Anyone using black soldier flies?

[tom e]

Not exactly sure to be honest. Mine have just come naturally, but before they arrived I did have fruit flies and houseflies in the compost which I controlled somewhat by keeping the food waste covered with hay or dried weeds. After BSF arrived I've had no trouble with flies or smell, don't even cover anymore, they eat every days waste in that day. Awesome insects!

 

[triplepurpose]

Quote:
Sounds like you've got a good production system going with your compost pile, so maybe in your case there's no point buying a biopod!

So it might not be worth the cost, for people who are just trying to compost scraps and maybe give their chicks the occasional treat. In OUR case, here in Hawaii, we're a little more ambitious, in that we're trying hard to develop alternative sources of high-quality, low-cost, sustainable feed for local chicken farmers, so that we can stop relying on expensive grain-based commercial feed that has to be shipped in from the mainland at great financial and environmental costs.

It shouldn't be hard for people who really want to to make their own pod though either: as far as I can see, all you need is

- some kind of big bucket with a drainage system (preferably with some kind of collection system for the leachate)--that the larvae WON'T be able to crawl out through,
- a lid made in such a way as to let flies in, but keep rodents and other critters out, and
- some kind of ramp, set at the right angle (35 degrees) leading into a collection bucket.

It's not that complicated!

The rest is just fine-tuning the management of it.

The advantages of having a controlled, self-harvesting system, aside from convenience, is that it makes it possible to ration the feeding, and also to freeze the excess grubs for later use.

 

[tom e]

That sounds great what you're doing sky. If you figure out a good recipe that allows your birds to go off the crumbles/pellets, do let us know!! That would definitely make the cost of a bio-pod worthwhile for me.

 

[triplepurpose]

Thanks for the encouragement! I'll definitely try to share any relevant info if I achieve any major breakthroughs. Right now I've got to do a little reengineering to get my pod draining better... but I'm dreading having to muck out the huge anaerobic mess that's built up in the bottom!

I think it's really all about finding local solutions with feeding... For example if you live somewhere where grain is grown and there's a lot of surplus grain (e.g., most of the rural US), then it makes perfect sense economically and ecologically to make that a big part of a poultry ration. But there is almost no grain grown in hawaii, both for climatic and cultural reasons. So the challenge is to get creative and find other stuff that makes sense environmentally and economically. The same goes for any location, Hawaii just happens to be a more extreme example because of its isolation and radically different climate (to the mainland)....

One of the biggest and trickiest holes to cost-effectively fill anywhere is the protein requirements for layers and young birds. So Hopefully BSF culturing can help there...

It's exciting! This stuff is pretty cutting-edge!

 

[tom e]

Wouldn't you know it! As soon as I brag here about how large my colony is, they just disappear. And I just got a biopod for christmas as well. Is anybody having luck with them? Even though our temperatures aren't that bad, Im wondering if they might just have a cycle of inactivity for the season? It's odd, if I dig through my compost, I'm finding the odd one here and there. Black and maybe even a pupae- still alive but very inactive.
Anyone know about this? I'm considering ordering a batch, but I wouldn't if they are likely to just quit till spring as well.

 

[HorizonSon]

I hope to have a homemade BSF colony bin setup this Winter, in preparation for purchasing some this Spring. The plan is to have the BSF bin hung over the top of another bin for growing duckweed. The idea being that the liquid runoff will fertilize the duckweed below...

 

[Tarvus]

Quote:
That is a cool idea! I raise Black Soldier Flies and am planning on experimenting with feeding duckweed out of our canal to the grubs when our summertime duckweed bloom arrives this coming year. I hadn't thought about using the grubs to fertilize the duckweed! That would be kind of a cool reciprocal arrangement!

I do have a BioPod but have greatly expanded BSF production through some much larger bins I've created myself (and for a lot less $ than the BioPod cost). You can see some of the bins I'm using on my blog: http://raisesoldierflies.com. Just since December 9th this year I've harvested over 10 kilos of larvae from my newest bin. Unfortunately, I live in a town where city ordinances prohibit keeping chickens, and up to this point, my wife has been against the idea anyway. But I've about got my wife convinced to let me get a few hens which I will raise as "stealth chickens". I'm hoping if my neighbors see the chicken tractor I plan to build, they'll think it's just another one of my worm bins or Black Soldier Fly bins!

 

[tom e]

Quote:
That is a cool idea! I raise Black Soldier Flies and am planning on experimenting with feeding duckweed out of our canal to the grubs when our summertime duckweed bloom arrives this coming year. I hadn't thought about using the grubs to fertilize the duckweed! That would be kind of a cool reciprocal arrangement!

I do have a BioPod but have greatly expanded BSF production through some much larger bins I've created myself (and for a lot less $ than the BioPod cost). You can see some of the bins I'm using on my blog: http://raisesoldierflies.com. Just since December 9th this year I've harvested over 10 kilos of larvae from my newest bin. Unfortunately, I live in a town where city ordinances prohibit keeping chickens, and up to this point, my wife has been against the idea anyway. But I've about got my wife convinced to let me get a few hens which I will raise as "stealth chickens". I'm hoping if my neighbors see the chicken tractor I plan to build, they'll think it's just another one of my worm bins or Black Soldier Fly bins!

Tarvus, where do you live? You aren't having any difficulty in winter it sounds like? How's your production currently?

 

[Tarvus]

Tarvus, where do you live? You aren't having any difficulty in winter it sounds like? How's your production currently?

Tom, I'm in southwest Florida - Cape Coral - near Fort Myers. Production was great until early December when egglaying seemed to stop altogether. The cold weather we are having this winter has slowed production - which is to be expected. I think the big 10 kilo crawl off was the season finale this year. In March when our daily highs are back above 80F again, egglaying should resume. I still have a population going in my BioPod which should over-winter easily until spring. I probably slowed things down by harvesting and transplanting 40 kilos of grubs in mid November to finish out in some containers I am going to innoculate with various worm cultures. The remainder of the population (some 50 gallons of grubs and residue) I harvested to populate the new big bin which has since gone nearly dormant after the recent crawl-off..​

 

[tom e]

I just saw your blog, that new bin you built is quite ingenious! I have been trying to figure out how to make a homemade bin with a decent crawl off, but I've been stuck in thinking of my starting bin as a rubbernade or bucket type- and just wasn't happy with any of the solutions for the ramp. You made the whole of both sides a ramp! Had I seen this a month ago, I would have passed on the biopod, but it still may be a great way for me to start nonetheless. Till now I've just been hand harvesting them from my compost bin.

We have also had an uncharacteristic frost this year following which, I've seen almost NO action. All bins are filling with fruit flies again, even to the point where things are starting to stink- something I never had when the bsf were active. I've got things hot composting again to cut out some waste quicker. I'm also going to start feeding some healthier scraps directly to the hens, rather then turning everything to bugs first...