Breeder farms face a number of challenges: feed costs have been rising significantly in 2020 and continue to rise in 2021, pressure to reduce antibiotic use, and high demand for top-quality hatched chicks

Breeder health and productivity are a top priority for producers:

• Building foundations for pullet and hen health
• Quality day-old chick production
• Reducing incidence of diarrhea and other disease pressures
• Controlling mortality
• Minimizing harmful odors and insects

Probiotics

As antibiotics are phased out and highly regulated in most markets, farmers are looking for alternatives to support bird health as well as improve hatching egg quantity and quality. Probiotics have been used in broiler breeder applications, but since objectives for weight gain and production are different from fast-growing broilers, many of the benefits are not well-defined

Current probiotics have little activity in the small intestine, most take 4-6 hours to begin working, by then they have passed through most of the gut

Timing is key – our activation technology delivers probiotic bacteria with over 95% of the cells activated and ready to begin growing as soon as they reach the upper small intestine

What does activation and growth in the small intestine mean?

• In order to have an impact on the gut microbiome in breeders, probiotics need to be active and vegetative throughout the whole intestinal tract
• The small intestine is where most nutrient digestion and absorption occurs
• Most immune system function is in the small intestine