Last Monday my broody hatched two of her five eggs. Of the remaining eggs, one was infertile, one had gotten cracked and the other was still alive but she had abandoned it so I put it into the incubator and it ended up dying anyway. On Thursday, my eggs in the incubator started hatching. Of the ten eggs, seven made it to hatch. Five hatched successfully and two died during hatch. On Friday night, I put my five incubator babies with mama broody. I wasn't sure she would take them, especially since there was a four day difference in the babies, so I only put one with her at first. As soon as that baby chick started cheeping she started singing and cooing to it and fluffing up her feathers inviting him (or her) to her. She accepted all five of my "bator babies" and is quite thrilled with her brood of seven (and very protective). I guess it depends on the hen, but to anyone else wanting to put their bator babies with a broody, I would encourage it.
I'm glad it went so well for you. Some hens just love chicks! I was given a chick by a friend once and I had a broody with her own little ones who were a few days old at the time. I figured I'd try and see if she'll adopt my gifted one and I went into the chick pen with it. My chick started cheeping and the hen immediately called it. When I put it down the hen started clucking, so the chick went to the hen and she accepted it happily.
