A really good read with some very inportant information.
Unfortunately the person that wrote this expressed their own pro-life personal opinions RE egg laying/breeding which many others won´t agree with as it could influence an unexperienced bird owner.
(from the article): ¨ Even though we don't condone breeding, if a mother lays it she should be allowed to hatch it and raise it. It's cruel to snatch eggs and babies away from their mother.¨
I personally find it more cruel to allow the hen to incubate fertile eggs, (especially if she is too young) and the owner is a novice. When things go wrong it all goes south very quickly and that pro-life attitude that the bird owner had, will quickly turn into unnecessary deaths. Or maybe by chance the hen raises those chicks all on her own... now you have parent raised ¨untame¨ birds that are in low demand anyway, and should they find a home with someone who doesn´t know what they are doing, will end up in a shelter.
If your hen lays eggs (especially Cockatiels and lovebirds) you can remove the eggs when she is distracted and switch them for dummy eggs.
When an egg is first laid, there is no life inside, there is no feeling, there is no chick. All it is is potential. Components waiting to be activated.
It´s like having a carton of eggs, a bottle of milk and a bag of flour, they are ingredients, components, not pancakes. There is no pancake in sight.