How does a hen introduce her chicks into the flock

[Mrs. K]

I am not sure, but I think that flocks that chicks get introduced to, seem to do better with chicks the next go around.

I think that say you have a closed flock, where the hens are 3-4 years old, and have never had chicks, may be very aggressive to new chicks. What do you think?

 

[The Birb King]

It really depends on the personality of your flock and how high your broody hen is in the pecking order. 3 weeks ago I gave my broody hen 13 chicks, and I kept them in their own coop for 3 weeks. Today I moved mom and babies back into the main flock. The other adults didn't bother the chicks much, but mom sure was protective of them. She was originally towards the middle of the pecking order, but when I reintroduced her she decided to fight almost every hen that was higher in the pecking order than her, and she won most of them! Now it looks like shes more towards the top of the pecking order. I know for the most part that flock is pretty chill and won't really harm the chicks. My other flock however is a different story. There are a few over there that are quite aggressive, so I feel like they would try to kill the chicks if they got in there. I had to spend some time fixing the small holes in the fence to make sure they didn't get over there, be cause I'm sure it wouldn't end well if they did.