Help I need advice

[BobbieB7]

I have 5 week all chicks that have been with Momma and the rest of flock. Today I noticed chicks on their own. I have a smaller coop in run and a larger coop.
Babies were afraid of Momma today. Obviously separation time. I locked chicks in smaller coop. Now I’m not sure how to handle this situation. Normally they go up into large coop with flock for the night. There hasn’t been any bad behaviors towards chicks, except Momma today chasing them away.
Do I let the chicks go up with flock tonight or keep in smaller coop? I’m in Rhode Islandand our temps have been chilly with frost warnings. Breaks my heart to see them so afraid. It’s difficult for me to comfort them because Momma was a fierce protector. I haven’t developed trust because she would attack when I tried to handle babies.
One day fiercely protective and , next day she’s done!
Just like that
It’s 5pm and troubled.
Photos of my chicks I love them

 

[Poppy Putentake]

This is normal. It's a good thing you have an extra, smaller coop and they went there on their own. They will probablly prefer to sleep away from the grown hens until they reach egg-laying age, then they may decide to join the adults on their own.

If you read here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl , about the wild ancestor of chickens, it says, "...Chicks fledge in about 4 to 5 weeks, and at 12 weeks old they are chased out of the group by their mother — at which point they start a new group or join an existing one...."

I've had this kind of thing happen. I had a hen who would be the perfect nurturing, protective mother, but then when it was time to "wean" them, she would peck them unmercifully (but by the time they were fully grown, she got along with them fine.) Another time, I had a pullet that actually did try to join my neighbor's flock.

This is one drawback of rearing chicks under a mother hen instead of in a brooder. When I have not had a broody hen available and reared the chicks myself, integration into the flock went a little more smoothly.

The forecast for New England is for no frost tonight, so they should be okay; they are nearlly at the age when they no longer need to be kept warm anyway.

You could rig up a setup like this for them, but they would probablly outgrow it soon, if they used it at all.