Black Soldier Fly composter

[buttonquailtx]

I clean under my cage every second or third day, and all the droppings go into the bin. As far as table scraps, I put everything but bones into the bin. BSF larva will eat anything from rotting vegitables to meat. The only thing other than bones I don't feed the bin is dairy products because they really make the bin smell. The worms actually create a kind of antibacterial that keeps them from transferring harmful pathogens. Another added bonus is that once established, the worms create a pheromone that keeps other flies away.

I saw a website wh

 

[buttonquailtx]

I saw a website where a man put his BSF bin in the chicken coop and made a feeder where the worms fell into and the chickens could eat whenever they want.

 

[geedub]

1,000 per day climb up those pipes and fall in the bucket? Not doubting your word, just making sure I understand.

That's about a pint per day which isn't unusual for a container that size. The harvest might be even better if the ramps were tightly secured against the walls since the larvae tend to hug the wall as they try to migrate.

 

[geedub]

I clean under my cage every second or third day, and all the droppings go into the bin. As far as table scraps, I put everything but bones into the bin. BSF larva will eat anything from rotting vegitables to meat. The only thing other than bones I don't feed the bin is dairy products because they really make the bin smell. The worms actually create a kind of antibacterial that keeps them from transferring harmful pathogens. Another added bonus is that once established, the worms create a pheromone that keeps other flies away.

Always nice to see variations on BSF composters.

I'm a little surprised that you've had issues with dairy products, I add them occasionally without noticing adverse effects. I'm actually more careful with meat. I try to limit the amount of flesh I add to what the colony can process in several hours at the most.

 

[buttonquailtx]

The ramps were zip tied to the side, but I didn't use the right zip ties and they broke off. I need to replace them.

I seldom add meat. The quail droppings are doing much better than the kitchen scraps, so I hardly ever add anything else now. Last summer I only added kitchen scraps, and my yields were much less. Maybe 150 to 300 worms at most. Now I am getting so many that I started freezing them to feed in the winter.

 

[cookiesdaddy]

For the bin:

I used a plastic tote. I made slits on the side by drilling 1/2 inch holes and cutting out the space in between two holes with a dremmel tool.
I drilled 1/8 inch holes on the bottom along one side to allow drainage.
I used self adhesive velcro and placed it just below the slits to keep the larva in.

For the ramps:

I used 1 inch PVC and cut all but the last 4 inches in half.
I used a hole saw to drill two holes in the tote for the ramp to exit.
The PVC ramps should be against the walls of the tote and go from the top corner to the opposite bottom corner
I attached a 90 degree elbow to the PVC outside the tote and added a short piece of PVC to each elbow.
The PVC empties into a bucket and the larva climb out when ready

The tote needs to be placed in a shady area

I use mainly quail droppings to fill the composter, but sometimes add table scraps.

Right now I am collecting about 1000 larva a day. It's enough to feed my bearded dragons and suppliment the chickens' feed.

It is easier to "seed" the bin with larva at first, but they are cheap to buy. They are marketed as Reptiworms and Phoenix Worms. I added 500 worms to start with, and in two weeks began to harvest about 500 a day.

It's great being able to turn droppings into gold!!

The worms/larva are dry and not gross to handle



Feel free to ask me anything I may have missed.

Thanks for showing the plan. I'm curious how eggs get multiplied in the bin. Is it what that slit on the side for, so that flies will fly from outside in to lay more eggs?

 

[ssummers]

Thank you for posting. I seem to be over run with them in my worm composter. I have chickens and want them out of the worm composter and into something for the chickens. It looks fairly simple, is there anything else I should know?

 

[Sally_O]

Great info here! About how much quail droppings/table scraps do you add per day? Like 1 cup, 5 cups, a gallon...? Thanks!

 

[RichnSteph]

Newb question here. If you are getting upwards of 1000 larvae a day do you ever have to stop harvesting so that some of them can become beetles and then flies? I ask because I've got a compost bin that is approximately 40x40x24 deep and it is full of BSF larvae. I don't have chickens yet so I haven't put in any little ramps or anything for the larvae to get out and am hoping they'll stay in there and continue to reproduce.

 

[CherMoz]

Check out this site from Harvey Ussery about black soldier flies. http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Soldier+Grubs.html
He has great information.