Awesome video! Daniel makes a very good point, BSF is much better for small scale farms with less than 100 chickens. For anybody interested in black soldier fly production, here are a few tips to reduce the labor In the video, Daniel shows a black soldier fly production setup with nets. The method with nets is very labor intensive because you must keep each life cycle of the soldier fly separated and move everything around at specific times... This way you produce large amounts of BSF in batches. Good for selling... but lots of labor. If you are producing BSF to feed your own animals, then there are less labor-intensive methods you can use. There is a method to produce black soldier fly passively aside from acquiring the food waste. You can even automate the feeding of the chickens. The labor consists of acquiring fruit tree waste such as mangos, and putting this waste in a special-shaped container close to the chickens who will eat the BSF. In this method, BSF is produced constantly instead of in batches. The BSF grows inside the container, and as it matures it will naturally crawl out of the container. At this point it can "crawl" to an area accessible by chickens, who will eat the soldier fly. The container will naturally maintain a colony of BSF because BSF eat other maggots and most competing organisms. But why does the BSF crawl out of the container? It is all about the shape of the container. The container has a ramp on the inside which starts at the bottom and goes all the way to the top, where there is a hole for the BSF to fall out of the container. The BSF likes to eat where the rotten liquid is at the bottom of the food waste pile. When they become mature, they crawl up high. By putting a ramp in their container, you enable them to come out of the container naturally when they are ready to pupate. The result is a container or a hole that passively produces and deposits chicken food, provided you keep the food waste stocked. You can either buy a big plastic tub or dig a hole. Each hole or container should be anywhere from 3'x3'x3x' to 5'x5'x5'. If you dig a hole you will need to line the hole with cement to force the BSF to crawl out. If you just dig a hole, you will lose many BSF into the dirt. This method is much easier to scale, because you do not need to keep each BSF life cycle separate, and there is no labor to feed the chickens because you can create short pipes that deposit the BSF where the chickens can eat it. The labor required is the maintenance and food waste supply. Fruit trees are ideal. BSF absolutely loves mango and you can create a population of BSF in the tropics by cutting up 10 mangos in a container with a few holes in the top and letting it rot. The BSF will naturally find the mango if they are local in your area. (They are local almost everywhere).
But then you won’t be sure the total feed protein source percentage is adequate. Or that the BSF are as high in protein as required based on this waste (I guess regularly sampling them could give a reasonable estimate). I think the calculation of protein ratios from the BSF and making it consistent through the year to ensure proper feed macronutrient ratios for 90% egg production is the largest obstacle 🤔
@@samauthor342 Its totally possible, the problem is that people try to start systems with 100+ birds... you have to create a sustainable system with a small group of birds, maybe 5-10, then you build up your system and automate it and make it more scalable... The problem with the western approach is that it is too hands-on... we can create natural systems using insects, plants, and the physical shapes of soil... but we must take time to study this way of thinking because it is not the same as the western ways of controlling every single variable... There are better options...
@@JackPitmanNica thrre are some systems here in the west that are very natural. No measuring involved. Usually it involves compost piles and other animals. Seems to work wonderfully for bird and egg production.
When we had chickens on our farm, I used to allow them to free range wander during the day then only feed in the evening. They had access to a couple of dams for water and 25 acres of woodland to forage.The swarm of chickens would flock to my call to feed and then be protected during the nights. We had fat, happy chickens. I see that your farm has rich fertile soil too which i s an advantage to growing your own feed.
I saw this channel for the first time now and I liked you from the first 2 minutes. And by the end, I was in love with the content. Great work. Im glad someone is finally educating these hipster city boys from the west on how a farm actually looks like.
My good friend. I remember when you use to do it 2years ago. Your dedication on the farm made me to buy lands for farming. I have followed you for years now. Keep the good work
@@nickovdub6131 0 context on their situation and that's the kind of comment you make? I guess the farmers whose produce you buy from the store should sell their land also? lol
Excellent video! Beautiful flock and well done on your explanations. Only thing I have to add, careful with the antibiotics. Doxicyclin is an antibiotic we use as humans and you don’t want to breed resistant strains within your flock that could jump species. Your camera presence is great and the flow through the video was awesome
BSF is really just a composting technique that happens to create supplemental protein. Set up worm bins with bsf on top. You can trade the resulting vermicompost to your feed farmers. One of the best ways to take care of your chicken litter.
You are a great teacher. Thanks a lot for all the educational information you give us. Please try reading and working on using moringa as a chickens feed and give us your comments/recommendation.
