Thursday, December 31, 2009

Finally the Wall is Down

Yes! Finally the wall is down. Another partition is setup to create a roving area of 10'x13'.

The birds can fly into my BH easily now. Another concern is the BH is a bit brighter than before. Will see whether need additional partition to cover the light.

"You are not fail if you don't give up". Wish me good luck in 2010.


Saturday, December 26, 2009

WHAT I WOULD LIKE FOR CHRISTMAS?

By Mr Fre..

The answer is so simple for a swiftlet farmer; I would like a large swarm of swiftlets to populate my farm and produce bountiful crop of nests! Aside from that saliva inducing dream of a farm densely populated by swiftlets, I would like to have a pair of night vision goggles. Why? Because then I can then steal into the farm at night after all the swiftlets had returned home and do a bit of field research and observation. While one can install CCTV connected to a digital video recorder; yet it is much better to be able to observe the behaviors of the birds first hand. With the aid of the night vision google; I can walk around to observe areas where there are nests and birds. I think one can gain much insights from closely examine the life and activities of the birds, from the chicks to the matured birds. It would be a good idea to wear dark clothings so that I can be rendered “invisible” under the cover of utter darkness. However, a pair of night vision goggles does not come cheap as even the cheaper models cost over one thousand ringgit. I think it is not worthwhile to purchase such a tool. Perhaps I can try my luck by emailing a letter to Santa Clause telling him how good I have been throughout the year; and I wonder if by chance he has some stockpile of night vision goggles among his goodies…. Maybe he can spare me a pair….

Monday, December 21, 2009

Renovation on my BH

After few round of discussion with my friend, I decided to do the last major renovation for my BH. Below picture is my current BH. The problem is the roving area is very small, only 6.5x10 feet. My consultant feel that the roving area is not necessary. After checking the CCD camera, a lot of birds do not dare to fly in.


To solve the problem, we agreed to hack the wall at the roving area and make the size increase to 12x10 feet. With the bigger roving area, the birds will have more room to maneuver and hopefully will venture inside the nesting area.


Wish me good luck!!!

Sunday, December 6, 2009

BH Update after 13 months

I did not go back to check my BH last month. So I asked my brother to help me. Only 37 nests after 13 months. I consider my BH below average. About 30% of the nests have egg but only 1 new nest for this month. Really can't understand.

After open the roof to ease the birds flying in, some how it does not help much. I asked one of my friend opinion. He told me that there are a few sub-species AF, some build nests all the year and some only make nest at certain session. So, he suspect mine is belong to the later one.

Anyway, I believe there are few more things that I can try out. I will spend more time at my BH in the coming visit to implement those changes.

For those people in the same situation as me, remember "You are not consider failures if you never give up". Keep trying...Good Luck.

Sunday, November 22, 2009

New Hexagon Position

Below is the picture before I open the roof. You can image that when birds playing at the hexagon, they cannot "see" the inner entrance hole. When they fly in, they need to make "U-turn" to go in to nesting area. Some friends advice me that the flying path is not smooth.

As mentioned in my old article, I finally opened the roof top to allow smooth flying path for birds fly in more direction. But I have no time to relocate my hexagon position until last week.

The pictures below show the new Hexagon position. I believe this new position allot birds to play and at the same time "see" the entrance hole. When I removed the Hexagon and did a check, I found out that 2 out of 6 tweeters no longer working. I replaced them before fixed the Hexagon at new location.

As the external tweeters and Hexagon expose to sun and rain, they are tend to break down easier than your internal tweeters. You need to make sure you do a regular check on those tweeters. Remember, those tweeters help you to "publish" your BH to new birds. So, you need to make sure they working all the time.
The next thing on my "To Do list" is to fix some "Owl" preventive tool to prevent the owl to go into my BH.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Partition

We all know that partition is used to block the light from entrance hole as well as use it as a territories for different colony of birds. I always heard people said if your partition is not design properly, you will block the birds flying path. So, what is the best way to design a partition.

For the information that I gathered, it seem like Top down partition is the safer method to use if you are not sure whether the partition will block the birds flying path or not. For those expert they can use the full partition as it will block all the light.

