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What breed is she?
Some breeds that brood really well can be removed from their nest for a short time, brought out of their trance, and eat, drink, dust bathe, stretch, flap, etc, before going back to their brood box. This only works for really tame hens that totally trust their keepers, and for birds that hold their brood well. If you're not sure, you probably shouldn't try it.
I take my Dorking hens off their nest for 15-20 minutes, 1-2 times per day. Be really careful lifting the broody, as they sometimes have an egg under their wing, up to their armpit, and you don't want it to drop onto the other eggs when you lift her. I cover the eggs immediately with bubble wrap that is wrapped in a clean towel. I take her totally away from the nest (in another room, or another yard, where she can't see the nest). I set her on several small towels that have scratch inbetween them. Then I talk to her and gently pet her neck and back to bring her out of her trance. As soon as she's awake, she frantically eats whatever's in front of her. Once she's full, she starts stretching and scratching the towels and drinking and flapping her wings and screaming to clear her lungs, sneezes to clear her nostrils, empties out all the broody poo, then she wants to crawl all over me and play and be petted (like I said, very tame hens only). After about 15-20 minutes, she starts fluffing up and clucking, which is my signal that she needs to go back to her nest. I carry her back rapidly (she's very insistent at this point), set her outside the box, uncover her eggs, and if it's dark I shine a light on her eggs. When she sees them she gets back in her nestbox and makes the happiest sounds, arranges the eggs under herself, and is back in the broody trance in 30-60 seconds. One of my broody hens will frantically try to get away from me every 3-4 days when she's carried past her old dustbathing spot, so once I stopped and put her down. She really needed a bath, and was SOOOO happy when she was in the dirt (it had been almost 10 days since her last dustbath). But suddenly the "egg timer went off," and she started clucking and fluffing up and wanted to get back to her nest. I prevented her from doing so until she shook the dirt out of her feathers, but then she went back to being a dedicated broody.
Please don't try this if your hens aren't really tame, or if it's easy to break your hen's brood, or if you're not sure. My hens are VERY stubborn when they brood, it consistently takes 3-5 days to break their brood when I do it intentionally, and they love being handled, so I've got essentially no risk as long as I'm careful to keep the eggs from getting chilled. (The broodies are in a separate, secure, secluded area of the barn, so nothing can get to the eggs when the hen is away). I weigh them twice weekly, and after almost 3 weeks of brooding they have lost only 0.4 and 0.5 lbs (they started out at 5.8 lbs and 7.1 lbs, so that's almost nothing for them, but would be a higher percentage in a little silkie or game hen). Because my girls are so big, I'm less concerned about weight loss during brooding than the lack of exercise. They get REALLY stiff when they're that big, and they need to flap and move to clear their lungs and respiratory passages. I know, I know, they'd be fine if I just left them alone, but I'm a worried mom. Plus, they really seem to enjoy the few minutes of company every day.