I've fed soldier fly larva that were dried, not live. Many people here (california, USA) raise mealworms for their birds, but as you say; it depends how much space it takes, and what the percentage of protein is. We've cut grass, weeds, stalks, garden trimmings and vegetable waste with ground dried eggshells. Yes, we searched through a lot of local possible resources, and they ended up getting an interesting mix. For a year, I also worked helping a caterer and came home frequently with leftover banquet food. LOL Things you and I couldn't afford in a restaurant....they ate like queens for a time! (It was "legally unsafe for human consumption" and we were only given it to give to our chickens.) NICE eggs, and YES I heard the "I laid an egg" song! hahaha I love hearing your girls! I've had chickens over the years, rarely more than 40. Thank you for sharing, it's a problem everyone caring for chickens faces! We can't afford to BUY all the feed!
Hi Dr. Daniel, i have read through quite a number of comments here and my submission would be, Since your farm has expanded beyond what it used to be, you should out source the supply of larvae to another farmer who will be willing to supply you with the needed quantity for your bird. its either you focus on the chicken for now, because they both need a lot of attentions (Chicken and BSF) at the same time. I support those that said your title was not properly coined too, this could scare people. i wish you the best bro...let us unluck the best of us. Am Dennis Chidi - Nigeria
good Idea sir I was considering a similar plan teaching people in especially rural areas to produce insects for poultry farmers protein sources for birds gets very pricey here in Ghana too
BSF are also able to compost chicken poop as they do not completely digest their feed leaving 30% available for re-composters. When I had chickens , hubby made a concrete -casket' system with ramps which the collected poops were fed into. Realize scale up is problematic but for smaller flocks (under 50) worked well. Very healthy, they loved the BSF and produced well. Just a thought. Recompiling their poop plus other waste is a good system. Hope that this helps.
Dude, thank you so much for this breakdown of the challenges of BSF larva at scale. I have been very interested in the possibilities of using them for soil remediation and protein conversion via livestock feed. It sounds like turnkey automation needs to be developed better before it can be a practical solution. Have you tried using the casings from the bsf mixed with the chicken droppings to improve your crop production rates or is your soil already at peak yield? Perhaps BSF is more practical on less fertile land where the nutrients from the BSF waste can improve soil quality as a secondary product.
Great video. I love your farm! If the tops of the roosting boxes are spiky, the chickens will not roost on top of them and make them poopy. Look for pigeon or chicken spikes. You can get them in metal or plastic.
Idk if Madre de agua available in your area but I feel like Lantana, Vanderblomst, Yellow Sage, Red Sage and Shrub Verena might be. Those are flowers that chicken eat as well and full of nutrients.
If you have a source for food scraps from restaurants, you can build a solar cooker to heat and disinfect the meat. (Directions on internet) Then let the food cool and give it to the chickens. Pretty soon it will attract insects. If you have a local beer brewery, you can feed them leftover malt and hops. But this feed situation is a nightmare. I'm going to start grinding mesquite pods. There are probably native plants in your area with roots or seeds you can grind up. Acorns are good, but its a multi-step process
If you put ramps, that lead to fall offs into buckets, you can get the Soldier flies to collect themselves, This is usually how folks harvest black soldier flies, as when they are ready, they stop eating, and collect into the buckets by climbing out of the food. Just have to look up designs, and make a large enough system with plenty of ways for them to isolate into the buckets, and you could just throw waste into a bin, and collect them each day easy.
" when they are ready, they stop eating, and collect into the buckets by climbing out of the food. " have you got any video or another material explaining this method?
Maize prices in Nigeria quadrupled during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 and have not gone down since. Now I farm my own maize, but we have a challenge with herdsmen.
Have you tried madre de agua? It's starting to be a popular feed here in Southeast Asia as poultry, cattle and fish feed. You don't need a lot of water or dig any pond. You can even grow it as fence or boundary tree. Edit: you can even process it with soya cake into animal feed pellets for long term storage. It may help mitigate the high cost of feed as a cheap filler that is also high in protein and beneficial for animal health.
@@temitopeolayode8962 No unique to english name, but a lot of names- madre de agua and palo de agua are the ones i've seen most often. Scientific name is Trichanthera gigantea.
I found your channel today. I watched your vlog and I am impressed by your presentation and your practical knowledge. Now I just subscribed and looking forward for more of your videos
That's crazy. It got so expensive for maze. Would it have helped to grow your own maze? Wild situation, I know that a lot of a chickens diet is going to require some grain and protein from grazing on bugs. You've got so many beautiful healthy chickens, place is so clean there can't be anything other than the feed effecting them so. Thank you for sharing.
Interesting to hear your challenges with BSFL. When I started farming them I faced many challenges but I can tell you now I produce about 100kg a day without much effort and with no-one helping me at all. I have sourced plenty of organic feed for them each day (all free) and I have tweaked my farm setup so it works with minimum effort. I will be using them to supplement the feed in my new chicken farm this year.
