Need advice on integrating new chickens.

[BlessedmamaAELE]

i have a flock of 4 teenagers. About 12-14 weeks. 3 Pullets, 1 Cockerel. We are looking to integrate in a few more due to a dog attack loss. Looking at either 3 hens a little over a year that are laying. Or several chicks around the same age. Could I do both? Will the hens hurt my adolescent, coming into their pecking order? Should I just go with more
Adolescents? And either way, I have limited space to keep them separated, so it will have to be a rather quick integration. Any tips on how
To do this and what to choose is greatly appreciated!

 

[Ridgerunner]

Limited space concerns me. The more room they have usually the easier integration is. The tighter the space the more drama you usually get. It's not just square feet, the quality of the space is important. By quality I mean how well they can avoid each other and get out of line of sight and whether room is available when they need it. It's not just coop space, it is your coop and run as a system and how you manage that to make room available. If you can describe your facilities, even giving size of coop and run in feet or meters, and maybe even a photo or two we might be able to come up with some specific suggestions to help with that.

I would go with more the same age, all female. Mature chickens outrank immature chickens in the pecking order and are often not shy about enforcing those pecking order rights, especially if the younger ones invade their personal space. Hens can be worse than roosters about that. And your cockerel will soon enter puberty if he hasn't already. It's probably going to get pretty rough with just the adolescent cockerel and pullets that are still immature, adding grown hens to that mix increases the chances for more violence, especially in limited space. So my vote is more pullets the same age.