Hen taking newly hatched chicks?

[Ahavati]

I have a hen that is a really good mama. She even took chicks I brought from the store and put in with her freshly hatched babies.

My question is, she hasn't been broody this year yet. I have incubator eggs hatching today and I'm wondering if it would be possible she might adopt these little ones even if she didn't go broody. I thought I might try to put her in with them and watch for a bit. But I don't recall hearing of a hen doing that. It would save me putting in heat and she would teach them to be a chicken. She has one baby left from last season, around 7 months old that still follows her and snuggles if she can lol.

Just wondering how possible it is.

 

[Miss717]

You could try and see but I would not expect it to work

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

The most likely outcome is dead chicks. ..the hormones associated with being broody are what tell her to mother vs kill.

 

[Ahavati]

Thanks. I thought I would try, under supervision and immediately remove them if she didn't take them. I wish she'd have gone broody!

I didn't realize it was hormones.

 

[Then I Will]

I think time is against you since the eggs are hatching today. If it were a few days earlier, I would have tried putting her in the vicinity of the incubator so that she could hear the peeping though the shells.
This might have instigate a rise of broody hormones and give you a better chance. ...I think?

My flock never attacked chicks that had been hatched inside the coop. The peeping from within the shells must have alerted them that new family members were on the way.