Black Soldier Fly Larvae Breeder

Here’s a pretty extreme use for a five gallon bucket. With a dead animal inside, it can act as a breeder for fly larvae, commonly known as maggots. Leave holes in the sides of the buckets, and the maggots will crawl out, only to eaten by eager chicken mouths.

Warning: While this is a really cool idea, using diseased or questionable meat can lead to disease carried through the maggots into the chickens. There has been at least one reported case of chickens dying of botulism using this method. Botulism is an anaerobic bacteria, so making sure oxygen can freely enter the chamber is very important!

Step 1: Drill holes in the side of bucket, near the bottom.
Step 2: Throw inedible meat inside (road kill, dead pets, meat scraps, etc.)
Step 3: Put a thick layer of straw, leaves or dry grass clippings on top to eliminate the rotting smell.

This technique reminds me of a recent faircompanies profile on a woman who breeds edible insects for tacos at her insect taco stand. You may be able to use a similar method to the maggot breeder to breed meal worms for human food!

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2 thoughts on “Black Soldier Fly Larvae Breeder

  1. Send instructions how to build bucket composter or flybox to breed and harvest maggots from black soldier fly.

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