Is it a lost cause?

[Hannycakes]

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Does the mama hen show any signs of taking her eggs back? One of my girls got booted off her nest once by the alpha hen and she went back to it the next day. I actually set up a box and brought her inside and showed her the eggs and she sat right down on then and continued her journey from there. It was during a cold spell and her eggs hatched great. I also only allowed her a few eggs since I wasn't sure how she would be as a mama. You could make a homemade incubator I've had plenty of friends with success. I believe it's a styrofoam cooler, heat lamp, bowl of water for humidity and I'm not sure what else but it's a cheap thing to try IMO. Look up homemade incubator and there are plenty of homestead sites and blogs to give you reference and an idea. It's worth a try and you could always save the set up for things like this again. Hope it works out!

I tried to get her to set again, she wanted nothing to do with it and in the end she didn't even try to go back to where she was nesting, instead spent all day running around with the rest of the flock. I tried the styrofoam cooler but it got hot fast and was giving off that burnt plastic smell so I nixed that fast.