@@michaeljarvis8377 it's about 50/50 between self harvesting pre-pupae that crawl out of the bioponds up the slopes into collection channels and using a sieving machine (tumbler) to separate 16-17 DoL from the frass. I prefer to use a mix a of Instar 5 and Pre-Pupae
Thank you for excellent information. I am in USA. I am just beginning again to raise BSF. I will be keeping my chickens in raised housing so that their droppings fall to the ground where the black soldier flies can populate, grow, lay eggs and be gathered to feed to the chickens. I do not keep more than 100 or so chickens and this works well. It would be, as you said, quite labor intensive to raise so many tons of BSF for the chickens but it might be a wonderful side business for you as well. I have seen it done on a very large scale. People here who keep a few chickens buy dried BSF larvae in small bags for more than we pay for a 50 pound bag of chicken feed - this amazes me and makes me want to begin this business for myself. To raise and sell the larvae AND the compost made by the larvae is highly profitable here. Thank you again for your video. We wish you all the best and look forward to hearing more from you.
Have you considered feeding them dry mealworms? It's very cheap in bulk, and contains around 50% protein by weight... They are also very easy to raise in large quantities, but then you also need grain and vegetable scraps to feed them... You can also add in reject eggs, cooked. Cooked eggs are about 90% protein by weight.
blend( electric blender machine ) some watermelon and cucumber together and then mix in some dried green algae powder till it becomes like a dough. they love it. And last a while in the freezer. But! for as many chickens as you have.. its just a treat for your favourite few :)
Yeah it is true, that the cost of maize is very expensive. Currently, I'm doing a research project on the effects of dilution of dietary energy at a constant energy-to-protein ratio on feed conversion and carcass characteristic in broiler chicken. The results of this experiment be very very interesting to see how if reduction of the amount of dietary energy will have any impact on growth performance and what will be the economic efficiency of the different dietary treatments that I'm going to use. The project with be through before August 2023
So I agree with a lot of what you said in this video as far as black soldier flies not being sustainable for large scale chicken keeping. I don't agree with the types of food you have to feed them however. When I kept soldier flies I had no issues with them growing up just fine on plant waste as long as you don't feed them things like tomato stocks or potato vines which are toxic. I didn't notice any difference when I was using compost to when I used a bag of commercial layer pellets or a bag of chick starter granules. They had gotten wet so they went to the flys for science. Also my compost was not purely plant waste it was things like the fallen rotten apples from under my neighbor's apple tree, shredded paper, rabbit waste and bedding and table scraps. Also I found giving mine a ramp to crawl out when they were ready to go pupate was extremely helpful I didn't have to mess with them other than adding more compost to their bin. They just sorted themselves into a bucket for me it was rather convenient and I probably wouldn't have done it otherwise. Know where I live it's a very seasonal food source so from late spring to mid autumn. But that wasn't their main source of protein. I used it to supplement their primary protein sources in the summer to cut down on how much I spent on feeding the 60 or so chickens I had which did help. I actually moved from that property a few years ago I gave the black soldier fly set up and a few very friendly hens to my old neighbor who was getting into raising tilapia. I bumped into him this Summer at a farmers market he was selling tilapia filleted on sight, homegrown veggies and eggs. the guy started using the chicken bedding and that same neighbors apple trees to grow the soldier fly larvae. he would use the maggots to feed the tilapia and he would use the Wastewater from the tilapia and compost from the maggots to fertilize his garden beds.
It may not work for your area, but we had amazing success with stinging nettle forage. It is perrenial grower, likes cool weather, and is 41% protien by dry weight. You have to harvest and dry it completely before feeding to neutralize the stinging hairs though.
We have lots of stinging nettle growing naturally in the highlands of Kenya where tea is largely grown. Is this the same variety of nettle you are talking about?
Great video. On the communal laying boxes just add a skinny beam and put a steeper angle roof top on the laying house. A thin sheet of steel works well.
You can make 3D printed spikes to stop them roosting or getting up on certain things. They do this for buildings quite often. Its to stop birds from pooping on people as they go into the buildings or to prevent poop going around the building.
NICE OKRA ! Also your banana plants look big and magical. Is that the burgundy/red-colored Okra? I grew it for the first time last year, in California. Be well
From the day you mentioned using fly larvae I knew it was not practical. I am a feedmilling engineer that worked in mills poducing more than 20 tons per hour, a quick calculation and I knew.
The Ammonia produced by the chicken excrement is a serious issue when it comes to the health of the chickens .. Which means constant cleaning of the coup .. One of the other measures to lower the Ammonia is to add airflow through the coup from the floor to the top of the coup .. The airflow doesn't need to be high but it does need to be done .. Many farmers have movable coups which tractors can pull from one place to another to reduce the ammonia which requires flat ground .. This is another good method to help the chickens breath fresh air ..
