Best chicken breed to have in a small flock with a disabled Rhode Island Red hen?

[Athenaeum]

I'm back with more questions! So, my husband and I are getting four chickens to become Latias' babies (and so she can have companions) as we separate her from the others for the most part when she's able to be released back into an outside coop and run. The future names have been already selected, and are all Pokémon names.

We plan to have Suicune, Entei, Raiku, and Latios to be her babies. The breeds we're considering are: Speckled Sussex (Entei), Dorking (Raiku), Cream Legbar (Suicine), and French Blue Copper Maran (Latios).

According to our research, they seem like they'd be good in the cold weather, relatively friendly, and, most importantly, a bit smaller than Latias is. Also, it'd be a work in progress towards a goal of eventually having a "rainbow" egg basket one day.

So, what do you all think? Would those four be good companions, breed wise, for her? Or do you have any other suggestions?

We live in Michigan, if that helps, and the only one that has a specific "color" requirement is Latios so she'd be the blue to Latias' red.

 

[Wyorp Rock]

More information about Latias is in the link below.

Have you considered placing her in a secured space within the coop/run so she can be with and see her current flock to acclimate her as she continues to heal with a goal of re-integrating her with her original flock?

I'm not sure what you mean about the chicks becoming her "babies".
If she's broody at the time of arrival, it's possible that she may accept the chicks as babies to raise/broody for several weeks, then she would ween them like any other Mama hen. Possible the chicks may reject her.

Chickens can be funny that way.

They will unlikely be her babies for long if she accepts and broods them. Once the chicks start to mature, the nature of the pecking order will commence. She may become head hen or perhaps another pullet will take that place and Latias will be a lower hen within the flock. They may all get along just fine and be a cohesive flock/group or things may not go exactly as you romanticize visualize.

The breeds you have chosen sound find to me, a nice mix of breeds that will get you on your way to a colorful egg basket.


https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...-autoamputation-post-frostbite.1651886/page-2

 

[Athenaeum]

We have considered reintroducing her to the flock, but I am the one who thinks it might not go well as she had been being singled out by the others even before the injury. One of the hens does not... take weakness very well, from what I've witnessed.

Also, I know I romanticized the idea of getting chicks to be part of a flock for her. I'm not always good with getting my words out in the way I need them to be, unfortunately. In an ideal world, she'd be "Mama," and then remain head hen, but I'm aware that I am just projecting wishful thinking there.

As for becoming her "babies," it's basically a bit like you said? Just hoping she'd be broody the day we get the chicks, and hoping they'd accept her as their mom?