Most broody hens are super protective of their young against other hens, however I've had some rather nasty little serema rooster who would kill the little chicks. So As long as you see them interact and you see that everything is fine then just let her hang out with the rest, that way the older hens become familiarized with the chicks and the chicks will learn to stay out of the adults way.
Just wondering, how old were the chicks when that serama killed them? Was he the dominant rooster? How old was he?
I know we are dealing with living animals so anything can happen, but I’ve never had a dominant mature rooster attack chicks or threaten to harm young chicks. Sometimes the dominant rooster will help Mam take care of the chicks, not always, but as long as they are young when introduced my dominant roosters always accept them. If the chicks are older, especially with cockerels, where he sees them as strangers instead of his chicks it can be different. I have had immature cockerels go after chicks but my broody hens have always been able to handle that. I have no doubt with all the flocks and roosters out there someone has had a dominant mature rooster do that, but I’m just interested in what happened with yours.
The OP wanted stories. I have more time this morning so I’ll tell a couple.
I had a hen that was not very bright. She went broody and hatched and raised her chicks, but she was always getting into trouble. One of her favorite tricks was to go out of a gate and make a sharp turn, leaving most of her chicks behind. So the chicks would try to get to her through the fence instead of going to the gate but the openings in the fence were too small. That hen could not figure out to go back to the gate and collect her chicks either. She’d just pace the fence, calling them. I’ve had other broodies do that in rare occasions but this hen did it regularly, usually a few times a day. She did some other dumb stuff too.
When this happened the dominant flock rooster would hear the chicks chirping and come check it out as a good flock master should. He would stay with the chicks until the hen finally managed to reunite her family. One time this happened he gave her a look that was plain as day. “Not again, Woman”.
Something I regularly see. At about two weeks of age the chicks get more adventurous. I often see a chick this age leave Mama’s protection and go stand next to the other hens at the feeder, eating next to them. Sometimes the other hens ignore the chick for quite a time, but usually it doesn’t take long for a hen to peck the chick, reminding it that it is bad chicken etiquette for it to eat with its betters. That chick goes running back to Mama as fast as its little legs can pump, flapping its wind and frantically chirping. Mama generally ignores all this. It takes a flock to raise a chick and that chick should have just learned a lesson. Occasionally the hen will follow the chick to further the lesson. This is when Mama whips butt. No one threatens her chicks.
