cultivating BSFL for feed

[rfeiller]

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/smit ... les/A2.pdf
thought many of you would find this beneficial as for analysis as food for fish

[urbanfarmer]

WHOA THANK YOU!

[rfeiller]

now here is something else that whose flavor would benefit from Maxi-crop!
i do quite a bit of composting usually maintain about 3 cu yds at time, i pick up about 40-50lbs of produce discards per day, 5 days a week and it of course has attracted a lot of black soldier fly larva, so with the koi and goldfish i have i found this study to be of great interest. amazing little critters.

[bsfman]

http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/waste_mgt/smithfield_projects/phase2report05/cd,web%20files/A2.pdf
thought many of you would find this beneficial as for analysis as food for fish

The protein and fat content vary considerably with the diet of the BSF. I grow mine on a feed based diet that does not vary. They run 49.5% protein and 3.7% fat (dry matter basis). At 80 percent moisture content, it still works out to about 10% protein and 0.7% fat for live larvae. The rest is basically water and ash. If you are used to feeding pelletized food, you have to adjust your feed rate with BSF to compensate for the 80% moisture content.

[rfeiller]

the nutritional value of live food far exceeds the proteen level, once dried the total value of the feed is diminished, don't factor in the protein and fat. there is a vast difference in the development and particularly the breeding activity between being fed live food and the same food dried.

[urbanfarmer]

the nutritional value of live food far exceeds the proteen level, once dried the total value of the feed is diminished, don't factor in the protein and fat. there is a vast difference in the development and particularly the breeding activity between being fed live food and the same food dried.

Ain't that the truth!

Any sustainable practice is okay in my book! I have a bin going now and I have thrown anything I can get my hands on to see if they eat it. I'm still trying to figure out a good design for a permanent bin. They accidentally started in an old worm bin (it has drainage holes that's it) because I was storing some rabbit poo for the garden.

[rfeiller]

UF i use a flow through worm bin, their compost is excellent for plants and they even help precompost organics that the worms can move in and finish. they will however keep the worms at bay, don't know if it's because of their activeness or that they secrete a substance not liked by the red wigglers, but the worms will move in and finish the job. if you haven't made a flow through worm bin there are a million designs and many of them on you tube and google. they will attack anaerobic material where worms won't.

[bsfman]

Any sustainable practice is okay in my book! I have a bin going now and I have thrown anything I can get my hands on to see if they eat it. I'm still trying to figure out a good design for a permanent bin. They accidentally started in an old worm bin (it has drainage holes that's it) because I was storing some rabbit poo for the garden.

I had a website devoted to raising BSF (raisesoldierflies.com) . Unfortunately, it was destroyed back in July by some hackers and naturally, my web host claims they don't have a backup available. Somewhere, I have a sketch I will post (if I can find it) of an easy to build plywood bin that does a remarkable job of harvesting the larvae. I have learned though, that the tilapia (and presumable other fish) far prefer the immature light colored larvae to the darker mature larvae. Immature larvae are easy to harvest. Put a slice of bread face down on top of the bin and within 10 minutes, you can scoop them up by the handfull. I just used this technique 5 minutes ago to feed about a cup and a half to my tilapia.

[bsfman]

I also raise worms (4 varieties) and I feed them all exclusively on BSF poop. The BSF liquid effluent I use mixed with water in wading pools for fertilizer to raise duckweed. The tilapia get a daily duckweed ration and an occasional worm treat too.

The cool thing about BSF is they eat all the stuff you aren't supposed to feed your worms (meat, dairy, entrals, etc.) The BSF poop makes perfect worm food.

[urbanfarmer]

I also raise worms (4 varieties) and I feed them all exclusively on BSF poop. The BSF liquid effluent I use mixed with water in wading pools for fertilizer to raise duckweed. The tilapia get a daily duckweed ration and an occasional worm treat too.

The cool thing about BSF is they eat all the stuff you aren't supposed to feed your worms (meat, dairy, entrals, etc.) The BSF poop makes perfect worm food.

I am looking forward to making use of this synergy as well. I just finished filling a 5 gallon buck with week old rabbit poop. It was covered in house flies withing minutes, but since I have other bins in the yard with BSF I assume they will be making a visit shortly!