I decided to give another try at farming black soldier fly larvae to feed to my chickens. In order to make this work I learned the bin needs to be sealed off from birds, rats and surinam cockroaches. The surinam cockroaches are mostly active at night so I needed the ability to completely close off the bin at night. The solution was a door, sort of like a screen door. It has a layer of mesh to keep bugs out and a layer of metal wire to keep the rats out. During the day I prop it open slightly so the soldier flies can get in and lay eggs.
I am using the same ramp system as last time. I keep collecting and adding spoiled fruit from the property. So far it appears the fruit flies really like this set up.
I was surprised to learn that fruit flies have a similar larvae stage and like to climb up and away from the food source when it's time to pupate. Over the past week about four tablespoons of fruit fly larvae have made the journey up the ramp and into the bucket and into very happy chicken's beaks. I'll post another update once the black soldier flies hopefully take the place over.
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