Anyone using black soldier flies?

[Ariel301]

Hi, thanks for your input and pictures! I'm going to start one of those buckets and see how it goes, and add more from there if it works out. I don't know that I have seen any of the flies here, but we do have lots of flies of various types, and I'm not really one to look at them too closely (at least until I learned about the black soldiers!) so we will see if it works. Thanks for sharing your design, that is much more economical than paying around $200 for a Biopod.

 

[triplepurpose]

We actually have the "protapod" http://thebiopod.com/pages/pages/protapod.html for our two dozen plus dual-purpose chickens. Several other farmers around here are experimenting with them as well. I've been told one of them is consistently getting about an inch of larvae in the bottom of a 5 gallon bucket, and idealy you can expect up to 3-5 inches in that time. So, a lot. Although I'm not sure how this translates for the smaller units.

So far it's been touch and go for us and most of the others. Part if this seems to be due to our climate (Hawaii: so, warm, humid, year round production). Most of the issues relate to drainage problems in the bottom of the pod exacerbated by the humidity--it's very easy to have an anaerobic layer develop in the bottom, which stinks like hell, and tends to repel some of the mating adults, reducing yields. But there are a lot of things you can do to fix this...

The pods aren't complex, so for folks with a small flock who enjoy tinkering could certainly come up with some sort of small-scale immitation that would provide a least a little high-quality feed. It seems a lot of folks are already doing that. The key thing, I understand, is having a good drainage and having the ramp angle just right--hand digging for grubs is definitely labor-intensive, so having it be self-harvesting is a huge bonus--in fact it's one of the big reasons why BSF is so exciting as a sustainable feed source.

The BSF are found just about everywhere in the world, but depending on your particular area they can often be elusive. Look for them in compost piles, manure piles or similar areas. Someone I know even found some in their composting toilet.

Or see if somebody in your area has some. Supposedly you can also get the larvae mail-order too, I've heard, but you shouldn't really have to. You can also bait your unit or a bucket or whatever with fruit or, some say, soaked/fermented grain, and the adults may surprise you by appearing seemingly out of the woodwork. Once you have some larva, you can work to build up the population in the vicinity of your pod by releasing a few (or all) of your larvae into loose dirt areas nearby. Or if birds or other predators are a concern (around here, everybody tends to have wild chickens--jungle fowl and feral--rampaging around their property) you can make a little grow-out area sort of like a raised bed filled with dirt, and cover it with chicken wire. The basic idea is that the larvae need to leave the feeding pile and bury themselves in the soil to pupate--that's why they climb the ramp of a Pod to try to get out.

I'm new to this too. I know a lot of this may not be directly applicable to some of you, since Hawaii's climate is so different from, say those of you in Arizona

, but I wanted to share some info all the same in case somebody finds it helpful. There is a lot of info on the internet, but you really have to search around...

BSF hold great promise as a sustainable poultry feed, I think. Chickens are intended (by Nature, God, evolution, take your pick) to derive their protein from bugs, not from the soy meal or slaughterhouse by-products found in commercial feed, and both the chicks and those of us eating their eggs and meat would be better off for it. Also, BSF can be produced locally anywhere in the world, using organic waste products, and the whole thing can be integrating into composting systems, producing zero waste, only useful by-products! Ok, enough of my proselytizing...

Good luck everyone!

 

[ryanhodapp]

Yuck!

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:

Sorry, I just can't keep quiet here: that's a common first reaction, but there's actually very little "yuck" about it. There is very little smell if you do it right, and the BSF females release a pheromone (undetectable to us) that actually works to REPELL other kinds of flies, such as house, horse, blowflies, etc. The adult BSF themselves, for their part, have no functional mouth parts and only live long enough to mate and lay eggs, so they have no interest in your house, your kitchen, your animals, or anything like that. Having a working BSF unit right outside your kitchen door can actually result in LESS flies around your place than otherwise! Our Pod is right next to our chicken coop, and there definitely SEEM to be less flies around than there used to be.

Unfortunately the second you mention fly larvae, some people just can't seem to get over it...

But the chickens have no such hang-ups!

Something to chew on...

 

[tom e]

I'd love to buy a biopod one day, but I'm starting to wonder if it's worth the cost? I am producing thousands in my 4 pallet compost bin (my own scraps + a neighbor's horse manure + a giant bag of coffee grounds every time I go to Starbucks).. I can't harvest them efficiently, but they crawl out through the pallet slats in such frequency that it's the first place my chickens go when they are let out. I also allow them to get inside and dig in the compost as well. They do find them!
I also really enjoy these bugs, my compost bin is as much a pet as my chickens!

 

[tmoore8595]

Can anyone tell me if BSF larvae can be raised all year, or just in warm months?

 

[tom e]

I do here, but it probably depends on your location. They make a good deal of warmth themselves, or it's my compost. Mine are regularly at like 90- 100 even on mornings were we have frost. I would only wonder if the adults that leave the bin would mate and lay eggs at lower temps.. I can say it's year round activity here in southern California. Maybe someone who lives in a colder region will chime in on that as well.
You could always buy worms though mail order to keep them active if it was worth the cost. They have other trade names for them, they are considered like the best food for many reptiles as well for their calcium/ phosphorous ratio: they call them Phoenix worms so they have a trademark, but they are the same things.

 

[tmoore8595]

I live in central Alabama. It gets down in the low teens here sometime but not often.
I think I'll try it with a five gallon bucket and just set it in my chicken coop and just let them crawl out when they want to.

 

[tom e]

If you can get ahold of some to seed it with, you won't have to deal with pest flies from the start, let me know if you want some, I'd be happy to send some if you pay shipping.

 

[tmoore8595]

Thanks Tom e
I think I know where I might be able to get some but if I cant I will contact you. How many would I need to start a 5 gallon bucket?