Yes. It could go either way with broody hens. My Sebright, "Trouble," turned out to be quite a force to be reckoned with when broody. Since like you we have no bantam roo, her eggs are always infertile. However, our big beautiful English orps have a roo, so Trouble gets to hatch their eggs. It's quite funny seeing Trouble attempt to cover her 6 wk old chicks that are 2xs her size. Her last hatch she mothered until 12 weeks old. Imagine a tall group of orp chicks with a tiny little speck of a chicken commanding them where to walk.
I've found that my hens tend to accept chicks easier if they hatch chicks at the same time. (ie -I put 1-2 eggs under the broody & the rest in the incubator. As the eggs hatch, I slip them under the hen & she thinks that she hatched all of them.) Sometimes a broody hen will not accept chicks unless they feel the eggs hatching underneath them. I think they can sense the development, because they get very intense during the last days & "Talk" to their eggs before the 1st pip even starts.
I had a bantam hen go broody when my incubator eggs were around 17 days. I gave her 1 egg & then slipped another 30 chicks under her as they hatched. From her perspective she sat on 1 egg for 4-5 days & hatched 31 chicks! SUPERHEN! Because she was small, I simply put her inside my giant brooder with all the chicks.
