I would like to add that many of us do not have vets available in our own areas. Some large and small animal vets can be helpful if they are comfortable with chickens and poultry. Some avian vets may be good with birds but not especially good with chickens, and many can be way too expensive. That is why this forum exists, to help those who don't have vet care availble. However, we can't be equivalent to good vet care with xrays and lab work, just a helpful hand in figuring out a problem. By the end of this year 2016, we will no longer be able to buy most chicken antibiotics over the counter without a vet prescription. Then separation or culling sick birds may be the only way to handle illnesses in flocks if vet care is not affordable or available. That is the way many people have always handled illness in a flock for many years. Antibiotic resistance has become a real problem over the last few decades, and we need to try to get the healthiest birds, and by avoiding buying from unknown breeders and swap meets, that is all we can do.
