This is probably a dumb question, but a broody hen sets all day, doesn't she? My chickens free range. They are all out and about when I leave for work in the morning and when I get home in the evening. However, at sunset when I go to gather the eggs there is one hen camped out in one of the nesting boxes. She gets quite offened when I go to move her. This has been going on for about a week. Could the eggs be incubating, or should I toss them?
If she is out every morning then maybe you are interrupting her when she is laying. Normally when ever my hens go broody they increase the amount of time they are in the nest box kind of a little more each day until they are there full time and if they do come off the nest their feathers are sort of puffed up and they make a deeper clucking sound.
Check her chest -- a broody will pluck out her chest feathers to expose the skin. That way, when she lays on the clutch of eggs, it's skin to egg contact and it will keep the eggs warmer.