For me, to play safe, I use Top down partition method. The pictures below used sand board.

I also tried a cheaper method by using black plastic card board. You can get it at the stationary store easily. The good thing is if the birds accidentally hit the board, it is soft and would not hurt the birds. You may laugh, but according to my friend, he really heard a lot of "stupid" birds hit the partition. So he changed the hard partition to "soft" type partition.


Thursday, November 5, 2009

Legend for the Color Dot


Some people asked me what is the meaning for those color dot in my earlier post. Well, it is a way for me to keep track my nests count and understand better the nest cycle.

Orange Dot - Existing nest
Blue Dot - New nest
Purple Dot - Nest with birds
Green Dot - Nest with eggs
Red Dot - No Nest yet after harvest

There are few observation that I can made:-
1. The birds prefer to build nest at the end of my BH
2. New colony start at the middle of the BH (3 new nests)
3. More birds prefer left hand side than right hand side. Need to check why?
4. There are few nests after harvested, birds never come back. Need to understand why?

With this record, it become very clear that some of your Bird prefer to build nest at certain area. If you can find out the reason, you can duplicate the same conditions at the other parts of your BH.

In the swiftlet industrial, there are a lot of things that "sifu" don't tell you. Sometimes those things that they told you might not apply to your BH. You need to observe yourself. Who know, you may find the "Key" to your success.

Hope everyone can find the "key" to your success.

Monday, November 2, 2009

BH Update after 12 months


It has been some times I never go back and visit my BH. My kid exam is coming, so cannot go back to my home town. That is also why I seldom update my blog now a day.

Last week, I asked my brother help me to take a look my BH and do a bird nests count. There are about 35 nests now. 5 news nest compare to last month. Although the growth is not within my expectation, it is still better than no growth.

I recently found how to modify the cheap ultrasonic humidifier such that the water can supply to humidifier 24 hours a day. I will get a few humidifiers to test during my next visit. Hope it will solve my BH wet issue and improve the micro condition and quality of my nest.

Monday, October 26, 2009

Different Types of Wires

From Mr Fre about the wires selection. Just to add on, from what I learn from Pak Hen seminar. Recommend min strand count is 50 and best is 80 counts.

There are different types of wires that are used in swiftlet farms. In the photo, one can see four types. The left hand side are the better quality and more expensive wires whereas the ones on the right are lesser quality and cheaper wires. Novice farmers often had no idea about the wiring in their farms unless they are well verse in audio equipments or like to play around with stereo or home theater systems.

Sometimes, contractors would simply use the lower right hand type of wire to rig the sound system as this is the cheapest wire. It is the cheapest because it has very little strands of copper in it. It is white in color with a blue line indicating the positive polarity.

The good point is that this wiring is very thin and do not take up much space around the planking and it is very easy to strip away the plastic cover to expose the copper strands to make connections. Actually, it is usable but not really advisable to do so if given a choice.

The upper right hand type which is in red rubber coating is slightly better as its silicone coating provides durable protection to the copper strands which is probably slightly more than the cheap white color wire. The color is red on both lines but one side is darker than the other; so one would need to choose whether to use the darker line or the lighter color line to be the positive line. I choose the darker red line to be the positive line. However, if you use it outdoor, the color will be faded by the sun so that you will not know which is positive and negative anymore. Then you need to trace the line back to the source to check. If you like, you can use a marker pen to mark the positive line. While the silicone cover provides good insulation for the wires, it can be hard to cut the covering away to expose the copper strands to make connections especially if one use a plain scissor to do the job; if you have a stripper, it would be much easier.

The lower left hand is a good quality stereo wire with strong jacket covering and one of the line has a clear blue line indicating it be use for the positive polarity. The many strands of coppers make a thick wiring good for sound transmission. The ray of the sun also will not burn off the blue line indicating positive polarity but the silicone cover tend to become soft when exposed to the sun as when we used it around the open roof area.

