You use bird's nest a lot, but you wonder how swiftlets build their bird's nests. How do they go about nest building?... Today, let's find out together with Yến Sào Sài Gòn!
What a bird's nest is made of
A bird's nest is made from the secretion from the swiftlet's mouth, also called the swiftlet's saliva, not built from grass, moss, leaves or feathers as other birds usually build their nests. When the swiftlet's saliva dries and hardens, it forms a very sturdy nest. So the main component of a bird's nest is the swiftlet's saliva
How swiftlets build their nests
Nest location
When the nesting season begins, swiftlets start looking for a place to build their nests. The location determines how sturdy the nest is, so swiftlets usually look for safe places to build, and this location stays fixed for many years; a swiftlet chooses one location and builds its nest there many times.
The nest-building process
After choosing the nesting location, once the swiftlet's saliva has developed, the swiftlet begins to build its nest. When the saliva is secreted, the swiftlet uses its tongue to push the saliva out of its mouth and smear it onto the wall to shape it. This process continues in the same way to form the shape. After 2-3 hours the swiftlet's saliva dries. Notably, secreting saliva is not easy for the swiftlet: it has to puff up its feathers and close its eyes, and works very hard to secrete saliva onto the wall. That is why the nutritional value of bird's nest is very high. And also because, during the secreting of saliva, the swiftlet has to puff up its feathers and flap its wings, sometimes swiftlet feathers fly into the nest and stick to the nest strands that have not yet dried, which is why some raw bird's nests still have swiftlet feathers.
Every night the swiftlet uses its saliva to build the nest, and after many nights the nest is formed. According to statistics, each night a swiftlet builds about 1mm of nest.
After many nights of building with saliva, the nest is formed with a large enough size. Then the swiftlet hops up onto the wall or the edge of the nest and smears saliva into the inside of the nest to create a place to lay eggs. If you see a luffa-like fibre layer in the nest, it shows that the swiftlet is about to lay eggs.
Shape of the nest
A bird's nest usually has the shape of half an upturned teacup and is attached to the wall of a cave (for natural swiftlets on sea islands) or the wall of a swiftlet house (if swiftlets are raised in a house you design yourself).
A bird's nest consists of many thin layers made from the swiftlet's saliva, which stick together to form the nest.
Some bird's nests are tall and large, because after laying eggs the swiftlet keeps building the nest up by another 1-2cm, so older nests are usually larger than nests harvested early.
Later on, the nest becomes smaller and smaller in subsequent rounds of nest building.
Benefits of bird's nest
Bird's nest contains a high level of protein (45-55%), including 18 kinds of amino acids, some of which are present in very high amounts, such as aspartic acid (4.69%) and proline (5.27%), which help regenerate muscle cells, tissues and skin. There are essential amino acids such as cysteine and phenylalanine (4.50%), which help strengthen memory, increase the transmission of nerve impulses and increase the absorption of vitamin D from sunlight. Tyrosine and sialic acid (8.6%) help the body recover quickly after exposure to radiation or damage to red blood cells, and glucosamine helps restore joint cartilage in cases of joint degeneration…
Bird's nest contains 31 trace elements needed for children's development and for nourishing the elderly. Bird's nest is rich in calcium and iron, and has elements beneficial to the nerves and memory such as manganese, bromine, copper and zinc. It has elements that stimulate digestion such as chromium, and elements that are anti-ageing and protect against radiation such as selenium. Bird's nest contains galactose sugar but no fat. Threonine in bird's nest supports the formation of collagen and elastin – the two substances that rebuild the structure of the skin – and, combined with Glycine, prevents wrinkles, fights ageing, fights acne and freckles, and dark spots, and protects the skin, making it bright, smooth and full of vitality. Tryptophan helps the foetus develop in a balanced and healthy way…
Bird's nest helps the elderly improve not only physically but also mentally, such as: improving memory (Phenylalanine), liver problems (Threonine), the intestines (Histidine), regulating blood sugar (Leucine), increasing calcium absorption and fighting spinal ageing (Lysine), and fighting arthritis (Methionine). In particular, sialic acid and Tyrosine help cancer patients recover quickly after radiotherapy and chemotherapy, and patients after surgery (especially of the lungs and kidneys).
Bird's nest comes in white, pink and red, also called red bird's nest. Therefore, when buying bird's nest, you need to know how to tell the different types of nest apart and choose the right genuine nest from reputable brands such as Yến Sào Sài Gòn.