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Well, do they?
And has this changed across editions?
I'm interested in "canonical" answers. While not something a typical Monster Manual entry would cover (am I wrong?), there may well be an article in Dragon about Ecology of Owlbear or some adventure utilizing owlbear eggs as a plot point or reward.
Owlbears do indeed lay eggs. One of my personal favourite features of AD&D 2nd Edition is that most every monster entry includes details on their appearance, behaviour, social organization (if any), habitat, and ecology. The ecology notes for the Owlbear in the Monstrous Manual read in part:
[Owlbears] are warm-blooded mammals, but lay eggs. […] Owlbear eggs are worth 2,000 silver pieces and hatchlings are worth 5,000 silver pieces on the open market. […] while they are impossible to domesticate, they make formidable guardians […]
The full entry is a small essay packed with details like this.
The richness of the 2e library regarding canonical monster lore is nearly unbeaten to this day, the only possible competition being the 3.x hardcovers focused on specific monster types, such as Draconomicon and Lords of Madness. An AD&D 2e Monstrous Compendium or Monstrous Manual is well worth owning for lore aficionados regardless of the actual edition being played.
Yes. While this was not mentioned in their first appearance (OD&D Supplement I, Greyhawk, 1976), it was established in the 1st Ed. AD&D Monster Manual (1977), p. 77:
If encountered in their lair there is a 25% chance that there will be 1-6 eggs (20%) or young (80%) in addition to the adults. Young owlbears will be 40% to 70% grown, and they will fight accordingly. Eggs are worth 2,000 gold pieces, young under 50% grown are worth 5,000, on the open market.
After the 2nd Ed. came out, there was indeed an "Ecology of the Owlbear" by Jonathan M. Richards in Dragon Magazine #214 (February 1995) with a small amount of additional information.
