I had a malpositioned baby that I had to assist with it's hatch. The baby came out fine. About 12-14 hrs later I noticed labored breathing, it was lethargic and its head kept dropping. By hr 17 the chick was dead. There were 2 other chicks that had been in the incubator with it and after time I started noticing their head dropping like the other one. I had 4 heathy chick already dry and in the brooder who are still doing okay. I removed a rotten egg from the bator 2 days prior, after these three chicks hatched I noticed a dark green substance on one of the paper towels. I thought it could be mold or bacteria but thought it could also be the afterbirth stuff so I took the 3 chicks out (the one haden't died yet) and put them in the brooder with the other chicks, I took the eggs out and put them in an egg carton with a warm wet paper towel over them and put them in the brooder too and I scrubbed the incubator down. The three babies and the eggs got put back in the incubator and it wasn't long after that the chick died. It's been about 18 hrs and I'm scared to put the other babies back in the brooder. One is pretty lethargic and its head keeps dropping and the other seems to be okay but occasionally has its head dropping too. Is this normal? What could be happening? Sould I keep them separated? Oh yeah, the baby that died had fluid in its mouth before it died.
