Feeding Chickens Black Soldier fly Larvae a new feeder

Have been looking at ways to boost the nutrition of the chooks at late & have come up with a few ideas like the Black soldier larvae farms... As you can see from the clip below they are a hit with the girls..


Another way is by increasing their greens intake.. At the moment they are getting grass clippings, grass from the neighbours yard & leafy greens from the patch.. Think its time they grow their own
; )»
Living Green Chicken feeder..

Have been wanting to make one of these feeders up since a friend told me about them..
The concept is fairly basic, plant some chook fodder seeds under a chook proof cage so the greens can grow through for the chooks to feed on them without scratching them up..

So far I have made up the cage & installed it into the chook pen..
It is hinged so the mesh can be lifted easily & the soil worked or left to the chooks to scratch out between crops..


A hanging pot hook will be used to keep it from turning it into a chook trap : )»
I have some wheat grain soaking over night so it can be sown out in the morning... Just thought it might give the seed a bit of a head start germinating..
A clip will be made once we have a bit of growth & the chooks are feeding from it..


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Have a great one All...
: )»

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Black soldier fly larvae Hermetia illucens as aquaponic feed

Have converted the old barrel worm farm into a black soldier fly farm over the past month or so & found our first batch of harvested larvae yesterday morning.. Was a bit concerned when the fish didnt gobble them up straight away but really didnt need to worry.. Think they just needed to acquire a taste for them..
The farm isnt going quite as planned at the moment & will post a clip once some adjustments have been made....



Have a great one all..
:D»

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Black Solider fly larvae farm Hermetia illucens

It took a while but I finally finished off the BSFL barrel to where I am happy with it.. Have already taken a few larvae out to feed the fish & chooks.. The perch are not real keen on them but will eat them if left in the tank over night.. Might have to look at another way to make them appetising for the fish.. The chooks have no problems gobbling them up as is though :D»



Hopefully with the flies eating meat scraps it will add even more nutrients within our system..
For more regular updates about the patch come visit us on our Face Book page..
Have a great one All...

:D»

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Fly Traps

Fruit Fly Traps...
We have lost nearly all our Capsicums & about 60% of our Tomato fruit over the last few weeks so today we put up 6 traps with 3 different types of bait to see what works best...


I read up on a few different ideas for bait on the net & came across a fair few differing opinions as what works the best... I thought we would use the 2 main ingredients that appear to be the most popular, 100% fruit juice & Banana Skins...
To begin with, Some holes were put into some empty 2L white vinegar bottles (we use it as a fabric softener)...

2 sets of bottles were filled with differing quantities of juice & the 3rd set had ½ a pureed Banana skin mixed with a cup & a ½ of water...
A tsp of bakers yeast was put in each bottle with a few drops of washing liquid to break the surface tension of the bait... This allows the flies to become trapped in the liquid...
 One set of each mix were then placed out on opposite side of the garden near the different lots of Tomatoes to see what effect they will have on the fly strike rates...

Weekly Harvest...
The Cucumbers are going really well & are not being affected by the powdery mildew like the other Cucurbits this year... B? & Koo got a few shots of 1 poor Cue that got caught in the wire...


Anyhoooo... This week we have picked Cucumbers, Mini Roma Tomatos,  Chillies, Shallots, Radishes, Carrots, Eggplants, Strawberries, Mixed Herbs, Beans, Silverbeet, the first of the Kohlrabi & 3 eggs a day... Fairly much the same as the past few weeks...

 General Happenings...
The beans will probably get pulled this week & the vacant space will be prepared to have some Dragon Carrots go in... The Feral Pumpkin has had a few more shoots clipped off & a couple of female flowers hand fertilised this week... Looks like it was successful at this point... Is interesting to note that these pumpkins are the only variety not to get any trace of powdery mildew **Knocks on wooden coffee table**  this season... The Tomatoes have had a major pruning as they havent had much attention over the last couple of weeks with all the rain we have had... As I said before, we have lost a fair bit of fruit due to fly strike but hopefully the traps will make a big enough dent in the fly population...

Rainfall...  
Since the last rainfall post 11 days ago we have had 232.4mm of rain... With a total of 368.2mm so far this month, it looks like we will fall short of the recorded wettest  December (1941-2008) which was 394.4mm in 1991... 
It looks like we have escaped flooding but our thoughts are with those who haven been so lucky...
If your interested you can donate to the Premiers Flood Relief Appeal.....    


Have a great one all...
: )»

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