which age does mama hen abandon her chicks?

[Altairsky]

Long story short, I have 2 adult hens. I wanted to add 3 more hens to my flock so I incubated a few eggs and hatched 6 chicks.
In the meantime one of the hens went broody so I gave her some eggs to sit on. She hatched 5 chicks.
When these chicks were 1 week old, the other hen (the dominant one) suddenly went broody and started raising the 1 week olds together with the broody that hatched them. So now I have 2 hens raising the 5 babies.
Problem is that as long as they are protecting these babies it's impossible for me to integrate the older chicks from my incubator.
These hens (a heavy breed originated from Orpingtons) are so aggressive that they beat my neighbor cats so hard, that the poor felines are scared to even look inside my property. I witnessed my dominant hen stalking and trying to ambush a cat, with a magpie nearby that acted as spotter (the cats killed one of the magpie chicks so now the local magpies teamed up with my hens to get the cats arse beaten).
My question is, when should broody hens stop caring about their own chicks? 4 weeks or longer? I want my sweet chickens back, these beasts are not chickens, they're velociraptors.

 

[nuthatched]

3--6 weeks.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

Mine vary wildly depending on the hen and the temperature. I've had hens stop at 2 weeks and I've had hens stop at 4+ months depending on how warm it was and if they were good mama's or just okay mamas

 

[Altairsky]

I've had hens stop at 2 weeks and I've had hens stop at 4+ months

4+ months? Mine are tyrannosaurus mamas so I guess they'll stop when the chicks are at bbq age

 

[JacinLarkwell]

4+ months? Mine are tyrannosaurus mamas so I guess they'll stop when the chicks are at bbq age

Yep. Not many at that age, but 2 or 3

 

[Ridgerunner]

when should broody hens stop caring about their own chicks? 4 weeks or longer?

As others have, my results vary. I've had hens wean their chicks as young as 3 weeks of age. They totally left those chicks to make their own way with the flock. I've had hens take care of their chicks for well over 2 months. At various ages I've had hens stop taking care of their chicks during the day but sleep with them at night. I've had hens stop sleeping with them at night but take care of them during the day. There is nothing consistent about it.

What do your facilities look like? How big, in feet or meters, are your various coops, shelters, and runs? Where do the different groups sleep? Can your brooder chicks see and be seen by the broody hens? Photos could be helpful. How old are both groups of chicks? We might be able to devise a strategy where you could integrate your chicks now. I do that a lot but I think I have a lot more room than you do.

 

[Altairsky]

Eh I don't think there is much that can be done at the moment. My coop is 2 meters x 2 meters and there is no run (it's an open air coop). My chickens free range all day and only sleep in the coop at night.
I have 2 hens which are going to be 3 and 4 years old next year, so I wanted to add 2 fresh pullets.

I hatched them in the incubator because I didn't know the old ladies would go broody and be such good mamas - if I knew I would have let them do all the job -
I let the broody sit on random scrap eggs to test if I could trust her as mama the next year, I won't keep any of the small babies she currently has.

When the 2 groups (broodies and older chicks) are free ranging, there are no problems unless the old chicks gets too close to the small ones, if it happens there is charging and pecking (though nothing bad ever happened, and not even a feather was ever pulled).

At the moment I divided the coop in 2 parts and I let the older chicks spend the night in the small part of the coop. The hens can see them all the time.
I let the bigger chicks free range in the morning and I close them inside the coop in the afternoon (with the hens closed out) so they can get familiar with the whole coop and explore the hiding places and the extra feeders.

I'm trying to rehome the older chicks that I'm not planning to keep so that's all I can do at the moment. Just wait and see.

 

[Ridgerunner]

there is no run

So unlimited space outside the coop. Excellent.

When the 2 groups (broodies and older chicks) are free ranging, there are no problems unless the old chicks gets too close to the small ones, if it happens there is charging and pecking.

Typical. My different ages chicks quickly learn to stay away from the older. When an older group blunders into a younger it is almost panic as they try to get away. It is as if I have different sub-flocks. They do not go out of their way to attack the other but if they get too close together there can be violence.

(though nothing bad ever happened, and not even a feather was ever pulled).

As long as mine are not hurt I don't worry about it. It is part of chickens learning to live in chicken society. If yours were in a small tight space you could run into problems but they are not.

Try to avoid putting them into small tight spaces where they cannot run away. I like that they sleep separately.

At some point those hens will wean the chicks and leave them on their own. Then you will have three sub-flocks and only two sleeping spaces. Since you know you will eventually get rid of the older group trying to get rid of them now is an excellent move.

2 meters x 2 meters is not bad for a very few chickens even when integrating. I think there is a fairly good chance the youngest will be able to sleep in the section of the coop with the older ones when they are weaned. By then hopefully the others will be gone.

I don't think you are in a bad spot at all. You are doing well. Just typical inconvenience dealing with chickens. Good luck?

 

[Altairsky]

Actually the younger chicks will all be freezer business. The pullets I want to keep are in the group of the older chicks from my incubator so I will have to integrate them sooner or later.
Today I was pleased to see both the big chicks and small chicks together inside a bush, and the 2 hens didn't even growl. It lasted roughly 30 seconds but it's a progress!
Later, the group of big chicks came back inside the coop to rest and eat some scratch, after 15 minutes the broodies and their small chicks also came inside the coop to eat. No growling, no pecking. The big chicks immediately flew to higher grounds (shelves and nesting boxes that the big hens can't use) and stayed there until the hens finished doing their business. That's definitely a good progress.
My big mamas are around 4 kg in weight. They sleep on the ground and use a nest box on the ground because they absolutely can't use the roosts or even the ramps. So every nesting space of the coop's second floor and every roost can be safely used by the big chicks.

 

[Altairsky]

Just a small update, the 2 old hens are still taking care of their 2 months old chicks like they hatched yesterday. The second mom is chill but the one who sat on the eggs is still murderous towards the incubator chicks. They're still sleeping separated, and at this point I will keep it this way till the pullets are mature or the broody babies are at freezer camp.