The easiest way to get maggots for chickens is directly from the source. Rotational grazing of cattle is a great way to improve soil health and therefore fodder yields. Then 3 days after the cattle have gone through a patch, follow through with your chickens. They’ll go to town eating the maggots that have hatched in the dung. Furthermore, the chickens will also be eating other bugs like beetles, worms and ants. Further diversifying their feedstock and improving the health and vitality of the chickens.
I do this very thing only with goats & sheep, rotational graze with the chickens being 2-3 days behind the herd. This way they get a varied diet with a good mix of insects and field mice.
@@leehiller2489 I’ve been told that goats and cattle are a great combination too. Due in part to the fact that as the goats go through, they’ll happily munch on weeds and shrubs the cattle don’t like, leaving the prime grasses for the cows. Furthermore, each animals digestive tract is perfect for destroying the eggs and larvae of parasites that affect the other.
Yep, they have zero competition for graze as they go after a different diet. I keep sheep for grass and goats for browse. I'd like to have bovine but I'm too small and my pasture couldn't take it so meat sheep it is.
This channel is awesome!!! I already love homesteading channels and only mostly get to see farms from North America. Super happy to find Farm Up!
Thank you for experimenting and educating others on what didn't work out well! Respect and gratitude!
Cheers from Canada. Thank you being so thorough!
Awesome video! Daniel makes a very good point, BSF is much better for small scale farms with less than 100 chickens. For anybody interested in black soldier fly production, here are a few tips to reduce the labor
In the video, Daniel shows a black soldier fly production setup with nets. The method with nets is very labor intensive because you must keep each life cycle of the soldier fly separated and move everything around at specific times... This way you produce large amounts of BSF in batches. Good for selling... but lots of labor. If you are producing BSF to feed your own animals, then there are less labor-intensive methods you can use.
There is a method to produce black soldier fly passively aside from acquiring the food waste. You can even automate the feeding of the chickens. The labor consists of acquiring fruit tree waste such as mangos, and putting this waste in a special-shaped container close to the chickens who will eat the BSF.
In this method, BSF is produced constantly instead of in batches. The BSF grows inside the container, and as it matures it will naturally crawl out of the container. At this point it can "crawl" to an area accessible by chickens, who will eat the soldier fly. The container will naturally maintain a colony of BSF because BSF eat other maggots and most competing organisms.
But why does the BSF crawl out of the container? It is all about the shape of the container. The container has a ramp on the inside which starts at the bottom and goes all the way to the top, where there is a hole for the BSF to fall out of the container. The BSF likes to eat where the rotten liquid is at the bottom of the food waste pile. When they become mature, they crawl up high.
By putting a ramp in their container, you enable them to come out of the container naturally when they are ready to pupate. The result is a container or a hole that passively produces and deposits chicken food, provided you keep the food waste stocked.
You can either buy a big plastic tub or dig a hole. Each hole or container should be anywhere from 3'x3'x3x' to 5'x5'x5'. If you dig a hole you will need to line the hole with cement to force the BSF to crawl out. If you just dig a hole, you will lose many BSF into the dirt.
This method is much easier to scale, because you do not need to keep each BSF life cycle separate, and there is no labor to feed the chickens because you can create short pipes that deposit the BSF where the chickens can eat it. The labor required is the maintenance and food waste supply. Fruit trees are ideal. BSF absolutely loves mango and you can create a population of BSF in the tropics by cutting up 10 mangos in a container with a few holes in the top and letting it rot. The BSF will naturally find the mango if they are local in your area. (They are local almost everywhere).
But then you won’t be sure the total feed protein source percentage is adequate. Or that the BSF are as high in protein as required based on this waste (I guess regularly sampling them could give a reasonable estimate). I think the calculation of protein ratios from the BSF and making it consistent through the year to ensure proper feed macronutrient ratios for 90% egg production is the largest obstacle 🤔
@@samauthor342 Its totally possible, the problem is that people try to start systems with 100+ birds... you have to create a sustainable system with a small group of birds, maybe 5-10, then you build up your system and automate it and make it more scalable...
The problem with the western approach is that it is too hands-on... we can create natural systems using insects, plants, and the physical shapes of soil... but we must take time to study this way of thinking because it is not the same as the western ways of controlling every single variable... There are better options...
@@JackPitmanNica thrre are some systems here in the west that are very natural. No measuring involved. Usually it involves compost piles and other animals. Seems to work wonderfully for bird and egg production.
@@simonesmit6708 Point me towards more of that kind of content please, Im always looking for it! Any youtube channels you recommend?
