Worry, Worry, Worry.

Too many worries..

In swiftlet farming, we have so many things to worry about.

From Day One we embark on this trade, we are destined to encounter various types of problems : technical problems, human problems, communication problems, environmental problems, etc, etc, etc.

There are so many things to take care of, either newbie or expert, there is no way we could get the problems off our minds for a while...

人在江湖，身不由己啊。。

and we always have to stay alert, in top form, to gain extra strength to cope with the problems one by one from the inception stage until the full house.

Basically, things to worry can be summarised as below:

1) Most newbie's worry. From 2nd-3rd month since BH started "open sound" (开声），which is the so-called golden period of growth (黄金时段）, we are anxious to know whether our new BH is able to lure the swiftlet to stay inside by counting on their dropping.

2) Ditto. 1st year since BH operated (normal warranty period = 1 year, within this period the consultant will hold the BH key and the owner has no say at all & cannot interfere with the BH design), a newbie has to deal with the question of whether the consultant they engaged is a true consultant or or a con-man. Anyway, the result will tell the true story. Sad to say that the statistic shows that 80% of the newbies will have failed outcome. It all depends on luck. This is the heavy price newbie has to pay for learning the 'lesson one'.

3) After getting the BH on the right track, we need to ensure it is always kept in good shape to maintain the growth (by counting the bird's quantity or bird's nests quantity). If the growth is slow down, we will start wondering and worrying what the hell is going wrong, again & again, we will repeat asking a lot of questions, endlessly searching for the culprits, and troubleshooting it once discovered (if only we knew it). If not, we will still be going all out to explore all the possibilities to churn out some solutions for improving the result. It is a painstaking trial & error process. We have to go through all this all by our own selves. Trust me, nobody wants such nightmare!

4) Predators. Yes, we are so scared to see them in our BHs, be it a lizard, rat, gecko, owl, snake,...and regular housekeeping is necessary to minimise this problem.

5) Thieves. Old and successful BH owners always worry on this threat. This uninvited guests normally have been watching the BH for quite some time and will attempt to take action during the public holidays. CCTV, alarm systems & height cannot stop them, unless we employ a guard to watch the BH.

6) Authorities. Unregistered ranchers face the risk of impending crackdown by the local authority & various infamous government departments. They can introduce all sort of unfair regulation & policy to shut down the BHs, confiscate the equipment & bird's nests, and stop the BH operation. The future is unclear. The fine and distortion is imminent.

With so many undesired things to digest & chew, tell me, how can we not worry?