A US judge has freed the Idaho woman whose six children held off law enforcement officers for five days, reducing the child neglect charge against her to a misdemeanour.

Five children who surrendered after a five day siege at their isolated home will stay with a family friend until a judge decides what will happen to them.

Five armed children have left their isolated Idaho home after a six-day stalemate with sheriff's deputies.

Armed with rifles and a pack of wild dogs, a family of six children stayed in their ramshackle Idaho home for a third day, refusing to accept help from government officials they fear and distrust.

Six children, believed to be armed, refused to leave their rural home after releasing a pack of dogs on sheriff’s deputies who had arrested their mother, authorities said.