Do maggot farms actually work and what about the smell.
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 4 ต.ค. 2024
- Tried a maggot farm made out of a bucket a few years ago and it was not very good, the smell was way too much, tried this version to see if it would be any better.
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the reason you want them dry in the bottom container is so they can´t climb. On the top container, you can leave the top off, the light will force the maggots to the bottom under the straw where they drop into the powder and can no longer climb. Having the top off also helps with the smell.
I had an open top maggot farm once, the smell was insane, never again.
Very interesting and simple set up. Since there are flies around anyway, might as well put them to work to make some snacks for the chickens.
It is a good food for the birds, there is probably more protein in a pound of these maggots then in a full bag of chicken feed and it is free and for sure healthier.
Keep in mind that when most worm-like bugs are first hatched, they're primarily exo-skeleton. Your chickens will receive much more protein if the maggots are given time to grow.
This is why a lot of lizard keepers farm their own superworms. You can pack a bunch of worm feed into a bucket filled with superworm eggs, they will hatch and get big but the worms will NOT morph into beetles while in the presence of other superworms. It's also a very compact system like a small brownie tray.
When the worms start running out, they just take a few and put them in a divided fishing tackle box and they'll morph, then lay eggs. Though, you might need to have a larger scale setup for a bunch of chickens.
***** Yeah, it sounds pretty gross. However, free range chickens will eat any kind of bugs they might find, although these aren't primarily free range birds. In any case, the contents of the digestive system isn't typically what a person is going to eat, unless they're going to eat insects or larva which some people do.
***** Thanks for the laugh.
+NightBazaar Actually, free range aren't free range. The just don't live in cages. The live in a very large building that has dirt for a floor, and they get fed boring chicken meal/food. Plus they are given steroids to make them grow meatier and faster, so they are quite gross and unhealthy. And you eat them, so you are eating chicken meal fed chickens that are full of hormones and steroids.
Interesting idea! One of the reasons I haven't gotten chickens or quail yet is the cost of feed. This idea of maggot production combined with Southpaw Davy's meal worm stuff may be what I need to bring feed cost down enough to be worth it.
Another one to try is BSFL, That also works and chickens love them.
When I was a youngster I moved into an old wood frame house that was infested with palmetto bugs. I found an applesauce or tomato sauce jar left under the sink at night would catch a jar full in the morning. i had a rooster and i would throw the jar out in the yard and he would kick the jar al over the yard eating the bugs. I often thought a small shed or a large wooden box full of cardboard boxes and scrap wood to give the bugs a place to breed and some food scraps every day would make a good roach ranch to raise food for chickens. you could also have hardware cloth on the bottom to keep out snakes and frogs but to let the roach poop out below into a worm bed and if the shed or box was on wheels you could move it to a new spot.
There are so many ways to catch and farm bugs, around here they use lights to attract the bugs and they fall into a bucket of water and drown, there not chicken food though, there for people food.
There always has to be one that just has to stand in the middle of the food pile, doesn't there? That's a great source of free protein. Good idea.
This chicken only has one eye and you can see her going around in circles, she is becoming a bit of a pet, a very nice bird but I don't need any more pets....lol
Use plenty of saw dust and keep the walls of the container dry then the maggots cant climb,we use this often UK,fishing with maggots is popular here. ;]
I can't really get saw dust but I have rice bran, same idea and the birds can eat it that should work, A few have commented on using maggots for fishing, all from the UK, it is a new one for me.
lifeinthailand it works a treat for catching fish
It might not smell so hot, but I think you've just nailed the solution for cheap, economical chicken feed~ XD
Easy and free, Gotta like that.
And it's full of proteins
i've seen a variant of this in which they used a 5 gal pail drilled small holes in the bottom. put road kill or bait in it and the flys would lay the eggs and maggot would fall out of the bottom onto a pan in which the chickens would feed as they would drop.
I tried the hanging type maggot farm and the smell was so bad I had to get rid of it before I even got any maggots, it was bad and it get infested with ants.
Ty for heads up.
C Wiskus I
Put a hose and loop it down into the bottom for catchment. When you go to empty every day, spread it around to your turkeys and other fowl.
That would work.
