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some of you may have read in another thread [or 2] about my efforts to reduce flies in the house and at the same time use my compost/chicken-feed bucket to grow fly larvae...
though some objections have arose, DH has not thrwarted me yet. but the five gallon bucket near the back door was a little too much once the 14 month old baby discovered it and tossed his toy pig in there [toys have to eat too?].
so i found a use for that one gallon pickle jar that has been re-used to death. Karen got me thinking about a fly "trap", so i started with water in it to trap some flies, then added scraps. so far, just dead flies, as i can't see where any eggs are hatching. at first it was really a plus to have it glass so that i could check on the progress. one of DH objections was that i would leave it too long and hatch flies in the house... also nice that it is on the counter out of the babies reach, but not so nice if you are facing that direction while eating at the table...
still need for a little improvement LOL
somebody warned me about possible disease to the chickens, so i looked into that and it appears that it would be a problem if their feed was wet enough to grow the maggots, they could get botulism from the spoiled feed, but not from the fly larvae grown in a bucket...
anyone else interested may want to read this method. i don't have a fenced area, so not likely to try this... YET
oh, the chickens have been loving it! my family doesn't think it is so cool... so i will eventually get hte method worked out as a good compromise, thanks bb!
well, some of it is in the clothesline thread... and the other in P& L. i was really grossing them out, sorta snuck over here to find somebody to talk to about it LOL... this is the only thread titled as such, i will find my other postings and just copy them here, OK?
right now their is some misinforamtion about our temp, it is either 101 or 107,s o i need to go turn the hose on the chicken house...
tf
I am glad I figured out how to tie the dog in the back and still let the chickens out. They love it out there. I must some day take a picture of them around the cockatiel cage. I gave the cockatiels some seed this afternoon, and all the chickens flocked around their cage trying to get some seed. The cockatiels didn't know what to think. Sad I didn't have my camera.
yep, it did jump to 107 rather quickly. we are having March iwnds with August heat and July drought...
Quoted:
What happens in August?????
we stay in the pool longer, and invite the chickens LOL
flies are swarming like mad, wish i had a lot of fly traps outside!
too tired to post tonight. but i will copy some info over here so you can see [read] what i started with and how it worked, and what i am doing now, which doesn't seem to be working, and what i hope to do, which i found at this site:
My fly trap is the hard plastic, that I hope to be able to reuse next year. Not sure what I'll use for bait, TF will be an expert by then and I'll be able to ask her.
still no larvae in jar. and it is full, of kitchen scraps, liqwuid, and dead flies, so the fowl will like it nonetheless...
BUT...i have a bucket set up [hope i did it right]. DH "lent" me his drill bit, and rolled his eyes and shook his head... but then it was a great solution for the two small rabbits he just shot, so he obligingly hung the bucket in the north pen...
so now i just need more buckets, and he can shoot more rabbits! i may get him interested yet! [NOT!]
he just doesn't believe that such a nice place as Dave's could have folks likemindedly interested in maggots LOL. no one should be as weird as i am...
disclaimer: only young wild cute cotton tailed rabbits who steal chicken feed were harmed in the making of the protein from thin air... DH is willing to keep an eye out for raod kill too...
TF you are standing totally alone on this issue as far as I can tell.
Just because they have purpose doesn't mean they are desirable. It's because of their purpose that they are dangerous disease carrying critters and totally disgusting.
Ok tf, I have a question. I read the whole article from the link you provided, but there's something it doesn't tell about and its 'bugging' me. It seems to me that the chickens would be swallowing them whole, for the most part. Knowing how a maggot works and eats rotting flesh, how is it that it won't eat the chicken from the inside out? Does the craw grind them up right away, do they sufficate before they get the chance? Just wondering and thought you might know.
OMG, now that is getting really visual, you sure know how to paint a picture! seeing as how for EONS, chickens have eaten bugs and worms, i think nature has the answer, and we don't need to know, let it be a mystery...
now, on the glalon pickle jar. i was about to give up hope. but as a watched pot never boils... well, i was gone all day, and came home to wash out the milk bucket and get my goat, when low and behold, some small things are crawling on the glass. so i put the lid on... later, i think, can they breathe? i start to take the lid off, BAD IDEA! there are more visible and they are bigger. punch hole sin the lid? no, they would crawl all over the counter... so glad we ate our meals away from home today...
so, it was either take a chance that they will suffocate and die, or wake the chickens up to have a feast. the chickens are still asleep. surely they will eat the things whether or not they wriggle?
this will be the end of the glass jar on the counter, after all, this is growing food for poultyr, not a dadgum CLASS SCIENCE PROJECT!
meanwhile, on our way to amarillo, i mentioned to DH what BB said, and of course he thought it was funny, because picking up roadkill is right up his alley, ahs nothing to do with me! then moments later, what is that along side the road?
a HUGE porcupine, so big we turned around to take another look. even snapped some pictures...
now, how do you handle that? we left it alone. a few miles later, another one, smaller, and certainly squished too. no way were we picking that up. and as we got into amarillo, a DEER, all bloated... where are the carrion and coyotes? not to worry, the flies will take care of it...
so, guess we will need to shoot wabbits weguwarwy...
