Unsure if I should make a maggot bucket - what do you guys think?

[Jonnie06]

Just as a random project, I was considering making a maggot bucket to feed my chickens. The issue is, I don’t want them to all die of disease for the sake of nothing besides saving a bit of money. I would like to use offcuts from the butchers and roadkill, but that (roadkill) may carry a lot of disease which could be passed down.

1. What should I put in the bucket to be the most sustainable and cheap

2. Am I in danger of infecting my chickens with some disease

3. How awful will it smell

4. Would you guys recommend one or is it a waste of time?

 

[cluckmecoop7]

I wouldn't if I were you. Sounds messy, smelly, and risky.

 

[loyalcrowlist]

I honestly wouldn't. There's such a high risk of disease with something like that.

Have you thought about a mealworm farm? That is something I've got experience with and it's actually fairly easy to do and not smelly and you have control over like, what goes in and the mealworms are safe. My oldest has a mealworm farm in her room for multiple of our animals.

 

[Jonnie06]

I honestly wouldn't. There's such a high risk of disease with something like that.

Have you thought about a mealworm farm? That is something I've got experience with and it's actually fairly easy to do and not smelly and you have control over like, what goes in and the mealworms are safe. My oldest has a mealworm farm in her room for multiple of our animals.

I haven’t really considered a mealworm farm. Does it cost a lot to get started and run? The main reason for making a maggot bucket was to do something sustainable and cheap that I could just leave without much effort. With a mealworm farm, what would I put in it?

 

[theoldchick]

Nope. Just too gross.

 

[raingarden]

That will get really nasty and not be popular with family or friends. If you want to use meat scrap then look into black soldier fly larvae. They are much more sanitary.

Meal worms are fed on corn meal or other cereal/grain meal.

 

[perkolator]

I’ve got a black soldier fly bin and I feed the fresh grubs to my chickens. Started it two years ago and it’s minimal effort on my part. Goes dormant in winter and seems to repopulate on it’s own when I feed it in the late spring when weather warms up. If you’re looking for a year round project then maybe look into the mealworms for indoors.

I don’t put roadkill into it but do put any rats and moles I catch in my traps. I also put scraps like meat products, fat trimmings, refrigerator clean out stuff, etc - basically the stuff that I don’t put in a compost pile or feed the chickens, or want in my trash before trash day, lol.

In the beginning I’ll get some fly maggots but then the BSF take over and kick out any competition. You can’t constantly feed the bin unless there are enough of them, only feed what they’ll consume fairly quickly in a few days and not have time to rot and smell - although it does have some odor. I have a big enough yard it’s not near my house and I’d say it doesn’t smell any more than the average chicken coop would.

I keep it in a plastic storage bin next to my compost pile and use compost as bedding inside; the BSF compost gets mixed with the regular pile at the end of the season. It self harvests by grubs climbing the PVC pipe ramps and they fall into a container. When chickens see me go anywhere near that bin they come running and will almost fight one another for some treats. Literally never seen them want any treats more than fresh BSF grubs.

As disgusting as this experiment has been, it’s pretty fun.

BSF are raised in other countries to consume waste streams quite effectively - even in a large scale setups too. They’ll consume manures but it’s not recommended to feed the grubs to the same animals the waste comes from - so no raising them on chicken poop and then the grubs back to the chickens. I believe that’s how you get bad stuff like how mad cow disease started.

Good luck

 

[638858]

I raise BSF, Mealworms and Red Wigglers.. all are minimal expense to get started, just need plastic tubs of varying sizes, everyone has a few tubs with lids hanging around.. good luck and keep us posted

 

[Ladies-Eight]

When I started my mealworm farm I used the information on this link.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-raise-mealworms.48416

I hope this will be of some help to you.

 

[Ladies-Eight]

Go to a Flea Market and look for a fish tank.

You will need at a minimum a 10 gallon tank.

You may send me messages any time you want to.

I will help you all I can.