At first the chickens were spooked, the li'l one looked and walked away thinkin' (that's meat, I'm vegan), then as the other chickens moved in, so did the li'l one, they really love their live maggots,...lol...turning maggots into eggs, my buddy you're really AWESOME!
Took them a bit to get the nerve to try it but once they did they could not eat them fast enough.
Hi Paul If your interested in setting up a black soldier fly bin ... I can give you some maggots to start it ... just let a few escape to a safe spot, to transform and you will be away to the races ... I have a bin set up in chumphon .. and will be building a big one in bangkok to deal with the food scraps from the hospital ...
Thanks, I have seen some BSFL here in some wet chicken feed and have seen a few flies lately so there here now just need to get a bin started.
wow a hospital would produce a mountain of food. So your going to use the BSFL for fish food.
Outstanding, idea will put one of these together on my place too! Thanks for sharing. Saw one where they just hung a bucket up in the air and the maggot just fell to the ground for the chickens to eat. Seemed like a nice idea but no control over the feeding.
I did the open top swinging bucket and it stank so much that I had to take it down before I got any maggots. If you want to go that way maybe put a top on the bucket and drill one or two holes for the flies to get in, that should keep the smell under control.
If you take a five gallon bucket and cut small holes in the top and bottom, about 3/8 inch, the flys come in the top and maggots fall out the bottom. Hang the bucket from a tripod. Works well and usually the maggots do not come out the top.
The holes in the bottom get clogged moisture builds up and the maggots drown, or that is what happened to me, and open air maggot farm doesn't smell so good next to the house.
Even the girls don't know what to make of it at first lol Amazing!!!
I think they loved it after they figured out it was food.
🤣🤣
Really cool! vids like this keep me coming back each week, please do updates for the maggots!!!
Not much to report on the maggots, might play around with some different ideas for maggot farms when I have some time.
That's ingenious. Even the parts of the animal you don't eat still turn into food for the rest, and good protein-rich food at that.
There is no need for wastage, just have to find a use for everything. This does work very well.
I was wondering, what if you leave the bucket somewhere they could have access and make some holes on the bottom so maggots could come out, and something like bridge to the top for the chickens to clime on the top to eat those maggots which come from the top. Then it would be a self feeding and chickens get them when they come out. This way if you forget to take the maggots out for a few days, you wont end up with a lot of flies ...
I love what you do.
Self harvesting is possible but it increases the smell problem, there are a thousands ways to do it, most well work good.
you can always try hanging the heads or bones or whatever from sticks over the top of the bucket, the guts can be hung in a plastic bag with a few holes in the bottom, the maggots then just drop off into the flour or whatever you use in the bottom keeping them dry and that will stop them climbing out the top. I used to do the same when I wanted maggots for fishing years ago! just make sure when you hang it its away from the sides and in the middle of the bucket
I am sure something like that well work, Not sure why they want to come up, they should want to go down into the ground and wait till they become flies before coming out. Not a big deal really.
Be careful. Larvae contains a lot of fat. The larvae of meat flies can carry the birds infection in contrast to the larvae of the black soldiers flies (as I know).
If it was all they ate than maybe i would be worried, but once in a wile it is not going t be an issue.
Can u please explain for my benefit, Because am planning on using fly larvea since i can't find black fly larvea, How about i heat treat them before feeding the chicks that should take care of any disease transmission right ?
muxammad mursal warsame 4
Shure a proper heat treatment it will take care of that
can you show where you sourced that info please
brilliant subsistence farming and can't beat that for nutritional feed for the chickens. They will grow big, healthy and tasty on that feed.
I agree, its all natural and they love it.
There are ways you can make a trap for flies to get in but not out. They will stay longer, lay more eggs, and process the fuel faster
That is interesting, something to think about on the redesign.
lol at first...oh scary what is this stuff...nibble...nibble....OMG maggots, yum yum all mine!!! lmao
took a minute but then they could not get enough.
This is so fascinating to watch.
Thanks.
Free protein !
Winner ! Winner ! Chicken dinner !
After they figured it out they could not get enough.
Cutest comment ever😁🐔 Winner, Winner!!!! 👍
These chickens are so excited, it's hard not to feel happy for them!
lol, Yell they were a little excited after they tried it for the first time.
