Studying your BH (recommend to use S.W.O.T.) and setting the objective for your BH then measuring your BH performance (recommend to use S.M.A.R.T.) are keys for success on swiftlet farming. My goal is simple: Double OR Trouble! Double up the number of bird nests for each season (4 months) OR my BH is in Trouble! And if I couldn't find the "Trouble" then my knowledge of swiftlet farming have limitation and I must spend more time to study.
So far, my BH have been achieved this objective 4 out of 5 seasons! there was one trouble season: it was the 2nd season, number of nests had growth 150% which was less than "Double", then indeed, it had "Trouble". These "Troubles" had been studied carefully and fixed.
These "Troubles" were:
Some birds abandoned their nests.
Lots of birds were visiting but many of them could NOT stay overnight.
Some eggs, baby bird fell down.
Some nests had a little hole.
My workers did guess many reasons caused these troubles. However, no guess works are allowed in my BH. I'm looking for facts NOT opinion. Swiftlet farming is a serious business and we must have scientific mind sets. Many physical inspections, tests, investigations had been done and the issues found finally! Temperature, Humidity, Light Intensity, Air movement were in range. Aroma was good. Amplifiers were playing well. No fungus developed... It appeared that nothing was wrong at glance. Why? After studied carefully, I found the environment was not suitable for bird to enjoy their life... Misting nozzles, Tweeters arrangement, time to play, appropriate sound were not set correctly. Sound was wrongly used. Baby sound loops was not mixed to main sound.., these mistakes were minor and easily ignored by workers. Additionally, many geckos, cockroach were found from old bird shits. They had growth and went around at night and disturbed birds...And lately, we found five (5x) snakes were hidden inside the bird house! Birds didn't feel comfortable, safe to stay and build their nests.
The fixes strategies had been discussed and the tasks were carried out and well done by workers. After one month, the results were excellence as we expected. The sub-sequence seasons, the number of bird nests were on target: "Double" or even better.
Swiftlet Farming is a serious business which requires serious operation mind sets. From this event, my BH is operating and is maintenance based on the scientific data, records and past proven experience pro-actively . And re-actively, I'm searching for facts that my bird nests count are NOT "Double" because I know that if there is then my BH is in "Trouble".
What about yours? Good Luck!
The Grand Mater of swiftlet farming is a person who knows how to manipulate the bird life cycles in order to increase nest productivity. It is the art of measuring, graphing, maximizing the productivity, area under the curves and define the course of actions. Sounds Simple? lots of serious studies, practical strategies and serious executions.
The architectural, the design, the techniques, the strategy in operation will determine the success of the BH.
So far, my BH have been achieved this objective 4 out of 5 seasons! there was one trouble season: it was the 2nd season, number of nests had growth 150% which was less than "Double", then indeed, it had "Trouble". These "Troubles" had been studied carefully and fixed.
The fixes strategies had been discussed and the tasks were carried out and well done by workers. After one month, the results were excellence as we expected. The sub-sequence seasons, the number of bird nests were on target: "Double" or even better.
