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Deborah,

So if I understand correctly, a group CANNOT see a subgroup's
archives - or, in fact, any message that the subgroup sends solely to
the subgroup. I've drawn a little schematic (attached) just to make

That's controlled by a Privacy option available in the subgroup Settings:

o Listed in parent group, publicly viewable archives
o Listed in parent group, archives viewable by parent group members
o Listed in parent group, archives viewable by subgroup members only
o Not listed in parent group, archives viewable by subgroup members only

Next question, then: can I take an existing stand-alone group
("bird") and turn it into the subgroup of a new group ("chicken")?

Not by any means that I'm aware of. But you could inquire of [email protected] - Mark may be able to do behind-the-scenes magic to make that happen.

If yes, then the only thing my bird members would have to understand
is that when they want to speak of chickens, they have to send to the
larger chicken group; when they want to talk about eagles or
penguins, they send to the bird group.

Correct, but note that both the email and web address format will change - groups with subgroups, and the subgroups in them, have what's called subdomain addressing style. In that style there is a name that goes with all of the groups, plus a name for the parent group and a name for each subgroup.

So you might have:

chickens @ avian.groups.io (the parent group)
birds @ avian.groups.io (the subgroup)

The chicken group, on the other hand, ALWAYS sends to the chicken
group.

Correct. If they sent a message to the bird group that message would be treated as being sent by a non-member (rejected or moderated).

Bird members, on the other hand, are also members of the parent chicken group, so they can send as members to either bird or chicken.

In fact, they don't even know that the bird group exists, right?

Depends, see the subgroup's Privacy option, above.

However, any chicken members familiar with groups.io will know from the address format that there must be (or have been) at least one subgroup within the avian subdomain of groups.io.

Also, if you allow chicken group members to see the member directory for the chicken group, the bird group members will be among them.

Apologies for the extended animal metaphor. The real purpose of these two groups isn't half as interesting or picturesque.

Mundane is ok.

My PTA group (and its subgroups) are pretty utilitarian, but it has been very handy to have subgroup lists restricted to active volunteers, special projects, PTA board members, teachers, the school administration, and so forth.

Shal