I love black soldier fly larvae

[kizanne]

It seems fitting that black soldier flies like to lay their eggs where there is chicken poop. I put out my brooder cleanout into a compost bin and did not put other stuff in nor did I add water (though it was moist). Now I have a bin full of yummy free grubs that are easy to get at. Through a potato on top and they all come running, literally can pick them up by the hand full and throw them in with the chickens.

It is zen like that chickens turn larvae into poop and the poop makes larvae that I feed to the chickens and get more poop.

It'll stink when the summer is over and I can't get the freebies anymore. I have another bin that I use to compost veggies and it is messier to get the larvae. sometime this summer I'm getting mealworms for the winter.

 

[Noobchick]

Agreed; love them. Just found out about them. What handy little bugs!

 

[gmendoza]

We have two phoenix bantams (Nug & Nugetta) who were not eating any of their food.We were wondering why til I found soldier fly larve in their grow out box. I tried to harvest some but Nugetta gave me the brush off,then the bums rush.

Now that they are bigger and in their own coop with the other banties,they seem to miss their larve farm.

 

[Noobchick]

Gmendoza- lol. They want the good stuff all to themselves. Smart birds!

 

[jmc]

never even heard of such a thing, nor do i seem to have ever seen one. i see blow flies and little tiny flies that hang around the poop. esp. the little tiny ones as i scrape off the poop boards each morning.

sound pretty great. they must be an endangered exotic up here!!!

 

[kizanne]

Well black flies like temps from 60 and up through 100 so the farther north you may not be up there.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

We don't have them here, it's too cold. I always have a case of envy when I see these threads. If I lived where it was warmer, I'd definitely do what I could to encourage them. The chickens all seem to love them.