3:50 lmao. even the chickens are like "what the fuuuuuck man?"
can you somehow describe what it smells like?
It stinks, but only if you stick your nose right in the bin, my wife has not commented on the smell and she is in there every day.
This was so interesting to this city boy. Maggot harvesting? Never heard of it. Very cool. I love watching all your farm videos. I especially like the chicken and duck babies videos. Only seen them in petting zoos. Thanks for sharing.
Welcome to the farm life, the bird videos are very popular, I should be doing more of them. Lots of people think all animals should be in a petting zoo, I get some interesting comments.
Very smart idea
The chickens agreed. lol
That's pretty cool.
It actually was.
This is a really great idea.
Simple and it works.
Well I know a frog farm in Saraburi and a prawn farm in Nakorn Pratom the owners have been breeding maggots from food scraps. The neighbours of the prawn farm were alerted at first due to the smell and the presumption that the farm would breed more flies, but eventually the owner demonstrated that his maggot operation is 100% safe because he breed them in a controlled environment (i.e. mesh wire cages). But again, it appears there's very little you can do with the smell. Keep the great vids coming!
I would like to see one of these places, I am sure it would be very interesting.
A number of small farms and some pet breeders in Thailand use maggot as animal feed. Also, check out this vid: th-cam.com/video/TnuhonuPPo0/w-d-xo.html --- A small chicken farm in Phra Yao is raising maggots using rice bran mixed with fruit leftovers and EM (Effective Microorganisms). Molasses can also be used instead of EM too.
It would be a big business if only we could overcome the odor issue ... heheh :P
That is very interesting, thanks for the video. Adding EM well take away most of the smell and make the food better for the birds, just might have to give this a try.
THAT WORKS SO well omg don't you think you can just go to markets or when someone is discarding things that people don't eat and take it for free put it in there
For sure but around here everything is eaten, no food wastage here, not on the meat side anyway.
Watching this from the UK at 4 in the morning....had to turn the volume down - even from thousands of miles away that cockerel is able to wake people up! UCKAUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
lol, Your up way too late or up way too early...
Early...I just opened the video again to reply, and he's at it again! UCKAUOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!
lol, there are roosters everywhere around here and there at it all night long, one trying to outdo the other one, anyone who thinks roosters only crow at sun up never lived on a farm.
Let us know how the eggs taste after they are eating that for a while.
Oh I bet they're so delicious and way more nutritious than factory farm chicken coops!
You got that right Joe, Food like this well make the yokes even yellower, delicious.
I love ur vids man keep them coming!!!!
Thank you.
Paul you do some strange things. Very interesting I might add. Happy New Year. Best wishes Bob.
I am a strange person....lol
Happy new year.
It might sound kind of counter intuitive, but what if you put a third bucket in there with nothing in it but holes on the sides. That way the flies go in, through the first bucket and lay their eggs in the second bucket. This way, the maggots would have to climb to the top of the second bucket and back down to the air holes in the first to get out (which they hopefully wouldn't do).
OR if the case is that the maggots are climbing to the top because the smell of the rotting flesh is collecting at the top of the bucket, you could move the entrance for the flies to the side of the bucket, and create a channel out of PVC from the top to the bottom bucket, meaning that the most potent concentration of the smell would be at the channel, telling the maggots to go into the channel and down to the bottom.
Alternatively, I know people who have fire ant farms put tape or another slipppery material on the side of their enclosure so the ants can't get traction when climbing to the top. Not sure how maggots climb, but that could also work. Check out some fire ant videos.
There are videos of self harvesting maggot farms, the maggot has to go up a pipe and when they get to the top they fall into a container, harder to make but easier to harvest, there is no end to the things we could try and most of it well work.
Me, Touching a maggot once in bed : Its fine...
*it wasn't that bad..*
lol
Beekeepers use a curved plastic around the edge to keep the beetles out.
It needs something like that, this works but it could be better.
very resourceful
For sure.
awesome video lifeintialand , idk why you don't have more views with an impressive 30k subs....
