adding to the flock one way or another

[jewelzbird]

TOTAL NEWBIE ALERT!!! We adopted two 3 year old hens that are sweet as can be about a month ago. A sudden heat wave has sent the sweetest of the two into the box and broody. Meanwhile, we have been hoping to add chicks to the flock as my son's class is hatching chicks in an incubator. Today is day 24 and none have hatched. We are starting to think there may be no babies coming. (my boys are super upset after 3 weeks of preparing!!) We have a brooding box all set up and ready for chicks. I don't know if this hen was picking up on the baby vibes or what, but she wants to be a mama now. A friend has offered to slip some fertile eggs under this broody girl for us. I read all about raising incubated chicks in the brooding box, but now I am thinking let the mama do it. Is this a good idea? I read about moving her to a "maternity ward" space, but we only have 2 chickens. (worth noting this is not the top bird in the pair, but the other one is only slightly dominant acting.) I guess my questions are two fold. First: If the incubator eggs hatch, can I slip babies under this broody hen and she will accept them? I'm guessing not. Alternatively, if the eggs do not hatch, and we let the broody hen (Buff Orpington) hatch some slipped in fertile eggs, can she raise them in the coop with her coop mate? Is it necessary to move her and her clutch out? The two hens have never been separated. And we do not currently have anything to use as a "maternity ward." I will have to make that happen ASAP if need be. Thanks for your wisdom chicken experts!!

 

[ArtGirl]

First of all

I would definitely let the hen hatch the eggs. There is a way better chance that your eggs will hatch with the hen than in a incubator.
She most likely wont accept them after they hatch but you could try.
You can have them in with your flock and the mother hen would protect them but there are a lot of things that can go wrong and after all that time I think the best thing to do is put them in there own pen. It really depends how many chickens are together in how big of a pen.
This ling has all of the information you could want about broody's and has answers to all of you questions. I definitely would take the time to read it

. It has help us a lot with our broody's.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/guide-to-letting-broody-hens-hatch-and-raise-chicks