I have yet to hear of a chicken dying of botulism. If food is that spoiled my poultry won't eat it. The gravel in the craw takes care of anything that gets into it. Same for the gizzard. And the gastric juices would make short work of any worm type food.
I use round sticky traps that have pictures of insects already on it in the house and garage. There is a jar with an attractant called Terminator available at some farm supply stores. You add the attractant & some water and hand it it only about 2' - 3' above the ground. Flies can get in but not out. Some years we catch them by the millions, literally. Last year we caught almost none. You empty the trap periodically and bury the contents after carefully spraying the live ones so they don't escape. Then reset the trap.
I know maggots probably don't carry much disease in and of themselves or they wouldn't be used in the medical profession like they are starting to do again & I have certainly throw many of them to the poultry in spoiled foods, but I wouldn't deliberately raise them for my chickens. Actually I prefer to kill them and flush them down the stool rather than risk a chicken not eating some and they hatch into flies after all.
thank you leaflady, i am sure most people would prefer your method of fly control... and glad you could answer LB's question!
i took the jar out, it ain't coming back in the house LOL, and the chickens went after every one, even the ones not moving. i haven't checked the outside bucket, but alreday have contents fo rbucket number two.
personally, this will be better. cause no matter how sustainable, alternative, scientific, and naturallistic it is, i still dont' want to LOOK at them.
i also dont' want to look at flies in traps. and i dont' want to use poisons. so i will be working with this bucket-hanging method to see hwo it reducse the fly population while providing food and funs for the poultry.
but then i also have made my own fish emulsion from throw aweays fromt eh bait shop, and sprouted my own black oil sunflower seed just to give them sprouts. i kinda spoil my chickens, i want them to be out and not overcroded, and have fun and eat well... even if one day, or ESP if one day i might be eating them...
beats all that crap they put in most chickens. i don't even give mine corn when i can help it...
well, there is this poor cow down the road, our neighbor can't even move it it is so big... i could offer... just KIDDING! if school were in rigth now he might get help moving the carcass bfrom law enforcement, otherwise i guess it will be fly food...
so far i haven't caught a smell. granted there are only twwo small rabbits in there. i think if i keep the carcass load small, and only have two buckets, it will be allright... and maybe now and then clean the bucket out with vinegar...
now, talk about a BAD SMELL. ;i have a chicken named floppy. he can't wlak, but is good at flopping around. im oved him out into the cool shaded part of the coop late yesterday, then realized that when i watered the ground really well to cool them off, a bunch of dirt ipiled agaisnt the seldom used gate. so i got a shovel and started digging. '
guess what flies like as well as a bucket of meat? wet ground!!! YUCK. now that turned my stomach. but i needed to open that gate, so i just called the chickens and they had a great time with every shovel load of wet dirt, and the trench i left behind...
Trish, i will get worms started eventually. right now we still have lawyer debts so free protien is better! no smell problem yet. but it is not really decomposed yet either. seems since the lid is tight and there are less than ten hole sin the bottom, not much odor is gonna come out?
my flies in the house don't know what to do with themselves now. i am back to a small can for scraps that gets taken out daily. and just in time. a HUGE horsefly found his way in. no WAY would i chance hatching those!!!
BB, sounds like a plan for another forum LOL, meanwhile i think target practice for wabbits sounds like fun!
Tamara, you may want to look into using EM. There are some threads on the Soil and Composting forum. The beneficial microbes can keep odours and associated flies down in the areas where you don't want them.
I assume you mean the Bokashi is slow growing in the bucket. You can use the liquid EM mother culture or AEM (activated or extended EM) to spray on areas where the flies congregate. There is a link to a google video on the Using EM thread in the Soil forum that includes a clip from a Costa Rican dairy. They used to have a plague of flies near the milking parlor, but with regular spraying of EM, there are hardly any flies.
Maggots can be lovely when they are located where you want them. They can be not so lovely when they are located where you don't want them. :)
i don't hjave any bokashi, but i have a picture of a bokashi bucket on my hard drive LOL...
i don't want flies int he house, that is for sure.
i was referring to the decompostion and "growing" of maggots in the carcass bucket hanging from the poultry shed at the corner of the north pen. went in there today to get an egg [just one laying hen in there right now LOL] and detected a faint smell. not bad, just like "hmmm, is there something DEAD around here? oh, yeah, in the bucket!" as i try to not bump my head on it!
thanks, will check into EM. i know its good for the garden.
time to clean out the hen house. i have a cripple in their who gets his own little water dish, which gets spilled. so the flies are having a heyday in the wet badding. it NEVER stinks in the henhouse because there is always plenty of bedding, and it is always dry. since we finally have a feed store int his town again, i can hopefully purchase some new bedding.
