Building the ULTIMATE BSFL Harvester!

[@Stonecoldou]

Another great video. I appreciate you sharing all you’ve learned with all of us. Thank you for your military service!!!

[@brohemian]

Best luck this year, keep us posted

[@saltydawghomestead]

Absolutely! I’ll be doing a follow up on June 20th. I’ll record bits of me adding scraps and checking in on it over that time. Should be a really good video. Thanks for watching!

[@LenardMountainHomestead]

It will interesting to see your update! That system looks awesome. Thank you for posting

[@robmitchell3633]

The birds love the heck outta those bugs. They will run across the yard if they see you go to the bin. Lol

[@carolmaplesden916]

I find this fascinating thanks I will be back to catch your update

[@ramhornjoe]

Yo loved your video and am a new subscriber. I'm very close to getting our first chickens on the property. I've seen a bunch of different vids on these black soldier fly bins and am curious to see your updates. I'm also a huge fan of repurposing stuff I got laying around. wishing lots of success on your homestead

[@saltydawghomestead]

@@ramhornjoe Thank you! My design seemed to have an issue. The BSFL wouldn’t crawl up the slope like my last one. I think the smaller PVC actually worked better. I’m producing tons of BSFL though. I’ve been collecting them “by hand” once a week and feeding them to my chickens and turkeys. They’re loving their weekly treat!

[@jcsingle21]

I would loose the T and put two pipes down that way they climb up and fall down easier. Just my opinion. Thanks for sharing your changes. I like the bigger pipe for sure. Going to make one for us.

[@jcsingle21]

You don’t want over 40% slope. They can do 45, but it’s harder on them to get up.

[@saltydawghomestead]

Thanks for the tip

[@ourlouisianalife318]

Nice video

[@saltydawghomestead]

@@ourlouisianalife318 Thank you!!! 🙏🏽

[@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403]

It would be nice if you did a video showing it actually working. How many BSFL are you getting per day? How often are you adding food? Do you have to let some BSFL actually turn into flies to repeat the cycle, or do you just let nature take its course and let new flies find their way to the bin?

[@saltydawghomestead]

Absolutely! The video that I’m planning for June 20th will be several clips from over the next month. It’ll show how I’m adding scraps, water, etc and how many larvae are being produced. Also, I don’t “let” any of them turn into flies. The BSF will continue returning and laying eggs as long as the conditions are favorable to them. Thanks for watching and for your comment.

[@dontbanmebrodontbanme5403]

@@saltydawghomesteadsounds good. Can't wait for the videos!

[@jerryrussell2600]

The pupate are not exiting properly due to two reasons. The first reason is: the pvc pipe ramp (meaning the length wise outer curved sides of the pvc pipe), needs to be flat tightly against the walls of the tote tub, as the pupate naturally will go to the walls of the tub and then start climbing upwards and crawl up the side of the tote wall, but since your ramp is not against the sides of the tote tub, the pupate are going past the ramp to the walls of the tote tub, they are totally missing the entry into the pvc pipe as it is not against the wall of the tote tub. Second reason is: the curved sides of the pvc pipe ramps are a problem for the pupate, (meaning the curved side of the pvc pipe that is facing the inside of the tub), on both of the pvc pipe ramps. The curved side of your pvc pipe ramps pvc (that are facing the inside of the tub) need cut off to be more flat than curved upwards at an arc, so the pupate who do crawl to the pvc ramp go inside of the pvc pipe ramp, but since the pvc pipe has a curved side , then the pupate that do find the pvc pipe, will crawl up the outside of the curved side of the pvc pipe, and stay on the outside of that pvc pipe, which results in their not making it to the inside of the pvc pipe . They are traveling up the outside of the curved pvc pipe, and when they get to the very top of the outside of that curved pvc pipe, they are at a blocked corner where they do not find the exit hole. I would also recommend that On the outside of the tote tub, on that exit tube, do not have those 90 degree elbow connectors. I would not advise the use of that abrupt turn, but instead make their exit route simple and easy by continuing straight into the collection container, and have two collection containers.

[@saltydawghomestead]

@@jerryrussell2600 Thanks! I’ll use your recommendations on my next build!

[@XxHogBossxX]

It’s August 15th. Did we ever get an update on this video? I like the setup. Kinda wondering how the rabbit manure worked out.

[@saltydawghomestead]

@@XxHogBossxX I actually haven’t recorded an update, but I have given updates to individuals. The setup produced a ton of BSFL, however they didn’t travel out of the tote how I’d like. I was able to scoop them out and give them to the chickens. I do owe a video and I’ll do one this weekend! Thanks for the comment!

[@XxHogBossxX]

@@saltydawghomestead gotcha. Would be a good update video to watch and any changes you plan on making to it as well. Your homestead looks great. Would be cool to see more updates about it and more projects you’ve got planned for the future.

[@jaypa5]

I did mine and I have a ton of gnats in it. Is this normal or do I need to start over

[@saltydawghomestead]

I do from time to time notice a lot of gnats. The soldier fly larvae will actually eat some of them. They also feed on gnat eggs and fruit fly eggs. So the numbers should go down drastically once the larvae start to flourish.