Baby boom & weird broody behavior

So we've had chickens for the past 17 years. I've never seen a year like this one. We've had twelve hens go broody in the past eight weeks. This is extremely unusual! So they've been almost all successful hatches. Three of those have been old hens (6 years old, 5 1/2 years old, and 9 years old (!)) , which is also extremely unusual. The six year old's nest failed. The 5 1/2 year old's nest (her name is Pandora) would have failed, but I gave her a chick from another broody who had rejected him. He was less than a day old when I gave him to Pandora, his foster mother, and she accepted him. The weird thing is, she still acts as if she is setting. We moved her and the chick to a new pen, and offered food and water. But, I've only seen her eat a tiny bit of food, and no water, and nothing today. Her eggs, if they would have hatched, would not have hatched until this coming week,but i knew they were duds because the heat was beginning to turn them rotten, so obviously I took her off the nest when she got her foster chick. The chick is now three days old, and i have never seen her try to show him food or water. He appears still cheerful, I've seen him sitting on her back and once in a while I hear him peeping a little, but I am worried that she's not being more active by now in showing him food and water, or eating and drinking, herself. She does broody cluck to him, but only very softly and a few times. Most broodies start to show their chicks food and water after the first or second day. I don't know if she is stuck in her hormonal cycle or how to break her from it. I don't want to take the chick away from her because they seem to have bonded. I'm wondering about force feeding her some vitamins to try to give her a kick start. I've tried nutrients/ electrolytes, etc in her water, but I don't think she' s drinking.

Hens need to set for at least 2 1/2 weeks before offering a chick. Their hormones need to shift from setting to mothering. Just giving them a chick won't change their hormones.

Pandora is still in setting hormone mode. I would make sure chick can easily get to food and water until Pandora wakes up and begins to mother him...or put him with a hen that will mother better.

This is a classic problem with introducing chicks early before a hen has set long enough. A few hens (Silkies in particular) will mother anything at any time, but most hens have to go through the hormone cycle before they can begin to mother.

LofMc

She would have been two and a half weeks into her broody cycle, or just about that, i keep it calendered, but I have to look for the exact date. That's why I offered the chick to her, and not one of our other broodies who are not so far along. She has never gone broody before ever, and we have had her since a chick. The chick can easily get to food and water...I'm not sure, maybe I should dip his beak in water then? I have offered him food, and tapped the dish as I would for chicks that don't have a mother, but he hasn't responded when I do that, although most chicks do. But thank you, that's what I wondered, is if she is on a timer, lol, or if it had something to do with her age. It isn't a problem that I have had to deal with often, thankfully! And the other times i've had to switch mothers, i haven't had a problem. I will see how they do; so far, he seems ok.