Work on drain system

To keep pests out of the BH, a drain system around the building is underway on Dec 28.

Walls are up

All walls are are being built up aroung the building. Roof is also starting to take form.

Gadgets hunted

Air Pump used in aquarium is hunted for my BH. Airline tubing and bubble air stones are also incorporated into it as parts and parcel. They are used in water tank inside the BH to increase water circulation and surface area for better gas exchange. If you've already bred fish in your water tank inside your BH, then your fish will definitely love you for that and I am sure my birds will like it as much as the fish in the tank!




My temperature and humidity data logger for BH has finally landed. Mind you this will be my first-ever using this precision instrument to check BH's temperature and humidity in greater detail. Hopefully, it will serve the same purpose in my yet-to-be completed standalone BH which I think it is very much needed to monitor continuously compared to the former. For standalone or inbetween BH alike, the temperature and humidity fluctuate in different variations and moderate fluctuation of it is favoured throughout the day and night. Because if temperature fluctuates too much, then birds find difficulty to hatch the eggs, and chicks are not regularly reproduce as wish. As a result, population growth of swiflets is to be affected in the long run.

Work on roof slab continued...

Reinforced concrete is unloaded on Dec 2. Prior to this, 3/4" high density EPS insulation sheets(Styrofoam) of size 4'x8' are laid flat on the roof slab after the foamwork of single brick is laid out around slab perimeters. Thereafter, 2" BRC mesh laid on top of all EPS sheets and secured before reinforced concrete is poured into it. To complete the process, drain holes around all perimeters or slab slope away from the building are ensured to avoid water captured and leaked through slab.

Top floor roof slab in the work

Concrete is being unloaded for the roof slab on Nov 24

Do swiftlet farming help save our planet? Part II

When swiftlets are aplenty, there must be sustainable food supply in the area for them to feed, survive and reproduce for the long term. But what we face today is plantations and rainforests are transformed into concrete jungle in the vicinity. Swiftlets are forced to fly far to search for food and return late to feed their chicks. If climate change rapidly, they are probably caught off guard and not able to return to their habitats to feed their own chicks. As as result, growth of swiftlets will not be sustainable in the long run in the area. To resolve this dilemma as swiftlets keepers, we have to make insects readily available to keep the swiftlets alive and well by building insect habitats as a last resort. But for insects, the good or the bad, if God willing, all needed in this planet to keep ecosystem in balance, then we definitely don't want to add more bad insects to the planet by breeding them such as mosquitoes, as the ecological effect of eliminating harmful mosquitoes is simply more lives will be saved. Humans haven't found anything benefitial from them except for them to get lost. In order for swiftlets to grow indefinitely, we advocate only the good insects which provide pollination to crops on which humans depend should be bred.

Do swiftlet farming help save our planet?

With the number of man-made swiftlet habitats growing rapidly these days in tropical rainforest regions, what is it we the swifltlet sanctuary providers, either hobby or business inclined, have done to help save the environment? According to studies, each swiftlet consumes 5g of insect or about 150 flying termites per day with average density of 30 termites per gram and the increasing number of swiftlets indeed help get rid off many thousands of flying insects everyday. Sure, they help protect animals from harmful insects; help protect our home from termite and subsequent cost incurred for replacing it. The problem is when the insects are not readily available to swiftlets, we end up breeding insects in our farms and if insects are not hunted by the swiftlets and let fly freely to harm the animals and ruin the crops, we are probably creating problem to the environment when we should be solving it for our own good. Another problem is when many trees are cut off from rainforest for swiftlet planks, we are not going green and saving the planet either unless for every tree we cut down, there will be a new one regenerated and it should be a rapidly renewable resource like the toilet paper we use everyday. Until more environment friendly, effective and economical subsitute is found, face it, more trees are to be cut down and planks are here to stay!

Feng Shui and lots of it...

River and low lying area flooded after heavy downpour this afternoon within a short time span. Compare it to the weather in early afternoon, I can expect this area to register the highest temperature and in-house temperature must be well insulated from this drastic change in weather.

