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New BH Opening

I have not updated my blog for quite sometime because I was away for some other business.

Finally completed the BH conversion that written in previous post, just to share a short clip of opening, a quite satisfied result.




Few more projects coming next.

Audio Output Signal & Capacitor on Tweeter

We have often seen that tweeters used for the BHs commonly added a capacity to the positive terminal, actually many swiftlet farmers even consultants do not really know on what and how the capacitor functions. Since many readers are questioning about that I try to give a short brief on this topic per my understanding.

Before understanding about capacitor, first we need to know how the sound is being transformed and produced. Many of us would think that audio output produced by the player or amplifier is Direct Current (DC), because output terminal of amplifier normally coloured with Red and Black which we always misunderstand as positive and negative of DC.

In fact audio signal outputted from audio player is a complex AC waveform, when the volume is low, the voltage out is low. Volume can be increased by increasing voltage wave with an amplifier. We are controlling the output voltage by setting volume knob level of amplifier. Tweeter (speaker) is to transform audio signal from AC waveform into sound wave, that’s why reverse two cables, tweeter still produce sound but AC phase will be reverse.


We may commonly see that tweeters added a capacitor to (+) terminal, some farmer might understand from the tweeter supplier that capacitor is to help to balance the sound volume when number of tweeters are looped up in parallel circuit, which is not true. Some supplier may also tell you that tweeter with capacitor will improve sound quality.

A capacitor's basic function is to pass AC current and block DC current. A capacitor will never pass DC current, where DC could harm the tweeters. Capacitor can also limit AC current depending on the frequency when high surge. The proper µF of capacitor should be selected for your tweeter for its impedance (ohm).

Generally capacitor is a protection of tweeter especially dynamic type tweeters. However I personally don’t think it has significant function for those piezo tweeters in our BH. If you wanted to improve tweeters sound balancing I will advise to use low resistance audio cable and consistence impedance of tweeter. Nevertheless I am not sound engineer but just to share with readers from my understanding, anyone specialised in audio want to correct my statement or share something, you can email to me.

Headed to Ipoh for regular BHs inspection

I was heading north from KL to Ipoh to carry out regular inspection of my JV BHs yesterday, took about 3 hour driving to reach due to bad traffic condition.

These new BHs have been operating for few months only, there is some growth but not as good as those new BHs setup in populated area as expected, location is still the key factor of good success I always believe in. However the bird population can always grow bigger just matter of time as long as progressive, I am still quite satisfied in the progress of these BHs anyway, with some patience and good management they will turn into populated BHs in 2-3years time later.

Found a 3 eggs nest again in one of the BHs, seems birds like this particular BH and egg as many as they like.

昨天我从吉隆坡向北到怡保为我的合资燕屋进行定期检查，由于恶劣的交通状况，花了约3小时的车程才到达，。

这些新的燕屋运作了几个月而已，有一些增长，但并不像那些在燕子集密区的新燕屋成长来得好，这是在预料之内，地点仍然是非常成功燕屋的关键因素，但我始终相信燕群成长成集密区只是时间问题，但我仍然很满意了这些新燕屋的进度只要有继续的成长，一定的耐心和良好的管理，两三年后他们就会变成有生产力的燕屋。

这一次检查中，再次看到一个含有3颗蛋的窝，看来他们喜欢在这间燕屋放心产蛋。



After inspection done, managed to meet the producer of ‘Cool Mist’ in the evening, he made a demo and elaborated in detail and reliability of this product, which was impressive. He really put quite some effort and time in developing Cool Mist on perfection as well as cost reduction as compared to those equivalents ultrasonic humidifier in the market.

完成检查后，在傍晚时见了Cool Mist 的制作人，他做了其产品示范和详细其产品的可靠性。他真的花了相当长的时间和精力研发以及降低成本，和那些市场上等值超声波加湿器相比其价格相当合理。

Joint Venture Can Be A Win-Win Solution 合资燕屋运作可是双赢的方案

Immediate confirmation from Mr. P after a convincing outcome from bird call test, on the next day my contractor moved his worked and started the renovation without further hesitation.

Mr. L, neighbour and friend of Mr. P, his shop is just next to Mr. P’s, he was with us during bird call test. He came to me when I was giving instruction to my contractor, he wanted me to turn his shoplot into BH as well after seeing the result from bird test yesterday.