Subscribes do not equal views.
to make the maggots go out the bottom you should probably make more holes further up
I have noticed that the holes in the bottom are getting blocked up, that might be some of the problem.
Did it affect egg flavor at all?
These birds are too young for eggs but it would only make the eggs better, birds need this kind of protein, makes the yokes much yellower and creamier.
Hey Paul, you're most of the way there, just need a little tweak to your system. What you have there are Black Soldier Fly Larvae, or better known as BSFL. Grow to their full pupation stage, these
'grubs' will be much much larger than what you have now, will contain 20% + protein (live weight, 20% + dry weight) and contain virtually 100% of your birds daily nutritional needs, and the foul smell will be virtually nonexistent. Tale a look at this TH-cam video: th-cam.com/video/n6kxKpNrKa0/w-d-xo.html ---- BSFs are highly prolific here in So. Thailand, been raising them for our chickens for nearly a year, they love 'em. All the best.
Can you send me a picture of your setup.
Ok, I have watched all of Doug's videos simple enough setup, I plan to make a small version out of a plastic box and if that works I well be building the same.
As much as I love what you're doing over there, man you do some gross shit lol All the best for 2017 too btw :)
lol, This is not that bad actually and a good way to create free food from garbage, it might be a little gross....
It is amazing how many people don't know the basics about where food comes from and how the food chain works, this is a natural food that all birds eat and love, it is very healthy for them, way better than store bought feed that you have no idea what is in it.
Dashx73 maggots don't feed on death , they eat rotting meat , ...................and death is the most important event that will happen to all us living beings , fear death not
Chickens are from the jungles (primarily) and eat natural food; insects, lizards, seeds, and
meat including carrion.
Dash4EVA you're a religious idiot
The chickens at first were like: watt aa dis?
It's new, happens to all of us...lol
free food and the chickens love it.what is the hammer head for.
The hammer is used as a counter weight to keep the quail cage door closed.
Will it produce tons of flies? Can chickens finish all of the maggots?
A maggot well only turn into flies if they can escape and dig themselves into the ground for long enough to turn into a fly, I actually move the farm so any falling out well be found by the chickens.
coming out because it gets too humid sometimes inside their they create a lot of heat to you got to get one of those thermal guns laser ones you can just see how hot it gets in there just with them
The chicken loves the juicy and protein rich Maggots! Thanks for the video!
It was slow at the start but once they got started they could not stop.
great free food no grain would match protein in those maggots
You got the right.
Damn chickens having a fiesta.
They like them that is for sure.
HAPPY NEW YEAR.
Same to you.
Interesting, different idea then what I seen on other TH-cam channels. The same idea, but they let the maggots go up and fall down for the chickens. Pretty cool. Used fish, that we'll really stinks and get those giants Flys.
I tried the hanging type maggot farm and the smell was so bad I had to get rid of it before I even got any maggots, it was bad and it get infested with ants.
Maybe line the top of the bin with Vaseline so they cant get up it worked for my ant farm. But I don't know how it would go with maggots.
That is interesting, worth a try for sure.
Gunshots in the backound 4:30 ?
yeah, probably fireworks for New Years celebrations
Gunshots...lol
I explained it in the video but cut it out, it is flash bombs used when someone dies.
***** aww :( sad for someone's loss :(
Thanks for sharing
Thanks for watching!
Do you give the quail any? Invertebrate protein is important in their diet. Mine get meal worms every morning. Boughten FREEZE DRIED MEAL WORMS LOL .
I have not given them any, have given them meal worms which they have not eaten, they love bugs so I thing small maggots would be good for them.
Interesting video..
Thanks.
what we can do for smell? to not disturb neighbours
With this style, there is almost no smell, from 1 meter away it is no problem at all.
I put the meat between sawdust layers it helps a little
do the other birds eat them too? (Ducks & Turkeys) Great Idea!!!
They do.
Thats awesome I think there is 5g of protein in a maggot if I'm not mistaken good for the chickens!! I should actually start doing that!! Hey free food free eggs!! Happy New Year!! Tfs!!🐓
I love free and this is actually good for them, much better than the commercial feed that is for sure.
I've been meaning to try a tiny one inside my chicken coup.
