Broody Hen (New to this Chicken lark)

Hi, i am very new to keeping chickens, and today one of my Orpington Hens has decided to get broody.
I have removed her egg and the egg her sister laid this morning and removed her from the hen house. She had some food and water and then returned to the hen house. I promptly removed her again and then closed the door so she can not get back in.

Is this ok, she seems happy pottering around in the garden and although she has been back and looked at the house a couple of times, when she sees the door is shut, she goes away again.

Will this work or is there something else I can do? I know they make very good mother, so I have thought about getting some chicks, but I am unsure as to whether the mother and chicks would need to live separately to my remaining two hens?
I have heard about putting broken shells in where the egg was, does this work?

Any advice gratefully received.

Hi Colernehens, why don't you pop over to the welcom section and intruduce your self   We are a friendly bunch, and rarely bite

Regarding your broody hen, it may be possible to discourage her be keeping her locked out of the house after she has layed her egg.  the fact that she is still laying is a good sing, as it means the broodiness is not yet in full swing, so it may be possible to head it off at the pass, as it were.

If you are new to keeping chickens, I would advise against getting chicks for the time being.  The mother and chicks would have to be housed separately from your ther hens until the chicks were about 8 weeks old, even if they were able to be in the same area during the day.  Also, there is the cockerel question if you bought hatching eggs, or even young chicks, unless you get autosexing or sex linked chicks then it is often 8-10 weeks before you can tell the cockerels from the pullets.  (Having said that i bought my first chicks only a couple of months into my chicken keeping and managed OK.  I was lucky though in that only 2 of the 8 chicks were cockerels - and they made very tasty dinners).

Good luck, and welcome to the henhouse