The upper left hand blue color wiring with a red line running on one line (which I use to indicate negative polarity) is a very good choice for use in swiftlet farm as it is thick with strands of coppers and the blue jacket is easily cut and strip away to make connections. It is probably slightly more expensive than the stereo wire but a good choice for use in a bird farm.

If you are to build a farm today, I would suggest you use the more expensive wires as the more strands of copper should help to deliver better quality of sound; especially if you plan to operate the farm for not just a few years but decades. I think it is very much a case of false economy to save pittances on wiring unless you ignorantly allow a contractor to cut corners and to make use of the cheap white wires. Another thing to consider is to make use of different color wires for different purpose, such as the blue ones for external sounds and the stereo wires for internal sound so that you can tell them apart at a glance.

Thursday, October 22, 2009

SAM and Esther

Very touching video. Recommend to show you to your kids how lucky they are.


Follow up

AROMA

This is the most interesting topic that people like to write and read the review. From the review, I ask myself few questions, and this is just my opinion.

1. Is the aroma good to increase the birds population?
I think is yes. I have used aroma myself and it shows improvement on bird population. The comments in the Review web also shows that some people are very happy when using the aroma.

2. Is the same aroma good for all BH?
Well, I think from the LOVE POTION Review, 70% said no good and 30% said good. So, clearly same aroma may not good for all BH. But why? Do you think birds at different area like different smell? Well, I think one of the possible reason is the BH micro condition and design. If this 2 factors are not meet, the best aroma for you also no use. Aroma is just an enhancement material. It will boost your BH to another level provided your BH condition is good.

3. Why some aroma cause birds run away?
I don't know the answer. Because for the same aroma, some people can attract a lot of birds. But some people find out their birds run away and never come back. Any answer?

4. Will the aroma still effective if everybody in the same area use the same aroma?
I think if everybody use the same aroma, the effect of the aroma will drop a lot. Imagine you are a bird and there are 10 BH in the same area use the same aroma. Which BH you would like to choose? Would you use smell of aroma as one of you criteria to choose BH? So, if your BH in the hot zone and changes are there are few BH also use the same aroma.

Tuesday, October 20, 2009

Water Leak Follow Up

Below are some of the pictures that show how my brother helped me to solve the water leaking issue "temporary". The reason that I said temporary because this method definitely help to reduce the water drop on the floor. But it also contain the water vapor at this small area only. The humidity distribution in BH may not be balance.


The next thing that I plan to do is to add additional layer of mat on the floor. Then I remove the cover on top of the humidifier. With this additional mat, the fine water vapor that manage to come out from the tank would not cause to much wet on the floor.

Monday, October 19, 2009

Holistic Approach to Swiftlet Farming

From Mr Fre. Thanks

In various human pursuits such as in the field of economy, politics, philosophy, religion, martial arts, etc; general ideas would eventually break up into becoming different school of thoughts in which emphasis is placed upon certain aspects and practices. So too is the field of swiftlet farming which can generally be divided into two different approaches; the traditional way and the modern way. Actually, there exist a third way in which aspects of the traditional way and the modern way are utilize.

I think the third way is a good idea as we can utilize proven ideas from the traditional approach and then complement it with reliable and useful modern equipments as well as scientific ideas from the modern school of swiftlet farming. Yet there are several different aspects to swiftlet farming that some proponents had came up to claims that certain things are the key to the success of a farm. For example, there are those who champion the swiftlet sounds, while others advocate the use of good planks and the ways and means of installing it, yet others emphasis on the design of a farm.

I think all the major aspects and even minor aspects are very important to ensuring the success of a farm. There is the hardware and software aspects to the setting up of a successful farm; think of it this way, the best computer in the world without good software is useless and vice versa. Generally speaking, there is an art to the integration of the design of the basic infrastructure; the choices of various equipments and the quality of the items as well as the intelligent deployment of these equipments that will ensure the patronage of swiftlets.

