There are two ways that this question can be answered – You may question how many times will a pair mate and create a brood or you may question how often should you expect a new egg to be laid during the egg laying period of mating season. Therefore, the two points I will be focusing on will be:
- How many brood’s various owl species have yearly (Nests per year)
- How often an owl will lay an egg during the egg laying period
So… How often do Owls Lay Eggs?
Owls will lay an egg every 2 days until they reach the maximum number of eggs within their clutch size. Owls will generally have 1 brood per year, but anything from 0-3 can occur. Owls will not lay any eggs if habitat conditions are poor. If a clutch is not successful then owls may end up laying 3 clutches yearly.
Please see table below which highlights the laying behaviour of 5 well known owl species:
| Owl Species | How often they lay eggs |
| Barn owl | Barn owls can have 2 broods of clutches per year if the weather conditions / food source etc. is working in their favour. The female Barn owl will lay her first egg a few days before her next two. She will continue to lay eggs with intervals of two to three days. Complete clutches will vary from 3-11 eggs, usual amount being around 4-7. |
| Great-Horned owl | Great Horned owls tend to lay one clutch per year between mid-February – late March. Sometimes though, some pairs may re-nest if their eggs fail before they hatch. Egg laying varies from late November to Late January – early February depending on weather conditions. One egg is usually laid every two days, sometimes with a week between laying. Clutch sizes vary between 1-6 eggs. 2 is quite a common amount. |
| Snowy owl | Snowy owls will have 1 brood per year unless food supply is extremely low, if this occurs then they may not breed at all. This makes sense since food is vital for survival in harsh weather conditions. Every 2 days an egg will be laid and clutch sizes tend to be between 4 – 7 eggs. Clutch sizes can reach highs of 12 if the lemming population is booming. Food supply has a big impact on clutch size because when lemming population is short, clutch sizes will be smaller. |
| Tawny owl | Tawny owls will lay on 1 brood per year. Around 2-3 eggs are usually laid, with one coming every 2 days. Egg laying begins around later winter / early spring. |
| Barred owl | Barred owls typically lay one clutch per year but If a clutch is lost or taken, they will lay a replacement clutch and therefore breeding seasons can be long for Barred owls. Sometimes they can even lay 3 clutches. A typical clutch is made up of 2-4 eggs with an egg laid every 2 days. |
If habitat levels are right (plenty of food source, decent weather conditions) to breed successfully then owls will lay clutches ranging from 1-13 eggs, this varies between owl species. Each individual egg is laid 1-4 days apart but most commonly they are laid 2 days apart. This will occur until the whole clutch has been laid. Most owl species will produce 1 brood yearly. This can become 0 broods if the conditions are not appropriate or anything up to 3 broods if the previous broods were unsuccessful.
I hope you have found this article informative. I was not able to cover all owl species but I am able to answer the question generally and most owl species will fit within the brackets mentioned. If you enjoyed this article, I recommend you read my other article here which lays out the full mating process from choosing the nest site to egg laying and incubation for 5 well known owl species.
