I have old Arctic
landrace chickens. They spent the winter in an unheated henhouse, with temps falling to -18°F for months. They grew extremely fluffy, ate like horses but were really healthy!
So I wanted to breed them. The sad thing is, that many
chickens have been selected to be not broody.
Luckily, I had several that were. They all sat on a big pile of eggs, but the results varied. Fennia got eight chicks, and was really busy tending to them all! Many got only two or three, the rest of the eggs turning out rotten at various stages of growth. Some chicks were lethargic at birth an died within days.
But my 17 hens now have 15 youngsters scuttling around happily!
No electricity at my farm so no way to use a machine. But the positive side is that a mother hen is so much superior at tending to the chicks! No pecking the young: momma keeps others at bay. Roosters find food for the chicks and help them out. Chicks sleep under momma hen's wings even once they have learned to jump to a roost.