@@CoolBreeze640 Thanks!! I'll check them out
Thank you Dr for the video
Excellent content.. engaging, straightforward & practical! Thank you! 🐔
When we had chickens on our farm, I used to allow them to free range wander during the day then only feed in the evening. They had access to a couple of dams for water and 25 acres of woodland to forage.The swarm of chickens would flock to my call to feed and then be protected during the nights. We had fat, happy chickens. I see that your farm has rich fertile soil too which i s an advantage to growing your own feed.
I saw this channel for the first time now and I liked you from the first 2 minutes.
And by the end, I was in love with the content.
Great work.
Im glad someone is finally educating these hipster city boys from the west on how a farm actually looks like.
western people are so used to horrible KFC type factory farms, it is strange for us to see a bunch of happy hens
My good friend. I remember when you use to do it 2years ago. Your dedication on the farm made me to buy lands for farming. I have followed you for years now. Keep the good work
How about u give that land back to the wildlife and use it as a sanctuary.
@@nickovdub6131 0 context on their situation and that's the kind of comment you make? I guess the farmers whose produce you buy from the store should sell their land also? lol
@@nickovdub6131 how bout you buy the land off him and give it back the the wildlife as a sanctuary?
@@Heffdan let me guess you come from a 1st world nation that has already converted much of their landscape to cities and farms...correct?
thanks a lot for some of the most insightful content on the matter i've found so far ...following you from now on
Brother, this is an awesome channel. I love being able to learn from someone who is actually out there doing things. Please keep this up!
Yes, exploiting blacks and animals is a hell of a duty. Give the man a medal. And learn...
You are doing quite a job with that many birds. best of luck moving forward!
Excellent video! Beautiful flock and well done on your explanations. Only thing I have to add, careful with the antibiotics. Doxicyclin is an antibiotic we use as humans and you don’t want to breed resistant strains within your flock that could jump species. Your camera presence is great and the flow through the video was awesome
Hey everyone, thx Doc for sharing 😍
Thanks for the truthful video about your own experience.
Am a black soldier fly farmer here in uganda and currently producing close to 1tn of larvae a week
Wow, bro how do you do it?
How can I hook up with you?
@@paulelijah5945 bro what?
@@mr.redgamer7560 I fw it
@@mr.redgamer7560 so, did they hook up?
BSF is really just a composting technique that happens to create supplemental protein. Set up worm bins with bsf on top. You can trade the resulting vermicompost to your feed farmers. One of the best ways to take care of your chicken litter.
Thank you.
Lots of really good information.
Great video Doc!!
You are a great teacher. Thanks a lot for all the educational information you give us. Please try reading and working on using moringa as a chickens feed and give us your comments/recommendation.
I've fed soldier fly larva that were dried, not live. Many people here (california, USA) raise mealworms for their birds, but as you say; it depends how much space it takes, and what the percentage of protein is. We've cut grass, weeds, stalks, garden trimmings and vegetable waste with ground dried eggshells. Yes, we searched through a lot of local possible resources, and they ended up getting an interesting mix. For a year, I also worked helping a caterer and came home frequently with leftover banquet food. LOL Things you and I couldn't afford in a restaurant....they ate like queens for a time! (It was "legally unsafe for human consumption" and we were only given it to give to our chickens.) NICE eggs, and YES I heard the "I laid an egg" song! hahaha I love hearing your girls! I've had chickens over the years, rarely more than 40. Thank you for sharing, it's a problem everyone caring for chickens faces! We can't afford to BUY all the feed!
Don’t feed animals live animals it is evil and wrong being eaten alive is painful and animals feel pain. Jesus told me this.
Thanks for speaking out the truth. Bravo
Great job! Love the video and info. Keep up the great job and thanks a bunch.
God bless you, you do a great job raising your chickens.
Hi Dr. Daniel, i have read through quite a number of comments here and my submission would be, Since your farm has expanded beyond what it used to be, you should out source the supply of larvae to another farmer who will be willing to supply you with the needed quantity for your bird. its either you focus on the chicken for now, because they both need a lot of attentions (Chicken and BSF) at the same time.
I support those that said your title was not properly coined too, this could scare people.
i wish you the best bro...let us unluck the best of us.
Am Dennis Chidi - Nigeria
good Idea sir I was considering a similar plan
teaching people in especially rural areas to produce insects for poultry farmers
protein sources for birds gets very pricey here in Ghana too
@@MED42 king flys a bit biger than a blue bottle its got gray lines on it lay eggs on old vegitable carrots best but the maggots eat vegitabuls
Best precise answer, I know companies with 5 tones maggots harvest weekly and he's talking of 80kg per day
@@ianwhiteley5102 wow that's interesting any link suggestion to learn more?
