Broody and chick release??

[KCHenlover65]

I have a mamma who hatched 4 poofs. The little ones are just over 4 weeks now. We had to seperate mamma and chicks shortly after hatch as she was being pecked by another hen relentlessly. When she drew blood i got Tooth Fairy (my 5 yr old granddaughter named her) out of there. I kept her and the chicks in my rabbitry in an extra cage for a couple weeks. Two weeks ago i noticed the poofs were getting quite hyper so i moved them to a small coop (a 3x6 ft coop that was my first) thats inside the big coop. The rest of the flock has been look but dont touch for a couple weeks. My question is, when should I allow mamma to introduce her young-uns officially to the flock?

 

[Acre4Me]

Now. You want her anc her momma hormones to be in play still. She will try to protect her chicks while she still has momma hormones. Often those hormones are done by 6-7 weeks post hatch, sometimes earlier

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Now. You want her anc her momma hormones to be in play still. She will try to protect her chicks while she still has momma hormones. Often those hormones are done by 6-7 weeks post hatch, sometimes earlier

Yes, now would be a great time.

 

[KCHenlover65]

Awesome. Thank you so much.

 

[KCHenlover65]

Ok, well i did it. Right out of the gate one of the hens cornered all 4 of the babies and was pecking their little heads. Mamma shows up all puffed up and they did some foot battling then mamma runs off and the other hen chases her. The chicks were chirping their heads off. The other 11 hens and 2 roosters were takong it all in stride. An occasional peck but they seemed to be just seeing what they were about. That mean hen kept pecking at the chicks over and over and over. Mamma never showed up to protect them. Maybe i waited too long? Bedtime comes along and i wrangled the chicks into the henhouse and meany cornered them again so i went in there. Meany roosted then and i shooed the chicks to a nest. I went outside to lock the run door and the chicks rushed to the door side of the henhouse and were trying to get through the door. I went in and stucked them all down in my coat feomt and took them back to the small coop they'd just spent 2 weeks in. Mamma never got off the roost. Mamma has been laying again for over a week now. Does that matter?