If you have some kind of container where the top seals, I think that is the biggest issue with this one, What about BSFL, free bird and fish food.
Glad we don't have smell-o-vision ..lol interesting though.....
I tell you how bad it was, my wife has not even noticed, with this setup it only smells if you put your nose over the holes or open it.
That's quiet the setup, Grandma use to bank up the cabbage with maggoty caplin, that sure stinked...
My grandmother used rotten herring on her rhubarb, that did not smell too good but sure did work.
Very neat!
I agree.
Brilliant idea ... guess what Pie and I will be making :)
Good luck, it works for me. Been catching a lot of wild bugs the last week since the rain started here, tonight the flying termites hit with a bang, it's easy healthy animal food.
Cheers mate. One of our subscribers who subscribes to your channel as well shared the link to your vlog. I've been trying to think of a way to generate maggots as they would be great for the fish :) Yeah we've had loads of bugs here including the flying termites and they all make good fish food :) Have a great day mate.
A self harvesting maggot farm suspended over the water would be easy enough, for me I have to think about the smell as it is next to the house, there is a smell issue with self harvesting for sure.
That's not a bad idea at all. Not a problem with the smell as it'll be on the farm :)
no just use the fruits and vegetables and you'll be just fine watermelon expecially
maybe put a bit of vaseline around the top to keep them from crawling out.
I think the problem is the holes at the bottom were getting blocked up. need some hols going up the side.
What are the chances that the maggots can spread disease to the chickens, and then on to you? If it's low this is a really good idea.
I would say it is 0%
How to make that plastic container.?
you have got to raise these chicks up early with these so they'll know when it's time for the feeding and they will gobble these black soldier flies up every time I'm about to start mine up cuz it's spring here in Florida
Good protein and free chicken food... can't beat that
That is a fact.
Do you just feed them food waste?
Hey Paul, are you still using this?
Yes, but I took the outside can off so now it is self-harvesting, have it in with the chickens.
lifeinthailand Great idea! Just throw some "yum-yum" in the top and let the maggots fall. Love it!
Good video
Thank you
Can the maggots eat from the inside out once they are inside the chicken?
Only if the chicken is dead.
Just wondering why you can't just feed the duck heads and offal straight to the chickens ?
You might need to cut or grind it up a bit first,
and I would boil it too.
You have a point there, chickens are like modern-day velociraptors, they'll eat anything that moves, even mice, but duck heads and offal,......i like Paul's idea of putting the flies to work for him, making free food(baby flies)for his chickens.
The downside of feeding to maggots first is the loss in food value in the conversion.
Maggot's feed conversion ratio would be no better than about 3 to 1.
If the food could be eaten directly by the chickens, it would be much more efficient.
Chickens well eat meat and they like it but what are they going to do with a duck head, they don't have teeth. I have seen chickens eat rats and lizards.
I would like to know where you got the 3 to 1 ratio, I don't agree with that at all, it don't work in volume or amount of protein which is the most important thing.
The energy in the meat of any animal or insect (eg maggot) is only a fraction of the energy in the food they have eaten in their life.
A lot of the energy goes to movement, digestion, warmth etc.
Maggots have been proven scientifically to be an excellent food for chickens and fish.
But they mainly investigate feeding waste to the maggots, such as poultry manure.
www.feedipedia.org/node/671
George Gibson "feeding waste to the maggots, such as poultry manure".....
I was gonna say yuk, but clicking and reading the link you share, and since flies love shit, then it is doable, back in my teen years i had some chickens, everytime I swatted an adult fly they'd rush to see if they could win the fly first, but feeding manure to maggots, I thought this would be akin to feeding hogs dead chickens(coupla years ago this surfaced in conversation with a forage buyer, not the same, but maybe instead of manure, dead animals or rotten fruit, the maggot shown in the link looks exactly like a maggot infestating an orange, feeding on fruit then giving the maggots to the chickens sounds/feels alot better than giving them manure! lol...
With my luck they would all turn in flies....lots of free protein
lol, yell have thought of that, have too many flies here already.
Living in a war zone...
Have you tried giving any maggots to the fish?
With all of the critters you have you could do meal worms, crickets, maggots, red worms...but then again how free is it when you have no time left.
