Growing Black Soldier Fly Larvae for the chickens

[Tweeza]

I'm new to chickens. Our's arrived Sept 5 as new borns. They are doing great!

I've had time today to read some posts and have notice a lot of posts on purchasing bugs for the chickens. I ran across Black Soldier Fly Larvae (aka Pheonix Flies), one day this past spring. They were in my compost barral (I'm new to that also). They became my fast friends as I'm not very good at composting and they were a tremendous help! I have since purchased a BioPod just to grow them for my chickens. They have great nutritional value and the chickens go nuts over them. I figure it'll pay for itself. I've sold some to a pet store but that didn't last long. Not many folks know about them and I guess wouldn't purchase them.

Here's a link: http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/black-soldier-fly-project/ Scroll down and look to the right for a video of a cute little girl feeding them to chickens.

If you are a handy person with tool and such, I have seen do it yourself ideas for homemade "growers." BSFL are very easy to grow and will eat anything you wouldn't want to feed your chickens. When I had them in my compost barrel, they would crawl out the little holes drill all around the sides and fall into a water pan. I would fish them out with a spoon every morning and sometimes evening. This was a pain and I'd sometimes need help from my kids because there were just to many and it would take me forever by myself.

There is a teacher at my daughters school that raises Florida Wood Roaches for his reptiles. He said he didn't have to worry if any escaped because the conditions weren't right for them to survive and start breeding. They need high humidity. I would bet the chickens would love them also.

 

[Tweeza]

I hope it's okay to change the subject line. After I posted it decided it wasn't what I really wanted it to say.

I wanted to include a link to a study/project done at NORTH CAROLINA STATE UNIVERSITY. http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/smithfield_projects/phase2report05/cd,web files/A2.pdf It was very interesting. I thought I'd include the conclusion here to wet your interest in the report. I feed my larvae spoiled food stuff that got pushed to the back of the fridge, fat scraps, things I wouldn't feed to anything else, and rabbit manure.

I didn't have to purchase the larvae, just had to provide a home.

CONCLUSION
Economic and environmental impacts of widespread adoption of this manure digestion system would be significant. Value of larval feedstuff produced would be a strong incentive to manage this system well (Sheppard and Newton, 2000). The potential added value from converting confined livestock manure to a high value feedstuff is many millions of dollars in the southeastern United States alone. If the prepupae were marketed as specialty feeds, or further processed for biodiesel, chitin, essential fatty acids and/or other products, then the value could be much higher. Environmental benefits from manure and plant nutrient reductions and house fly control would also be significant.

Tweeza

 

[rebelcowboysnb]

Interesting? May need to find another old deep freeze an try this.

 

[Noobchick]

Thank you to the original poster!! Just found out about soldier fly larvae!! So glad I didnt listen to the exterminator; he saw them in my compost bin and wanted to spray them! 0_0

 

[FenDruadin]

Hey--I'm really interested in doing this. Can someone enlighten me on the risks? I mean, won't it attract more flies to my yard? Are soldier flies a pest? Thanks!