As a commander in chief, a general must not be only well verse in a branch of his military organization but must deploy the army, air force, navy and their components such as special forces, spies as well as the all important logistic wisely to ensure that he can win battles. Therefore, to say whether the designs or sounds or some other aspects of swiftlet farming is the most important aspect is just plain wrong. For we must be holistic in our approach and pay attention to all the different aspects so as to ultimately achieve our major objectives; which is to invite swiftlets to first visit, then stay and finally make their precious nests in our farms.

Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Owl

Let me shares with you a real story about my friend's experience of owl attacked at his BH a month ago. His farm located near the Palm Oil plantation. To prevent the owl, he installed a high power electric wire at the base of the entrance hole. I draw a picture below for easy illustration. Do you think his BH is safe from Owl attack?


The answer is no. Last month when he entered his BH, he saw some shit (bigger) not below to swiftlet on the floor and also a lot of bird feathers. He also noticed that some of this nests were cracked and fall on the floor. So he quickly checked his CCTV recorder. What he found out that the owl is very smart. Instead of landing on the base of the entrance hole, it cling on the "tweeter" for few minutes to observe the nesting area. After that then it flew in to his BH to eat those baby birds.

So, the next thing he did is to adjust the tweeters higher so that the owl do not have room to stand on the tweeter. Hope all of us learn from his experience.


Monday, October 12, 2009

New Forum in Swiftlet Products and Services Review

I realize that some of topic and particular interested by my reader like,
1. Love Potion
2. How to improve Taiwan Humidifier

As you may realize that you can only provide review in "Write Review" page under the same name once. If you have any new point of view, you are not able to write your review again.

Because of that, I created a NEW FORUMS page for "member" to discuss any topic that they like. Note, you have to be a member in order to write or view in Forum. Anybody can be member.

I also will try my best to send a notification note to those member if there is any new comments or review.

Hope you find the latest update useful.

Sunday, October 11, 2009

Swiftlet Farming Products and Services Review Update

Thanks for your support, there are more and more people wrote their reviews at the products that they used before. So far I have added 46 items in the review website. Below are the Top 5 products that people interested.
Love Potion still remain at the top of the list. There are 12 reviews so far for this product. Some people find it very effective and other people find it not useful at all. Base on the reviews, can we say that certain aroma will work at certain area? Or is there any others factors that need to fulfill to make the aroma more effective? You are welcome to give your comments.


Wednesday, October 7, 2009

DIY Mirror For Nests Inspection

Thanks for Mr. Fre again for sharing with us his DIY project. I like this very much, simple, cheap and effective. I decided to create a DIY link

Mr Fre,

I recently came up with this idea of making useful nests inspection mirror using simple material and tools. firstly, you need to find a CD that is no longer needed such as annual reports. You also need to find sticks that is as short or as long as you require. You then cut the CD into two halves or alternately you can also use a complete CD without cutting. Then you can either nail the CD to the stick or better still, to use a screw, and you will have a useful tool which you can make as many as you need. Not only it is virtually free but is is also very light compare to mirror although the reflection is less clear than a mirror. The other advantage is that the CD will not break up in case if fall to the floor or if it is accidentally knock against the wall.



Tuesday, October 6, 2009

Help Offer from my Blog Reader About Water Leaking

Ever since I posted my BH water leaking problem, I have received some of the advices from my blog readers. I sincerely thank them for their valuable input. I have listed down their comments below to share with you all.

Mr Low write,"waterproofing in d market hv few type of material exposy base, oil base, cement base,
tile not necessary here. jt replace wt some river stone. river stone will made d water cooler
since yr is ongoing bh, my suggestion use a canvas. like lorry type n form a rectangular. It can b form into yr required dimension and shape."

Mr Fre "To solve your wet floor/leaking roof problem; you can cut a round piece of hard plastic or styroform that is smaller then the diameter of your humidifier; about the size of a large tin of Milo tin cap. Put up the "handle" of the humidifier and then attach the cap using a screw.

It will not only prevent a wet floor but also will prevent moisture from shooting up too high and cause the planks to grow spores or become rotten from too much dampness. The idea is that moistures shooting above will be block by the cap and the condensation of water from the moisture will drop back into the basin underneath the humidifier. The important thing is not to make the cap larger than the shape of the humidifier which will allow water to drop on to the floor."

