The Natural Chicken Keeping thread - OTs welcome!

[Leahs Mom]

@Kassaundra

Have you had any luck w/the BSF this year? Going to try to make some kind of bin - perhaps w/a bucket so need anyone that has done it to give me advice on what NOT to do...and what works!

(BSF = Black Soldier Flies for collecting larvae for winter feeding in my case.)

 

[Kassaundra]

@Kassaundra

Have you had any luck w/the BSF this year? Going to try to make some kind of bin - perhaps w/a bucket so need anyone that has done it to give me advice on what NOT to do...and what works!

(BSF = Black Soldier Flies for collecting larvae for winter feeding in my case.)

No I need to get serious about a bsf bin. I saw one that was basically a barrel on it's side at an angle in a frame that looked simple enough to do.

 

[Kassaundra]

This is what I was going to try and do

 

[Leahs Mom]

I've seen that one too but I just wanted to start small w/a 5 gal bucket. Maybe I'll use the basic design but scale it down to see how it works.

Right now I want easy and quick.

What I don't know is at what angle to make the ramp or what I would use.

 

[Kassaundra]

I've seen that one too but I just wanted to start small w/a 5 gal bucket. Maybe I'll use the basic design but scale it down to see how it works.

Right now I want easy and quick.

What I don't know is at what angle to make the ramp or what I would use.

I have these exact barrels and one even cut like the one in the picture for a different project that got redesigned.

I would probably set mine up outside of the chicken area so I could harvest and feed out or freeze by my choice and not their greedy choice.

 

[Kassaundra]

I've seen that one too but I just wanted to start small w/a 5 gal bucket. Maybe I'll use the basic design but scale it down to see how it works.

Right now I want easy and quick.

What I don't know is at what angle to make the ramp or what I would use.

Something in the back of my head remembers between 15 and 30 degrees.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I could probably use a large rubbermade tub and cut an entrance like they have on that up near the top of a side.

For others..here's the link to the instruction for the bin that Kassaundra posted: http://gardenpool.org/beneficial-insects/black-soldier-fly-composter-automatic-chicken-feeder

Here's another w/a rubbermade that I'm looking at:

http://www.highdesertchronicles.com/2014/02/building-the-black-soldier-fly-bin/

 

[lazy gardener]

I wish our winters were warm enough that BSF would survive here. In the areas where you folks are able to get a colony started from native populations, how cold do your winters get, and how deep does the frost go... or does it??? If there were a way to winter the pupae over safely, and then start the colony in a green house, it might work here.

 

[Leahs Mom]

I'm right on the line for the bsf. I've never done a colony but I've read that some folks have moved them into a greenhouse for winter. Not sure how successful that is.

@RedRidge collects them in her bin and freezes them in measured amounts so that she has "animal" protein to feed in the winter....which I think is a wonderful idea. Maybe she'll post the photos of her collection bins again. They're really nicely done.

 

[Kassaundra]

I wish our winters were warm enough that BSF would survive here. In the areas where you folks are able to get a colony started from native populations, how cold do your winters get, and how deep does the frost go... or does it??? If there were a way to winter the pupae over safely, and then start the colony in a green house, it might work here.

They don't overwinter here, either, but our growing season is pretty long, from about April through November so could collect a lot for the off time and freeze them like Redridge does