Hen w/ Chicks adding to flock of 8 week old Chicks

[GeekiTurtle]

So I've been offered 2 hens and their chicks (I think 13 chicks between the 2 of them). The 2 hens are from the same flock.

How do I go about adding them to my existing flock of 8 week old chicks (14)?

I've got more than enough space for all of them but don't have a sustainable method of keeping them separated.

 

[Mrs. K]

Pictures would really help. How old are the chicks with the hens? I would expect if the chicks under the hens are less than 2 weeks, the hen should protect them...however, sometimes moving a broody hen can break the broody.

And what seems like a lot of room for chicks, often is not enough room for 30 hens, which they will be in a few short months. For 30 head of chickens, you would need a larger shed - something close to 120 square feet. So a shed that is 10 x 12 at the minimum.

Mrs K

 

[GeekiTurtle]

Pictures would really help. How old are the chicks with the hens? I would expect if the chicks under the hens are less than 2 weeks, the hen should protect them...however, sometimes moving a broody hen can break the broody.

And what seems like a lot of room for chicks, often is not enough room for 30 hens, which they will be in a few short months. For 30 head of chickens, you would need a larger shed - something close to 120 square feet. So a shed that is 10 x 12 at the minimum.

Mrs K

I'll have to ask how old they are but wouldn't say more than 4 weeks old (still mostly fluffy).

I have 13ish square metres (about 139.5 square feet) of "coop" space. I also don't plan on keeping all the chicks as they are straight run and will have roosters.

 

[AshVau22]

I highly recommend you quarantine the new birds before adding then to your youngsters. After quarantine I'd probably just put them together and see what happens your current birds are still very young and I dout they will challenge the hens. With enough space they'll probably stay out of the way. The 2 older hens will most likely end up being the leaders of the flock.