Thanks for sharing
lol, I have maggots, compost worms, meal worms, plan to get black soldier fly larva and crickets at some point, all free food, almost anyway.
wow! That is amazing! I love this idea! I guess it would be like having pigs - youdont want it too close to your house - lol
Yell a bout the same.
Coat the sides of the dark barrel with vegetable oil?
Does this increase the weight of the hen
No, might help them grow faster, but the end result will probably be the same.
Is maggots enough or shall we provide fodders to chicks
A diet of bugs, grains, and greens is best, more variety the better.
Thanks
Great work great project . Can you fees them only maggots if you have and second is there any known diseases or sicknesses for chicken from this that you know
Of ? Thanks man more
Energy
To you
Maggots are a very clean natural food, the only thing that I can think of that would be a problem is if the maggots are eating poison, but they the maggot would die.
hello i'm sofie from indonesia i wanna ask, does his chicken weight rise when eating maggots? , and how much does it cost?
In the end, they will only get so big no matter the food but a natural food like this is better for them, its free and they love it.
I'd have to hide the heads and intestines from the family. Best part of the duck as far as they're concerned lol.
I have always given the intestines away but no one has ever asked for the heads, the family likes the intestines but only if I clean them. How are the turkeys doing?
I go to a restaurant in the elephant village where duck bills are on the menu. Very nice actually. The turkey poults are fine. Did the sexing check by lifting them up by their wings to see if they raise their legs or let them dangle. Definitely got 3 females. The other confuses me so might be a katoey😆
Brilliant
And easy.
Only if they knew what those maggots where eating
lol
My dumpster is twice the size of yours but I get way less maggots
it probably depends on what you put in and also the circumstances around you(temperature,location,etc),not the size
Agree, could be a lot of things, but probably comes down to not enough food or not enough flies laying eggs.
Joking of course, but its not all about size
lol
Ah, free range maggots.
The best kind.
Nice brother 👌✌️
Lot of protein. I would place the tub so any escapes would dropping out into the run. Self feeding maggots. Have to say having smelt corrupt meat I might has lost my lunch when opening that tub... Happy chickens thought I saw a couple that seem to be developing some nice tail feathers are they the cocks?
I have had this now for about a month, my wife who complains about everything has not even noticed it, she is in there every day, it is only a problem if you open it, Agree it should be somewhere so the birds can catch the runaways.
Did you sneak it in then lol. If the wife is happy all is good ;-) I shouldn't think it smells much until opened. I used to keep maggots in the fridge for fishing my mother wasn't happy. I will be casting that plaque and a couple of otheres at the weekend I re did it I wasnt happy with the first one. Hows the shop coming on?
Haven't worked on it for a week now, trying to find someone to help with the concrete, what a nightmare, no one wants a job it seems, but I plan to get a concrete truck to pour the floor and that is a lot for one person to get spread out before it sets up.
you should have asked I am free at the moment ;-)
Well the concrete truck well be here in the morning (maybe) so you better get a move on.
How long do the maggots last until they turn to flies?
Not sure, someone said 8 days but it would probably depend on type of fly.
very clever !
Thanks.
mmm, wonderful, look how these chicken get mad ...
ATB 4 2017!
Same to you.
how did you make it please make a demo thank you
There really is nothing to demo, add meat of some kind, wait for flies, maggots appear is a few days after that, there really is nothing to it.
***** i want buckets of em and i really mean it..
lol, that would be nice.
***** 20 birds you have a bucket of worms twice daily feed...just imagine it
you can see that those chickens are mostly r.i. reds
Some are looking that way now, looks like I have 5 roosters and 2 for sure are going to be big birds, that is a good thing, might get a good laying flock out of this yet.
Thumbs up! 😊
Thanks.
That laugh "he he he he he" is so cool!
No comment....
I wish I had that many pet chickens that would be awesome
I have a lot but there not pets.
Oh ok 😌
There well taken care of though.
Well that's good if I had that many chickens and turkeys I'd keep them all alive, I'd let them live life to the fullest
What are the loud bangs guns!!!!!!
Julio Ochoa fireworks for new year probably
I explained it in the video but cut it out, it is flash bombs used when someone dies.