the parents mated. There is not much people can do to prevent the next clutch when they have babies, you just don't give the opportunity for the next clutch to hatch. Right, Carolyn? At least this is what I learned on another forum. People say hen lay a few eggs and that's it. I hope mine won't lay eggs this time.

All five got out of the box in the morning and two flew out. There is just not that much room in the cage because of the box inside for all of them to be comfortable in the cage. WOuld it be OK to remove the box for the day and put it back for the night?

by the way, what you think of this

I co-parented all my babies and I have had great success with it. It would be best if you co parent once a day. The parents will bite the chicks if your feeding them a couple of times a day.

how much do they eat from you? usually, their weight change here is only 1-2g (measured before and after eating), that's how much they eat, but sometimes a chick with good appetite can eat from me 5-7g (this is again his weight increase, before and after eating).
Gosh, how easily the big birds are getting spooked! This drives me crazy!!! everybody happily eating - good moment to give cooked grain with egg, everybody eats with hunger but 5 seconds later something "really scary" spooks them off and off they go (never come back within lifetime of an egg).

If you can find someone who is a responsible breeder who takes good care of their birds and would like another breeding pair, there wouldn't be anything wrong with giving your parent birds to them. The birds obviously prefer breeding over interacting with humans, so it would be a better situation for everyone. You could keep one or two of the babies who are interested in humans, but if you keep two make sure they're the same sex.

Four weeks is old enough for the babies to fledge. They'll start experimenting with food after they get past the "too nervous to do anything" stage.

It's often possible to prevent egg laying but it's more complicated when you have unweaned babies who need to be fed by their parents. But I've been successful at preventing a new clutch by scaling back on the daylight just a little bit - making the nights an hour longer than they were before even though it's still less than 12 hours long. If that's not feasible for you and your hen lays a third clutch, you can prevent the new eggs from hatching and seriously work on reducing the parents' hormone levels after the current babies are weaned.

Babies who are partly parent fed and partly handfed won't take as much formula as a baby who is completely handfed. Just give them what they're willing to take.

Birds do spook more easily when you have a big flock. When one bird is startled it sets them all off - they follow the leader without checking first to find out if there's actually a problem. This helps them avoid predators in the wild but it's a nuisance in the home. You should see less of this behavior when you reduce your flock size.

thanks. all the babies got out today so I decided to take the box down. Few hours later they looked tired, wanting to sleep (not all of them sitting on the perch) that I probably will put it back for them to sleep, increasing time without box every day. What you think? I really think some are not ready not to have a box. I just wanted hen to understand she won't have comfortable box for her new eggs.

Do you keep some of your birds separately?
I thought keeping boys would be easier (right?) but I really want to keep Bella, who is probably a girl. How can I make sure she is a girl, except DNA? How expensive is DNA sexing?

Providing the box part of the time sounds like a good solution. It will give the chicks the security they need but the hen won't feel confident that she has a reliable place to raise a family.

Your pearl babies are definitely girls. A pearl mother is required to get a pearl son, and your hen isn't pearl. So if Bella is one of the pearl chicks you can be sure of her sex. A DNA test costs $20 if you collect the sample yourself and mail it in.

With a female there's a chance that she might lay eggs even if she doesn't have a mate, but otherwise there's no difference between having a boy or a girl.

I keep all my birds together in the same room, but with experience I've become pretty good at preventing egg laying. You have to be willing and able to enforce those long nights though.

No, Bella is pied. I posted her picture a few pages ago.
I have only one pearl in the previous clutch. 2 cinnamon pied (no pearls) in the current clutch. I am definitely not keeping pearl Stella, she is a lot of trouble. Also, both cinnamons giving me hard time feeding them. Stubbornness must be a trait coming along with the color

do you have any birds closely related when you can't allow them to mate and have children?

Yes, I have a brother-sister pair who passionately want to make babies, but I don't allow it.