When to move mama hen?

[myfivehens]

Ok, this is our first time raising chicks with a broody. We hatched 5 babies the first week of June so our babies are 5-6 weeks now. We lost 1 baby to a hawk due to me being too slow to put a cover on their run Anyways, the mama is still with them and though I thought she would only nurture them for about 4 weeks or so she is still acting like their mama...showing them food, taking them out of harm's way, etc. Should I wait for these behaviors to stop before I move her to the big coop with the others or should I just go ahead and move her since the babies are getting so big now? Thanks for any input!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

I would either move them when they seem interested in leaving or when they are 1-2 weeks old.

Good luck!!

 

[Farmer Viola]

I think you could move the mom and the babies together by now at 5-6 weeks. My hens actually just moved themselves from their broody apartment (they are co-mothering) to the main coop, with a ramp, and their chicks are not yet 2 weeks old. they are brooding them on the sand flooring and they made a straw nest. the chicks couldn't get up the ramp night 1, but nights 2 and 3 they all went in by themselves! if you do move them, do it at night in the pure darkness so it's less traumatic.

 

[myfivehens]

Well, the only problem with moving the babies right now is that the big girls do a lot of free ranging and when they're not free ranging they're in an enclosed area that is not covered...we have a lot of hawks and a hawk actually got one of our babies before we got around to covering the baby run Sooo, I'm waiting to move them when they are not hawk food size
I did successfully move the mama though several days ago. The first time I decided to let her out to free range with the others and it ended in some bloody fights...my girls accidentally let her out several days later and there was a little fighting going on but not too bad so that night I snuck her into the coop and for a few days there was some pecking and bullying but things seemed to have settled down a little. I'm wondering if it's harder to integrate when you don't have a rooster? We are thinking about keeping one of our baby roo's though so I'm wondering how introducing a roo to a flock that is used to not having one is going to go :/