Thanks, that link is helpful.
Well, here's the situation, which I didn't go into before. These are all free-rangers. They have no coop, but normally sleep in a large mango tree on the property. They fly into the upper branches every night where they're pretty safe. This hen found a hiding spot on the ground where even we didn't see her for a week.
I guess I do need to act soon. I think she's pretty safe hidden where she is, and the only nocturnal predators we have here are neighborhood cats, which don't have a history of attacking birds in our yard. But yes, she is looking stressed, so maybe we have to do this.
She will be upset for a while, but it's best for her in the long run. Since she's constantly on the nest, she's not out moving and dust bathing as she normally would be, making her more prone to parasites as well. The metabolism slows when a bird broods because the bird doesn't eat as much. If you couple that with a mite infestation, a bird could very likely waste away on a nest--especially if broody longer than natural incubation time. Some birds do give up on their own, but others would either hatch something or die trying.
This is so hard. We try to take care of the birds that adopt our yard, and their offspring, especially "rescue" birds that have escaped from, or been discarded from, cockfighting rings because of their injuries. We don't cage them and try to give them a good quality of life, including good food & a lot of personal time. But as adorable as little puffball chicks can be, we just don't have the room to adequately care for a dozen new baby birds.
