Comments on: Raising Black Soldier Flies in Cold Regions

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:17:16 +0000

Awesome, Mike. Thanks very much for the good resources!

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 20:49:43 +0000

Joel the Black Soldier Fly blog has section called 'waste in - grubs out' (link) but it hasn't been updated for a while. There's also a big thread over at BackyardChickens.com (link) that might interest you.

By: Joel

Joel — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 18:03:39 +0000

Hey does anyone have any good solid numbers on how many lbs of larvae are generated by lbs of fruit/veg food waste? Timeline would be great as well. I’m looking in to putting a system together to provide between 25 and 50% of feed requirements for pastured chickens using these larvae and green compost materials.

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 19:30:26 +0000

There are a few reptile owners in Germany that are having success breeding BSF indoors using artificial lighting. There's some detailed information and photos in the terrarienbilder.com forum (link). This is a German language forum but I found that Google translate does a passable job of making the posts understandable. It is interesting to note that breeding was achieved in a fairly small space (storage tote size). These systems are small and probably wouldn't be good for composting. They would be great for reseeding an outdoor bin in cold climates or the design could be scaled up for indoor composting.

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:11:34 +0000

Julie if you like Do It Yourself projects Tarvus has a very nice design. See his YouTube channel (link) for videos and for photos of his "Bug Barracks" DIY bin look here. He did have an excellent blog but it was hacked earlier this year and has yet to be resurrected.

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 16:04:56 +0000

Julie if you like Do It Yourself projects Tarvus has a very nice design. See his YouTube channel (link) for videos and for photos of his "Bug Barracks" DIY bin look here. He did have an excellent blog but was hacked earlier this year and has yet to be resurrected.

By: Julie

Julie — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 09:52:20 +0000

Thanks for that Mike. I’m not sure if they are available in Australia, but will do a search.

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Tue, 15 Nov 2011 01:45:17 +0000

That link should be BioPodPlus. Also there are more in the thread about Vermiman’s DIY BSFL BIN

By: Mike aka BW

Mike aka BW — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 20:37:23 +0000

Julie there’s a commercial unit called BioPod+ http://thebiopod.com/pages/biopod-plus.html"(link) or a homemade bucket (link) both of which have ramps that the mature larvae crawl up looking for a place to pupate.

By: Julie

Julie — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 09:43:24 +0000

Hi there, I am in Western Australia where we have very mild winters. Even so, the flies are pretty slow at breeding in winter.
Mine just ‘appeared’ a couple of years ago, and I have had them ever since.
I use a 20 litre bucket with Eco Bokashi as a composter for my soft kitchen scraps. It makes a very sludgy mixture which I put in my vegetable garden twice a year.It has a tap at the bottom to drain off fluid, which goes onto fruit trees.
The little fish I have in my pond are there to eat mosquito larva, so they don’t need extra feeding. But the BSF larva would be great for poultry. I read of one guy who freezes the larva when he has excess and feeds them to his fish.
I also saw a terrific design where the larva walk down a little ramp into a bucket, but I just cannot find it again! I think there was a short video.Should have kept the link. Anyone know what this system is called>