BREEDING FOR PRODUCTION...EGGS AND OR MEAT.

[Arielle]

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[RedRidge]

 

 

 

 What is BSF? What is it used for?

 Thanks,

 Karen

 

Karen BSF are black soldier flies.

I've read that some folks set up a small colony in the coop so that as the larva drop out the hens can snap them up.  Kinda cool if working on a small scale. 


M

I harvest my BSF daily during the summer months and freeze them. The chickens have plenty of their own bugs at that time so i save the bsf as their source of animal protein during the winter months. A ramp that is at the proper angle makes crawl off and daily harvesting very easy.

SHeri, I can deal with creepy crawlies if I can minimize the toughing aspect. I appreciate bugs, but many I cannot tolerate touching. Others are a piece of cake. Depends on the bug.  Suggeations on a set up and how to get a supply? Or should I find the BSF thread?

I would suggest starting with a Bio pod Plus if you have an aversion to dealing with them. It is designed for easy crawloff and hands free. After you experiment with them ona small scale you will easily design your own system that works for you. But the Bio pod is a great way to get started.

 

[hellbender]

@ 3riverschick. Jason is fine with spotting you the trio in the summer if you wish. You really don't live that far from us and could come down and pick them up. Ol' dad will be down south where it's cool...no joke. Coming up on fall and winter where I plan to be for about a month but not so far south that it will be unpleasant...some where like Porto Alegre.

 

[gjensen]

I would suggest starting with a Bio pod Plus if you have an aversion to dealing with them. It is designed for easy crawloff and hands free. After you experiment with them ona small scale you will easily design your own system that works for you. But the Bio pod is a great way to get started.

This seamed a time efficient way to me.

 

[chickadoodles]

My chickens cannot waste feed, I use an automatic feeder and the feed goes into a 6" deep bowl so they cannot scratch it out on the ground. It works, I tried several size bowls and the 6" deep works great. I got them at TSC.

 

[pigsflyacres]

I would suggest starting with a Bio pod Plus if you have an aversion to dealing with them. It is designed for easy crawloff and hands free. After you experiment with them ona small scale you will easily design your own system that works for you. But the Bio pod is a great way to get started.

I think I'm going to try this! Thanks a lot. I just do not want to mess with maggotty things and this could really help me with some of my feed issues for my breeders.

BTW, I just do not like the quality of any of the purina feeds. I don't know if its what they use to get the formulations in our area or what. Don't like the Equine feeds or the chicken feeds. But they are often all that is available.

Jennifer

 

[bmvf]

A few pages back there was mention of feeding fly larvae. I had thought about putting a 'bug zapper' above the chicken pen and letting the chickens eat the dead bugs that fell down. Any thoughts?

On rainy days my calf feed gets wet and mushy (duh). The calves don't eat as much when feed is wet so I give them fresh feed. Can chickens eat it the leftover calf feed? It would have Rumensin in it.

 

[neopolitancrazy]

A few pages back there was mention of feeding fly larvae.  I had thought about putting a 'bug zapper' above the chicken pen and letting the chickens eat the dead bugs that fell down.  Any thoughts?

On rainy days my calf feed gets wet and mushy (duh).  The calves don't eat as much when feed is wet so I give them fresh feed.  Can chickens eat it the leftover calf feed?  It would have Rumensin in it.

I have used the Quik Strike fly bait, works great, and the chickens gobbled up all the dead flies, loved them. A quick google search found that rumensin is actually included in some chicken feeds, so feeding your leftovers to the chickens should be fine.

 

[Arielle]

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[Arielle]

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