Warning: Gross discussion of poop and flies incoming!

[GoodwinFarm]

You've all heard of the Black soldier fly larvae feeding buckets, where you put road kill in a bucket and the black soldier fly lays eggs, the larvae crawl out and feed your chickens? I hear that the chickens gather near the opening, just waiting for that juicy tidbit to fall out...
I live in Wisconsin, I think it's too cold here for BSF. When I raised rabbits, I would clean their poop trays one a week and the chickens would scratch through the poop pile before I took it to the garden to eat all the maggots. Great free protein! I don't have rabbits now so I am trying to figure out a new way to harvest maggots.

What I do have is dogs, lots of dogs! And when you have lots of dogs, you have lots of, yes, dog poop. Surely, there is a way to get the chickens to harvest maggots from dog poop? The problem is that dog poop is WAY more nasty then rabbit poop. Does anyone have a system for this sort of feeding chickens which is not that smelly?

 

[pibb]

I've never heard of that.

When the larvae come out, won't they will still be attached to the carcass?

Wouldn't the chickens peck at and eat the roadkilled carcass since they can reach it too?

 

[GoodwinFarm]

I've never done the BSF larvae buckets but my understanding is that the roadkill stays in the bucket and only the larvae can get out.

 

[pibb]

Black Soldier Fly

"When the larvae have completed their larval development through six instars, they enter a stage called the "prepupa" wherein they cease to eat and empty their guts, their mouth parts change to an appendage that aids climbing, and they seek a humid, sheltered area to pupate. This prepupal migration instinct is used by grub composting bins to self-harvest the mature larvae. These containers have ramps or holes on the sides to allow the prepupae to climb out of the composter and drop into a collection area. The wastes include fresh manure and food wastes of both animal and vegetable origin."

Well apparently when they eat on the carcass they will want to climb out/away at some point. That is when the chickens could eat them. Do you make a specialized collection rig or just hope the chickens notice them getting out and eat them?

It says 70% humidity is optimum for all stages of its life. It also says humans can eat them. They are 42% protein. Yumm Yumm.

 

[Red-Stars-in-RI]

Everything I read about composting says not to compost dog and cat poop because carnivore poop has far more pathogen load than herbivore (or omnivores, like chickens) poop.

Based on that, may be best to avoid it.

 

[remisophy]

I've never heard of that.

When the larvae come out, won't they will still be attached to the carcass?

Wouldn't the chickens peck at and eat the roadkilled carcass since they can reach it too?

Fly strike will kill your chickens I know I lost one it was too late by the time she showed symptoms of being sick. The maggots had basically ate her alive. They were on her lower back under the feathers.

 

[pibb]

The OP isn't talking about flystrike but talking about taking a dead rotting carcass (roadkill) and containing it so chickens can't directly eat on the carcass while allowing the black soldier fly to lay eggs on the carcass. Then BSF larvae eat the meat and at some point in time they will leave the carcass only the be harvested by the chicken or in some kind of trap so man can harvest them.

 

[DynaHolic]

There are some videos on YouTube about this. Drilled holes in a bucket that had a lid. The larvae fall an wiggle out the holes an the chickens get it.

 

[RobertaD1]

CAUTION...
Do not read this post right after supper....
BLECK...LOL
But yes.... I just HAD to read it... the title just drew me in....

 

[MNnative]

FYI Black Soldier Flies don't lay eggs on their future food source, but rather near it in crevices and such in a dry area where the newly hatched larvae (BSFL) will fall into/onto their food source or otherwise have easy access to source of food. Typically BSFL will, eventually, out compete the common house fly/ordinary maggots.