THE REPRODUTION CYCLE OF SWIFTLETS

It takes a swiftlet hatchling around 8 months to find a home. It will start the process of building a nest for itself and it's partner. This process will take around 32 days to make sure the nest is large enough for both swiftlets.

Both swiftlets may work together to make the nest strong and comfortable for their family.

After the mating process, it takes around 8-11 days for the 1st egg to be laid, and another 3-4 days for the 2nd egg to be laid.

Most of the time, a maximum of 2 eggs is laid. In a few instances, the 2nd egg may unfortunately be ejected because the nest may be too small to accomodate both the eggs and the mother.

The Incubation stage takes 22-28 days. The baby swiftlets will soon hatch into beautiful 'pink' baby swiftlets.

After another 45-50 days, the baby swiftlets will be ready to leave the nest.

In another 7-8 months time, the whole process will be repeated when the young swiftlets are ready to start their own families.

Each swiftlet pair breeds and build nests on an average of 3 times a year.

Harvesters may sometimes remove the nests before the eggs are hatched. When this happens, the swiftlets will immediately build a new one to replace the old one. However, I would not recommended this as it is unethical and may cause undue stress for the swiftlets.