Silkie not laying yet, can I convince her to brood?

[Natanya]

I've ordered 3 one-day-old chickens that will be ready to be picked up February 24th, a silkie pullet named Marshmallow, and a couple golf balls. Marshmallow is currently 5mo 3wks old, will be exactly 6mo old when I give her the golf balls, and will be 6mo 3wks old when the babies arrive. She's due for her first egg here in the next couple months, but hasn't laid anything yet.

I want to try putting the golf balls where Marshmallow usually sleeps between February 1st-3rd, in the hopes that she'll assume they're eggs and start brooding them, so I can replace the golf balls with the newly arrived baby chicks on the 24th.

I don't expect this plan to work, but I figure it's worth a shot since having a live hen on the babies will be better than a heat lamp- I think. Is an inexperienced mother a risk to baby chickens? Might she accidentally smother them?

I like the idea of the babies having a mom and Marshmallow getting experience with raising babies, but I'll be ready to set up the same brooder that I raised Marshmallow and her siblings in a few months ago.

 

[sourland]

Unless she goes broody, she will not accept or foster chicks. She will be more likely to peck at them than to accidentally smother them. Hens go broody when their hormones tell them to do so.

 

[aart]

having a live hen on the babies will be better than a heat lamp

...or in between those is this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate.67729/

 

[Natanya]

Unless she goes broody, she will not accept or foster chicks. She will be more likely to peck at them than to accidentally smother them. Hens go broody when their hormones tell them to do so.

Yepyep, that's exactly what I suspected. I got a handful of baby quails today and wondered what she would make of them, so I set her down in their enclosure and slowly added the baby quails on the opposite end as her, and she was utterly indifferent to them as they wandered towards and around her. I'm surprised she didn't try to peck them. She just hopped right on out of the quail enclosure after about a minute.

...or in between those is this:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/pseudo-brooder-heater-plate.67729/

Very nice, I have a heating pad that's not currently in use with an electric thermostat. I'll try that with this set of babies, I know heat lamps are perilous.