When to "kick them out of the house"?

[DeniseAksamit]

One of my hens disappeared about 2 weeks ago, I thought a coyote had gotten her because they had been hanging around a lot in the pasture. Surprise, the other night I heard peeping & found the missing hen with day old chicks & still hatching eggs up above the barn restroom. With help from friends we were able to retrieve all the chicks, put them & mom in a large dog crate. They are all doing well and all survived the move.
We ended up with 14 chicks, more than doubling the size of our flock.
For now I am keeping them in a horse stall & open her crate during the day so they can come out but still be confinded. When all the chicks are able to get around well I will move them to the hen house where mom will continue her role as mother.
All of my chickens free range all day, putting themselves to bed at night. The coyotes don't come into the yard because of the dogs and the dogs protect the chickens. I do have cats and I'm sure some of the chicks will be dinner for either them or crows but most should be OK.

 

[Chris623]

Thanks for all the comments.

Unfortunately, these are my first chicks.....................so no Mamma Hen about to teach the little ones the ropes. I can't answer the question about the nesting habits of the hawks. Don't know when the young-in's leave the nest. This year I haven't seen the two that were born in a tree in one of my llama pens last year. Of course, I think the owls are mainly a nighttime predator, so I'm not really worried about them. But I appreciate the comment about 16 weeks and 6 months as far as them being fairly full sized. That gives me a guideline of sorts.

Appreciate the help.