Broody Hen Emergencies

[meredithp]

Hello All, Hoping for some advice. I have a first time momma on my hands. She is a young Barred Rock and has done a great job getting her eggs to day 21 (today). We've had a few scary moments when she left the nest for long periods of time, but I candled the eggs on Day 19 and things are looking good with most of the eggs (movement, veining, intact air sacs, etc).
Here's my emergency: today I checked the eggs and noticed that the egg in the very center of the nest was about 1/3 smashed. I don't think that it has internally pipped and the internal membrane is still intact. I can see the chick moving but do not hear and cheeping. The chick is very warm but I am afraid that with its egg being so damaged that it will not survive until it is ready to hatch (which I am assuming will be any hour now). None of the other eggs have pipped.
Should I take the egg and place it in some sort of homemade incubator, making sure to keep the humidity up?
Thanks so much for any advice at all. I'm a little panicked and would like to make this decision before I go to bed tonight.

 

[meredithp]

Hello All, Hoping for some advice.  I have a first time momma on my hands.  She is a young Barred Rock and has done a great job getting her eggs to day 21 (today).  We've had a few scary moments when she left the nest for long periods of time, but I candled the eggs on Day 19 and things are looking good with most of the eggs (movement, veining, intact air sacs, etc). 
Here's my emergency:  today I checked the eggs and noticed that the egg in the very center of the nest was about 1/3 smashed.  I don't think that it has internally pipped and the internal membrane is still intact.  I can see the chick moving but do not hear and cheeping.  The chick is very warm but I am afraid that with its egg being so damaged that it will not survive until it is ready to hatch (which I am assuming will be any hour now).  None of the other eggs have pipped.  
Should I take the egg and place it in some sort of homemade incubator, making sure to keep the humidity up?  
Thanks so much for any advice at all. I'm a little panicked and would like to make this decision before I go to bed tonight.

UPDATE:
The chick is dead. It looks like momma pulled off the membrane and crushed the rest of the egg. She moved it from the front to the center of the nest. When I went out to take a look, momma was pecking at the dead, beautiful, fully formed chick. There was blood and yolk in the straw in the nest. Wish I had taken the chick when I first noticed it. Really upset with myself.
Next question:
is she likely to get involved (in a bad way) when the other chicks start to hatch?
Could she be intentionally breaking the eggs bc she is an inexperienced momma?
Should I take the eggs and keep them til they hatch??

Please, any advice from more experience folk would be much appreciated!

 

[howfunkyisurchicken]

The chick may have died at some point and she was just cleaning up the nest. At this point *I* would leave the eggs with her. If anything seems off with her, remove the eggs.
You could always try giving the chicks back once they're dry, if you have to take them. Or just brood them yourself. Good luck

 

[chickentrack]

i would bet that nature knows better than us and leave them with her.

 

[keva]

I have a broody hen that has hatched 3 chicks over the course of a week. She has been taking the babies out more and more and I'm concerned for the 4 eggs still waiting to hatch. They feel cool to the touch to me. One pipped yesterday and is trying to hatch. I'm worried it is too cool and dry. She will not sit on the nest though. Should I leave the hatching egg or do anything?