2 new chicks die 5 mins apart. Year later and it happens again.

[PipAddict]

Last year, 2 frizzle bantam Cochin chicks die 5 minutes apart. Maybe 2 or 3 days old. Bought from a store. It comes on suddenly and they seem to gasp or pant and then die. We thought maybe inhaling some dust from the food since they were both close or sleeping right by the food with heads almost in the crumbles. The other chicks of various kinds all survive.
Yesterday evening, two of my six day old store bought Salmon Favorelles died within 5 minutes of each other with similar gasping. The second one we got to watch die with nothing we could do. She just laid there panting. She pooped a couple times. It was watery, clear with a little white. Then thrashed for half a minute before dying. It was horrible. Maybe coccidiosis? They were all on the medicated starter feed. The repeat coincidence is bugging me.
What do I do with my last 2 Favorelles chicks? How can I prevent it from happening again? Also, I have an overnight Hatcher in my incubator plus 3 more eggs just pipped! 2 are pipped in the middle with one not through the membrane yet. One egg not pipped. I was planning to put them altogether. Now, I'm not sure. I have 2 chicks that are 3 weeks old in a brooder next to the new chick's brooder.
Last year's chicks were my first chickens and now is my second batch of their eggs in my incubator. So still a newbie. Any ideas why? Buy more supplies for 3 brooders to separate everyone? Keep them together? I read about putting Corid in the water. Would it be too much Amprolium for new chicks when they have it in their feed?
I'm a worrier

 

[Eggcessive]

Coccidiosis is not usually a problem in the first 2 weeks of life. In chicks under 10 days old, shipping stress is a possibility for death. The most common age is 3-6 weeks, and chicks may have lethargy, have runny poos with mucus or blood, be puffed up, and not eating. Look daily for any pasty butt, and get some Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell and give each baby chick a couple of drops. Make sure they are all drinking well. How warm is your brooder? Are you using a thermometer? Temps should be 90 the first week and decreased by 5 degrees a week. Always have a cooler area to get to if they are too warm. Are you using a heat plate or a heat lamp just for poultry?

 

[PipAddict]

Coccidiosis is not usually a problem in the first 2 weeks of life. In chicks under 10 days old, shipping stress is a possibility for death. The most common age is 3-6 weeks, and chicks may have lethargy, have runny poos with mucus or blood, be puffed up, and not eating. Look daily for any pasty butt, and get some Poultry NutriDrench or Poultry Cell and give each baby chick a couple of drops. Make sure they are all drinking well. How warm is your brooder? Are you using a thermometer? Temps should be 90 the first week and decreased by 5 degrees a week. Always have a cooler area to get to if they are too warm. Are you using a heat plate or a heat lamp just for poultry?

I figured they might be too young as well. I went to talk to a chicken guy at the store and he thought the same. Thought it must just be bad luck. Also said that changing feed could do that too. I don't think that is what happened in this situation but I had never heard that before.
I have a heat lamp over the brooder in my home. There are a couple thermometers in it. If the temp was off, it would've been maybe up to 5 degrees cool? Watching how they ran around and played all day, I didn't think it was off much. I hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary before then. Eating and drinking well.
I tried to get some nutridrench to the second dying chick but knew it was too far gone. Poor thing.
I use the pine, low dust, big shavings as bedding. Trying to find a cause, I also thought maybe they both got a small chunk off a shaving? I still feel that bedding is best for chicks but I know there is a lot of opinions on which to use .
Right now, I settled on putting a bit of each of the Save-A-Chick packets in the water and combined the 3 newly hatched chicks. So far so good. I scrubbed the brooder a lot. Cleaned up feeders and waterers.
Haven't got any more guesses but I figure write everything in case someone else has suggestions or can benefit. I know I do a ton of stressed reading on this site!
Thanks for replying! I feel better with each person that says it isn't Coccidiosis.

 

[PipAddict]

Also, in case anyone wondered, one of the middle pipped eggs didn't make it and the other needed a small amount of help.
The beak was near its bottom instead of under the wing. It tried for 24hrs with very little progress. I spent a lot of time that day using bamboo skewers off and on in the hole for the air vent trying to keep the chicks in the bator from knocking the eggs around and landing with the pip side down. I'm fairly certain the other chick suffocated from that.
Just about 1 am, I woke and check on it. The egg was really rocking and it was trying to crack out like you would crack an egg into a pan. The beak was still in the same position. Cracks ran out from the hole but the membrane just stretched and snapped back everytime. There was no way it could zip. I used my trusty skewers to flick off a few cracked pieces of shell and carefully extend a small crack where the chick couldn't reach then finally it had enough space and strength to get the membrane to start a rip. The chick took it from there and a few minutes later it finally kicked out, exhausted.

 

[PipAddict]

Just had a 2 day old chick I hatched do the same thing. I got to it sooner, tried the nutridrench but same quick decline, breathing heavy, death throws and then death. Do others have this happen? Just wish I knew if there was something I'm missing or if it was unavoidable. Might not ever know. I know losing chicks is common but it hurts every time.

 

[Eggcessive]

Sorry for your loss. There are many variables with hatching. Incubators can harbor bacteria, and need to be disinfected between hatches. Infections from incubators can be dangerous. Temperature and humidity fluctuations can be common reasons for problems. If you ever have a broody hen, that can be an easier way to hatch eggs once a year.