The establishment of swiftlet house originated from Indonesia. Undoubtedly, Indonesia is the pioneer of custom built swift farms. It was an unplanned encounter that took place in East Jawa back in 1880, as the first few swiftlet farms originated. It was believed that it was by sheer luck that the swiftlets colonized them.

Swiftlet farming has become popular and common gradually. In the 1970’s, Indonesia swiftlet farms made great effort for modifications and improvements inside the houses in order to emulate the cave-like conditions. To date, Indonesia has more than 70% global market share, as the world largest exporter of edible-birdnest, and 80% of the export are from swiftlet farms.

The industry of swiftlet farming in Indonesia has the history of more than a century. In Malaysia, it is still in an infant stage comparing with Indonesia. Back in the 1990’s, forest fire in Indonesia has created a golden opportunity for Malaysia. The resultant haze and the open burning in Indonesia has led to millions more swiftlet migrating to West Malaysia. Since then, the number of swiftlet farms has been increasing tremendously. 

South East Asia is the main region that swiftlets inhabit. Other than countries in South East Asia, the India sub continental and the South of China (Hainan Island and Szechuan) has very small scale swiftlet farming activities. The A. Fuciphagus species is not found in countries like China, Hong Kong and Taiwan but the demand of edible-birdnest from these countries keep increasing and there will never be a softening demand.