How is a bird's nest formed? What is a bird's nest made of
What is a bird's nest? Only the spit of swifts can build a nest called a bird's nest. Others, for example, you see swallows nesting under the eaves of your house in spring - don't get too excited. It has nothing to do with the bird's nest.
Bird's nest is a very nourishing food, but most people don't necessarily know how bird's nest is formed. The bird's nest is actually a nest built by the Golden Swallow. Note that it is not comparable to our traditional Chinese domestic swallow's nest. The domestic swallow's nest is made of mud and weeds. So how is the real bird's nest formed?
Bird's nest is a nest built by swifts or some swifts of the swift family with a large amount of saliva secreted by them mixed with fluff, algae and other substances. In short, edible bird's nest is actually the saliva and secretion of swifts.
How do bird's nests form
The swiftlet is a migratory bird that migrates in the coastal areas of southern China, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines. Therefore, the bird's nest is mainly distributed in these places.
Swiftlets start breeding in March and April every year. When breeding, they need to build their own nest, that is, the bird's nest for hatching eggs. Swifts' nests are often built in steep, cool, high altitude cliff cracks or deep caves, that is, 'cave swallows'.
Indonesia and Malaysia have the highest yield and quality of bird's nest. The popularity of bird's nest market has formed a complete industrial chain in these countries in Southeast Asia.
For example, Indonesia and Malaysia have a large number of artificially built swallow houses, which simulate the living environment of swallows.
Flocks of swifts are attracted by the sound inside the Yan house. After entering the Yan house, swifts will find suitable seats to build nests. This is' house swallow '.
The swifts build nests and hatch eggs in the house. The little swifts are born here until they come out of the nest.
The temperature in the swallow house must be strictly controlled at 27.9 & deg- 28.6° The humidity should be maintained above 92%. In addition, there should be no noise other than Yan Ming in the house, and the darkness should be maintained. Picking Yan lanterns is no exception. You can only use a flashlight.
Don't think the swallow house is not clean enough. Keeping appropriate bird droppings in the swallow house can give the swifts a sense of security, and the smell is conducive to attracting more birds. Of course, it's definitely not too dirty. Someone will clean it regularly.
Swiftlets lay eggs in March and April every year, two at a time, and then start hatching.
The production of bird's nest takes about 20 days. Bird's nest generally presents a half moon shape, which is similar to human ears.
The diameter of the bird's nest is about 6cm and the weight is about 10g to 15g. The bird's nest presents a grid of towel gourd, which looks very white and crystal.
The reason why swifts use their own saliva to build nests is that swifts have a very developed mucus gland. This saliva can solidify into a solid in the air, and then mix with other substances, such as weeds, and then make bird nests through this viscosity.
A few months later, when the little swallows grow up and learn to fly, they no longer live in the nest. After the little swallows leave the nest, they generally don't come back. Adult swallows don't sleep and rest in the nest. At this time, they can pick the bird's nest.
Swiftlets nest three times a year, and their quality decreases step by step. From December to March and April of the next year, that is, when there is the most abundant rain and food every year, swallows have the most saliva and grow the fattest. Therefore, the content of impurities in nests is very small, and most of them are swallows' saliva. The bird's nest picked at this time is called the first stage bird's nest. It is the best bird's nest in quality and shape in a year.
At the first stage, the foam hair rate of swallow can reach 9-12 times. The color is natural, rice white, the swallow silk is thick, the texture is clear, there are few impurities, the shape of the cup is good-looking, and the taste and nutrition reach the highest peak. It can be described as the luxury version in the bird's nest.
After the rainy season, the swifts reproduce for the second time. Even if the old nests are not picked manually, they will rebuild new nests. This time, the swallow's saliva is not as much as before, so it will fly to the beach to fetch seaweed or use its own feathers to mix with its saliva to build a nest. The bird's nest picked at this time is called phase II swallow.
When the dry season comes, the swifts begin to nest for the last time in the year. At this time, the swallows are not so rich in food and are changing their hair. Therefore, a lot of impurities such as feathers and seaweed will be used in nesting during this period. The bird's nest picked this time is called phase III swallow.
The picked bird's nest is called Mao Yan and cannot be eaten directly. The thickness of Mao Yan's nest body varies from place of origin, but the nest color is generally dark and there are many impurities, especially fluff, so the processing process of Mao Yan is complicated.
Mao Yan has to be screened for many times. It takes a lot of energy and time to remove dust, disinfect and pick hair. Picking hair with a dry Yan light requires eight processes, including picking hair with tweezers, picking hair with a model cup, repairing with an electric drill, etc.
In addition, bird's nest also needs a series of manual processing processes such as ultraviolet sterilization and disinfection, picking, impurity removal and shaping, so as to form and sell it to the market and become the bird's nest products seen by our consumers.
It takes a lot of manpower, time and cost for bird's nest to form edible bird's nest products. A good bird's nest must be the result of the efforts of many people. For bird's nest, human efforts are never comparable to chemical processing. A bird's nest that is willing to pay time and cost is a really good bird's nest.