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I currently have one big rock in the bottom bucket to weigh it down, this has worked well. The buckets have not tipped over and are next to the house on the porch. I’m sure they get morning/noonish sun. Heat should be escaping the exit/entrance hole near the top of the 5 gallon bucket.

The securing of the lid on only 2 opposites sides has worked well, easy to get off and snap back on without doing the entire 5 gallon lid hassle. Vegetable oil moat has worked well, no ants.

You can’t really tell from the picture but the grubs in the gutter are heavily clustered at each end and I’m estimating 800 to 1000 overnight crawl-off. I’m going to count and weigh them tonight for a sense of input/output dynamics.

One of the bins is presently empty and another has no crawl-off hole (experiment in progress), so all of those dudes came from 4 bins. The gutter is 10 feet long and it’s removable so I can take off one end cap and tip them all into a bucket.

The little hoop structure cost 120 bucks and is 12×12. I’m going to do the same thing on the other side over the next few weeks for a total of 12 bins with a 4 foot walkway down the middle.

I’m thinking of winter already since it gets down to 20 degrees F occasionally here. What I might do since my wife probably won’t let me bring 12 bins in the house is build a big box out of structural insulated panels. SIP’s have very strong plywood on each side sandwiching a dense insulative foam that can range from 4 inch to 12 inch thick. Line the inside with heat tape like we used to use on water pipes up in Michigan and bingo – a cheap way to stash the bins for three months.

I’m looking forward to all the wintering ideas that are sure to surface as we get closer to the season.

Adios,
John

Enjoyed reading about your creative BSF adaptations! I’m pretty new to chickens also – we got our first batch about a year ago. We used to free range them from dawn to dusk but lost a bunch to fox and coons so now they’re in large enclosed yards that adjoin their coops. When they were out and about I got to see how many insects they eat – alot – which is why I was excited to learn of the BSF as a food source now that they’re in their new accomodations.

I still free feed a mix of grains and seeds from the bulk aisle at the local health food store and some commercial feed for the probiotics and minerals. I think they eat at least 50 percent grubs at this point and probably higher. I haven’t yet found a portion size on the grubs where they leave any behind uneaten – they really love ‘em. I feed both mature grubs to them as well as larger-sized immature ones depending on the amount of crawl-off that day. I try to save half of the mature ones for fly production.

I’m sure that professional chicken producers would have something to say about the high protein level of the BSF and its relationship to the moulting cycle but I haven’t gotten there yet. What I do know is that the egg yolks are getting a deeper color of orange and the shells are stronger. There is definitely a nutritional value that they were not getting from their dry feed – even when I’d sprout portions of it for them by soaking it for a day or two – which packs a punch in its own way.

The chickens raised by Joel Salatin eat a ton of fly larvae since they move the chicken tractors regularly over areas where cattle have been recently and the chickens tear up the cowpies for the larvae. He grows out his meat birds in 8 to 12 weeks and they’re out there on pasture all the time – so I’m assuming it’s one of those things where it’s ok to let the birds decide because I figure his operation has no practical way to regulate how many larvae they eat.

I’ll put a response to Jerry here too if that’s ok. My neighbors who are avid long-time gardeners have all mentioned that they’ve never seen so many grubs in their compost piles and worm bins. So I think this must be just a really good year weather-wise for the BSF in this area. Last year Hays County was the epicenter of the drought nationwide and we had around 70 consecutive days of 100 degrees and up.

Have fun with those chickens!!

John in Driftwood, TX

Well I can’t seem to get my husband to help me build a version of your composter. He is so good at that sort of thing and I am not, but he is so busy. Right now I just have 4 big plastic rectangular tubs that I am keeping the larvae in which I keep tilted so the mature ones can crawl out into a container (metal rabbit cage bottom). I’m keeping a big kids plastic pool over them to keep out the rain. I do have eggs being laid at the tops of the containers in the little handle crevices. I know it is not the proper set up as it is too wet and a little stinky at times. I’m sure it is not very efficient, but I am getting quit a bit each day for my chickens. Maybe one day I can get my hubby to put it on his honey do list.

I have a question about feeding chickens…..John, maybe you can answer this. I am new to owning chickens and of course none of the books on chicken raising mention BSFL as feed. I’m just wondering how much of their diet can be the BSF and how much you should supplement with other things like grain or regular chicken feed.

So sorry for your family stress Jerry. Sending up prayers that they will get better soon!

Cheryl in Longview, TX