ATTENTION: MAGGOT FARMERS! Think this will work?

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Quote:
LOL! Thank you for those links! I think I will switch to fruit. Rotting fruit is pretty stinky, but certainly not as stinky as rancid cat food. Besides, we always have fruit scraps laying around, and because I don't feed my cats canned food I end up having to pay to feed the maggots!

As for overfeeding, I'm not so concerned about it. I have twelve chickens, and so far I doubt this thing will produce enough maggots to become an issue.

So if I use fruit will it attract the soldier flies?

 

[Oven Ready]

It looks like you need to get them from compost heaps (or via mail order), but depending on where you live you may have them already.

I found this article, clearly written by a man with a deep love of all things icky So does your hobby help you get many girlfriends? and it would appear that not only do these little guys not bother people but they like compost, they are packed with calcium and they like chicken poo - it can't really get much better unless they pupated into gold nuggets.

This Wikipedia article has other links as well Black Soldier Fly

 

[judas]

black soldier fly larvae are awesome buggers check em out on youtube they have a vid of a thriving colony eleminating 2 whole fish (one cooked one raw) in 24 hours looks like the un cooked skeleton was left over. they dont like dry matter/ clippings and if you use a biopod or include a ramp they will crawl out when they are ready to pupate/turn black i am sure the chickens will deal with them when they fall out if you dont include a catch bucket. since the non-native fish the white perch is garbage and no limit fishing i am thinking a couple 5 gallon buckets = a few for chickenz and alot for the BSF larvea.. in turn for the chickenz

 

[Oven Ready]

How is the maggotry going?

I hope you've not been hanging Vanillaroma Magic/Little Trees near your 'farm'.

 

[usschicago1]

Quote:
Exactly me too.

One Problem: You dont know if your ATTRACTING flys from ANOTHER area.

 

[bgw92143]

I wouldn't touch this. Poultry is very susceptible to Botulism. As the wet cat food spoils the chances of this deadly toxic becomes great. The maggots would then infect the birds dining on them. Quail producers have to keep sharp eye out for dead quail in flight pens. Healthy birds are taken out in great numbers from a a single decomposing dead one. This is to say nothing of the disgust with such a project.

 

[RachelFromTheBlackLagoon]

Welllll...the chickens enjoyed the few maggots it produced BUT I had to scrap this after a couple of days. The thing stunk up my entire yard, it was disgusting. I think I'm going to attempt to build the soldier fly composting thingy. Sounds much cleaner and less putrid smelling