MR Tang, "buy a fribre tank with as the water supply tank,install the level control and over flow line/
another is place your humifier inside the bribre tank,the supply to the himufier must tight to the fribre tank,and must have a overflow line if the connection leak."

I hope you can find those input useful. In future, when you have any issue, do let me know your problem with pictures so that I can post in my blog and hope people will share their experience here. Remember, this is FREE....

Sunday, October 4, 2009

Water Leaking

I have reported before in my blog that I have water leaking issue when I used the Taiwan made humidifier.

To solve the problem, I laid a layer of mat. After that I don't see any leaking issue for quite sometimes.But recently, the leaking issue is come back again and it is worst than before. I am thinking of placing the humidifier in the kids pool, but it may now be a long term solution. The plastic may not last long and the birds dropping fell inside the pool may make it very difficult to clean.
I know seriously think to change my humidifier to ultrasonic humidifier. Please let me know if you have any good suggestion.

2 BH With Licence for SALES

2 BH with Licence for Sales!!

Location: Bera, Pahang

Size: 20 x 70 feet

Type: Freehold Shop Lot

Number of nests: 200+

Licence: Yes

Asking: RM$535K

Description: Bera is located near river and there are a lof of green surrounding it. It is getting popular for swiftlet farming now. The 2 BH are side by side and both with valid licence. It is very difficult to apply for licence now a day. This is a rare opportunity for you to own a Licence BH. Note, the price is based on the current nests count. It will increase as the nests count increase.

Please contact me if you are interested.

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Inaccurate Meter Readings

Article shares by Mr F.

In this article, there is a photo of two meters set side by side giving different readings of the temperature and the humidity; while the discrepancies in the temperatures is acceptable, yet the differences in the reading of the humidity is quite wide.

Swiftlet farmers having various equipments that provide readings of variable data such as temperature and humidity tend to find that the readings varies and therefore made them doubt the accuracies of the readings which are important to understand the state of a farm in whether its suitable for swiftlets to stay.

Some types of digital hygrostats are also not very accurate as I had also did an experiment in which I placed two of them side by side and found them to give different readings. However, the placement of such meters or the sensors of hygrostats must be correct; we must place them at the plank area at an area that is not directly atop a humidifier which should skew its readings.

In any case, there are alternatives to the common digital meters. For example, there is a German made mechanical meter that do not require battery to operate and is said to provide accurate data. The downside is that it cannot provide historical data as in a digital meter that tells us the lowest and highest temperature and humidity recorded over a period. A possible solution to this problem is the use of a data logger that is use to gather temperature and humidity inside a farm over an extended period.



As to the generally inaccurate hygrostat, there is an alternative German made mechanical hygrostat that is said to provide accurate result so as to off or on the humidifiers at the right time. Having said that, even not so accurate meters and hygrostats can still be useful to serve as a rough guide to farmers who already own such equipments and is in no mood to replace them.

However, if the birds are just visiting and not staying to make their nests; then they should try to find out whether the design of their farm or the microclimate is far from ideal. And the way to remedy the microclimate of their farm is to get hold of reliable meters and hygrostat devices that can help them to turn around their farms.

Monday, September 28, 2009

Upgrade 4

As promised, I will let you know what I consider as most important upgrade for my BH but has been long overdue. My good friend has been advised me to open the opening (highlighted in Red) few months ago. But because the number of nest was growing at that time, so I put on hold first.

Why he advised me to open?
1) If I don't open, birds cannot see the inner opening hole from outside. So, it will take longer time for new birds to explore my BH.

2) Birds need to fly 180 deg to go into my BH. Not a very smooth flying path.

3) Although this entrance hole help to reduce the light go into BH (180deg turn), but it only favour for CCW flying birds and only allow bird fly in one direction (2 o'clock).

Remember if given a choose between 1) darkness and 2) easy entrance, always choose the easy entrance as more important factor. Although the bigger entrance hole will cause more light into BH and more difficult to control the micro, you can always make some hanging partitions to block the light later on.


