Rich Dad Poor Dad

Just would like to share with my blog readers that one of the few best books I have read; "Rich Dad Poor Dad". It was the best selling book in US for 2 years and so far 26 million copies have been sold. After I read the book, I find the concept that it applies in the Financial system can be applied in Swiftlet Farming. For example

1. Investment itself is not risky but Investor is risky - If the investor do not invest in financial education, it is very risky to invest. So, if we do not read a lot on swiftlet farming related books, blogs and attend seminars, it is very risky to invest in swiftlet farming

2. Write down the 6 person that you duel closely, your future most likely will be like them - If your close friends mostly business man, then is easier you will be one of them in future. In swiftlet farming, if you do not have any good friends or mentors which are success in swiftlet farming, then you better start looking for one. It will help you go through the difficult period.

3. Most people can only become armature players because they do not love enough the game. A person love their game so much so that they can become professional player just like Tiger Wood. If you still have not succeed in swiftlet farming, changes are you still not love this industry enough. Put more energy in and you will learn more.

4. Einstein said insanity is a person do a same thing over and over again and expect to have different results. If your BH is not perform well, you need to start looking for new method or looking for help.

There are a lot more in Robert Kiyosaki books that help you to mentally prepare the challenge that you are going to face. Please go to the web site below and watch the video clips. Very good.

http://www.richdad.com/

007 Swiftlet Farmers

Another article from Mr F about how technology can help to improve your BH.

CIA is one of the best known intelligence network in the world but actually, the NSA (National Security Agency) is the more extensive, secretive and critical intelligence organization in the USA. The popular idea of a secret agent is like the fictional James Bond. Espionage is a critical component of many countries in their quest to gather useful information and also to carry out covert actions for national security purposes. Likewise, in the technical field of swiftlet farming; entrepreneurs should apply some of the spy trade techniques in the running of a farm so that one might follow Sun Tzu’s dictum: “Know yourself and your enemy, and you will win all battles.” Entrepreneurs in swiftlet farming often try to understand their farms so that problems can be iron out as quickly as possible in order that the farm can become successful as soon as possible. A simple way is to stake out the farm especially during the late afternoon and early evening to see the numbers of birds flying to the farm. They would also go in to inspect their farms from time to time during the afternoon to check out whether the birds find it easy to navigate into all areas of the farm and to see if the birds are staying inside the farm overnight; clues can be discern from the guano left behind by the birds. Some enterprising farmers even hide inside their farms to observe and listen to the birds and to learn of their behaviors. However, many more would install CCTV system, often equipped with digital video recorders to record the situation of a farm over a period for later analysis. All these are equivalent to what is known as field study; just like a spy sent into an enemy country to survey the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy state.

A crucial function of a spy is to collect valuable information. And as even beginners know, for the swiftlet farmers; the all important data for them are the critical metrics of temperature, humidity and darkness. The optimum readings in these three variables are: 28-30 Celsius, 85-90 for humidity and 1 to 2 lux for dimness. The sizes of the various inner and outer entrances (which varies due to open roof or dog kennel designs) also affects all three of the variables in allowing fresh air to go in and out of the farm. For the espionage trade, spies are often equipped with the latest gizmos such as equipments for maintaining communications and for recording sensitive information. For the swiftlet business, many farmers simply keep temperature and humidity meters inside their farms to keep track of the conditions inside their farms; one should remember to hang the meter in the middle of the nesting room at the plank area so as to get a more accurate reading. However, many people had since realized that normal meters often give inaccurate readings, this also apply to the meters of normal hygrostats. So one can only get a rough guide to the conditions inside a particular farm. More advanced farmer might obtain a hand held meter reader which use laser to pinpoint the condition in a specific area so as to get a better idea of the specific conditions inside a farm but such readings are only for that particular time of day only. Many technically advanced farmers also installed an equipment known as a data-logger which they placed inside a farm to collect the constantly changing data in terms of temperature and humidity. After a period of time, the data logger would be taken away to be plug into a computer which will then display the range of temperature and humidity over the course of a period inside a farm. In such way, one can keep track of the conditions of a farm and can then modify the conditions if the situation is not ideal. In the end, maintaining an ideal environment will make swiftlets feel welcome to stay; and hopefully to make their nests. Mission accomplished!

BH after 9 months

Only 23 nests after 9 months. Almost zero growth compared to last month. A bit disappointed, but it trigger me to find the real problem quickly and even make a major change if that is necessary.

During this visit, I repaired 2 of my 4 bazooka which were not working. I also found out that my internal SS66 Amp not enough power to drive 100 tweeters in my BH. This Amp has 2 Channels and each Channel has Left and Right Output. 25 tweeters are connected in parallel to each output. What I found out is that the tweeter that connected closer to the Amp has a biggest volume and the volume slowly going down and for the last few tweeters, no sound come out at all!! I don't think this is the root cause which causes my BH birds population stop increase, but this is definitely a problem need to be solved.

