Is she about To abandon them?

[TheTwoRoos]

ok,we let our hen hatch some chicks,they are now I'd say about 5 weeks maybe,or 4 and 1/2.

I noticed my rooster started breeding her again and she was starting to get a little flirty.Not only has she started checking the nest back out,but she is starting to drift away from the chicks.The chicks even are starting to drift fro her I do believe.She still has that peeping sound and still will call the to food,but is starting to get a normal hens voice again.

They know how to roost,infact I added a roost to their brooder,and i'm showing them where it is.Mom already taught them how to roost....

They know their basic needs,and also she taught them to sunbath,eat bugs,eat grass,and how to come to the call when I have treats.

But,I just wanna know if she is trying to abandon them soon.

 

[centrarchid]

Yes, she will interact positively with chicks (from chicks perspective) until next clutch is set (she goes broody on next batch of eggs). It is normally necessary for her to then become belligerent to older brood to keep them away from younger siblings. Hanging near brooding momma reduces foraging options for older young and increases traffic around nest site that might make nest more obvious to predators. Older siblings if allowed could also be a mortal threat to newly hatched chicks. Juveniles (the five week old chicks) will have more continuous foraging needs relative to mother and most other adults and often do better moving off into a group that only loosely associates with adults. In my setting when on a single rooster is present with at most a couple of hens, then the older chicks begin to associate more closely with their father.