Rural Gardening: Should I remove these chicks?, 1 by maggie234

maggie234 wrote:
I am a dyed in the wool city dweller and I just moved to a home, in the city, and inherited some lovely bantams. Problem: I've been careful to collect eggs each day, but the 'old hen' (who doesn't lay anymore, I was told) just had five chicks. We thought she was just old and lethargic and that was why she stayed in the back of her coop and rested all day. Not so! So now, we have five lovely chicks, one a rooster I think, and the mother has started pecking at their backs near their tail. They're red all down the tail area. What do I do? Is this dangerous? Is it time to leave mama? I'm not sure how old they are, they have pin feathers and one (the rooster I think) flew out of the pen with mama yesterday all by himself and did a great job of it. They're old enough for me to know that one is likely a rooster--it's feathers are coming in differently (white) and it's bigger that the rest. I have no more information that I can think of, but I'm concerned because no one seems to tell exactly what gets done as the chicks grow a bit older. Please advise me, I leave town in five days and won't be back for a week. I need to know what to tell the caregivers! (The picture was taken on June 18--so cute).