A method and an apparatus for enhancing multicast group membership protocols are described. An adjacent multicast network device, coupled with a plurality of host NDs, determines the number of host NDs that are to receive query messages. The adjacent multicast ND determines its current processing capacity for processing group membership reports to be received from the host NDs. The adjacent multicast ND determines a query response interval based on the number of host NDs and its current processing capacity. The adjacent multicast ND transmits, to each one of the plurality of host NDs, a query message including the query response interval. The query message causes the adjacent multicast ND to receive from each one of the plurality of host NDs a group membership report at a time interval defined based on the query response interval.