The Opening Ceremony start on 26-Sept-2009 with the help from my uncle. FOC.



You may notice that there is a beam between the new and old entrance hole. Actually I wanted to hack away, but most of my friends advice not to hack away as it violet the safety issue. If official come and check, I will have problem to fix back.


I used mosquito nest to cover the hole between ceiling and roof instead of brick. This is to allow air free to circulate between the roof and ceiling.

Actually later on, I also use orchid nest to cover another layer just to make sure the heat going in is reduced (not shown in pic).

Actually I seed a lot of my friends advice including well know sifu. With the help of friends, you too can be your own BH consultant.

I hope to hear your comments on my latest upgrade.

Sunday, September 27, 2009

Swiftlet Farming Products and Services Review Update

I have updated some products, sound, blogs for all of you to write your review. Again, if you have anything you want to share with all the reader, let me know. It is FREE to put your products in my Review Website. The objective of this website is to let more people aware what is good or bad products in the market.

You can also use this website to advertise your new products or let me know any recommendation in the Guess book.

BH after 11 months

Last weekend visited my farm. Found there are 5 new nests and a lot of baby birds in the nest. There are total 30 nests now, including those 4 nests that I removed last month but the birds have not start building yet. If next month there is still no nest at these site, I will remove the nest count from my list.

Look like some of the upgrades that I did last month do show some good results. In my next blog, I will share with you all some of the upgrade that I did during this visit. I believe this is a key to my success which should have done long ago but I have drug until last weekend to complete.

Friday, September 25, 2009

Swiftlet Farming Products and Services Review Website

After 2 days the new website has been published, response is quite good. The number of people write down the review have been increased from 1 review in first day to > 10 reviews on the 2nd days.

LOVE POTION still the most interested item for review. Only 3 person write down their comment about this product. If you think this aroma is good for your BH, please write down good comments too.

Some people asked me whether their name or email will be displayed in the review. If you enter the title/name, it will be displayed whatever you write down there. For email, it will never display in the review. So, don't worry, only I know your email and I will not disclose to other people.
Remember please write down the review if you have tried out the product or service. You are helping other people to make a good decision and who know, one day it might help you to make a good judgement before you buy any new products.

If you have any new products that you would like to put inside my website for sell, you can send me your product photo and description.

If you interested to buy any product, you can email to me. cheinwoei.gee@gmail.com.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Surprise Info on Swiftlet Products Review Web

After I officially posted the website that can let people to write and read the review on products or services that they are interested, there are > 100 hits now. Not bad for the start. But I find out that a lot of people are interested to find out or read the review only but lazy to write down their own review if they happen to use the product before. Please spend sometime to write down the review for the benefit of most people in this swiftlet industrial. If you think the product is good, then recommend to people in the review.

Back to the today tittle, "Surprise". So what is the surprise??

Are you interested to know which products that most people interested to know??? See the summary table below.

The Champion go to LOVE POTION and BLACKCLOUD. Maybe I cannot say surprise as these 2 products have been advertise a lot of times by their owner.

Tuesday, September 22, 2009

New Website - Swiftlet Farming Product and Services Review

After close to a year involve in swiftlet farming, I realize that there is a little information about the reviews of good products like Tweeter, Amplifier, aroma, plank, humidifier and etc. There is also no much information about how good is the consultant.

So I decided to create another web-site to let people write or read the review or certain products or services. Hopefully, when more and more people participate, we will have enough data base to make comparison before purchase or engage certain consultant.

Please visit this web-site and email to me if you want certain product to be included for review.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Safe Guarding Farm Keys

Thanks for Mr F again for his useful tips on how to Safe Guard Farm Keys. I always have this concern when I open my BH inner locker. What happen if the keys accidentally drop!! Can you imagine I have to go back to my house to get the spare keys. That will waste a lot of time. A simple and useful method suggested my Mr F is worth trying.

From Mr F.

