Broody chicken and eggs

[ChickenPixi]

I know this is a strange question but I have to ask. I lost one of my chickens recently so I am down to two. Now I know I can go out and buy pullet chicks for next to nothing anyway, but I also know there is a system to getting them to adjust with the current flock.
I'm worried about bringing new young chicks in
So if I get an already fertilized egg and put it into my coop...and my ladies are broody...will they take the egg? Or will they know that it is not their chick and kill it?

I thought that might perhaps be an easier way to bring in new chickens maybe later on, with out worrying about trying to put a new unfamiliar chicken in with an already familiar group.

 

[LRH97]

You can absolutely acquire fertile eggs and hatch them out, that is if you have an incubator or a broody hen. A good broody will sit on anything that looks remotely egg-like. I've even used a Jersey Giant hen to hatch turkey poults before!

 

[Pork Pie]

Depending on how well you know your broody hen, getting the timing right. i.e. ensuring that you are confident that the hen is 100% committed to be being broody and getting fresh fertile eggs (ideally under 10 days old) is your only challenge. Whilst a hen may well remain broody for a length of time, the limited intake of food and water may impact negatively on the hen if left if she is left for a number of weeks before she is given eggs to set.

I recently have (just under a week ago) set eggs under my broody that i purchased. If you know of a source of readily available fertile eggs then theres no problem and it certainly makes integration a non-issue.

CT