I was then thinking that, if I am making two separate BH that just next to each other, I will not be able to control both unit will get equally good result, they will become competitor, I think the second one will put the blame on me after. The best solution in my mind is to get them joint venture, make 1 BH instead of 2 by joining two units up, they will share the profit regardless of nest in where.

They agreed to my proposal of JV after my explanation on pros and cons, there are actually much more advantages than disadvantages for their JV, such as lower cost for construction and equipment, larger nesting space for better growth, lower risk, no competition etc. I believe JV will be a win-win solution for them.

1st unit of Mr. P is half completed, all hacking and cement work done, I decided to use dual entrances, side entry at the front and open roof at the back. Since Mr. L unit needs to build another half floor above the 1st floor with more concrete work which will take long time, the completion will be extended another 2weeks.

测试结果后的第二天，P先生毫不犹豫地的肯定这单工程，我的承包商即刻地调动他的工人开始改造工程。

L先生是P先生的邻居也是好朋友，他的店仅于P先生店的隔壁，昨天在进行鸟测试时他和我们一起。当我正在指示承包商改造工程时，他走过来和我谈，他要我把他的店屋也改造成燕屋，因为从昨天的测试结果后信心十足。

我当时想，如果我把两间仅隔壁的单位同时改造成隔别燕屋，我将无法控制两间都将同时得到同样的好成绩，他们将成为竞争对手，我认为成绩仅次的人会责怪我。在我心中最好的解决办法是让他们合资运作，把它改成一间燕屋而不是两间，他们将同时分享其利润，不管窝造在哪一间。

我对他们解释合资运作的利弊后，他们都同意我的建议，其实他们的合资运作方案，优点比缺点多，如建筑和设备成本较低，有更大筑巢空间，更好地燕群成长，更低风险，没有竞争等等。我相信，合资燕屋运作对他们将是一个双赢的方案。

第一间P先生的已完成了一半工程，所有的敲打和水泥工已完成，我在前面用窗口侧入口，在后面用天井式，是双入口。由于L先生的单元需要建另半楼，需更长的时间，此工程因此需再延长2周。

Interfloor Hole access to lower nest area

Front with Side Entrance

Building another half floor

Humidifier – Cool Mist

Although mist maker type of humidifier is not new in the market but this one selling at quite reasonable price compared to others.

Some of you may have seen this posted in other site earlier but in order to show my appreciation to the product developer for his hard effort in parts sourcing and R&D, I am posting more information about this product and its specification for anyone who has not seen this.

I really like this product that the producer worked on the cost down, and he makes all the parts and accessories replaceable, you should need to replace any parts that wear off instead of whole unit disposal, and spare parts are all available from him. Contact me if you need it.

Spare Parts, Click on picture to enlarge

Difficulty of finding good location 好地难求

Nowadays more and more BHs are being built up everywhere, and size of BH is getting bigger and bigger. Swiftlet farming competition is getting intense especially in the hot swifltet farming zone.

I always think that location is a very key factor to successful BH. Other factors like design, sound, micro habitat etc you can still perfect it later if you didn’t make it the best at the first place. But you can never shift your BH to other place once started and investment put on. Late comer should be very cautious in their investment, never do a blind investment.

I headed to south to help Mr. P to do a site survey and assessment last couple of days. His old shoplot located far from town, a two and half storey corner lot currently empty in 1st and 2nd floor, ground floor being used for printing workshop with small operation, very ideal location for swiflet farming I rate for it. There is a wide orchard in next, many birds would be hunting for food here everyday, only one row of old shoplot was built in this area and none existing BH operating in this area yet. This is a very prime location many swiftlet farmers and investors are hunting for.

We conducted a call test at 6pm for 20mins, more than 200 birds responded to the test. Mr. P was excited to the result, he can’t wait but wanted to start renovation immediately. I made arrangement for workers and materials immediately, target to complete this project within 2-3weeks.