Dirt to soil by Gabe Brown is good read. Mixed cover crops great way to get organic matter increase in soil so it holds more water for cash crops
BSF are also able to compost chicken poop as they do not completely digest their feed leaving 30% available for re-composters. When I had chickens , hubby made a concrete -casket' system with ramps which the collected poops were fed into. Realize scale up is problematic but for smaller flocks (under 50) worked well. Very healthy, they loved the BSF and produced well. Just a thought. Recompiling their poop plus other waste is a good system. Hope that this helps.
Can you share the design of the system?
Вы кормили только чёрным солдатом ? Зерно добавляли ? Спасибо ❤
Doesn't chicken poop contain too much ammonia for the bsf larvae?
Dude, thank you so much for this breakdown of the challenges of BSF larva at scale. I have been very interested in the possibilities of using them for soil remediation and protein conversion via livestock feed. It sounds like turnkey automation needs to be developed better before it can be a practical solution.
Have you tried using the casings from the bsf mixed with the chicken droppings to improve your crop production rates or is your soil already at peak yield? Perhaps BSF is more practical on less fertile land where the nutrients from the BSF waste can improve soil quality as a secondary product.
I have absolutely no idea why I'm watching this or got recommended it, but there's something about dude that's got me hooked
amazing video, i hope you find a cheap alternative to feed. loved seeing the work and love you put into raising them
Great video. I love your farm! If the tops of the roosting boxes are spiky, the chickens will not roost on top of them and make them poopy. Look for pigeon or chicken spikes. You can get them in metal or plastic.
I didnt even search for this channel, but I like your energy brah. Got my sub
What you mentioned here is very practical.
I have no idea how I ended up on this video, but ended up watching all the way through anyway.. Very charismatic guy
I love hearing this man speak 💯
This is my new favorite RUclips Channel!!!
Very nice birds you are raising. I enjoyed your content.
What beautiful fertile land you have. Good luck with the chooks!
Idk if Madre de agua available in your area but I feel like Lantana, Vanderblomst, Yellow Sage, Red Sage and Shrub Verena might be. Those are flowers that chicken eat as well and full of nutrients.
First time watching, you do a great job editing your videos, and explaining everything. See ya in the next video, BOL.
If you have a source for food scraps from restaurants, you can build a solar cooker to heat and disinfect the meat. (Directions on internet) Then let the food cool and give it to the chickens. Pretty soon it will attract insects. If you have a local beer brewery, you can feed them leftover malt and hops. But this feed situation is a nightmare. I'm going to start grinding mesquite pods. There are probably native plants in your area with roots or seeds you can grind up. Acorns are good, but its a multi-step process
If you put ramps, that lead to fall offs into buckets, you can get the Soldier flies to collect themselves,
This is usually how folks harvest black soldier flies, as when they are ready, they stop eating, and collect into the buckets by climbing out of the food.
Just have to look up designs, and make a large enough system with plenty of ways for them to isolate into the buckets, and you could just throw waste into a bin, and collect them each day easy.
" when they are ready, they stop eating, and collect into the buckets by climbing out of the food. " have you got any video or another material explaining this method?
I'm not gonna lie, as much as I was intrigued by this video, I couldn't stop laughing at the sheer noise of this space lol.
Maize prices in Nigeria quadrupled during the pandemic lockdowns in 2020 and have not gone down since. Now I farm my own maize, but we have a challenge with herdsmen.
Which part of Nigeria do you stay
Am from Nigeria too,stay in the northern region
Same here in Kenya, prices doubled or tripled at the farm level...maize is a staple food here in Ke.
Have you tried madre de agua?
It's starting to be a popular feed here in Southeast Asia as poultry, cattle and fish feed. You don't need a lot of water or dig any pond. You can even grow it as fence or boundary tree.
Edit: you can even process it with soya cake into animal feed pellets for long term storage. It may help mitigate the high cost of feed as a cheap filler that is also high in protein and beneficial for animal health.
I'm interested in this. Do you have an email I can reach you on?
What is made da agua the name in English please
@@temitopeolayode8962 Nacedero or you can try Madre de cacao as well
@@temitopeolayode8962 No unique to english name, but a lot of names- madre de agua and palo de agua are the ones i've seen most often. Scientific name is Trichanthera gigantea.
@@temitopeolayode8962 tricantera. Chickens, goats, rabbits, etc. They all love tricantera plus its easy to grow and can be used as a fence.
I found your channel today. I watched your vlog and I am impressed by your presentation and your practical knowledge. Now I just subscribed and looking forward for more of your videos
Glad to have you
That's crazy. It got so expensive for maze. Would it have helped to grow your own maze? Wild situation, I know that a lot of a chickens diet is going to require some grain and protein from grazing on bugs. You've got so many beautiful healthy chickens, place is so clean there can't be anything other than the feed effecting them so. Thank you for sharing.
