Can a hen raise (sit on, keep warm, etc) new hatchlings from a hatchery?

[K0k0shka]

Like others have said, your best bet is if she's already been broody and allowed to sit undisturbed for the right length of time - ideally, 3 weeks, or as close to that as possible. Have a plan in place for what happens if she isn't ready by the time you have to pick up your chicks (will the hatchery give you flexibility with the pick up date?)

Two more things to keep in mind - not every hen will go broody in her life, even from breeds known for broodiness. So if you're relying on this one specific hen, there's no guarantee that she will ever go broody. So if she doesn't, and you don't have another broody, you should be prepared to raise the chicks yourself - have a setup ready as your pick up date approaches.

And the other thing - even if she does go broody, and accepts the chicks, she may not end up being a good mother. Not all of them are. So you should ideally have a brooder setup ready as a back up plan just in case - in case she rejects the chicks, or accepts them but does a poor job raising them, or endangers them, etc. You may need to step in at any time and take over, so it helps to have the setup ready.

 

[Granny23]

ONLY if the hen is currently broody

I have a very broody 3.5 yr old barred rock and I got 4 new week old chicks last year, 2 RIRs and 2 Anconas.She would be a great mom I think. I wondered about that myself because I figured it sure would have helped to have Cookie with them when the time came for integrating into the flock.
But because we have hand/house raised our chicks I decided not too.
I read some conflicting information about Anconas and I wanted to avoid the bad things people said about them.
I'd read they aren't really friendly with people unless you spend a lot of time with them as babies.That they can be very noisy. Also that they are flyers... They did do a lot of "sailing" from higher places in their enclosure to the other end. I covered everything that they could possibly fly up to and possibly fly over and so far I don't think they will be sailing over my 6 ft block wall.
They do however still LOVE to jump on to my back when I lean over for too long. I slowly stand up and I have a chicken on my shoulder.
So far they are pretty friendly, come when I call them and both started laying at 18 weeks. The eggs are still really little but they lay almost every day.