Hatching soon

[NHchickenmom]

Hello, I have a few questions since this is my first hatch.
I gave my broody hen 6 eggs. I did a final egg check on day 17. One egg I couldn't figure out if it was still live. The next morning, the hen had kick out an egg. Contents of egg were probably eaten. Upon inspection, it didn't appear there were any blood vessels on shell wall, so I guess it must have been dead a while. Smelled bad too!
The nest still has a slight odor so I'm wondering if bad egg broke before or on its way out of the nest. I really want to change the nesting material, but I don't want to disturb broody and tomorrow is supposed to be hatch day. Also, she has been adding a lot more feathers to the nest. I have no idea if this is normal behaviour just before hatch or I'm going to find out I have a mite problem that I can't see. If I wait to change nesting material until hatch is complete, should I try to salvage the feathers mama pulled out?
Thanks for helping.

 

[Little Chicken Lady]

It's perfectly normal for a broody mama hen to pluck out feathers from her chest in an attempt to fix up her nest for her new chicks' comfort. She tries to keep her eggs warm, the humidity correct, and nest soft for the hatching chicks. If you're seriously concerned about potential disease from the rotten egg, you can move the mama hen and her eggs to a different nest overnight. That trick has worked for us a few times. But your broody hen knows what she is doing, and she has fixed the nest the way she likes and thinks is best. I would trust her to do what needs to be done, especially if you're so close to hatching. The chicks will begin popping up any day. Congrats to you and your new mama hen!

 

[NHchickenmom]

Well, hatch day 21 came and went. I awoke to 2 adorable new faces. Mama made a huge smelly poo in the nest so I changed it out. I did try to salvage some of the feathers which weren't soiled.
Day 22: No new hatched eggs and the new nest smells bad. I inspect the remaining 3 eggs while mama goes out to stretch her legs and go potty. 2 eggs are oozing smelly liquid. Can't be good, so I remove them.
Day 23: Still waiting for the last egg to do something. Nest finally doesn't smell bad. Mama took her 2 chicks on a short walk before returning to the nest.
How long do we wait?

 

[NHchickenmom]

Day 24: Hen has kicked out the last egg= no more waiting.