Keep us posted on how well the buckets work, please... I'll be setting up some as soon as I get chickens, which is as soon as I get DH motivated to run water and help build a coop - and that will be done shortly.
well, believe it or not, this bucket method is being utilized, or planned on, by quite a few in the P&L forum...
should have drilled more holes for the flies to go in, then they wouldn't have swarmed around it so much. but where it is located i hardly go to that side of hte pen, so smell ahs NOT been an issue. i can see that side from outside the pen, and there is usually a chicken, or two or three, hanging around to pick up treats. definitley have LESS flies, even with all this extra heat and rain.
hang it where you won't bump your head on it. where you won't walk past it to smell it. but where your DH can reach to add to it. no need to ever empty it.
my chickens have never been so happy and well fed, but they still go out and range, etc... they just go check the "snack aisle" occasionally...
LOVE the idea! HATE maggots...almost psychotically!
...but...
I took up flying to get over my awful fear of it & we're about to get our first 10 chickens for our chicken tractor so NOW is the time to get over my distaste for maggots.
I'm gonna try it! picking up all the links you nice ladies provided.
Sorry to be so dumb GardenMermaid, but the the devil is EM & AEM?
thx Foggy, that is what i am told LOL. i too had a HUGE problem with maggots previously, so this was a big step for me as well. figure life is too short to live in fear, of ANYTHING!
Efficient Microbes, and ???...
don't forget to stop in the P&L forum to show off your chickens and tractor, ask quesitons, or get ideas...
Ok...I fess up...I am one of the ones from over on L & P that now has a bucket set up. A yellow one. I too also had to get over the whole grossness of maggots. They used to make my skin crawl. When I fist heard about this way of getting free protein, I was pretty sicked out by it all...but tf planted a seed and I thought about it and started thinking about it in a different way. We have lost several of our critters...poultry mostly, due to just dropping over dead, getting run over, dogs attacking, etc. It is so much of a loss to begin with and after hearing this idea, I began thinking that it was even more of a loss. I mean, what happens to the animals that die? Well, they go into the burn pile but when we burn doesn't always match up with when they die so then we end up with the dogs getting a hold of them and bad smells coming form who knows where? Also, with not being taken care of fast enough in some cases...the 'project' ends up starting itself anyway. Not much you can do to fight with the nature of things, so why not use it to my advantage. We had a couple of bad weeks with losing birds and the last cornish cross chicken to die was a last straw and I got the bucket ready. I had even talked my DH into seeing it my way and he helped!! I still can't believe that one!
So, we now have a hanging bucket. There always seems to be a few chickens waiting around under it, scratching at the ground looking for their treats, even though they are not sure where they are coming from yet. I started the bucket 4-5 days ago. I just can not believe how fast the offerings to the bucket are processed. I will not describe what the inside of the bucket looks like...believe me you do not want to know. I figured I was pushing my luck with getting my DH to agree with the bucket idea in the first place, so I am the one that deals with the bucket, if he did, it might end up in the burn pile ...character building, I am thinking. DH drilled the holes for me and if we hang a second one, or redo the 1 I already have there are some things I would change. First, I will not be putting holes in the lid. The flies can go in, but the white wigglers come out there as well, then hang out up there. I have no idea how long it takes for them to turn into flies, but I wonder if they can hang out there long enough to do so. Next time, I will only put holes on the sides...that way the flies can come in and if the m's come out, the chances are better that they will drop for the chickens to get. Second, I would make the holes on the sides smaller than 3/8"...I am thinking that our flies must be smaller, because they can get in AND out so not much good for controlling the fly population.
tf...what do you do about the 'liquid' that drips from the bucket? I guess could let it drip on the ground, but that just seems gross. LOL! ha ha ha! I have a nice big pan type thing I might put under it, that could be removed for hosing down...it's black so it might make the treats even easier for the chickens to see. "Snack Aisle"...too funny!
Just a side note...you better believe I wear disposable gloves when handling anything to do with the bucket...my brain has worked around the rest of it but I don't think I could handle it if the wigglers got on my skin! BLAAAAHHHH!
yeah, gross... i saw where you put a link from the chickens for meat thread LOL...
we lost a bunch of chickens recently to three huge dogs... i recovered foru carcasses, and DH put them in the bucket for me... #1 that is. he thinks #2 is still processing and won't open it...
you are brave Christy, i ain't opening mine!!! DH says it bothers him but he'l do it anyway...
bucket #1 used to have a small piece of plywood under it, but then i needed it for something else.
#2 just has dirt. but i don't think any thing has crawled away. i never did put holes in the lids, now glad i didn't...
hope this disgusting thread has made free protein for a lot of spoiled chickens out there. i sure love my birds LOL
Yeah, I was trying to not talk about it too much over there. Then instead of 'chickens for meat' it would have turned into 'meat for chickens'! LOL!
Your lucky to have your DH doing it for you. Don't ya want to take just a tiny peek in there to see what is going on? (if you do make sure you haven't eaten and hold your breath!) Disgusting is just the beginning of it...amazing on what you maybe can get used to though...I'm not used to it yet, the inside anyway! : )
I'll let you know how it goes. I'll make sure to specifically yell loudly if there's a stench!
I would have posted this on the P&L forum, but I couldn't find a thread specifically about it :)
I never did get my verms started. There's always so much to do starting a new farm, and it kept getting pushed back, then summer hit full force, and I didn't want to start in the heat. Hopefully, I'll get to it now (don't hold me to it!)
