Domain verification delays

You added the DNS records, but your domain still shows as unverified. DNS changes can take time to propagate, and Bird keeps checking automatically. Use this checklist to distinguish normal propagation from an incorrect record.

When you add or edit a DNS record, resolvers may keep serving an older answer until the record's TTL (time to live) expires. Depending on your provider and TTL settings, propagation can take from a few minutes to 24–48 hours.

A domain can remain unverified until Bird can resolve the new records.

Bird checks your domain when you register it, then re-checks frequently before spacing checks out over the first 72 hours. After that, Bird checks active domains daily. The domain verifies when a check finds all required records.

After fixing a record, open it from the Domains page and select Refresh for a current result.

The domain page shows each record's individual status, so you can see exactly which record is still outstanding rather than guessing.

If a record still has not verified after a day, work through these checks:

Many DNS providers append your domain to the host field. If Bird asks for send.example.com and your provider appends example.com, enter only send. Otherwise, the provider may publish send.example.com.example.com. Use a public DNS lookup to confirm the published name. If the provider truncates a long DKIM value, use the DNS record splitter to create quoted chunks.

If your records have a high TTL, old cached answers remain available longer. Lowering the TTL to a short value, such as 5 minutes, makes future changes propagate faster. It does not speed up a change already cached under the previous TTL.

DNS records must be published on the name servers authoritative for your domain. Check the name servers at your registrar or with a WHOIS lookup, then confirm that you added the records at that provider.

Verifying ownership and being ready to send are checked separately, and sending requires three records:

The DMARC check is deliberately lenient: any valid DMARC record covering your sending domain is enough, and a record on your parent (registered) domain counts. So if example.com already has a DMARC record, send.example.com is covered: you don't need to add another one. If none exists anywhere, a minimal monitoring-only policy is all Bird requires. See DKIM, SPF, and DMARC for what each record does and how to pick values.

Bird checks verified domains daily. After the first failed check, the affected record remains verified with a warning for 24 hours while Bird checks it hourly. A successful check clears the warning. If the record continues to fail for 24 hours, its status changes to failed and sending stops until it verifies again.

If public DNS matches the values shown in Bird and Refresh still reports a failure after propagation, select Feedback > Contact us. Include the domain, failed record, and status shown on the domain page.