Probiotics have become very popular in the poultry industry due to the many benefits they offer for the health and productive performance of birds. Currently, there are a wide variety of probiotics for chickens on the market, however, sometimes they are not easy to find and are quite expensive.
Yakult is a fermented milk-based product that contains a large number of probiotics. This product is quite popular for human consumption, however, there are those who use it for birds. If you want to know more about the benefits of beneficial bacteria in the use of Yakult in chickens, continue reading the article.
Benefits of probiotics
Some of the main benefits of supplying probiotics to birds are listed below:
- Maintenance of the intestinal microflora.
- Increased activity of the digestive enzyme.
- Decrease in ammonia production. (Know the problems caused by ammonia toxicity in birds).
- Reduction of undesirable bacteria.
- Weight gain, so you can quickly fatten chickens.
- In laying bird breeds, it improves the weight and size of the eggs.
What is Yakult?
Now that the benefits of supplying probiotics to animals are known, we will talk about the Yakult, since it is used by some poultry farmers in order to improve the health and productivity of the hens.
Yakult is a fermented dairy product made up of a bacterium called Lactobacillus casei Shirota. According to the manufacturer, this product contains more than “8 billion of these bacteria”, which help to inhibit some pathogenic microorganisms such as helicobacter, salmonella, and shigella.
Also, it helps to maintain the balance of the intestinal microflora and improves the immune system. Other benefits of this product are the following:
- Combat and prevent various gastrointestinal diseases.
- Improves digestion and absorption of some nutrients such as proteins, fats, calcium, phosphorus, etc.
- Stimulates the immune system at the intestinal level.
Although Yakult is popularly known for human consumption, there are also those who use it for birds. This is due to the fact that thanks to their high content of probiotic bacteria, chickens have better development, they are less susceptible to getting sick and their productive performance improves.
Yakult benefits for birds
As mentioned, this fermented product is composed of probiotic bacteria, so feeding it to birds brings good results. The main benefits of Yakult in chickens are listed below.
- Improves plumage development.
- Stronger legs with shinier scales.
- Improves the absorption of nutrients from the feed.
- Better weight gain.
- Improves the immune response of chickens.
- Reduces the formation of harmful bacteria.
- Reduces the content of triglycerides in the blood.
- Mortality from necrotic enteritis decreases.
- Improves productive performance such as egg-laying and quality.
Yakult dosage in chickens
This probiotic is easy to find, they are generally sold in corner stores or supermarkets. Each bottle of Yakult is 80 ml and contains more than 8 billion Lactobacillus bacteria, which help improve intestinal flora.
The way to supply this commercial ferment is quite simple, all you have to do is mix the contents of a bottle of Yakult (80 ml) in 2 liters of water and then pour this mixture into the bird’s trough so that they ingest. You can supply this probiotic 3 times a week.
Recommendations
Although Yakult provides a good amount of probiotics for birds, it is also true that “it has a high content of sugars that can be harmful” to the welfare of the animal. Therefore, it is important not to overuse this product. Currently, there are some natural probiotics for chickens that are quite effective and do not pose any risk to the health of the animal.
See Also:
- How Long Do Fresh Eggs Last
- How Long Do Chickens Live?
- Glossary of Terms Related to Chicken
- Glossary of Poultry-Related Terms (English-Tagalog)
- Free Range, Cage-free, Organic, Pastured Chicken: What’s The Difference