How long should I wait until I separate a mother hen her chicks?

[LeghornGuy]

My two leghorn hens successfully hatched chicks.
The chicks are six weeks old.

How long should wait until I separate the mother from her chicks?

The mother hens lost a lot of weight and their combs are not rosie red. The hens are great mothers.

I live in the city and my yard space is very limited especially to free-range my adult hens and new additions.

I want to separate the mother hens from their chicks and put all the chicks in one large pen.

How long should I wait? I am concerned! I do not want to have two separate pens for baby chicks.
I want raise the chicks as one flock. I dont want the chicks to fight each other

You suggestions and comments are welcomed

 

[silkiechicken]

You don't have to separate them really. The moms will slowly "kick them from the nest" but will all still be friends and part of the big flock as they grow up.

 

[zatsdeb]

why do you want to separate them?
I just let them grow up and they are all one big happy family, unless we have too many roosters!!

 

[LeghornGuy]

My yard space is limited and pen space is also limited. I let the two mother hens and their chicks free range while I am in the yard. They run all over the yard and the mother hens are not social with other hens or each other.

Also, the other hens in the run-coop seem to be aggressive towards the mothers and their chicks.

I am concerned the older hens in the run-coop will not accept the younger pullets/roosters in four or five months from now. I dont want to overcroud the run-coop. I currently 12 hens in the run-coop.
One mother hen has 9 chicks and the other mother hen has 6 chicks
I was thinking about constructing second a new run-coop for my new chicks. That way, I would have a pen for the "golden girls" and a teenager pen.

 

[karrie]

My mother hens got aggressive towards the chicks at around 6 weeks, & actually pecked them & fought with them. I separated them. Even now they fight when too close.