egg production

Occasionally hens go "broody".  That's where they decide they're going to nest, whether they have eggs under them or not.  According to more experienced hen owners, they will either nest until one of three things happen: 1) you break the brood cycle (by moving them and locking them in a new place for 2 days); 2) they actually hatch eggs; 3) they die from thirst or starvation.
We had a hen go broody earlier this year. At first we were excited thinking she would hatch some of the eggs under her. Then we realized ALL the birds were using her nest, so we either would have no eggs at all and have several wasted ones in the hen house, or we would run the risk of having to crack a partially formed biddie.  (See why I'd prefer not to have a rooster?)  We gave her 18 days, the normal hatch time, then broke her brood cycle.
Bearing all this in mind, we've been a bit puzzled by the decrease in eggs this week.  No dark brown eggs at all, and very few light colored eggs.  So imagine my shock when I decided to check a plant on the front porch one last time (it has died and needs to be removed from its pot) and found this:

Since there are nine eggs, that means they've been there at least a week.  With this heat, that's too long a time to sit outside and still eat.  So our only other option is incubation.  We're laughing, but at the same time I'm not quite sure what I think about this development.  You'll get an update of some sort the end of the month.