Broody hen went berserk

[Altairsky]

Foreword: this winter I purchased a pair of hens. They are a local italian breed called "Robusta Lionata". I chose this breed because it's local, and it's triple purpose: they're decent egg layers, they have excellent meat, and they easily go broody.
One of my 2 hens went broody, and I gave her 9 random fertile eggs from my neighbor to see if she would be a good mother.
I confined her so I could make sure she was eating and drinking.
Everything was going as planned, to the point that I let her out of her confinement pen so she could take a decent dust bath and poop out of the coop.
Day 11 and 12 were hot enough (32-34°C) that she spent a few hours free ranging.
On day 13 I had the impression that she never left the nest, so I confined her again to see if she was eating and pooping.
On day 14 I found a poop and some of the food was misplaced so she came out at least once.
on day 15 she never left the nest.
on day 16 she never left the nest, the scratch seeds started to germinate on the ground, so I forced her out (and I had to insist because she would go back in the nest immediately). I found a poop in the nest so she didn't come out not even for pooping. She ate something, some greens from the germinated seeds, but after 30 seconds she was in the nest again.
Is this normal for a broody hen to go berserk on the 3rd week of incubation? She wasn't like this in the previous 2 weeks. It really feels like something rang in her head after 2 weeks. Could she maybe feel movement in the eggs so she gets even more obsessed with sitting on them? I candled and the eggs are good and developing on schedule.
Should I continue to keep her confined so I can better monitor how much she eat?
I'm feeding her scratch, chick starter and insectivore bird feed, all free choice.

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

I just had a broody hatch out chicks (hers and my first time with a broody).
She seemed to get more persistent in sitting as time went on. In my (limited) experience your hen seems just fine.

 

[SourRoses]

We mostly just let broodies do whatever they want.
Provide food, fresh water, shade, protection from predators. But when they eat or poo is up to them. Some hens do things differently than others.
Unless she's showing signs of illness, I wouldn't worry.

Mind, I'm not saying this is happening, but some animals can double down when you interfere in their plans... like people.
My mom once, years ago, got into a fight with a broody. The broody was picking on some late hatch chicks, it was a cream legbar hen that just wasn't bonding well to any but her first day hatches. So my mom tried to get out the late chicks and the hen went nuts, ran all over all of the chicks, so my mom moved to subdue her and honestly I have never seen anything so bizarre. The two of them were fighting like cats and... cats. While I covered the chicks with my arms because there were more than I could pick up safely.
After a protracted battle, the hen just gave up, flew out the open door she had resisted so hard and rejoined the flock. Wouldn't look at the chicks twice after that.
We felt very bad, but if we had left things until the night some of the chicks would have been killed.
So what I'm getting at is that a broody is a bag of emotions. Tread lightly or you might find yourself trying to emergency incubate the eggs.

 

[Mrs. K]

I also just leave them alone. A lot of people interfere too much with the best of intentions and wind up causing problems.

There is a fear that they won’t eat or drink enough but they will when they need to do so.

Don’t confine her, and leave her be.

 

[Altairsky]

My mom once, years ago, got into a fight with a broody.

My girl is a sweety, I'm sure she will never fight me. Right now she purrs and cluck at me, and if I move her she doesn't even peck at me. The only thing she does is fluffing up, but she is more aggressive towards the other hen then me.
In the remote case that she might kill the chicks, then I'll let it be: it means she failed the test and she will never be allowed to go broody again. She's sitting on test eggs of uninteresting breeds (crested breeds with the vaulted skull trait that I don't want in my flock), whatever hatches will end in the freezer one day or the other.
My main concern is the possibility that she might starve to death, because it would really be sad to lose such a sweet girl. She's like a dog.

 

[Mrs. K]

If she can get to food, she will leave the nest for a bit and eat. The life force is stronger than the broody force, they put on weight before they go broody and she will be fine.

 

[SourRoses]

My girl is a sweety, I'm sure she will never fight me.

I really wasn't saying that she would. Rather, my story was meant to illustrate the intense emotions of broodies.
Nature is driving their hormones up the wall to cause them to act unselfishly, and if they feel like they've lost a battle over their nest, they may give up on it and revert to normal self-focused behavior. Otherwise known as breaking a broody. I hope that makes more sense of it.

 

[Huntmaster]

I found a poop in the nest so she didn't come out not even for pooping. She ate something, some greens from the germinated seeds, but after 30 seconds she was in the nest again.

Confining her with food and water so close can promote pooping in nest. Always have food and water available but at a distance from nesting area so she will leave nest eat drink and poo.

 

[Altairsky]

As advised I let her be and didn't take her out of the nest. She never came out for 2 whole days, then I found her out of the nest. I checked the eggs and they were covered in blood and chick feathers. She ate one of her eggs rather then do 2 steps out of the nest to get food. I'm sure the egg was not a bad one because the blood was fresh and the feathers were those of a16-17 day old embryo.
I hope she didn't pick the only cemani egg in the bunch of 9, but the feathers were black and I'm murphy's law favorite, lol.
Today the remaining eggs are peeping, we'll see if she can make me forgive her laziness.

 

[The Birb King]

As advised I let her be and didn't take her out of the nest. She never came out for 2 whole days, then I found her out of the nest. I checked the eggs and they were covered in blood and chick feathers. She ate one of her eggs rather then do 2 steps out of the nest to get food. I'm sure the egg was not a bad one because the blood was fresh and the feathers were those of a16-17 day old embryo.
I hope she didn't pick the only cemani egg in the bunch of 9, but the feathers were black and I'm murphy's law favorite, lol.
Today the remaining eggs are peeping, we'll see if she can make me forgive her laziness.

If she killed and ate one of her mostly formed chicks, I probably wouldn't trust her around the newborn ones when they hatch...