When should you feed a probiotic?

There are two good times to feed probiotics: to chicks and to a bird that's recovering from an illness, especially if it's received an antibiotic.

If you buy day-old chicks or you're hatching eggs in an incubator, they're not going to receive the microbes they'd naturally pick up from their mother and other adults. A probiotic helps bacteria to colonise the gut.

The other is after illness, says lifestyle block vet Dr Sarah Clews.

“I recommend the use of probiotics for any animal recovering from an illness to aid holistic health. They also have a specific role in repopulating the gastrointestinal tract after a prolonged course of antibiotics which can otherwise lead to harmful bacteria taking hold, or fungal infections taking over, eg sour crop.”

While there are commercial products available with a wide range of beneficial bacteria, you can also add a small amount of Lactobacilli yoghurt to water (5ml per litre). This dose is very low in lactose (which poultry can't digest), so it doesn't upset their gut.