When can I let my mamma hen and 4 week old chicks merge into my current flock?

[MiaTheChickenWhisperer]

My flock is extremely exclusive to newcomers. It can be dangerous to leave young chicks in the coop if your flock is this way. Usually, I put the newbies into a small kennel and put the kennel into my coop. This allows the other chickens to get used to them without the possibility of attacks. I forgot to do this with one of my young hens and my flock injured her pretty badly.

 

[BDutch]

My flock is extremely exclusive to newcomers. It can be dangerous to leave young chicks in the coop if your flock is this way. Usually, I put the newbies into a small kennel and put the kennel into my coop. This allows the other chickens to get used to them without the possibility of attacks. I forgot to do this with one of my young hens and my flock injured her pretty badly.

Did you have chicks with a broody like Newchickenmom?
This might be a different situation bc Newchickenmom has a caring and probably a protecting mother with her chicks.

 

[MiaTheChickenWhisperer]

Did you have chicks with a broody like Newchickenmom?
This might be a different situation bc Newchickenmom has a caring and probably a protecting mother with her chicks.

I did, but everything turned out fine. It might not work with Newchickenmom's flock, mainly because every flock is different.

 

[ChickenRaunchy]

I have a mamma hen and 4 week old chicks in a separate area away from the rest of my flock. The mini-coop (where momma and babies are in currently) has a chicken run attached to it and the mamma and babies are able to interact with the other flock members safely.

I was wondering at what age can I let my mamma hen and baby chicks integrate into my flock? I can't find anything online about it and this is a new adventure me and this mamma hen are embarking on, so I don't know what to do when the chicks get old enough to be away from mamma hen.

Hi Newchickenmom26,
We have about 30 hens and one Roo. We experienced a sad loss of one of our hens last spring. She just disappeared. We figured it was a predator. But we live in the country and let them free-range, so it was also not a shock. Then on Father's Day, Momma hen re-appeared with 9 day-old hatchlings. (Knock us over with a feather!). We had no clue, nothing prepared, but we decided to treat them the same as babies we get from the hatchery. Set up a separate "container" for the family (inside the main coop), put in the heat lamp, separate water and food from the rest of the flock. We just gave them starter feed, same as we do for our bought chicks. It was the most fun we have had all year. We did nothing else. Momma Hen was amazing. She instinctively knew how to do everything. She knew what sounds to make for them to come in tight with her, she kept them all healthy, warm, and they all survived. Some times we would go out to the coop, just to watch the babies and momma. So cute!!!! We would have been happy to keep them all, but it turned out that 6 of the 9 were Roos, and we had to cull them from the rest. The other three are now happy members of the flock. Also .... one weird thing ... when the babies were about5 weeks old, momma just knew her work was done and she let them be independent. We were kind of stunned but she was right. They did not need her any more. Chickens are just amazing.
Best regards,
ChickenRaunchy