The “Bird House” phenomenon is not only confined only to Vietnam’s old houses. It is started a few hundred years ago in Indonesia. According to legend, a penniless farmer called

Sukarnoma left his village for several years to seek his fortune. Upon his return, he was surprised to find that swiftlets that produce edible nest had made his dilapidated house their home. Sukarnoma was well aware of the value of the bird’s nest. Since swiftlets that normally dwell in caves had decided to settle in his old house, he believed that God must have bestowed upon him a good fortune. He thus decided to leave the house to the birds and stay elsewhere. That was how the first “Bird House” came about. Presently, edible bird’s nest producing countries are in South East Asia, with Indonesia, Thailand, Malaysia producing 90% of the world production. In Indonesia, custom built ranching farms have been around for more than 100 years. However the haze caused by forest clearing in Indonesia 20 years ago drove away the swiftlets and they found new homes on Vietnam soil. Since then, custom built swiftlet farms have begun to mushroom and bird’s nest production started increasing steadily.