[suziequeue]

I know that chicken eggs don't start to develop until the hen starts to sit on the clutch after she has spent several days laying enough eggs but what is the situation with wild birds? Do they lay their clutch all at once like a turtle? or do they lay thir eggs sequentially and then sit?


Obviously this would only apply to wild birds that lay more than one egg....


Anybody know?

[Fleecewife]

Some do it the same as hens - an egg a day then they start to develop once the bird starts sitting.  They peep to eachother to co-ordinate their hatching fully.  Swallows, blackbirds etc do it that way.
Others such as owls and eagles start incubating the first egg, then lay another a few days later and another a few days after that, so they hatch out in that order too.  If there's not enough food to raise the whole clutch, then the younger ones get eaten by the older ones.

[GSH]

Watched a Mistle thrush building a nest over the weekend.  was sat watching the rugby and kept catching a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye.  It was fling into the field and picking up sheep wool then back to the nest..........then came the snow..........think its downed tools