When will hen abandon chicks?

[christinethemac]

I let my broody bantam frizzle hatch 4 chicks in a cage in my house. They are now almost 2 weeks old. I'm planning to put her and the chicks back into the coop in a cage separated from the other bantam hens. I'm worried how they will do with freezing temps though. Also at what point do I let mom and chicks out of the cage? What if she gets sick of them?

 

[Jessica Thompson]

As soon as they are half her size

 

[UrbanMamaHen]

If you move the cage with bedding/nest that she hatched the chicks into the coop, she should continue to care for them. My broody hen tended to her chicks for 10 weeks, and didn't leave them until after I removed the nest box that she brooded them in. The chicks were almost as big as she.

 

[azygous]

All broodies are different. Mine kicked her first chick of last summer out when it was five weeks old. Then she hatched a couple more chicks two months later, and she's still hanging out and sleeping with them at four months old.

As for the freezing temps, your broody will keep the chicks nice and warm unless she decides to abandon them for her own weird reasons. You never can be sure about a broody. You will need to be ready to step in and finish brooding them if she rejects them before they're feathered out by four or five weeks.