Sue,

Now that you found it, what are you going to use it for. Covercrop, Nitrogen fixer, forage crop, process and eat??

Has an interesting history. See link below

Here is a link that might be useful: Pigeon Pea

I was thinking first of a high-protein feed for my chickens, a possible food for people, and a cover crop. Such a multi-purpose plant, even if it has to be treated as an annual here in the chilly PNW.

Sue

Sue,

My next crazy adventure is Black Soldier Fly larvae. Us them to compost kitchen waste. The larvae are something like 43% protein and 20 something % fat. My ducks will love them.

See youtube video below

Here is a link that might be useful: Black Soldier Fly

Yes, I will be trying Black Soldier Flies this spring. I want them for my chickens.

I tried to start a colony with 300 purchased larvae this past summer, but I got started too late (was trying to attract local ones, with no success). Then I tried to keep them through the winter and accidentally set their butter on a heat mat that I had left plugged in. They turned into adults late in November (temps in the 30s) and then died.

There is a BSF forum online, but I'm sure this outfit won't allow me to link to it. It's not hard to find.

But most of the people currently working with the BSF are in CA or the South, so they don't have to deal with cold as much. The whole process is new enough that no one has all the answers.

Sue

Hi Sue,

I know the frustration of tracking down a not-yet popular seed, congratulations on your find.

I grew meal worms for my ducks...the ducks screamed in fear...I guess the wriggling scared them. They made One Big Duck huddle, and wouldn't cease until I removed all meal worms. The dead ones they ate, they didn't seem to realize that it was the same creature. Yet they'll chase beetles.

I grow yellow peas and millet for my ducks,and I feed them poplar leaves. I still don't have a complete cycle for them with winter feed, but I'm working on it. My husband said "no" to soldier flies...meal worms creeped him out too. We can't raise worms because we're a timber preserve with virgin soil (no worms), but if we could then earthworms would be my preferred feed.

The Europeans hang a haunch of meat up in the duck pen and let the blowflies lay their eggs in it...the maggots drop down to the ducks below. Let's all hope that the pen is downwind. It does have the advantage of keeping the fly population down, as their offspring are feeding ducks.

They feed fish they are raising in a similar way...meat on a suspended wire cage and the fish eat the maggots. No work on their part to feed them.

Divadeva, why no earthworms??? And how do you keep them from coming in, pesticides?

Tell your hubby (from me) that he sounds like a little girl! (heehee!)

Black soldier flies don't carry disease, they don't go into buildings except accidentally, they aren't found in swarms and don't bother humans, and they're self-harvesting. They don't need to be near the house, just close enough to dump food waste into their container.

If you did want to raise earthworms, you could do it in closed bins. All it would need would be a drain covered by fine screening to let excess liquid run out. There are multiple boxes that you can stack, and the worms follow the fresh food upwards.

Sue

belgianpup,

I went to the site that sells Biopods. They talk about selling larvae, but I didn't see where to order them. Do you have a link to the site you purchased your BSF from??

Thank You

Eric

ps where in WA. are you?

Eric, the place you probably saw won't have any larvae until maybe April.

I can't remember where I got mine, but they were very expensive; the 'special' was 300 for about $20. The problem I ran into was getting them too late, getting MUCH too few, and there weren't enough of them to generate enough heat to survive.

HOWEVER... I am finding live larvae in my compost pile. I was out there today shifting two half-piles into one pile, and found some. I picked them out and put them with some compost in a 3-lb margarine tub, then sank most of the tub into a covered plastic tote on the back deck that holds my chicken feed. So, that's how they survive over the winter in a cool climate, even after our 8F temps of December.

They are tan or brown, so it takes some looking in the brown compost!

I am hoping to erect a small greenhouse and put the BSF in there, hoping they will turn into adults, breed in the greenhouse and lay eggs in a tub of compost so I can work up a breeding population. But I have the feeling I will still have to buy a pound or so of them from the Soldier Fly Blog guy.

I live in the Olympia area.

Sue

Sue, Here is my DIY BSF composter.

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It's made out of parts I already had. Some recycled. I found it much easier to locate BSF larvae by looking up Phoenix worms. Link below is where I purchased mine. They should show up tomorrow. USPS priority. I will be wintering them over in the greenhouse and outside in the summer.

I lived in Auburn from 1969 - 2001.

Eric

Here is a link that might be useful: Phoenix worms

I've seen the site for 'Phoenix worms', but they are too expensive for me. $65 for 1200 grubs is incredibly expensive. 1200 sounds like a lot, but it isn't even enough to keep themselves warm, so you'll have to monitor the temps around them. If they freeze, they'll die. If you keep them too warm, they'll hatch into adults and die. Temps of 40-50/shade is probably best for now, until you can let them change into adults.

I have been harvesting some from the compost pile (VERY tedious job), and putting them into a butter tub, and burying most of the butter tub in a plastic tub of chicken feed. I've got some torn dampish cardboard over the surface of the partly-composted media.

Are you just going to let them go when they hatch?

Sue

Sue,

Lets some go to increase local population and the rest to my ducks and muscovies.

Yes, about $59.00 total for 1200 small larvae.

The composter is currently in my greenhouse. Temp fluxuation from 50 to 100 degree in Feb.

Eric

Eric, just be sure not to heat them up, or they'll mature and turn into adults. I learned the hard way...

I had done some germination testing on some traded seeds, using a plant heat mat, and forgot to unplug it. And set the butter tub of purchased grubs on it. In late November. Dumb!

I am keeping my collected batch cooler!

Sue