during festive season, one firecracker all it needs to bring down the whole farm.

/

Furthermore the dry Atap leaves are good place for predators like Lizard, cockroaches, wood bugs and wire snake that hunts on small birds to live and hide

.

Nevertheless it is cheap and has good insulation property. You may be surprised that it has higher thermal insulating than some modern roofing materials.

.

This is because the leaves that make the "Atap" actually traps air between them thus worked as good insulator..

.

The biggest set back is highly flammable. If you want to use it you better think thoroughly. If you are unlucky you may loose your farm to fire.

.

My advice is "No".

.

.

Phua Chu Kang in Swiftlet Farming (PCK)

Do you know there are many Phua Chu Kangs in this Swiftlet farming industry? To know one all you need is to pay attention to how they talk and write.

They Talk loud & big, normally in a dialogue way. The syndrome is everything I know even before you ask “I know... leh..he..he.. I know..oh..I am the best...leh …so many… leh... all others don't know leh…he he can not tell leh..he ..he..”. Doesn’t it sounds familiar? At the same time they enjoy criticizing others and once they started they can't stop. Slow down lah.....

If you happened to meet this type of people I bet you just have got to be careful. They often belittle others because they assumed that they know the best and they are the heavenly send swiftlet prodigy but they have forgotten that there are no swiftlet in heaven. If you read between the lines you get what I mean.

(PCK giving consultation)

Often then not they can't stop the habit of saying bad words. It is so hard for them to stop if they were have to stop they would die. Therefore, they resorted to use other phrase to utter out bad words probably spelling it differently. In this way they feel much comfortable at the same time reserving theirs habit. Bad habit die hard don't they?

Those jokers actually spoilt the true spirit of the respectable Phua Chu Kang . PCK is humorous but with ethic not like those jokers that always utter foul language.

There are many of them so beware who you are dealing with. Worst of all if they take charge of the consultation of your soon to be farm. I bet your farm ended up as dirty as their bad habits. How would you expect birds to stay and make nests? Well, if the birds would make nest it is going to be a very dirty one as dirty as their habits.

I believe character & attitude represent certain degree of one reputation. So by few conversations and observation you would know the person behaviors from here how good he is in this field could be easily identifiable. If you are sharp enough you would also be able to find out how shallow is his knowledge.

If you can't differentiate it then it is too bad, as I had said before in Swiftlet farming you need good observation. If you can not even differentiate between an unknowledgeable joker who talk with no action and one that has genuine skill then your involvement in Swiftlet farming is destined to fail.

In Swiftlet farming you must not only have the ability of differentiate things & be observance but also the ability to strike out those jokers who talk “ he..he..he..” but without action. This saved you the hassle of spending time and efforts on unproductive knowledge.

So beware, you decide and make good judgment. The biggest mistake in Swiftlet farming is not choosing the wrong location but choosing the wrong person who is a joker and you treat them like an expert. That is the biggest down fall.

Simple! Just read between the lines you know what I mean “Quality information & non quality information”

Hope you all learn a thing or two from here.

FYI PCK is my favorite TV series. Please don't spoil PCK reputation!

.

Security of Swiftlet Farm " have you thought of It"

When we planed to build a farm we should also look into the security aspect of it. Most would not pay much attention to this until many years later when their farms are break in.

For some who are concerned about this would build thick walls, heavy steel doors, etc but overlooked the roof & ceiling. I had seen farms with thickness of 3 inches doors but the roof was not protected from burglary. The owner told me that if the thief could climb like a Spiderman then let him have what he wants.

I am sure he will regret later, provided his farm is successful in near future otherwise he is also wasting money on his 3 inches thick door, because if his farm failed then there is nothing to steal anyway.

( heavy steel door)

Most burglars would prefer to come in thru the roof because it is easier. All they needed to do is to remove the clay tile roof. If the roof is of zinc or asbestos all they needed is a cutter unless you have a concrete roof. This has resorted farmers to put steel plates on the ceiling. Often costly.

Security in farm is an overall process not only concentrated on certain areas. I’m sure most come across farms with many CCTVs, what is the point of having many CCTVs to observe the security but you live farm away.

You may be frustrated when one day yousee burglars stealing your nests in your farm from your home but you can't respond fast enough because you live too far.

Even with alarm system if the thieves are smart enough they will cut the alarm connection and let it activated for a while after the sound stop then the will break in. This is more prone in secluded areas where there are not many residence houses around especially in area of semi-abandoned shop lots area.

Other ways including putting bard wire & broken glasses on the roof or around area that the farm's owners may think that thief can easily gets in. But it is more for preventive or dummy effects if the thief really wants to break in they will find all ways especially if they know that your farm is harvesting many kgs nests.

( bard wire around the entrance hole)

Often than not when the farm is break in most birds in the farm are frighten and this would affect the birds to migrate to other farm.

Thief couldn't be bother about the survival of the chicks or eggs. All they wanted is to capitalize on the nests . They will take all immaterial small or big. All eggs and chicks are thrown down and leave to die.

Imagine if you are the parent birds would you still choose such place as your nesting site?

If your farm is seeing good result and if you think that your security measure is not enough then you should do something about it. Don't wait till someone break in.

There are many unreported cases where gangs with parang or even guns waiting for the owner down stairs to rob his harvest. Some of this harvest may worth up to Rm 60K or more.

There are also cases where burglars hacked a hole on the wall of a successful farm because the farm immediate building was an abandoned empty building.

Well I am sure you could beef up the security with today's technology to prevent and limit the burglary problems but I can assure you that it can't be totally eliminated.

It will be costly to have all these gadgets to protect your farm provided your farm is harvesting good kgs per month..

.

Light at Entrance Hole to prevent Owls

I am sure for new comers who are new in Swiftlet farming would wonder why there is a light fixed at the entrance hole.

There would be guessing game here, as to why the entrance needs a light, "Is it for the Swiftlet to see"?

Well, the reason being is to scarce off Owls. The light is fixed at the entrances which controlled by a timer. This is to prevent Owls from coming near the entrance and to prevent them to enter the farm. As most Owls are active during night time especially the time the sky is getting dark.

But bare in mind that not all Owls catch their prey at night there are few species that actually active and catch their preys during the day time which I had witnessed myself.

Initially when the light is fixed at the entrance this would scare off Owls but over the time the Owls might get adapted to such situation as most animals are able in adaptation to survive in the animal kingdom.

Besides that having light at entrance attracts insect thus this would at the same time attract swiftlet to feed. With plenty of insect around the entrance hole chances are some swiftlet may go in to the farm and stay over night.

With plentiful of insect during the night when all Swiftlets had settled down in the farm this would be the hunting ground for small Bats. This would expose your farm to Bats and they might stay in your farm considering that there are plenty of foods at your farm's entrance.

Other perceptions are as a guide or a target land mark for easy identification for young Swiftlets therefore sometime you may see some entrances are fixed with light of different colors.

There are always advantages & disadvantages here......so you decide.

.