Thousands of Grubs in Compost ( picture and video )

[geedub]

OK this may already have been answered but I can't bring myself to read through 18 pages of posts!

Can someone fill me on any data which gives an estimate on how much green compost (fruit/veg/lawn clippings etc... basically not animal products or grain) equates to how many lbs of grubs? I am looking in to putting a system like this in our small scale pastured poultry operation and would like to determine the viability of replacing 25 to 50% of feed consumption with these grubs.

Any information on how total grub live weight per lb of compost and/or grub live weight per day etc etc would be vastly helpful.

thanks very much!

BSF larvae don't process lawn clippings to the best of my knowledge. There are a lot of variables that will effect the ratio of waste to grubs. This field is relatively new and you would probably need to devote a lot of time to make something work on the scale you're proposing, including doing a lot of research. This is a good place to start: http://biosystemsblog.com/black-soldier-fly/

 

[Tivona]

I am thinking of starting either mealworms or BSF. I really love the idea of turning some of the things I have such as onion and bread into something a bit more nutritious/safer for the birds. I have a mild climate and my house is a bit crowded so I was thinking of a sheltered site outdoors mostly during the summer. I have 2 sources of potential food products I would like to utilize.

One is that I have access to all the old bread from a person who works at a restaurant (grocery sacks full every week). The other is mostly Veggie trimmings from a little food stand that makes sandwiches and salads (part of a bag every day).

Can anyone tell me which would be more practical? I am thinking the Black Soldier Flies sound the best, but I have never done either and want to be sure I have something that will work with what I have food-wise. Thanks for any help!

 

[geedub]

I am thinking of starting either mealworms or BSF. I really love the idea of turning some of the things I have such as onion and bread into something a bit more nutritious/safer for the birds. I have a mild climate and my house is a bit crowded so I was thinking of a sheltered site outdoors mostly during the summer. I have 2 sources of potential food products I would like to utilize.

One is that I have access to all the old bread from a person who works at a restaurant (grocery sacks full every week). The other is mostly Veggie trimmings from a little food stand that makes sandwiches and salads (part of a bag every day).

Can anyone tell me which would be more practical? I am thinking the Black Soldier Flies sound the best, but I have never done either and want to be sure I have something that will work with what I have food-wise. Thanks for any help!

I haven't worked with mealworms so I can't compare, but you have excellent sources of waste material if you choose BSF.

 

[Tivona]

Thanks. I wasn't sure about the bread. Do the BSF like bread? I watched a number of videos as well as reading what I could find and I did see a bit of bread in one video. Very little was said about it. I really wasn't sure how much bread they could process. Most of what was being sent to them was vegetable it looked like.

I already have a compost pile with lots of earthworms. I let the best veggie stuff (safe veggies that aren't moldy) sit on the top of the pile and the birds pick out what they want then I just turn in the rest. But the bread is not really the best for composting or for direct feeding to the birds. It would be easy to let the BSF get a lot of the veggies such as the onions, potatoes, or moldy ones, etc.

 

[geedub]

Thanks. I wasn't sure about the bread. Do the BSF like bread? I watched a number of videos as well as reading what I could find and I did see a bit of bread in one video. Very little was said about it. I really wasn't sure how much bread they could process. Most of what was being sent to them was vegetable it looked like.

I already have a compost pile with lots of earthworms. I let the best veggie stuff (safe veggies that aren't moldy) sit on the top of the pile and the birds pick out what they want then I just turn in the rest. But the bread is not really the best for composting or for direct feeding to the birds. It would be easy to let the BSF get a lot of the veggies such as the onions, potatoes, or moldy ones, etc.

They like bread.

 

[Tivona]

lol Got it! They do seem to be happy in that picture. Sounds like the BSF will be the way to go then. Thanks!

 

[mstricer]

That's just gross.

 

[geedub]

That's just gross.

Pretty sure it isn't gross to a chicken!

Btw, people all around the world eat insect larvae. It's all about conditioning...

 

[tom e]

Yep! Also once you are conditioned to the benefits of having these insects around, your reaction changes. Here's my conditioning: I see that picture and think of the clean smells of my compost bin when they are there working in it, as opposed to the stinky odors of a bin that isn't well regulated. I imagine the tiny smacking sounds that you can hear of them at work, and it makes me laugh. I also think of how much healthy chicken feed will be self harvesting once those larvae grow up and start climbing the ramp. Its such a thrill getting such value from waste. That's even better than free!

 

[binders]

How are you all harvesting/composting to get these grubs? I am really interested in setting up a BSF compost bin this summer and was wondering how you all were set up.