Ime people are not all that clever at thinking for themselves. The various threads here demonstrate as much. Imo better regulation than the situation you describe where it seems many who advise are experts in every known disease to chickens and happily 'prescribe' various drugs without really having any real idea of what the problem is, having not examined the patient.Well there’s only a handful of illnesses chickens get that could/should be treated with antibiotics and of those most are preventable by the keeper.
I think they should be treated as livestock. Treating them as pets and applying animal laws to chickens like companion pets is definitely a step in the wrong direction. We don’t need more rules or government regulations. People should learn to think for themselves.
I do agree overall that the antibiotics without a vet prescription won’t do a thing though. All the big food producers have vets on staff that will continue to allow the use of them in bulk while the backyard chicken owner is left without much.
It’s really just another feel good measure.
I’m just amazed at all the surgeries and medicine recommendations on this forum. For one there’s no way anyone has done and or dealt with all these issues. If they have I sure as hell wouldn’t listen to them because they obviously don’t know how to care for their animals and prevent sickness.
As you mention, no one in their right mind would take their advice because if they have experienced that many problems then they aren't much good at picking their flock and looking after it.