[PapaFarmer]

Believe it or not, we ended up with a bountiful supply many years ago by accident. The coop was in a bad spot where water did not drain well and the flies liked the muddy poop world below during rainy times. The birds loved those big larva. A better coop and different birds now.

[SilverLining]

I too had black soldier flies by accident. I had made a tumble composter, added all my food scraps to the tumbler on a regular basis but being a hand made tumbler it didn’t turn so easily so it didn’t get turned very often. The scraps were very wet and the flies appeared.

I didn’t have chickens and knew almost nothing about composting at the time. Thought I might try it again now that I have chickens.

[SHamer1987]

I have successfully kept them and raised them through the warmer months here in Weatern NC. I started my colony by ordering some from a commercial farm and raised them indoors while till they started turning from white/tan to grey. The reason I kept them inside is to keep other insects like common house flies from laying eggs in the bin. Once they’re turning grey I put them outside in the tub I made with the ramp in it, I actually had two ramps in my enclosure, one that went into the chicken coop for treats and the other into a bin with compost and leaf matter in it where some of them can complete the life cycle, turn into flies and return to the bin, breed, lay eggs and star the life cycle over. The most important part of attracting them year to year is to catch the compost tea that drains out of the bin at the end of the year and freeze it over the winter, once we are past the last frost, around Mother’s Day, I prepare a bin with food scrap and dump that tea over the scrap, it contains the pheromone that will attract in the wild soldier flies to lay their eggs in the bin. I use rolls of corrugated cardboard that I hang above the food scrap. I also keep a huge colony of mealworms and dubia roaches that I breed indoors and can produce live feed over the winter. In the summer I buy minimal feed since I’m feeding my birds with all the insects I raise and I have a separate garden that I grow squash, zucchini, pumpkin, cucumbers and a variety of leafy plants that I use as feed,

[Lburky]

I’d love to see your setup. Been thinking of different ways to be more self-sufficient in animal feed as well.