Gurgling/rattle breathing sound - cannot purchase antibiotics

[bluewithflowers]

Not sure if a future reader with similar problem might find an update to be helpful, but we did see the chicken vet this morning. He advised to cull the two birds and any others with the rattling breath sounds, give oxytetracycline to the remaining flock and see if there are any changes in a week, when we should have the results of the swab. He pretty much said the best case scenario is probably that they will get this periodically - and if we plan to have chicks in the coop again, we should just cancel the order for this year, keep the birds for the summer since they are laying well still, cull in the fall, burn, tear apart the coop, bleach, paint, etc., let it sit all winter and do it again in the spring. Pretty much your advice, @Eggcessive . Everything I've read about the rattling has not suggested a chicken cold, though. Live and learn. Thanks everyone for your time.

 

[Eggcessive]

Glad that you could see the vet and get testing. If you find out what it is, let us know. There is always a chance that tests may come back negative, but usually that means that the specimen was not good or there is a false negative.