Hi Yosi,
I’m sorry to hear about the lost chick. It is always hard to lose one. No matter what you do, there will be risks and there will be heartbreak when you are breeding birds. Not everyone can handle this and if it gives you more stress than rewards, then breeding is not for you. There could have been something wrong with the chick. It’s best to leave all of the chicks and unhatched eggs with the parents for as long as possible. It may have confused the parents when you removed the older chicks before all of the eggs hatched. It is better to let all of the chicks hatch, and then once they are all healthy and being fed, you might need to remove the older chicks one by one because of the size difference. The size difference is normal, and most pairs still raise all of the chicks in spite of the difference. Removing older chicks takes away the risk of the smaller ones getting stepped on, but it adds the risk of upsetting the parents or the chicks not doing well by being hand fed. No matter what you do, there is a risk. Breeding is a process of trial and error where you learn what your pair is capable of doing and what their weaknesses are. At this point, you need to wait and see what happens. I’m not clear if you removed the chicks permanently or just moved them? I wouldn’t make more changes. Just hope if these eggs hatch, the parents feed the chicks as they did the first three. You will definitely need to rest this pair for about 6 months after all of this, by removing their nest box.
Thanks for the update,
Brenda