Most swiftlet farms would have iron doors for security and there is often a design of a small “door” that enable a farmer to open or close the lock(s) inside the door so as to make it difficult for thieves to cut it. If the owner simply try to open the inside lock without any precaution; he or she might fumble and let the key fall inside the farm. Unless there is a ready spare key, the unfortunate owner will have to go back to his home or office to get a spare key; if there is no spare key, then there would be very troublesome to solve this problem. And imagine that if the farmer live over a hundred kilometers from his farm, even if he or she has a spare key at home, it would meant a wasted long distance trip.

Therefore, we should take precaution when trying to open the inside lock(s). We can tie a strong rubber band or just a string to the key, and tie the other end to either our hand or we can hold it with our other hand; meaning that if we are right handed and hold the key with our right hand, we can then hold the string or rubber band with our left hand. Another thing is that for those of us who have many farms, we should label all the keys carefully and be sure to have a spare sets of key in a safe place in case the keys we use often are lost.




Thursday, September 17, 2009

Infared Camera


I have 4 infrared camera in BH. Initially the images quality were very good. See the pic below.


After sometimes the images getting blur and blur (see picture below for frame 1,3 and 4). I tired to clean the len but the images only improved a bit. I thought because the camera are lousy then I bought a better quality IR Camera to try (see frame 2). The quality of the image is proven better than the original camera when it is new.

Below is the spec of new camera that I am using. It is a water proof camera with resolution 420 TVL. Another important spec is the Min Illumination = 0 LUX (W/ IR LED). I have seen some camera require 0.xx amount of light to work properly.

After I installed the new IR camera, I took a close look on my old camera. I found out that the dirt or dust that make the camera image blur are actually from the inner side of the len. I opened the len and use dry tissue to clean the len surface. The images are much better now although still not as good as when it is new. But is usable.

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

市長:不再延長保留‧古蹟區燕屋年底需清空

http://mykampung.sinchew.com.my/node/76862?tid=8

市長:不再延長保留‧古蹟區燕屋年底需清空

  • 古蹟區燕屋這次難逃法網?(圖:星洲日報)

(馬六甲)燕子紛飛!甲市長尤索夫占丹週二(9月15日)說,古蹟區內的燕屋肯定要在今年12月31日之前被清空。9月30日之前,古蹟區內和其他地區的燕屋都會陸續受到檢查,其他地區的燕屋如果符合要求,將可允許繼續經營。

10和11月檢查各地燕屋

市長週二召開新聞發佈會澄清,市政廳之前發給燕屋主的信,是要求燕屋主於9月30日之後允許市政廳、野生動物保護局、獸醫局等組成的執法隊伍進屋裡檢查。

“9月30日之後的10月和11月,們會採取行動,進入甲州各地方的燕屋進行檢查。”

不過,他強調,古蹟區的燕屋是肯定不會再被延遲保留。

明年對古蹟區燕屋發傳票

“其實甲州行政議會已經在去年底作出這項決定。明年1月開始,市政廳將會對古蹟區內的燕屋發出傳票,每次罰款是250令吉。”

如果燕屋主仍然不予理會,市政廳將採取行動將事主提控上法庭。

建議集中養燕地點

他指出,古蹟區內共有24間燕屋,其中2間已經被還原,其他22間有待解決。

這24間燕屋出現在荷蘭街、雞場街、東圭納路、甘榜烏汝、河邊街和祈安律。

“如果在檢查時,有關燕屋被發現有喇叭但沒有燕子,沒有問題。

如果發現沒有喇叭但有燕子,就有問題。”

政府建議集中養燕的地點,是在填海區、烏絨巴西、野新的萬里茂海邊。

另一個受到考慮的地點是瓜拉雙溪峇汝。

燕窩商公會數十會員
指接信限期還原燕屋

甲燕窩商公會週一(9月14日)召開新聞發佈會,聲稱該會數十名會員接獲市政廳建築管制小組誌期9月7日的通知信,指他們濫用建築,限令他們在30天內將燕屋還原為店屋。

與此同時,這些會員也面對養燕執照不獲市政廳更新的問題。

面對上述問題的,除了甲市區的會員之外,野新縣的會員也接獲同樣的信件,及不獲更新執照。

星洲日報/古城‧2009.09.15

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Another Bad New For Melaka Swiftlet Farming

