Help hatching egg

[bsg995]

My hen is laying in 4 chicken eggs about 18 to 20 days. My other hens would kick her off to lay an egg and then let her back on... I noticed one of the eggs the shell was cracked off but no puncture to the outter membrane. Canceled them this morning to make sure it was still alive and it is. What do I do about it? What if the membrane is too thick for it to break out ?

 

[Pyxis]

That egg's not hatching - another chicken jostling to get into the nest caused it to get broken like that. It's really lucky that the membrane didn't get punctured. You can try putting some scotch tape over the exposed area to try to keep moisture in and keep the embryo alive since you're so close to hatch date but if you have an incubator I would put it in there and not under the hen. It will possibly need some help come hatch time. I'd also block off the nesting box to other hens to prevent a repeat of this.

 

[bsg995]

I blocked of the hen so nothing else will happen to the egg. They should be pushing through shell tonight. One made a crack in the shell so I guess I shall see in the morning

and I don't have an incubator

Definitely plan on getting one