如今越来越多的燕屋正在建立而且无处不有，燕屋规模也越来越大。养燕的竞争因此越来越激烈，尤其是在养燕热区。

我一直都认为，位置是一个非常成功燕屋的关键因素。其它如设计，音响，燕屋条件等其他因素，如果你没能在开始时做到最好，你仍然可以后再之补救或提升。但你无法改变你燕屋的位置一旦投资上了。后来投资者应非常谨慎，切勿盲目投资。

我过去几天南下，帮助P先生做了现场评估。他的老店屋位置远离城市，一栋两层半店屋，目前在第一和二楼空置，底楼用于小规模印刷操作，我认为这是非常理想的地点。其旁边是一片果园，每天都有许多燕子在这里觅食，这里只有一排店屋而且目前没有其他竞争。这类优越养燕的地段是许多燕农和投资者都在寻找的。

我们在下午6点进行了20分钟的测试，有两百多只燕子对测试反应。 P先生很兴奋，他不能再等待，要立即开始工程。我立即安排工人和材料，期于两三周内完成这个工程。

MY AGRO 2011

MALAYSIA AGRO 2011
I am invited to particiate exibition of MY AGRO 2011 by the organizer, anyone interested can find information below. Key segments includes Swiftlet Farming & Bird Nest Industry.

Venue: MATRADE Exhibition & Convention Centre (MECC), Kuala Lumpur
Date: 20th to 23rd September 2011

http://www.myagro.my
Show Summary
Brochure in English
Brochure in Chinese

Breeding Season 繁殖季节

From the recent BH observation in west coast, breeding period should have started, a bigger jump in the nest count and most of nests in the BH contain eggs or chicks, many parents are incubating inside the BH.

Some of new BH you might experience gradually grow in the past few months, but sudden high increase in the breading season.

Every different area should have some deviation of breeding period due to external factors such as Monsoon, temperature change, rainy season etc. It will be good we can have record for those fluctuation factors for your BH for future forecasting.

If we can predict the breeding season of your BH accurately in our area, we could actually have better growth in nest number by taking necessary action in advance to attract those home seeking young swiftlets.

For populated BH, you should keep your bird nest and sell it in breeding month when price raise higher as low harvesting during breeding period.

从最近西海岸燕屋的观察，繁殖期应该已经开始了，燕窝数目短期增加较多，许多燕窝都含有蛋或小燕子，很多燕父母在燕屋内孵蛋。

一些新的燕屋，可能会在过去几月都缓慢增长，但在繁殖季节前夕突然高度增长。每一个不同地区的繁殖季节应该都会有一定的偏差，其中由于外部因素比如季风，温度变化，雨季等。如果我们有纪录这些因素波动的纪录将有利于我们预测未来繁殖季节。

如我们能够准确预测你的燕屋地区的繁殖季节，我们可以提前采取必要的行动，以吸引的寻家年轻燕子，有助于我们的燕窝的增长。

对于旧燕屋，由于繁殖期里的产量少，你可以把你的燕窝在繁殖月份里以高价格卖出。

Iron door Integrated latch lock 综合式铁门闩锁

I was in Perak yesterday managed to visit few BHs, one thing found from one BH during my visit that I would like to share with my reader is the integrated latch lock for Iron door.

Most common and conventional latch lock is the one shown in the photo at bottom one which we can get easily from hardware shop anywhere, fabricator will normally weld it onto the iron door from inside and locked up with a pad lock. Many broke in case, burglar will normally use a giant steel cutter or hydraulic jack to break the pad lock or the bracket of latch lock.

This custom made latch lock is integrated into the iron door at inside with very thick cross bar to bridge over to solid door frame, and a build-in lock mechanism is seal up with iron casing, where burglar will find nowhere to cut. it look very solid and very strong in anti-cutting from burglar.

昨天在霹雳州参观了几间燕屋，在这次参观期间收获中，我想和读者分享是这个集成式铁门闩锁。

一般最常见的传统闩锁是照片里下方那一个，我们可以在任何地方的五金商店买到，铁门烧焊工人通常焊在铁门里面，并同时使用挂锁锁上。很多发生爆窃情况是，窃贼通常会使用一个钢铁大剪或液压器材剪断挂锁或其托锁架。

这种特制的综合式铁门闩锁使用很厚的钢铁横栏跨到强稳门框上，一个内置的锁机制以钢铁外壳封锁并焊在铁门里面，使窃贼无处切开。它看起来非常稳固，非常强的防盗切割。