How long does a bird take to lay an egg? Mike Toms explains… <\/p>
Ever wondered how long it takes for a bird to lay its eggs, once they have been formed? It typically takes 20\u201360 minutes for birds to lay an egg, though there are exceptions says Mike Toms. <\/strong><\/p> Geese and turkeys take significantly longer, while many nest parasites are able to lay incredibly quickly. <\/p> Cuckoos<\/a> average just 10 seconds and they can also delay the laying process for an hour or more, which enables them to pick exactly the right moment to fly down onto a host nest. <\/p> Hosts are more likely to reject a cuckoo egg if they have spotted the bird nearby, so there is a selective advantage for cuckoos to lay quickly.<\/p> Of course developing and laying the eggs is just half the job. The eggs then have to be looked after till hatching<\/a>.<\/p> Discover more fascinating bird facts<\/strong><\/p> How long does a bird take to lay an egg? Mike Toms explains… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":40811,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"< 1"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg.jpg",2263,1324,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg-300x176.jpg",300,176,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg-768x449.jpg",768,449,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg-1024x599.jpg",800,468,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg-1536x899.jpg",1536,899,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2024\/08\/how-long-does-it-take-for-a-bird-to-lay-an-egg-2048x1198.jpg",2048,1198,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"How long does a bird take to lay an egg? Mike Toms explains...","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/40810"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40811"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40810"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40810"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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