old hen new chicks

[gram28]

If I have one hen left from an older flock will she accept new chicks if I get them or must she be kept from them. She is still laying 3 or 4 eggs a week so not ready to consign her to the soup pot yet. She was the head honcho pf the old flock.

 

[navasima]

Everything I've read here says that you'll need to keep them seperate, but close enough to see & hear each other for a bit first. Times seem to vary, but I'd say average advised is about a month. Most often, people have written that they need to be close to the same size to avoid having the little ones get seriously injured. Methods include a small coop in the large/coop run and side by side coops/runs. If you do a search for integrating or integration (some such) there are a whole bunch of threads which address this.

Hope this helps.....