Poultry • Quotes
Peter d'Hollander
Broiler breeder farmer
Peter D'Hollander is a broiler breeder keeper in RK-Heikant (the Netherlands) with about 45 000 hens. Peter has been making his feed with his own mixing installation for several years and does this with passion. By making fresh food daily with a constant composition, he already ensures that a disrupted intestinal flora is avoided as much as possible. However, not everything can be avoided with this. In mid-2018, the animals were 46 weeks old, however, the high pressure of an IB strain still had a disruptive effect, allowing Coli to enter the intestine and leading the laying percentage to dip.
We immediately started with Bactocell, a probiotic with a Pediococcus bacterium, to displace the negative bacteria from the intestine. Although IB is a viral infection, we were able to successfully reverse the negative effects by administering good bacteria. “The hens' combs quickly became redder. You immediately saw that the animals were healthier, ”says Monique, Peter's wife. The laying results recovered quickly and mortality also dropped after a few weeks. The eggshell quality also improved, because the calcium digestion went back optimally. Bactocell remained in the feed until the end of the round and it is only then that the effect of Bactocell became clear. "I finished my round at 60 weeks with 66%, while in other years I was still 4-5% lower at this age. Moreover, the manure was also remarkably drier, ”says Peter.
It was quickly decided to continue the story of Bactocell in a next round. Also in 2019 the animals received the whole round Bactocell. The results from the previous round were confirmed here. “This round ended with 72% at 58 weeks of age (176 hatching eggs per stuffed hen), and I never had any problems during the round in any barn. In November the animals were moulted and the animals continue to perform at a high level even after the moult. ” says Peter. By ensuring a constant intestinal flora thanks to the probiotic, you can actually neutralize all stress factors. Both when the animals are moved and during critical phases in the laying period, the hen is much more armed against a dip in immunity. The pathogenic bacteria have no chance, if you use the probiotic preventively!