Broken egg and moving a hen

[Sheltona01]

Hi everyone,
We had one of our girls crack one of our broody hen's eggs stepping on it. The membrane is completely intact still and we do not have an incubator. We have 2 questions.

1) is the egg still viable? We are on day 17.

2) we are thinking of moving her. We have built a little "nursery" that was completed today. Is it too late to move her? How would you go about it?

I've attached a photo of the egg.

 

[Coops Dad]

That'd be destroyed under a broody; without an incubator, it's a 100% lost cause. With an incubator, it's a 98% lost cause. Sorry.

Move her well after dark. Keep the lights off. Move the hen first, then the eggs; when you transfer the eggs, lay them against her breast and she'll tuck them under herself. Use a red lens on a flashlight if you need some illumination.

 

[Sheltona01]

That'd be destroyed under a broody; without an incubator, it's a 100% lost cause. With an incubator, it's a 98% lost cause. Sorry.

Move her well after dark. Keep the lights off. Move the hen first, then the eggs; when you transfer the eggs, lay them against her breast and she'll tuck them under herself. Use a red lens on a flashlight if you need some illumination.

Would it be better to just close the other girls out during the daytime and put a crate as a temporary nest?

 

[Coops Dad]

Whatever you can do to give the broody her own space while bothering her the least is the best option. If you need to move her, do it in the dark of night and as quietly as possible.

 

[WIchickMama]

I didn't move the one that I just had go broody-but I would 'cage' her off during the day so that no one could go into the nest and lay as I too had a broken egg. It worked fine for me, but not might be something you want to deal with or have the ability to. I blocked her nest off starting around 8 am and then opened it up around 1 pm. Sometimes there would still be someone trying to lay in there but I took my chances.

Agree with previous poster, move when dark if moving to a completely different spot or if you can't do that cover new area/cage with a towel so that it is dark for a bit.