Great video! Very informed.
Interesting to hear your challenges with BSFL. When I started farming them I faced many challenges but I can tell you now I produce about 100kg a day without much effort and with no-one helping me at all. I have sourced plenty of organic feed for them each day (all free) and I have tweaked my farm setup so it works with minimum effort. I will be using them to supplement the feed in my new chicken farm this year.
Hi, Duncan - do you have any tips to share?
Will they eat grass or leaves? I want to avoid driving to obtain bsf food.
@@TheRainHarvester no they won't. Manure or food waste or some other types of feed but not leaves and grass
Would like to know more info about he u harvest 100kg a day please
@@michaeljarvis8377 it's about 50/50 between self harvesting pre-pupae that crawl out of the bioponds up the slopes into collection channels and using a sieving machine (tumbler) to separate 16-17 DoL from the frass. I prefer to use a mix a of Instar 5 and Pre-Pupae
I really enjoyed your video ! Your awesome thank you !
Very educational. Thanks for sharing.
Thank you for excellent information. I am in USA. I am just beginning again to raise BSF. I will be keeping my chickens in raised housing so that their droppings fall to the ground where the black soldier flies can populate, grow, lay eggs and be gathered to feed to the chickens. I do not keep more than 100 or so chickens and this works well. It would be, as you said, quite labor intensive to raise so many tons of BSF for the chickens but it might be a wonderful side business for you as well. I have seen it done on a very large scale. People here who keep a few chickens buy dried BSF larvae in small bags for more than we pay for a 50 pound bag of chicken feed - this amazes me and makes me want to begin this business for myself. To raise and sell the larvae AND the compost made by the larvae is highly profitable here. Thank you again for your video. We wish you all the best and look forward to hearing more from you.
Good day Dr. Daniel, please is it possible to share your recipe for the DIY chicken feed??
nice setup, birds look healthy and happy!!
That thing over his eye kept distracting me no lie lol
Thank you, sir, for sharing. I am convinced.
Have you considered feeding them dry mealworms? It's very cheap in bulk, and contains around 50% protein by weight... They are also very easy to raise in large quantities, but then you also need grain and vegetable scraps to feed them... You can also add in reject eggs, cooked. Cooked eggs are about 90% protein by weight.
My man you have charisma!
Thank you for sharing this 🙂
priceless, thank's Sir
Love your VIVES soul brother 👍👍👍🙏🙏🙏🙏❤️❤️❤️✊️✊️✊️✊️✊️
blend( electric blender machine ) some watermelon and cucumber together and then mix in some dried green algae powder till it becomes like a dough. they love it. And last a while in the freezer. But! for as many chickens as you have.. its just a treat for your favourite few :)
Man, that was really interesting. Great video.
You deserve a million subscription Dr
Yeah it is true, that the cost of maize is very expensive. Currently, I'm doing a research project on the effects of dilution of dietary energy at a constant energy-to-protein ratio on feed conversion and carcass characteristic in broiler chicken. The results of this experiment be very very interesting to see how if reduction of the amount of dietary energy will have any impact on growth performance and what will be the economic efficiency of the different dietary treatments that I'm going to use. The project with be through before August 2023
Can't wait
Yes! I love your energy, thanks for interesting video.
That is the most beautiful corn I have ever seen!
So I agree with a lot of what you said in this video as far as black soldier flies not being sustainable for large scale chicken keeping.
I don't agree with the types of food you have to feed them however. When I kept soldier flies I had no issues with them growing up just fine on plant waste as long as you don't feed them things like tomato stocks or potato vines which are toxic. I didn't notice any difference when I was using compost to when I used a bag of commercial layer pellets or a bag of chick starter granules. They had gotten wet so they went to the flys for science.
Also my compost was not purely plant waste it was things like the fallen rotten apples from under my neighbor's apple tree, shredded paper, rabbit waste and bedding and table scraps.
Also I found giving mine a ramp to crawl out when they were ready to go pupate was extremely helpful I didn't have to mess with them other than adding more compost to their bin. They just sorted themselves into a bucket for me it was rather convenient and I probably wouldn't have done it otherwise. Know where I live it's a very seasonal food source so from late spring to mid autumn.
But that wasn't their main source of protein. I used it to supplement their primary protein sources in the summer to cut down on how much I spent on feeding the 60 or so chickens I had which did help.
I actually moved from that property a few years ago I gave the black soldier fly set up and a few very friendly hens to my old neighbor who was getting into raising tilapia. I bumped into him this Summer at a farmers market he was selling tilapia filleted on sight, homegrown veggies and eggs. the guy started using the chicken bedding and that same neighbors apple trees to grow the soldier fly larvae. he would use the maggots to feed the tilapia and he would use the Wastewater from the tilapia and compost from the maggots to fertilize his garden beds.
