Maggots

Black Soldier Fly (BSF) maggots - Affordable Livestock Feed

This is natures recycling plant for almost all organic waste matter, and the BSF maggots do this by recycling organic waste into quality protein, fats and other minerals, which can then be used as inputs for the manufacture of animal feeds. In some case like chickens, pigs and certain species of fish, the maggots can be fed directly directly without the need of further processing. Chickens that have been fed on maggots mature faster than those fed on commercial feeds, have better quality meat, and, produce high quality eggs (free range quality). Owing to relatively low cost of production, maggots are gradually replacing fish-meal and soya as the choice sources of protein input in animal feeds.

The maggots leave behind a compost that works very well as organic soil manure/fertilizer.

In Kenya, training on the farming of BSF maggots is offered at the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE).

March 2021

Collective decision made to venture into BSF maggots production/farming and a small shed was constructed measuring 10 feet by 16 feet.

An application was made out to the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) for training on BSF maggots production. Training commenced in the first week of June 2021

July 2021

On completion of the training, students graduate with a present – maggots, and the instruction is simple, ‘go forth and multiply’, yes, multiply the maggots from the handful you are given into a colony of maggots, on your farm.

By end of September, the shed was full of maggots and we thought to build a larger facility for them – a greenhouse (GH). We looked into our savings and managed to get enough to put up a wood (as opposed to aluminum) based GH (wood, big mistake – lesson learned! - #1).

November 2021

Saturday 30^th October 2021 saw the maggots moved to the new GH. This coincided with the beginning of the hot season in Bungoma. Temperatures in the GH hit record highs of 48° C!!! The BSF can survive a maximum temp of only 30° C. All the flies died! ALL!!! (Lesson learned - #2)

Fortunately, the maggots are tough little creatures and they survived the heat. These were moved back to their original shed.

Between that fateful October, through to April 2022, time and energy spent seeking to;

- Modify the GH walls to allow for better ventilation (side roll-ups)

- Install Misters to increase the humidity in the GH. The recommended average for the BSF is RH 70. During the hot season prior to modification it would drop to lows of RH 19

Issues are summarized in 2 sentences. But it took all that time, researching, asking questions, trying alternative solutions, looking up on YouTube and so on before the final lasting solutions were established. Not to forget, time spent ordering and waiting for delivery. Being situated in Bungoma has certain drawbacks in terms of accessibility to modern day infrastructure and appliances.

Almost a year later since the training at ICIPE and now we can confidently (so I think) say, we are good to proceed with the BSF maggot production. The next crop of eggs harvested shall be placed in the GH to develop into maggots and the cycle continues. Following is a pictorial timeline from the original BSF unit to the finished GH, in October '21.