甲市與野新限月內拆設施‧古蹟區燕屋年底消失

  • 馬六甲成為世界文化遺產一年之後,古蹟區燕屋的問題再次浮上台面。(圖:星洲日報)

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(馬六甲)甲州政府雷厲發信,市政廳建築物控制小組以濫用建築物為由,限甲市區與野新縣業主9月內拆除燕屋設施。與此同時也發信給古蹟區內的燕屋屋主,限於今年12月31日之前取消燕屋。

甲州政府也已經停止更新養燕執照。

甲燕窩商公會週日(9月13日)早上召集會員開會,約50人出席會議。主席曾永安在會後受詢時透露,市政廳於半年前曾致函古蹟區業主,需於今年底之前把燕屋還原。

會員無法更新養燕執照

兩週前,他們再次收到市政廳的來信,除了提醒上述限令之外,也通知將於9月30日之後開始檢查行動。

他透露,很多會員也在9月開始,無法更新每3個月一次的養燕執照。

他指出,甲州目前共有大約120張養燕執照,其中約90張在市區。

古蹟區共43間燕屋

根據市政廳的資料顯示,古蹟區內共有43間燕屋,其中只有18間呈上建築圖測。

曾永安表示,這18間燕屋所呈上的圖測,於2006年呈上至今沒有獲得批准。出現燕屋的古蹟區街道包括荷蘭街、雞場街、板底街、吉靈街及河邊街一帶。

曾永安說,該會其實期望政府來管理養燕行業,該會只能提供服務,帶領會員儘量配合做到政府的要求,共同解決問題。

養燕業每年帶來10億外匯

他強調,養燕業給大馬帶來每年10億的收入,對國家經濟極有幫助,他希望政府認真看待該行業的貢獻,並制定恰當的政策。

週日出席會議者包括該會3名副主席宋耀強、李偉光和劉倧良,政汪枝民和秘書姚智輝。

星洲日報/古城‧2009.09.13


公會:“5修改”要求續養燕‧古蹟區燕屋不播音

  • 古蹟區一些燕屋的外貌令人不敢恭維。(圖:星洲日報)

(馬六甲)甲燕窩商公會週日(9月13日)召集會員開會,針對古蹟區燕屋需被還原的限令,達致一項共識,即同意對燕屋進行5項修改,以作為向當局要求在古蹟區繼續養燕業的替代方案。

4業主出席會議

週日共有4名業主出席週日約50人的會議。該會主席曾永安在會後受詢時表示,由於一人擁有數間燕屋,相信以上4人代表了古蹟區內的半數燕屋。該會將繼續聯絡其他未出席週日會議的燕屋主人。

他說,根據市政廳的資料顯示,古蹟區內共有43間燕屋。

他透露,官員說他們不會殺生,官員將採取的手法是讓燕屋開門窗,拆除播音器材、開亮燈光。

須先保住市區燕屋

曾永安在會上發言時強調,古蹟區的燕屋對整個甲州的養燕業非常重要,是燕子的重要源頭。如果市區的燕屋被消除,他保證其他地區的燕屋也不可能獨存。

所以,他認為一定要先保住市區的燕屋。他希望所有同業同舟共濟,共渡難關,不要再製造更多問題,尤其是聲音的問題。

“政府接獲的所有投訴之中,有99%與聲音有關。其實,聲音可能有助競爭,但沒有聲音也不會太大損失,尤其是如果大家都不開聲音的話,更加不是問題。以前燕子進屋,都不需要這些聲音。”

業主應合作集體行動

他希望燕屋業主不要自欺欺人,以為不出席會議或不加以理睬,政府就不知道燕屋的存在。

“其實政府早就查得很清楚,大家最好快點出來和公會合作,以集體合作的方式,向當局提呈集體行動的保證,才有可能共渡難關。”

他認為,馬六甲古蹟區的燕屋如果淪陷,不只是甲州全體燕屋的災難,也是全國燕屋的一個大缺口,全國燕屋將會逐州出現問題。