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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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....

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.