Probiotics, A Natural Choice for Healthy Chickens

If you have been following my blog or Facebook page for any period of time, you know that I am not one who relies on claims about how a product or food item can benefit my flock without credible support for those claims. So, when Gro2Max contacted me about their probiotics for chickens, I had lots of questions for the company and insisted upon research backing up their claims that their probiotics work to keep chickens healthy and improve performance. Gro2Max provided me with plenty of scientific support for the benefits of their product; I then did my own research.

What are probiotics?

Probiotics are live, nonpathogenic bacteria that contribute to the health and balance of the intestinal tract. These good bacteria can strengthen the immune system and help chickens digest food more efficiently, helping them stay healthy and grow better.

Most of us are familiar with the benefits that bacterial cultures in yogurt contribute to our own digestive health and some chicken-keepers give yogurt to their chickens to impart those same benefits. What many chicken-keepers do not know is that chickens are not equipped to digest dairy foods and would be better served by skipping the yogurt and ingesting the beneficial cultures (probiotics) alone.

Last year, I asked Dr. Rob McCoy, PhD, vice president of Manna Pro Poultry Nutrition his opinion about feeding chickens dairy and he indicated that birds do not possess the enzymes necessary to properly digest milk sugars. Considering the fact that mother birds do not nurse their young, it makes perfect sense. Feeding chickens a little yogurt occasionally is fine, but too much dairy can cause digestive upset and diarrhea. A better choice would be to give chickens probiotics specially formulated for them. AUniversity of Guelph professor and an Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada food researcher have found that giving chickens probiotics stimulates their immune system and reduces the Salmonella bacteria in their gut by more than 99 percent. 

The Inside Story About Salmonella Transmission & How Probiotics can Help Prevent It

There is a mistaken belief that Salmonella is transmitted to people primarily through dirty egg shells when, in fact, most cases of the illness are the result of an egg that was infected with Salmonella inside the hen's ovary.

In the commercial poultry industry, “stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs were implemented in the 1970s (which) made illness from Salmonella caused by chicken feces on the outside of egg shells extremely rare. However, unlike Salmonella infections from eggs in past decades, the epidemic that started in the 1980s and continues to cause illnesses today is due to SE (Salmonella enteritidis) being inside intact eggs with clean shells. The reason is that SE can silently infect the ovaries of healthy appearing hens and contaminate the inside eggs before the shells are formed. (A)n infected hen can lay many normal eggs while only occasionally laying eggs contaminated with SE. Chickens raised for meat can also be contaminated with SE.” http://www.cdc.gov/nczved/divisions/dfbmd/diseases/salmonella_enteritidis 

A research team with the University of Arkansas studying the effects of probiotics on young chicks has found that giving probiotics to newly hatched chicks helps to keep them from developing and passing on diseases in later life, including Salmonella Enteritis.This information is significant, particularly for backyard chicken-keepers who do not have the same stringent procedures for cleaning and inspecting eggs as the commercial poultry industry. Providing backyard chickens with probiotics as soon as possible in life gives them the best chance to live a healthy, productive life, staving off illness and bacteria, including Salmonella.

What can probiotics do for laying hens?

• increase egg production, egg size & egg quality
• improve egg shell quality
• improve feed conversion
• keep bad bacteria at bay (acidifies the gut, reduces pH, competes with bad bacteria, elbowing it out)
• improve absorption of nutrients in feed, decreasing feed costs
• stimulate the immune system, reduce the need for antibiotic use

Advantages of Gro2Max Probiotics

• 100% all-natural, organic & environmentally safe
• Safe and recommended for use in chicks
• No withdrawal period
• Economical: a 3.5 ounce packet will mix with 28 gallons of water (1.5 teaspoons per gallon).
• Once opened, a 3.5 ounce packet will last 15-20 days
• Can be used in traditional watering containers or poultry nipple watering systems with the use of a tea infuser or cheesecloth
• Can be used with ducks and geese

All of the data and research I have read supports the premise that probiotics are good for chickens in many ways and I feel strongly about adding it to my chickens’ waterers from the day they hatch. If reducing the risk of Salmonella were the only benefit imparted by use of probiotics, that would be enough for me to put them in my chickens' water, but that there are so many other, proven benefits to my chickens and their eggs is what makes me so enthusiastic about recommending them. I encourage you to do your own research and draw your own conclusions. I have provided my sources and links for your reference.

Probiotics Protect Poultry from Pathogens,  Eileen Herrera, USDA-ARS Office of International Research Programs. www.ars.usda.gov/is/ar/archive/jan04/biotic0104/htm 

University of Guelph, Campus News: Probiotics Help Produce Safer, Healthier Chickens, Researchers Discover, Dec. 12, 2006. Sharif, Shayan  http://www.uoguelph.ca/mediarel/2006/12/probiotics_help.html

Probiotic and Prebiotic Application in Chickens, Bailey, J. Stan, USDA, ARS, BEAR, Athens, GA  http://www.isapp.net/docs/03%20-%20Bailey.pdf

Probiotics/direct fed microbials for Salmonella control in poutlry, Tellez, Pixley, Wolfenden, Layton, Hargis, Department of Poultry Science, University of Arkansas (2012) http://www.pacificvetgroup.com/docs/probiotics-dfm-for-salmonella-control-in-poultry.pdf

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This post is shared with: Down Home @Tilly's Nest,  Homestead Barn Hop @The Prairie Homestead, Top Shot @The View From Right Here