Broody Hen Sat on Wrong Nest!

[dragonchild]

I have a hen who's been broody for a bit setting on wooden eggs. I got a dozen fertilized eggs from a friend, and she's been setting those.
For some reason, today she moved to another nest, with both wooden & unfertilized eggs. I suspect that when she got up to eat, one of the other hens got on the nest to lay, and when mama came back, she just went to another nest with eggs in it. I moved her back to her nest when I found her.
I was not home when this happened, but she usually gets up between noon & 1:00 to eat. I found the eggs, which were cool but not cold, about 7:00, so depending on how long another hen sat there, they went from 5 to 7 hours without a hen. It was 75', and the nesting boxes are on the west side of the henhouse.
Given all this, what are the odds the eggs are still alive?

 

[mulia24]

you can try to candling them at night to see any movement.

but, in case to prevent taking wrong decision like tossing a live embryo, perhaps it's better to ensure whether they're still alive or not for about 2-3 days, I mean, candling them for 2-3 days to decide which of them are dead.

by the way, why don't you just take away wooden egg to prevent misperception by the broody hen?
you can also try to move the broody hen along with the eggs at night to a separate isolated area to prevent this thing to be happened again.

 

[dragonchild]

I removed the wooden eggs immediately after I put her back on the right nest. I don't have facility to isolate her (yet--starting one TODAY).

I went out at noon today to check her, and one of the other hens was sitting on top of her, trying to move her out. I made the other hen leave the nest, and that one went to a different OCCUPIED nest, and rousted that poor hen from her laying. A whole row of nest boxes to choose from (minus the ones on either side of grumpy broody mama), and she has to run someone off a nest in use. Probably why mama moved yesterday.

I will try to candle the eggs when I move mama to brooder pen/box. The fewer times I upset her, the happier we'll both be!

Thanks for the great advice. I appreciate the time you took to respond!