Hi everyone!

I have a question.
I have two pairs of cockatiels in the aviary with babies.

In one nest box, the first 4 hatched 4 and 5 days ago. The youngest just hatched today.

In the second nest box, the first 3 hatched 4 days ago and the 4th hatched today.

The two that hatched today are quite a bit smaller than their brothers and sisters. And the problem I seem to always have is that the younger ones die.
I don't know if it's because they don't get enough food or if the parents are overfeeding them because they are used to the older ones eating more. I check the crops of those that die and they aren't empty.

So here's my dilemma. All these babies are whiteface and possibly whiteface lutino and I really don't want to lose any of them as I am trying to increase my whiteface flock.

I'm debating on whether I should pull handfeed the older ones and leave the younger ones a bit longer, or if I should pull the younger ones and leave the older ones a bit longer. Or should I just pull them all to be on the safe side?

I'm already feeding one 2 day old cockatiel baby because it hatched late and the parents weren't feeding it at all. And I'm feeding 4, 2 week old lovebirds so pulling them all wouldn't be a problem as I'm already up around the clock as it is and as far as I'm concerned feeding more than one every 2 hours wouldn't be any harder and would be more worth the time.

So what would you do? Help please!

Thanks,

Debra