Checklist to improve a Bird House extracted from Harry's Blog are as follows :-
First, the air in the BH. It was like a fresh air but have a bit of those birds hit aroma. Too thin and I don't feel like a BH.
Second, the humidity. No good I do not sweat for almost five minutes. They are not humid enough.
Three, no measuring gadget to detect the humidity and temperature. Hmm no good. How to know the temperate and humidity accurately?
Four, the bird call sound. Internal sound okay but external not that awesome. The volume was also not very strong ....
Five, the brightness. Looks okay but looking at the amount of light coming in from the roving room it was a bit too bright ...
Six, the room's set up. I was quite impressed with the tunnel concept. The moment the bird enter the house they are directly connected to the tunnel which allows the birds to enter the nesting area without any problem. A very impressive design. What I was not happy about was the size of the tunnel. It was almost 7 feet width. I would like it to be reduced to 3 feet or lesser.
Seven, the nesting area consisted of two portions the back (20 ft X 15ft) and the front portion about 60 feet X 13 feet. The size is okay for the roving of birds.
Eight, the nesting planks. They were well installed and each follows the standard dimension that maximized the usage of nesting space. I like it.
Ninth, the tweeters. All tweeters were those of a rectangular shape type. There were 92 pieces. I am of the opinion that they are a bit too little. I am looking at least 200. Better if it is increased to 300.
Tenth, the tweeter's mounting direction. I was not very sure whether the technician who installed those tweeters knows much about swiftlet ranching. First the way they mounted (wrong) and second the direction where they were facing (some facing directly to the wall, about 1 foot away).
Tenth A, tweeters wire mesh covers. I would prefer all the tweeters are with wire mesh covers. This will helps the birds to have a better clinging surface areas.
Eleven, the corner covers. They are perfectly installed using the wood covers that I have described on my blog. I wish they can be my appointed contractor (only the ceiling wood, please). Neat and perfectly done.
Twelve, any fake nests. I did not see any. It is like a big mouth without any teeth (Mind U my wife is a Dental surgeon). I prefer to see at least 20 sets which I told A to do.
Thirteen, humidifiers. He got two units installed. Both the chicken farm type and operated by analog timer each. The timers were set to operate every hour and daytime only for 15 minutes. (Hmm might be too short). I think the number is too little and I recommended to have the number increased by one. Try not to use analog timer. Better to use a proper hygrostat or perhaps digital timers.
Fourteen, the fluorescent working light. He got only one and working pretty well.
Fifteen, the ventilation holes. There were six ventilation holes that were with about 6 inch diameter plastic pipes. The arrangement were nice but all the holes were widely opened. The first thing I did was to close nearly all using some newspaper. They are not to be open until such time they are ready to.
Sixteen, the passage from the nesting to the roving area looks like a tunnel but they are facing the entrance hole diagonally. It seem the light was so bright for my eyes to open.
Seventeen, the roving room. Well designed and was almost 15 feet by 20 feet. All the walls were painted black.
Eighteen, the entrance hole path blockage. Directly at the back of the unit was another shop that have a high kernel that blocked the flight passage of the BH. I am not very happy at all however to the left of the said tower there seem to have enough roving area (external). I have a very strong feeling that this will be the biggest hurdle in getting those wild birds into the BH.
Nineteen, the entrance hole's size. The entrance hole was pretty big. It was at least4 feet by 4 feet. Too big and it drained out the room humidity, the aroma applied and also too much light entering the roving areas. I strongly believed is should be around 2 feet by 3 feet. Once the house tenancy is big the hole should be further reduced to guard against buglars.
Twenty, the external tweeters at the entrance. Mostly, about four were those of rectangular shape. Two on both sides of the entrance hole sides. Looks okay to me.
Twenty one, the pull tweeters. There were two sets along the corridor toward the nesting rooms. Too little to me. I prefer at least three more sets along the corridor.
Twenty two, the sound players. I see that Mr. A is pretty well organized and now using thumb drive as his music storage gadget. Cool and pretty state of the art. He plays three sets of players...
Twenty three, no CCTV. Not his favorite to install.
Twenty four, security feature. Not very critical at this stage.
Twenty five, bird shit count. Very little ...
Twenty six, Pool in nesting room. Nil.
Twenty seven, insect powder pails. Nil.
Twenty eight, cockroach. There were some signs of their feaces on the floor.
Twenty nine, working ladder. He got one in the unit and made of wood.
Thirty, any birds entering the house when we were inspecting. Yes at least three who flew in.
Thirty one, did the humidifiers works while the inspection was carried out? Yes both did runs.
Thirty two, any nests or its marking? Sorry nil.
Thirty three, external lighting. Installing some flood lights outside close to the entrance hole will be a good idea.
