Technical Abstract: This chapter presents an overview of the current knowledge of the microbes in the gut of poultry, with particular focus upon which microbes make up the community, how the microbes get into the gut, and on Campylobacter, the bacterial member of the poultry gut with the greatest impact upon food safety. Studies have found the microbes in poultry differ depending upon the gut compartment with Lactobacilli and other facultative anaerobes thriving in the crop through the ileum. In the cecum and colon strict anaerobes like Clostridia dominate. Each bird species harbors a uniqe microbial community which it aquires after hatching. However, the poultry gut communities resemble each other, and like other gut microbial communities are dominated by the phyla Firmicutes and Bacteroidetes. A number of possible ways to reduce Campylobacter in the poultry gut have been explored, but as of yet no commercial product has come from the research. Metagenomics has thus far been rarely implimented in studies of the poultry gut, but it holds considerable promise in providing additional data and understanding to the microbial community, and to attempts to control Campylobacter.