Haven't been on for a while. Have had lots of company. The babies are grown--12 wks old--and two I took to a pet store. The place is real clean and takes care of their birds. Cages are a good size. I kept the white faced pearl pied (Snowflake). I wasn't worried about sex because I was sure that Roscoe and Bitsy were bonded. Well have I gotten a surprise. Roscoe has been courting, Bitsy ignoring him as usual, so he dicided to try somesone else. I caught him mating with Snowflake who I guess we can now assume is a female.

I don't know what to do. I have put them on long nights and moved them to a different cage. I am thinking about finding a home for Snowflake because I am really worried about in-breeding.

Snownflake is 3 mos. old. Can she lay eggs at this age? If I don't put up a nestbox will this keep her from laying? I am going to start only letting the girls out of the cage together and then let Roscoe out by himself. I am sure he will not like this but I don't know what else to do.

She probably can't lay eggs at this age but there are no guarantees. So it's best to keep her away from daddy until his hormone level goes down. If she DID lay an egg (or try to) it would be hazardous to her health.

Some hens will lay eggs without a nestbox and some won't, and there's no way to figure out in advance which type a particular hen is.

Thanks Carolyn. In what way would it be hazardousto her health?

She might die from egg binding or other egg related problems.

I was thinking of trying to sell her, but I guess I had better wait and see what happens. I guess it would be about 7 days if she tries to lay. My breeding experience was so good but now I sure have myself in a mess.

Don't sell her yet. Their hormones will drop. IMO I don't think the are capible of laying eggs at such a young age. Give them a 14 hour darkness, limit food so they don't feel like they have enough food for more babies, cover up all dark corners, Limit petting to only the head, you will start to see results in about two weeks. It completely normal for bird to want a second clutch and it's almost impossible to stop them without separating them. Separating the boys from girl until their hormone level drops.

What works 100% for me is light on 24/7

You might want to look into this product...which part of the instruction is full light for a couple days...

http://www.exoticdvm.com/releaves

Yes, the risk of egg binding is higher with a very young hen. It's similar to a 12 year old girl having a baby.

I've never tried the constant-light technique but I've heard that it works, and will work on some birds who don't respond to long nights. My best guess is that it disrupts the natural day-night so much that their bodies get confused and have no idea what season it is.

I have put him on long nights, 6pm until 9am. I am only letting him out of cage by himself and then I put him in the cage and let the girls out. I also have him in a separate cage starting today.