Anyone using black soldier flies?

[CluckyJay]

Another way people could overcome the fear of the doodies, harvest some immature larvae and then allow them to gut load on some *clean*, mineral-rich foods for a few days. A good rinse in clean water should provide a really nice meal for chickens/hogs--etc. This is something I was considering, actually. I love feeding gut loaded insects to my animals. That way I can get as many wonderful nutrients in their diet as possible.

I am working on plans for an extruder and making a meal from the maggots for long-term, compact storage. Hopefully next year we'll really get started on it. So many dreams, so little money!

 

[D3invertebrates]

I was worried the first year I grew bsf that I wouldnt get any threw the winter so I wanted to find a way to save some well later I found I can harvest all throughout winter where I live but anyway I came up with freeze drying them and it was kinda bootleg but heres how I did it, I got a little screw on lid plastic container then drilled a small hole the size of a syringe then I put a big horse syringe through the hole and I had a spring just the right size to fit in between the plunger and the syringe so that it was putting force on the syringe well I hot glued the whole syringe onto the container then filled it up with larvae and just before I closed the lid completely I push in the plunger in and screwed the lid on tight at the same time holding the plunger down then when the lids on I let go of the plunger and the force of the spring would create a vacuum within the container. It worked pretty well for being something I kinda macgyvered outa stuff just laying around in just a few minutes lol. From what Ive read freeze drying is the best way to store them on the long term.

 

[CluckyJay]

I'm confused, how did that freeze dry them? Was it vacuum storage?

 

[D3invertebrates]

lol oh I just forgot to say I put them in the freezer for awhile would be the last step to that

 

[CluckyJay]

Okay, hehe.

What about using that dry ice stuff? Is that what it is called? I can't remember, LOL.

 

[D3invertebrates]

Not sure why you would want to use dry ice a freezers pretty convenient I suppose you could use it in a cooler or something like that. Just make sure you put the ice in the cooler not the sealed container, dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide and it releases gas as it thaws so putting it in a tightly sealed container could be a bit disastrous lol.

 

[CluckyJay]

I am trying to find a way to process them for dry storage. I cannot freeze them. I think my best bet is still going to be dehydrating them. We'll see, hehe.

 

[tmoore8595]

Quote:
Pictures?

Sorry for the delay

Bottom half of a 55 Gal. barrel.

BFS grubs self harvesting.

 

[tmoore8595]

Sorry, I got the wrong picture in the last post.

BSF grubs self harvesting.

 

[tom e]

That is pretty cool! Thanks for posting. Simple and looks effective!