Why Grind Larvae Food

[@beebop9808]

Funny an apple will look about the same. I've thrown them out and let my birds pick the bugs out of them. Hey, they are more than happy to help out! :) You're spot on about grinding tho. Growth rate and compost material are going to be unacceptable without it.

[@SuperMousta]

Proud of you 👏👏 strong woman ♀️

[@dnawormcastings]

Great video 🇳🇿

[@rodrigothomaz5607]

Muito bom . forte abraço

[@Ashleyhendy]

❤

[@dryclimateutah]

I did a similar experiment after watching this video. But instead of grinding the food up, I gave my larvae a raw potato and a cooked potato (microwaved for 4 minutes and then let it cool). It's taking them several days and they have done very little damage to the raw potatoes. But they ate the baked potatoes in a few hours. My conclusion is that these little bugs are similar to sharks trying to tear pieces off the food. The raw potatoes are very strong and make it difficult for them to bite off little chuncks of food. But the baked potatoes are softened and they can easily break apart the food. A rotten potato was also quickly consumed. So anything that is hard, like a carrot, potatoe, yam etc needs to either be cooked or ground up so they can easily get tiny pieces that will fit into their tiny mouths. This also means, they can probably eat other materials like chicken bones, egg shells, and such, if they are pulverized and turned to powder.

[@fullcirclebio]

Excellent! These creatures are nature's degraders and decomposers -- they work most efficiently when other elements of nature assist in the degrading process. So rotting, moldy, putrescent material isn't bad for them. It actually helps them. Detritivores for the win!

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

I shred all the food. I also add a lot of water since all I get is what one grocery store throughs out. What I fee them is gone in a couple hours.

[@fullcirclebio]

What kind of shredder do you use?

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

@@fullcirclebio It's an old Harbor Freight chipper shredder I got used for $100. It's a lot faster than the food processor I used to use.

[@fullcirclebio]

I contemplated a old wood chipper but the clean up and inability to use inside wasn't ideal

[@gsmscrazycanuck9814]

@@fullcirclebio I don't clean mine other than through some water through it at the end. Years ago I had a hammer mill type unit that had an electric motor. I am now feeding 15 gallons of food waste and can run that through in about 5 minutes. The most time consuming thing is unpackaging the food.

[@derricksmithotter]

In addition to grinding the food, is there anything else you do to maintain the moisture levels in the bins you show in the video? How do you ensure that there’s not excess water accumulating in the feeding bins?

[@fullcirclebio]

I discuss this a little more in my video about larvae farming containers. I'm careful about how much material builds up in the larvae bins. So that means I sift regularly, which ensures a nice dry and fluffy frass consistency, and I use shallow and open containers to allow consistent air flow. I don't mess with drain holes -- I don't find that they are beneficial.

[@derricksmithotter]

Thanks so much!

[@failingat5266]

A question would be - where could I get a waste food grinder like you have? I have searched but had no luck. Would you suggest an item I can use to search and then compare with what is available to me?

[@fullcirclebio]

I bought a grinder model like this one: www.ebay.com/itm/196081590239 It was an investment. But I've been able to increase my incoming volume and reduce processing time. Prior to this upgrade, we were using an old cast iron grinder rigged up to a motor. It was used for meat processing after they would butcher on the farm. And before that I used a little hand crank grinder.

[@gtberryhill]

What kind of grinder do you use?

[@fullcirclebio]

I searched "220v bone crusher" on ebay and picked one. www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2334524.m570.l1313&_nkw=bone+crusher+220v&_sacat=0&_odkw=electric+meat+grinder+220v&_sop=12

[@EricNordell-ld6wp]

Can’t be beet!😊

[@fullcirclebio]

The beet goes on!

[@rodrigothomaz5607]

❤