Ok, I need some advice

[pusbag6]

Here's the thing.

I have my coop built, finally. my neighbor had two hens go broody at the same time. one batch hatched with 6, and a week later the other group hatched 4. I have them in my coop separated. the mothers whom have lived together want to kill each other. Most likely because they're are babies involved. I've also lost a chick that snuck over to the other side with the opposite mommy. What is the best way to introduce each group. The two moms don't belong to me, so they will be going back home. should i just remove the moms and let happen what will happen, or should i separate the two groups but with chicken wire so they can see each other but not fight. they're only about a week apart but i'm not sure what my plan of attack should be. I want to minimize the loss of life while maintaining the pecking order.
any advice would be most appreciated.

thanks,
Andrew

 

[Pele]

How old are the chicks? The younger the birds are, the more accepting they are of new acquaintences.

If you need to keep them with their mothers for longer, I would absolutely divide their run with wire so everyone can look at each other and hear each other. I did this with two batches of babies that had 4 weeks difference between each other, and they blended flawlessly after two weeks of peeping at each other through wire.

 

[pusbag6]

That's what I thought I should do. The birds from the first batch are 17 days old, and the other batch is about 14 days old.

When should I remove the mothers?

 

[Judy]

I would also separate the two families. Usually around 4 or 5 weeks, you will see the mama "kicking them out of the house" -- not always letting the kids have the goodies, mildly pecking them to chase them away, roosting instead of making a nest for them, etc. Best to keep them together til this happens, IMO, as the mama can get pretty upset if chicks are removed before she has decided she doesn't want to be a mama any more.