You're very welcome Debra.
It's possible to overwinter larvae and I'm sure you could also keep some pupae.
Juvenile larvae can be maintained during cold weather by continuing to feed them and keeping them insulated. I tried it during one south Georgia winter with limited success. The basic concept is that you insulate the unit and keep giving the colony food so that they generate their own heat. Somehow the larvae sense that it's not a good time to mature since reproduction isn't possible, so they remain as juveniles. In my one experiment I had larvae that were still juveniles (eating stage) five months after they were laid in October as opposed to the usual few weeks it takes to pass through that stage.
Keeping pupae should be easier since they naturally remain dormant until spring. You would of course keep them cool, but you can't allow them to dry out or they would die.
You can always restart in the spring without keeping larvae or pupae over the winter, but having some to jump start the system in spring would make your system productive sooner. The key for people who use the larvae as animal feed is to save some, as you're suggesting. The same principle applies to when you're first starting a BSF unit; it's best to wait until you've built up a fairly dense colony before you begin using the larvae as feed. Each male and female pair that you use as feed represents 500 or more potential eggs that could have been laid if the larvae had been allowed to mature and reproduce.
I think alternating between species based on the season is a great idea, but we are learning that indoor BSF rearing is not as difficult as once believed. In fact a few years ago people questioned if it was feasible at all and now some have succeeded in rearing multiple generations indoors. You can find good information about indoor concepts here (
LINK) however in the absence of a greenhouse the scale would be too small to produce a quantity of feed to support chickens.
I look forward to following your progress.
