Unsecure chicken perches

[dance in the dark]

Now, I currently have some four week old silver laced wyandotte chicks with my broody orpington, still have no real idea sex-wise, although my current best guess is three boys, one girl. Anyway, I know that the mum really needs to stay with them for at least a couple more weeks as they are not feathered up yet, but I was wondering, how do you know when it is time to put the mother back with the rest of the grown-ups?

 

I currently have the eglu run with mum and chicks in the main area for my girls, so they have been in constant close proximity, and the big hens can see (but not get at) the chicks, and they seem fine with that. However, Bertha, the mother, has just started laying again (three eggs in the past three days) has fully reddened up again and is looks full of chutzpah, she is marching around the run a lot more looking like she wants to be with the big girls, she is still mothering well, not that they need her for much but warmth now, when will I know she has had enough of the chicks?

[sjp]

I find that once the are about to lay or have started to lay again then they start to get mean with the chicks they stop giving them the best tit bits and start to treat them as any other chicken basically. it quite noticable the change like the motherly light has been switched off.