The house is built, the sound is on every day, and months later it is still empty. That is when people buy aroma, change the sound, or blame the location. Here is the order to check an empty house in, and when spending money actually comes in.
Many owners want a list: which smells swiftlets hate, so one sniff tells you what is wrong. I cannot give you that list. What I can do is show you how to work backwards from what went into your house and onto your planks.
Some owners go up every day to count birds, others only on harvest day. How often you go in matters less than what you bring back each time. What to watch from outside, what to check inside, and how the rhythm follows what you changed.
You walk in, the floor is covered in feathers, and your first thought is that something got in. Most of the time that is wrong, and it is often good news. Here is how to read it with your own eyes.
The birds were fine. Then you went in, knocked a few things, sprayed a round, changed a big section, and a few days later there were fewer birds. What you must never do inside a swiftlet house is not a taboo. It is a handful of actions that push swiftlets out. Here they are, one by one, and how to trace a drop back to them.
Birds come every evening, circle the entrance hole, and leave. Most owners change the sound first. But a house the birds cannot get into stays empty no matter what you hang inside. Three things to look at on the entrance, and two checks you can do today.
The nest is the last thing you get to see. Long before it shows up, the swiftlets are already telling you, through where the droppings land and where they hang, whether this group is going to stay. Here is how to read it, and why you should touch nothing while you watch.
Ask most owners how many swiftlets live in their house and you get a feeling, not a number. Every diagnosis starts from that number. Why to count, the usual mistakes, and how to count without disturbing the birds: CCTV at night, go inside only by day.
At night the planks are lined with sleeping swiftlets, but the nest count has not moved in months. If the birds already sleep inside, your entrance and your sound have done half the job. Here is how to read why they will not settle.
Houses that stall tend to share one habit. The sound keeps getting replaced and the figure never budges. Here are the four roots that come up most.
