How to use, and not abuse, PROBOTIC. To give you some background, Probotic contiains approximately 180 million CFUs, (Colony Forming Units), per gram of powder. What that means is, there are 180 million individual freeze dried bacteria, in every gram of the product.

Where is Probotic regularly used:

Starting Neonates incubated from the egg: Probotic should be introduced to the baby as soon as possible after hatching. When it hatches, the baby bird has a sterile intestine. The sooner we can get some friendly bacteria into the gut the better – the more friendly bacteria we can get into the gut the better! Mix equal parts of Probotic and SPARK LIQUID CONCENTRATE together in a small container. A small spoonful of each is adequate. To the powders add enough boiled water once it has cooled to dissolve the powder. Do not dilute it too much as we want large quantities of the good bacteria in the solution. Warm the solution to 38C and give the baby a couple of drops: quantity will vary with the species. Repeat the process every couple of hours until the baby passes it’s first dropping. Now change to using a “tea” made from NEOCARE or HAND REARING FOOD. To make the tea, mix some food powder with water to create a very watery mix. Allow the mix to stand for 10 minutes or so until the large food particles settle out. Now suck some of the liquid from the top of the mix avoid drawing up any solids – this is the “tea”. Feed the baby this tea for 24 hours, making sure that some liquid is always in the crop. After 24 hours you can slowly start to thicken the mixture so that by day 5 the baby is on a normal thickness diet. Remember to allow time for hand rearing foods to take up water (2 – 3 minutes) but also be careful not to over dilute the mixture.

Hand Rearing babies older than 5days: When a baby is pulled from the nest for rearing it should get a good dose of Probotic for the first 48 hours. The first feed you give should be 50:50 Spark and Probotic made up to a liquid thin cream consistency. The second feed should be Neocare with an extra scoop of Probotic per 100 grams of hand rearing food prepared. After that you may continue with the Neocare or begin blending it back with Hand Rearing Food. If at any stage you think the bird is slipping backward you will see this if you weighing the baby daily give it another boost with the Probotic for a day or so – in many cases the bird will pick up again quite quickly.

Sick Birds: Every sick bird will have a drop in its immunity; a drop in immunity means a chance for disease causing bacteria (we call them pathogens) to enter the intestine. By dosing birds with Probotic we crowd out the pathogens and reduce the chance of getting a gut infection such as E.coli.
Because the Probotic bacteria are “friendly” you don’t have to worry about how much to use. It is probably the only situation where “if a little is good then more is better”! We normally recommend 1 teasponful of Probotic in 10 mLs of water as a starting point. In fact the addition of a teaspoonful of Spark to the same water won’t hurt.
Don’t muck around waiting for the bird to drink this water – use a crop needle – a rough guide is to give them 5 mLs per 100 grams body weight. To weigh your bird, you can use a cotton bag or paper bag, place the bag on a set of kitchen scales that can weigh to at least in 1 gram, tare, then put the bird in the bag and place back on the scale, read the weight and calculate the dose 5mls per 100gr body weight.

Stressed Birds: Transport, weather, aggression, owl and cat attacks and too much handling add to the stress in a birds life. The best way to reduce stress is to remove the cause of the stress, but this is not always possible. The next best thing to do is treat the stress by maintaining good gut conditions. Hence you should give Probotic and Spark to do all the same things we have talked about above. However in this case we do it in the drinking water as we don’t wish to make the stress levels worse with unnecessary handling. Use Probotic at 1 gram per litre and Spark at 20 grams per litre – put both in the water for 3 days.

After Antibiotics: As you know antibiotics are designed to kill bacteria – both good and bad. Probotic is a must after you have treated with antibiotics for any reason. If the birds are out in the aviary then addition to the drinking water at 1 gram per Litre for 3 days is adequate. If the bird is still in the hospital box then add it to the force feed mix (the mixture you are crop needling the bird with) at 1 gram per 100 grams of feed and to the water at 1 gram per Litre of water.

Many people ask if they can add Probotic to Psittavet – the answer is NO. Why not? – Psittavet is an antibiotic, it will instantly kill all the good bacteria in the Probotic. The same goes for any other antibiotic. The rule is you should allow 24 hours between the last dose of antibiotic and the first dose of Probotic - if you want any benefit from the live bacteria. 
AVICLENS and SWEET WATER must not be used in the same container as Probotic for the very same reasons – they will stop the development of the “good” bacteria.

What else stuffs up the Probotic?
Well the first thing is heat and poor storage. Temperatures over 45C will begin to kill many of the organisms, even in the powder form in the container. Do not add it to hand rearing foods until they have cooled to the feeding temperature of 36 – 38C.
If at all possible refrigerate the container as soon as you get it. Make sure the lid is securely in place. A good idea is to seal the container in a “zip lock” plastic bag when in the fridge.

Water can also be a problem if the powder gets damp. The moisture will activate the bacteria, but they will die again fairly soon as they are not in a suitable environment
(i.e. the gut). So try and keep the powder dry!

Trying to make up solutions and keep them stored doesn’t work well. It seems that 24 hours made up in water is OK (if stored in the fridge) but after 48 hours in water the bacteria numbers begin to decrease rapidly.

The addition of Probotic and Sweet Water to your treatment cupboard will save birds from a host of common aviary ailments.

For those not familiar with Sweet Water, it is Aviclens with added benefits. We have taken the well accepted Aviclens and added to it organic fruit acids. These organic acids act to reduce the pH of the water when Sweet Water is added to a level around pH 4.5. At this pH many organisms are either killed directly or cannot grow. Additionally, the lowering of the water pH, seems to increase the function of the gut so that food is better utilised and the birds are more vigorous and vocal.

During the extensive testing we have done in bird rooms, Sweet Water has shown great benefit when used routinely in the drinking water. The birds respond to the addition of Sweet Water by increasing their activity and their vocalisation – both a good indicator of how the birds feel.