Introducing flock of chicks to a single adult female

[Civetta]

I've seen many guides for introducing a chick to an existing flock, but in a few weeks I'm going to have the reverse where a flock of younglings will need to be introduced to a single adult female.

I hatched my first Coturnix quail in December, and currently have an 8 week old male and female in a nice big 2-level rabbit hutch, as well as a dozen eggs in the incubator that should hatch next week. I naively hoped I could wait until the new chicks were old enough to go in the hutch before dispatching the male so the girl wouldn't be alone for so long, but at this rate he's going to boink her to death so I've got an experienced friend coming over this weekend to guide me through turning him into dinner.

Which leads to my question: do I need to approach the introduction process differently when the youngins' outnumber the adults? I'm worried my lone female is going to be overwhelmed when a flock of freshly matured juveniles/adults suddenly start encroaching on her space. Is this a case where introducing them earlier would be better? Should I try seeing if my girl would "adopt" the hatchlings? If so, how old should the chicks be before attempting?

Or am I worrying over nothing and everything will be fine? Any advice would be much appreciated!

 

[BobStuart]

If the mother does not accept them then you will have to do the hard work yourself. Good luck with your babies.

 

[Nabiki]

I wouldn't worry too much about the introduction. You will need to watch your adult hen to make sure she's not picking on the youngsters, but unless the youngsters are 6 weeks or older, they're not likely to pick on her.