Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

hehehe...

Yes fresh or as fresh as it comes. The very top fine layer in the picture is the substrate that came with the larva. I just dumped it all on top. Lucky for me the smell had cleared she didn't notice a thing... Whew...
Doug seems from reading, the males like leaves from trees to sit on as they wait for their dates? So maybe a small tree in a neted enclousure would work for them to do their thing. None of this group will become fish food hoping to get them breeding! Ill check the bucket in the morning to see if the poop has deminished in size. Trying to see how much they eat etc.

VB, i'm sure this if is already here, but........................are they as prominent in the melbourne climate? don't just wanna leave out meat if all i get is house flys. I've never actually seen them, i have seen maggots here.

can some one link me to some temperatuyre / data on them please?

Steve, I didn't know about them or had even seen them until Gary said "look in the compost heap" - I don't think Gary was aware of them until Doug brought it up.

Because they don't bother humans they have gone unnoticed , try looking here for some info:
BSF - BYA
BSF slide show

I think I saw an adult a couple of weeks ago and we are a lot colder up than Melbourne.

If it wasn't a BSF then it was a related species. Very waspish looking but defintely a fly.

Stuart

That and they are often mistaken for little wasps? They should be plentiful in your area I'd think due to the temps.
Gary start your BSF export business!

I'll take some pics next time I catch a fly in my worm farm.

Doug, they will need to fly about the space in order to mate. You can control where they lay eggs by having one source of decomposing matter, removing any other sources. You can even categorize the eggs: Use a piece of cardboard with the corrugated holes next to the food source and accessible, and the females will lay an egg in each hole.

They natively like wooded areas, so you may need to provide hiding spaces (lots of vine plants?). It may be a challenge inside a smaller greenhouse, though I haven't heard of anyone trying.

Hayden

Steve, don't leave meat out for them, just normal compost

Yep - my lates ones are in a rotton pumpkin. Though once they are there they will make very short work of meat. I put some srips in one day and within a couple of hours all that was left was a bit of gristle (sp?).

12 hours in the poop and no noticable (mass decrease). As I lifted the lid it is on loosly, a very small fly poped out. Looks like a house fly to me just very small.
If it is a house fly then perhaps I'll be able to see if in fact BSF do inhibit their egg laying.
Seriously fighting the urge to stir the poo, and peek on the larva, for numerous reasons.
Note to self: plant many fragrant flowers in the green house.

John, ultimately you want to process poop from chickens (perhaps outdoors during summer), but could you save yourself a lot of unpleasantness by feeding the ones in your greenhouse kitchen scraps? Besides the pumpkin mentioned above, I have heard they relish cabbage, potatoe peels, fruit rind, etc. (kitchen/garden scraps).

Hayden, Thank you. My ceiling is at 9 feet. I think that might work out. As far as leaves, the cucumbers, pole beans, and indeterminate tomatoes make a jungle. The cardboard next to compost sounds like a winner. So they can fly around the 12' x 36' plant area and mate and put the eggs in the compost under the growbed in a plastic bin. Sounds like a plan. I am going to order them in April from www.phoenixworm.com.

Doug, I think the hardest part (from what I have read) will be getting the males to stay around long enough to do their job. I emagine there will be other obsticals in raising them in a GH environment. As we attempt to place control over things the balance is many times lost?
Gary's work with them is great and I look forward to seeing your successes as well.
As far as myself just using chicken poop for the BSF, I have a secondary objective in seeing first hand how they can be utilized for manure management. How many needed to reduce a quanity of poop etc.

Yes John, I have seen studies on reducing swine, chicken, etc. poop. They sound very promising. I also saw where someone was raising them outside in an insulated box during their winter (which seldom went below 25F). They thought the BSF larvae generated considerable body heat while digesting. It would be easy to cook them on a sunny day. Anyway, we will see what tricks we learn as we go along. You (Iowa), Hayden (Alberta), and I (Michigan) have challenging climates for the BSF life cycle. I think three heads are better than one. We will soon have some idea of what works.

Do you think BSF would grow in Alaska? If so, perhaps I should consider incorporating a BSF "digester" into my system.