The Power of Probiotics: Maximizing Meat-Bird Potential

If you raise chickens for meat, you know the importance of diet in getting your birds to harvest weight in as little time as possible. Because meat birds (for example, Cornish cross or broilers) are harvested between 6 and 10 weeks of age, it’s important to rapidly maximize growth. A diet containing 22% protein may support this rapid development. Probiotics are another important key to high yield in a short time frame.

History of Poultry Probiotics

Protein and probiotics didn’t always go hand in hand in meat-bird feed. In fact, probiotic technology is relatively new in the world of poultry farming. In the late 1940s, farmers fed antibiotics to meat chickens to further increase their size and prevent disease. These birds grew 2.5 times faster than chickens on a normal diet.

However, 40 years later, Dr. Leighton Linn, a livestock veterinarian from South Dakota, questioned this practice. He believed that correctly formulated probiotics would be superior to antibiotics.

Linn moved to Missouri in 1974 to found Star-Labs with partners Cliff Boyer and Gary Jones. Through careful research, they created a combination of probiotics to colonize a chicken’s entire digestive system and demonstrated through scientific trials that birds fed with the proper combination of probiotics experience significant growth.

Live Is Better

Star-Labs also found that the heat required for the pelleting process killed some of the probiotic micro-organisms. But they knew that meat birds gain the most benefit from feed with live, stable bacteria. With this discovery in mind, Star-Labs developed technology for poultry feeds that delivers live, effective probiotics able to withstand the heat of the pelleting process.

Effective probiotics may include the following strains:

Lactobacillus acidophilus
Lactobacillus casei
Enteroccus faecium
Bifidobacterium thermophilum

Why Probiotics for Meat Birds?

Simply put, the superior, research-based results speak for themselves. According to Dr. Gary Davis from North Carolina State University, quality probiotics “enhance nutrient utilization, uptake, and absorption [and] an immune response in the bird’s gut. This is an excellent management tool to help birds fight off diseases.”

Beneficial bacteria create a bigger bird during the same time period. These Cornish cross siblings of the same sex are 21 days old. They were fed a 22% protein diet with the following additives: left, no additives; middle, antibiotics; right, live, quality, stable probiotics. The probiotic difference is clear. *Image courtesy of Star-Labs.*

Diets containing high-quality, stable probiotics, such as NatureWise® Meatbird Feed, can boost the number of good gut bacteria, crowd out bad gut bacteria, increase nutrient absorption, and create a slightly acidic gut that favors good bacteria.

See for Yourself!

Ask for NatureWise® Meatbird Feed with probiotics. It will support your birds’ health, feed conversion, and livability all without antibiotics. To maximize the potential of NatureWise® Meatbird Feed, follow the below feeding instructions:

Provide as the sole ration from hatch to finish.
Use a 12-hours-on/12-hours-off feed rotation to prevent overeating.
Keep clean, fresh water available at all times.
Clean feeders and waterers regularly.