Introducing new chickens to the flock

[Sarah4]

I had a broody hen that hatched out babies and I got rid of all but 1 which is 6 weeks old now. In that span of time I got 3 new chickens that are now residing where the broody hen used to be before she hatched her chicks. The momma hen is going stir crazy with the one baby she has left. She is pacing at the door wanting out of the coop/run into my yard she is loud all the time. I tried introducing her to the new 3 chickens and she attacked them. I'm not sure how to introduce them or if she'll stop attacking them if I just let them be and let them figure it out. My coop is not very big and I'm in the process of building a bigger one so I was trying to wait to introduce them all again when the bigger one is finished but I am worried about momma hen with her baby, she seems to be going crazy and I'm not sure why. She laid her first egg since going broody today also. Any suggestions on what to do?

 

[Pork Pie]

From my experience, the mother hen will lose her protectiveness of the chick very soon (maybe another couple of weeks since she has begun laying). Mother hens are tyrants with other flock members (even ones they know!) so introducing new flock members at the moment is a tough one for sure.

I would wait until you have built a bigger coop before re-introducing them. Hopefully by that time she will not be so protective of the her chick and the new flock members will have more space to "escape" her pecking.

Good luck!