A more serious problem that I found in my BH is that, although my external sound is good, but the birds only fly around the hexagon tweeters and at my roving area. Most birds still "Shy" to go in to my BH. See the video clips below. I hope to find my answer in the coming Pak Hen Seminar.

Try this if you have problem to view the video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XeAOydUccC4

If you have any idea, please let me know. Thanks

Ultrasonic Humidifier

I have read Harry blog about the ultrasonic humidifier. It is very good that its produces less or no noise. I did a check on Wikipedia about the humidifier

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultrasonic_humidifier

• Ultrasonic Humidifier — A metal diaphragm vibrating at an ultrasonic frequency creates water droplets that silently exit the humidifier in the form of a cool fog. Ultrasonic Humidifiers should be cleaned regularly to avoid bacterial contamination which may be projected into the air.

Ultrasonic humidifier require more cleaning.....But if not that trouble to maintain, still worth to try.

MEDILAMP ANION TiO2 AIR PURIFYING BULB

If you are going to start your new BH, one of the thing that you need to do is to clear the cement smell. Some people use bird shits and other use aroma.

My friend told me that there are other people use Medilamp Anion TiO2 Air Purifying Lamp Bulb.

Special Features:

1) Remove Fumes/Smoke in Split Seconds

2) Eliminate bacteria and sterilizes

3) Removes peculiar Odors / Smell

4) Energy-saving

5) Purifies the Environment with fresh air

6) Clean & Healthy Environment

7) Environmentally safe

8) Applications: Offices, Lobby, Rooms, Hotels, Stores Room, Bus Stations, Train Stations, Airports, Hospitals, Toilet, Pub/KTV, School, Public Common Places.

http://my.88db.com/my/Services/Post_Detail.page/Household/Electrician/?PostID=177791

If you have tried this method before, kindly share with us. Thanks

Silent Tweeter Problem?

Another article sent by my blog reader to share his experience. If every of my blog reader unselfishly share their experience, they eventually will learn more. Remember the more you give, the more you will get in return.

If by chance your tweeters in your bird house are connected with just the exposed part of the wires; then after a period of time, you might often find that certain tweeters at some sections had fallen silent. Some of these tweeters may be faulty but it is more likely that the wires which were fixed to the tweeters had simply come loose and are no longer able to transmit signals from the amplifier.

There are basically two ways to solve this simple but critical problem of silent tweeters. One way is to just solder the wires to the tweeters or you can also simply purchase tweeters that had already been soldered to short length of wires by vendors beforehand.

Another way is to make use of wire clips which are first crimp on the exposed wires and then slot into the tweeters metal connections. Using wire clips is better than soldering because when a tweeter became faulty, it is very easy to change to a new tweeter.

If your bird house tweeters are already connected without soldering or wire clips; then you might want to take some clips during inspection time and to fix the wire clips to tweeters that had fallen silent. And if you are starting a new farm in which the project is handle by a contractor, do make sure that the contractor will either use soldered tweeters or wire clips to connect the tweeters; otherwise, your bird house will surely encounter the problem of silent tweeters in the future and it would be a mishap that we can easily avoid.

Temperature and Humidity after 8 months

Above Chart is my Temperature and Humidity chart from 9-May to 28-Jun. You may notice that the humidity increase and temperature reduce after 21-May. That is when my BH Water Supply issue was solved. When there was no water supply, the average humidity was about 73%. Now is about 78%. Before, the average temperature was about 30.8degC. Now is about 30degC. So, humidifier water vapor does help to reduce the temperature by a bit.

When the chart is zoomed in, you will notice that the humidity is still fluctuating. The average different between Max and Min is about 5%. If compared to the chart taken on Dec-08, the Max and Min different is about 9%. So a drop of 4% after I off one of my ventilator which operate from 7pm to 7am.

I still need to do more work to reduce the huimdity fluctuation and reduce the temperature to about 28degC. If you do not own any data logger, I strong suggest you get one.

BH after 8 months

After 8 months of operation, there are about 20 nests and 4 markings now at my BH. I realized that most of my nests are build at the fake nests.

I also realized that 1 new nest at the 3 feet width passage way toward the toilet. I have not applied any aroma, install any fake nest or place any tweeter at that corner. It seem like some birds like partition. Will consider install more top down partition in future.

The water supply issue which have been disturbed me for 2 months finally solved. But I found other problem. There are 2 row of internal tweeters not working!!! I also found out that 2 of my 4 bazooka also koyak already. I will solve it during my next visit.