@Percysmom I don't mean put a damper on this joyful experience, but I'd still have brooder equipment on hand and ready to set up if needed. Sometimes hens will reject a chick or two, or even abandon the nest - especially hens who've never raised a brood before. Yours is an old hen, but still..... I'd hate to see you coming back here to ask what to do with a one-day-old chick that was kicked out of the nest or whose mommy died from a neighbor's dog attack. Just be prepared is all I'm saying.
It could be just a large tote, playpen, kiddie pool, bathtub, or any homemade enclosure, say, 2x3 or bigger. Something to line the bottom of the brooder that's not slippery (no newspaper! paper towels are great), chick starter feed, and containers for food and water. And especially, a heat source like a heat lamp, brooder plate, or be ready to make your own "mama heating pad" like this one below, using a human heating pad and some sort of frame or rack to attach it to:
View attachment 3483916
(I'd credit the photo to the BYC member who posted it, but I can't find the owner. It's somewhere in this thread, started by @Blooie):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/th...d-in-the-brooder-picture-heavy-update.956958/
There are boatloads of nay-sayers about using heat lamps, and I agree with them about the dangers of fire. But if that's all you have, just make sure it's very well secured from anything flammable. I still use them in some situations with no problems.
Anyway, welcome and congratulations!!! I hope everything I've said above is not needed.
