Bird House Update

Visited my bird house yesterday. I have not been into the bird house for more than 2 months. The last time I was there, I saw 1 full nest with baby birds, 1 half completed nest and 1 with extension work using the fake nest.

This time, I was happy to see some improvement to the bird house. There were about 5 completed bird nests and 1 half completed bird nest. 2 of the nests with baby birds hanging on them. I noticed that 1 of the bird nest is located at another corner of the bird house far from the other bird nests. I presume that this bird is from a different colony. If it is true, then my bird house has birds from 2 different colonies.

I know the result is still very slow compare with other bird houses but is a good start.

From what I learned, the number of bird nests in a bird house should have a multiplying effect. ie 2, 4, 8, 16, 32,... this is because the baby birds will usually make nest beside the parents nest. Each pair of bird can lay eggs up to 3 times a year and if the baby birds will mate after 6 months. Let us do the math below using 4 months laying eggs cycle and 8 months egg to adulthood cycle, the figure is something like this:

Month 1-4 ~ 1 nest
Month 5-8 ~ 1 nest
Month 9-12 ~ 2 nests
Month 13-16 ~ 3 nests
Month 17-20 ~ 5 nests
Month 21-24 ~ 8 nests
Month 25-28 ~ 13 nests
Month 29-32 ~ 21 nests
Month 33-36 ~ 34 nests
Month 37-40 ~ 55 nests
Month 41-44 ~ 89 nests
Month 45-48 ~ 144 nests
Month 49-52 ~ 233 nests
Month 53-56 ~ 377 nests
Month 57-60 ~ 610 nests

This calculation is for 1 pair of bird that flew into the bird house to start a family with the assumption that no baby birds fly away to stay in other bird houses. What happen if more than 1 pair of bird decided to migrate from other bird house to my bird house, the above figure should be double or triple:).

We must be have patient and make sure the bird house is always in good and comfortable condition so that no bird will want to migrate from the bird house. Not everyone is so lucky to have bird house that have 100s of nests within a year.

So for those that do not have many bird nests, the most important is to be patient but must always make sure that the number of nests is growing hopefully like the figure above else something is not right and action must be taken.

So at the mean time it is waiting again until the next visit

1 year anniversary

Today is the one year anniversary of my bird house. So far only 1 nest but it is a good start. Wasted 9 months without any result with the first consultant. I hope 2010 will be a good year for my bird house.

To new bird house owner, don't get con by your consultant if they keep asking you to wait for the birds to come into the bird house. I listened to my consultant and kept on waiting for 9 months. Based on my experience, if the consultant is good, you should be able to see result within 3 months. If you don't see any result after 3 months, kick the consultant out and replace a new one. I could have saved 6 months of my waiting time.

Mr. Chong told me this morning that the bird nest price has been escalating in the past few months. It is now within RM4.5k to RM5k per kg. Good news for all the bird house owners.

First Nest

Passed by my bird house yesterday, I decided to go into the bird house to take a look even though my appointment with Mr Chong is next month.

Before going into the nesting area, I noticed that my external amplifier was not working. After checking, I found that the plug was loosed. I guessed I might have loosen the plug while installing the cooling fan the last time I was there. O ! no external sound for the past month, I think sure no bird already.

When I went into the nesting area, I saw a bird flying inside. There was not much extra bird shit on the floor. But to my surprise, I saw a bird nest on the timber plank. A full size bird nest!

This proof that even without external sound, the bird which have already visited the bird house will still find its way into the bird house. Without external bird sound I was unable to attract any new bird into the bird house therefore no increase of bird shit on the floor.

Hopefully, when I visit my bird house next month, I will find more nests inside.

Some Bird Shits on the Floor

Went to the bird house with my friend Mr. Chong yesterday. When we went into the nesting area, we saw about 7 birds flying inside. The was about 12 spots of bird shit on the floor.

We look at the timber plank above the bird shit area but were unable to see any bird nest. Everything looks okay but still no nest.

We found the cooling fan for the external amplifier was not working so I quickly went to a store nearby to purchase a new cooling fan to replace it.

Mr. Chong said to visit the bird house in 2 months time.

Swiftlets in the Bird House

Visited the bird house this morning with my friend Mr. Chong. We were standing outside the bird house looking at the swiftlets flying above the roof.

The swiftlets turning in circle, sometime fly far away and sometime very near. My friend said that the birds have gone into the bird house. I was not very sure because I have not seen a single swiftlets inside the bird house for the past 9 months.

We then proceed to go into the bird house. Once the door to the nesting area was open, I saw swiftlets in side the nesting area. My friend said that we could turn on the lights. Once the lights was on, I saw about 6 swiftlets flying in circle inside the nesting area. We did not check further as we quickly turn off the lights and left the bird house.

I ask my friend are we allowed to turn on the lights, he said it is ok. He usually turn on the lights to harvest the bird nest.

My friend only take 2 weeks to get the swiftlets into the bird house while I waited for 9 months without any result. If I have engaged him earlier, I could be harvesting bird nest by now. This shows that experience consultant is very important. Many swiftlets farmers called themselves consultant. They just duplicate a successful bird house and if they are lucky, the bird house is successful. When it is not they do not have experience to solve the problem.

My friend said that the swiftlets will begin to build nest very soon. So the next visit is about 2 months from now.

Renovation Completed

Renovation work started on 23 Sept and was completed on 25 Sept.

Major changes are the entrance area. The roving area is bigger and the passage from roving area to the nesting area have changed. All CCTV cameras removed as my friend don't recommend it.

The position of the humidifier was relocated and the mechanical ventilators were turned on 24hr.

Smell in the bird house is much stronger now. He changed the entrance sound but not the internal sound.

Went in to the bird house on 30 Sept. No sign of bird inside the bird house. However, there are many swiftlets flying above the roof circulating the entrance hole. My friend said that the birds will be going in very soon. Will visit the bird house in about 2 weeks time.

New Consultant

Met my friend Mr. Chong at my bird house. He took a look inside the bird house and then he asked if there are any successful bird house around. I said yes and took him to one of the bird house about 500m from my bird house.

My friend took out a pair of tweeters from his car and started playing the bird sound. Swiftlets started coming down to his car after hearing the sound. As we drove back to my bird house he said that he could turn my bird house around with some renovation work.

He said that work done by my previous consultant was quite good. The room temperature is good, the planks and tweeters are well installed. The only problem is the roving area which is too small. The internal sound is good but the external sound needs to be changed. He needs to hack away the wall and create a bigger roving area.

As we were having lunch together, I asked him why he venture into swiftlet farming full time. He told me how he started into swiftlet farming.

He used to have problems with his business, workers problems, collection problems and always make him very stress. He used to mixed with a group of friends and among the friends there was one guy who was always smiling. Whenever he met the guy, the guy always looks happy and smiling. So one day he decided to ask him the reason. The guy told him that he is a swiftlet farmer and make 70k a month. (I think he must be smiling in his sleep too) The guy is willing to teach my friend how to venture into the swiftlet farming. So that is how my friend started to be a swiftlet farmer. That was 7 years ago. Now, my friend have more than 10 bird houses and he is also doing bird nest cleaning and selling to retails.