Maggots... Any one ?

[Colt]

How exciting Sally! I've been looking into the world of live foods too, but agree that I'm going to wait till it cools off a bit.

[monotwine]

I would not use maggots that were not bred for the purpose of feeder insects. You just don't know where they have been. By the time you clean their guts they probably would be ready to pupate and become flies.

Aussies are really good at breeding flies. Google 'fly boxes'.

Black soldier flies are used here and apparently very easy to keep. You need a warm box (usually with a few bulbs in), bran and milk powder mixed with a touch of water makes up a substrate and off you go.

They stink a bit though. I've not yet managed to convince myself to get them though there is a supplier here that will ship to me. I may just get the maggots and freeze them. My birds don't seem to mind frozen insects.

[darrenwilson]

The secret to keeping maggots ALIVE for any length of time is to put them in to suspended animation. This is done by putting the maggots without any sawdust, bran or maize flour on them into a non-translucent bag (such as a black bin liner), removing as much air as possible from the bag and knotting the bag. Put it in the fridge to chill them right down. When you want to bring the maggots back around again, take the required amount out of the bag (seal and put back in the fridge again) and allow them to warm up and come round (takes about 20 minutes on average).

I used to use this way when fishing in Europe and taking the maggots with me for bait in places where we had no way of getting maggots.

I get my maggots from a friend that owns a maggot farm (for fishing bait), which is one thing that is easy to obtain in England.

[darrenwilson]

I would not use maggots that were not bred for the purpose of feeder insects. You just don't know where they have been. By the time you clean their guts they probably would be ready to pupate and become flies.

Maggots are bred on offal or fish generally. Maggot farms for fishing bait use a lot more fish than other meats nowadays due to the cost of the fish being cheaper than chicken, beef or pork.

In the wild, maggots are generally "blown" by the flies on rotting rather than fresh meat, and wild birds are not going to get the choice of where the maggots come from in roadkill or similar!

[Sally]

darrenwilson I have a food vacuum sealer. Would that pull out too much air? If the maggots were placed in a plastic bag, they might be crushed in the process, but I have an attachment that allows me to pull the air out of a canning jar. How do you get all the sawdust, etc. off the maggots? Rinse them?

[monotwine]

Maggots in the old days were always bred on rotting flesh here too. Thankfully they found other ways to successfully rear them. So milk powder and bran apparently gives them what they need. Aussies as I mention have meatless growth chambers and use these for birds. Easy and no rotting meat.

[monotwine]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zuVQyewqI-8

THe maggots eat the mix they are in so quickly you are left with a container full. If I recall correctly you only need a sugar/water mix for the flies to eat to sustain them while they blowing maggots into fresh mix.

[kyubi]

Nice info.... Keep it coming