Thirty four, neighbors birdhouses. There were three more in the same row. Just a few meters away there were at least 10 to 20 more. His BH is located in a cluster of BH belonging to many swiftlet enthusiasts. Good at least there are lots of new birds being produced every month.
Checklist When Visit a Bird House :-
When you are invited to enter a birdhouse, you must be ready with a few recommended things.
The most important is to carry with you good pair of torchlight. Make sure they are with new batteries. Or else you will see nothing much. The nesting rooms are pretty dark unless you have a set of cat eyes.
Other precautions that I usually take is to wear a dust mask and cover my head with a base-ball cap. I want to ensure that I will not breathe in those mites and dust plus I want to protect my head from those bird shit propels by those baby birds.
The key to a successful birdhouse visit is to be very observant and perhaps list down all the things that you wanted to observe.
The room configuration, the darkness, the nesting areas, the roving areas, the bird entrance holes, the nesting planks, the number of tweeters, the location and number of fake nests used, the humidifiers and sprayers system, the pools, the water spray on the walls and many more.
In normal circumstances you will first enter the control room. The main door are usually made of steel. Once entered, you will be able to observe those sound system and some will have the CCTV in operation. Some places that I went into they have all kind of things including spare parts, sockets, cover coners, balance of nesting woods that are stored either on the floor or a specially fabricated racks.
For a two stories high building, you will usually enter the ground floor nesting room first. Get your torchlight ready and lock your dust mask. Once you are in, you need to look where you are stepping. Yes, scan the building floor. Look at the what are there on the floors and make sure you put them in your memory. There will be lots of bird shits, the pool, the floor wetness, the humidifiers plus maybe some dead birds???
Once that is done, look at the walls. Its color, textures, the height, anything that were applied on them (like bird shit sludge?), any wires hanging out, any thermometers, any wall clock, any lighting system, any water sprays and so forth. Check the temperature and humidity (Maximum please).
Then U look up to the roof/ceiling. Oh yes, this is where the real excitement starts. First you look at the wooden planks arrangements. Are they in parallel strips or matrix? How far are they apart? What about the tiers arrangements on the wall and those ceiling column? Are there any of them.
What about the number of tweeters being installed? Where are they facing (probably towards the entrance hole). Can U see any fake nests? Where are they installed. Is it in the middle of the plank or closed to the corner? Are they very closed to the tweeters?
What about the corner covers? Do the owner used them? If yes, what are they made off? Are they made of wood, metal or miscellaneous. What shape are they?
Now you can start searching for those bird nests. The best is to look for their bird shits spots on the floor. Search the spots on the floor and once you are facing it just look up. That is how to find those precious white GOLD. See how they are constructed. Are there any baby birds in them? Are they very close to the ceiling? Which part of the wood panel do they usually located and why?Try to find a very new nest that are about to start being build. These are small marking on the wood panel and they looks like jelly. If U can U should snap some pictures.What about those nests constructed at corner covers? See how many of them in one square meter.
Then again you should also pay good attention on those fake nests tenant. How many are there and are they being tenanted? If U are not sure just look down and see any birdshit markings on the floor just below them.
Try not to make too much noise while you are inside a birdhouse. If you want to ask any question please whisper to your Sifu. Noise will cause the birds to jump out of their nest. This rough action might cause those eggs to fall off or the baby birds to fall down.
You can now move to the upper floor. Make sure you walk on the right side of the staircase. Most of these staircases are without hand rails. If you want to use the hand rails please make sure U have your glove on. There will be lots of bird shits on them....On the upper level, U do the same but now you have to focus on the roving and the entrance rooms. You must try to be as observant as possible. Look at all of them and learn from it.
What is the size of the roving area? How big is the entrance hole? How many? Where are they being located? How close are they to the corner of the building and how low below the ceiling? Which direction are they facing. If you bring your compass can you check on the real directions of the entrance hole(s).So these are some of the things that I also do when I enter any birdhouse....They are many more that I look at but the above are just nice to follow....
For me I will be also looking for any sign of termites path, any sign of termite eating the wooden planks, any sign of dead birds on the floor, any eggs fallen down, any sign of moulds growing on the ceiling, any rat's shits, any sign of bird bones, and many more.... What about those insect producing pails? Are they working? The gap between the ceiling and the wooden plank? The thickness and the width of the nesting planks being used. Any groove on them?
If you want to be a good Sifu, you must be very observant and ensure that you cover more then 95% of the what I mentioned above ......J
ust try to follow what I have outlined. I guarantee you that you have more satisfactions then just wanted to see how many bird nests are there in the house.....
Do you see any bird shits thrown on the walls in the roving area? Can you estimate how many shits are there?
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