two issues:

[Tina silversepter]

We got first time chickens last fall so this is the first time we've experienced hatching, and I have two problems;
1) there are two chicks that have been in the nest for two days, and when the brooder got up today there were about five eggs left and what looks like a dead chick laying amongst them. There is a horrible smell coming from the nest, along with a couple of broken egg shells (from the hatched chicks) What should I do? Do I remove it, how do I check for a bad egg? (if that's where the smell is coming from) or do I just trust her to take care of it?

2) Before she went into brooding, all the chickens were laying in an off-the-ground nesting box. When she went into brooding, I moved the box to a private area on the ground. I am now realizing that the box itself is too deep for the chicks to get out of. How do I help them get food and water? I don't want to move the entire nest to a new location because she is still sitting on eggs that may hatch.

 

[Kiki]

First...You need to remove the dead chick and candle the other eggs to see if they are still alive...before they all explode in there and you have a real stinky mess.

Could you remove the box all together and leave her on the ground?

 

[Chicken Chat]

I agree with KikisGirls, you need to get the bad eggs and body out of there. Can you put some more bedding in the box to shallow it up? If not, I would just remove the box.

 

[Tina silversepter]

thank you! when I got home the other night, mom and her babies had abandoned the nest, so it was easy to get of all the mess. Than you for the responses!