Mother cat hates her kittens

[VictorianSqualor]

Our cat had four kittens about 4 months ago.
We have since rehomed two but the other two we kept.
She HATES them with a passion.
If they go anywhere near her she growls and hisses at them and if they brush past her she lashes out.
I read somewhere it's a way to tell the kittens it's time to leave the nest but we've been planning on keeping them so I don't want either her to get fed up or us have to rehome them.
Help?

Has she been spayed yet? usually one litter is gone so the cat can have another lot so maybe that's why.

you need to get her spayed asap (like make the appointment tomorrow!) and the two kittens can be spayed/neutered when they are 4 months old.

Did you make a contract with the adopters of the other two kittens, whereby they agreed to neuter/spay the kittens they adopted?

She was still nursing up until a few weeks ago and we were told to wait until after then to spay her so she is being kept in until she is done in just under two weeks.
I didn't make a contract with them, no, but I know they will be done. The new families mentioned it when they picked them up (one hates spraying and the other works at a rehoming centre).
It's not about her being spayed though, what I want to know is how to stop her and the kittens fighting.

Well, that's good anyway.

Is there anything in particular that sets them off? confrontations over food, toys, beds etc?

If you find the root of the fighting then you may be able to find a solution.

Vs, We had a cat who had kittens and did this too, and we were also told it's her encouraging them to leave the nest(I know how they feel somedays )

We also kept one of the kittens and the mum eventually got used to the idea, and iirc (it was many many years ago) she got a little bit warmer towards the kitten after she had been spayed.

Thing is we got the cat we have now as a kitten (she was being mistreated) and our other cat left home because of it, we had to give her to MiL so we knew she was safe because she really couldn't bear the cat that is mother now.
I really don't want to lose any of them (If it was up to me I'd have kept all four kittens, I compromised with DP as two cat lovers we knew were desperate!)

They'll settle down eventually VS, I'm sure. The kittens will get the idea that she is not there to look after them any more as they gain a bit of independance.

Desmond Morris's Catwatching book is good on cat behaviour.

my cat had kittens few years ago now and we kept one there was fights for a bit but soon settled and they both happy now so don't give up jst resurre her that your there for still but her kittens are staying so perhaps trying fussing them all togther or something good luck

we have a cat and one of her kittens cat is now 6 kitten 4, they still have the occassional fight, but will also curl up together, both spayed, i think its justa cat thing, it'l calm down when the mum is spayed

Can you keep them in separate places for a while VS so kittens and mum don't have to share territory?

to clarify, I mean in different parts of the house rather than different houses ... We had 2 cats that never got on (not mother and kitten) but lived in harmony with them for 10 years or so, one had upstairs, one had downstairs.

The spaying is relevant because part of the rejection of the kittens is due to the fact that she is biologically preparing to breed again- stopping feeding will bring her back into season.