Am I the bird whisperer? Part II

The most critical part in all man-made swiftlet's habitat is the top most floor because the temperature on the top most floor is the highest as we all know, so to insulate heat from the usual 4" roof slab, I think the most cost effective way would be using 2" or 3" styrofoam interlocked one another laying flat on the roof slab but prior to this, waterproof agent should be applied to the roof slab in case water seeps thru crack on roof slab unless higher graded ready-mix concrete is being used. After that, styrofoam on roof slab to be tied up with wire mesh to slab perimeters all-round before reinforced concrete is placed on top of it. To play safe, another layer of waterproof agent should be applied to the reinforced concrete. Or better still, cover slab with Ardex or metal roof to get better protection for roof slab not forgetting drainage and ventilation all around the area too.

Slab and column structures in the work on second floor

Slab and column structures erected on Nov 4.

Am I the bird whisperer?

It's really not easy to build an ideal sanctuary for swiftlets in the farmland and I pondered over for weeks just how I can build a better sanctuary if not the best as it can be before the construction job ever started. I've come out the prototype of my swiftlets sanctuary and put it to work just recently. It's basically, a 4-storey building , 20' wide, 65.5' long, 40' high and top off with Ardex roof. Walls wise, they are double layered red bricks with air gaps in between from the second floor up to keep the house temperature under control in normal weather conditions. For this, I will open 4" PVC ventilation holes with 4' apart on all external walls below beams to let the hot air out from the air gap with heat derived from the sun. And 4" PVC ventilations holes with 4' apart on all internal walls at 1' up from the floors to let cooler air flow into the air gap from the house within. On top of that, I will make 4" PVC ventilations hole through the double walls with 4' apart on all walls at half wall height to let the air flow naturally inside out and vice versa and if there is still not enough air circulation in the entire building, I will consider making ventilation holes through the floor slabs to let the hot air out from the lowest floor to the top most floor in a more natural way. The control room with sound systems would be 20'x7' on the ground floor leaving other areas for future expansion but I really wish to have a control room next to the birds' entry hole on the top most floor because up close, I will see continued increase in the population of birds diving for hole utterly unyielding in attitude at night fall. Not only a pleasure to watch, I will also go home with a sense of satisfaction by providing good sanctuary for this great species.

First floor columns and slab in the work

Column structures on first floor are erected on Oct 24.



Concrete is unloaded on Oct 21 for formation of floor slab.

Columns and Slab structures

Ground floor columns and first floor slab structures done up on Oct 18.

Salute to Tuckfook for sharing his insight on Red Brick and double layered walls

Tuckfook quoated" There are several types of red bricks. The highly fired red bricks are not as porous as the less fired ones and the types made of red laterite and cement mix are the most porous. By porous I mean that they absorb water and retain the water in the brick without leaching out. Sand and cement bricks are the least porous in comparison and even though they readily absorb water, they do not retain it as long as the clay bricks. I am using double layer red bricks (cement and laterite) with lime plaster on both sides. lime plaster is more porous than 100% cement plaster. With this construction, my internal stable humidity is about 20% higher than external ambient all the time, thereby maintaining no less than about 75%Rh all the time without humidifier running. My humidifiers do not run most of the day. The gr flr. does not switch on at all so much so that I have to manually activate it to make sure it still works. Only the top flr. humidifiers run for about 30 mins in the evenings. Insulation is not a problem as with porous bricks the water evaporates from the inside to the outside. As this happens, there is an appreciable temperature drop keeping the walls cool. In wet weather the bricks absorb water to be saturated and that traps the heat inside stopping it from being too cold, when it is hot and dry outside, water evaporates and maintains the cool internal temperature. Of course the thicker the better but there are limitations as to how thick we can build a wall. If you want physical heat insulation then use double wall with styrofoam sandwich but you will encounter internal condensation, and need good airflow control to be able to control the temperature."



This help me and hopefully many others to understand the purpose of double layered wall for the stand alone swifltet house in the farm!

Structures of Columns are up

Column structures of building are erected on Oct 12.

Supporting structure of the building

Building foundation is being worked out on Oct 6.

Piles are up

8" and 20' piles used per column, all piles contruction done on Sept 25.

Site of my new swifltet house

Land is cleared for the 4-storey swiftlet house on July 12.