Hello Daniel,
There are farmers that can supply you with the quantities of BSF feed you need. Maybe you do not need to actually do it yourself.
It may not work for your area, but we had amazing success with stinging nettle forage.
It is perrenial grower, likes cool weather, and is 41% protien by dry weight.
You have to harvest and dry it completely before feeding to neutralize the stinging hairs though.
We have lots of stinging nettle growing naturally in the highlands of Kenya where tea is largely grown. Is this the same variety of nettle you are talking about?
Doc can you please teach us how to formulate chicken feeds; both layers and broilers.
I will, again
@@FarmUp please can you give me the formula for both chicken?
After the breweries have finished with the barley you can buy the left overs from them. Thats a good feed !! We give it to cattle in the uk.
New sub you have a very interesting character and personality.
Try the upside avocado half for worms thing maybe, I believe they procreate inside the shell
your r dedicated egg farmer.. doing all the hard chores.. I hope u succeed & grow larger.. keep well, ur a hard worker & have a good heart
I'd love to see you try it on a big scale. You have more experience than most. You could be the biggest producer of BSF in your region?
Great video. On the communal laying boxes just add a skinny beam and put a steeper angle roof top on the laying house. A thin sheet of steel works well.
It's a commercial enterprise in itself to do it at large enough scale
indulgence is key
Thank you for your video. You have so much knowledge. What was the green stuff in the water? We have a lot of water at the moment
I stopped feeding my son maggots a few weeks ago and he is feeling better than ever!
Thanks for the information
You can make 3D printed spikes to stop them roosting or getting up on certain things. They do this for buildings quite often. Its to stop birds from pooping on people as they go into the buildings or to prevent poop going around the building.
Dont even need to be 3D printed, get small hard plastic straws, plastic board, poke some holes, glue the straws paste it onto the chicken coop roof.
came for the chicken, stayed for the accent.
You can get a doser to allow you use the tank while still giving medicine
Great video. They look like healthy chickens. Chickens from farms in my country always have pale combs and bald spots.
Dr. Where can we get the soya cake? Suppose I have my own soya what are the measurements I know we are supposed to road it first. Thanks.
NICE OKRA ! Also your banana plants look big and magical. Is that the burgundy/red-colored Okra? I grew it for the first time last year, in California. Be well
From the day you mentioned using fly larvae I knew it was not practical. I am a feedmilling engineer that worked in mills poducing more than 20 tons per hour, a quick calculation and I knew.
The Ammonia produced by the chicken excrement is a serious issue when it comes to the health of the chickens .. Which means constant cleaning of the coup .. One of the other measures to lower the Ammonia is to add airflow through the coup from the floor to the top of the coup .. The airflow doesn't need to be high but it does need to be done .. Many farmers have movable coups which tractors can pull from one place to another to reduce the ammonia which requires flat ground .. This is another good method to help the chickens breath fresh air ..
How was the results after feeding them to the chicken in the short span of time you were doing BSF
Do a video on the feed mixture and corn to soya percentage
Very informative. Good video.
Wow you have some really beautiful healthy clean free range chicken, my friend. Subscribed.
Supplement feed with hemp seed. You get to grow the hemp for medicine and everything else but also get seed for more hemp and more chickens
Respect from California..
Their hits me deeply in my heart, it reminds me of my late chickens 😭😭but no matter what ✍️am passionate I have to make it Insha'Allah
Glad to see you offer roosts to your birds. It's nice to preserve some natural behaviors
The easiest way to get maggots for chickens is directly from the source. Rotational grazing of cattle is a great way to improve soil health and therefore fodder yields. Then 3 days after the cattle have gone through a patch, follow through with your chickens. They’ll go to town eating the maggots that have hatched in the dung. Furthermore, the chickens will also be eating other bugs like beetles, worms and ants. Further diversifying their feedstock and improving the health and vitality of the chickens.
I do this very thing only with goats & sheep, rotational graze with the chickens being 2-3 days behind the herd. This way they get a varied diet with a good mix of insects and field mice.
@@leehiller2489 I’ve been told that goats and cattle are a great combination too. Due in part to the fact that as the goats go through, they’ll happily munch on weeds and shrubs the cattle don’t like, leaving the prime grasses for the cows. Furthermore, each animals digestive tract is perfect for destroying the eggs and larvae of parasites that affect the other.
Yep, they have zero competition for graze as they go after a different diet. I keep sheep for grass and goats for browse. I'd like to have bovine but I'm too small and my pasture couldn't take it so meat sheep it is.
Thank you for this