Simplest Trick for Free Chicken Feed

PVC pipes and complex BSF larvae traps? Ain't nobody got time for that! I set up the super stupid simplest black soldier fly bin I could find and it works great. Permanently better chicken nutrition for $9.

[SuperMrgentleman]

Idea- same setup as what you have, but after the jump into the goodie bin, there's a declination and an opening and the worms can fall out onto the ground. Place with the chickens and then it's an auto feeder.

[mkin]

thank you for your "stupid simple" methods. one thing I've learned in my 59 yrs is that there's a whole lot of people that love to make things difficult/complicated. I'm all about the simplest, easiest, fastest and cheapest way of doing everything, while getting the same or better results than any of the complicated methods. lol that's how I roll. when you're raising/homeschooling 8 children on a shoestring budget you learn these things lol. I'm very happy I found your channel

[DMT]

I accidentally made an earwig farm by stacking some old roof tiles, now I use them all the time, every month or so I pick up the pile of 4 tiles and brush off the earwigs into a container and place the tiles back down, I have 5 traps/nests around the garden keeping them off my veggies without Poison and best my chickens love them 😀

[jacquelinepessoa]

I love the simple setup of your black soldier fly bin. Thanks for sharing.

Fermentation made simple.

1) Put rain or dechlorinated water in a 5 gallons food grade bucket.

2) Put your whole grains in the bucket of water. The water level must be several inches above the grains for absorption. Cover the bucket with a lid that has holes/ or slightly lift the lid for ventilation.

~ I ferment enough grains for an entire week, and I ferment a new batch in the middle of the week.

3) Sock the grains for three days and stir throughout so that all the grains are fully absorbed.

4) After the fermentation process, store the grains with the liquid in the refrigerator so that it will not spoil.

5) Each day drain the water off a portion and serve it to the chickens.

~Each morning I put a portion of the fermented grains with the chicken feed plus a dash of the DE. The wet grains slightly soften the feed and the chickens love it.

[mickyb]

I love how genuine this guy is literally only watched 2 videos this one and the one on how to get tall ryegrass in your pastures and I’m subbed now

[georgetteetourneaux]

Great video! HEY another guy said to just put some wide slits in the bin filled with scraps. A few drainage holes in the bottom. He claims the larvae crawl up the side and fall out for the chickens to harvest all by themselves.

[nogames]

I hope you did find the easiest way to ferment feed. Again, people try to make it so damn hard and it doesn't have to be.
Get a food grade 5 gallon bucket from tractor supply. Put in equal parts feed and water and leave some space at the top of the bucket so it can expand. Stir it all around real good add a dash of apple cider vinegar if you want to, but you don't have to. Stir it every day for three days. Then start feeding it. When the bucket gets a little low, add water and feed again it will ferment overnight because of what was left in the bucket to begin with. It is a never ending bucket. And you only need one bucket. A couple times a year. I completely rinse out the bucket and start new but you don't have to. Keep it stirred and you will do fine. it should be about the consistency of oatmeal. You don't need to leave water on top etc. etc. It is the easiest thing ever.

[kevinjohn]

Our black soldier flies breed in an old bath that we use as a scrap/compost bin. It is elevated about a foot off the ground and there's no plug in the drain hole(for drainage): the liquid from this drain goes straight in a bucket and from there goes onto the garden.
The fermented seed process is "super stupid simple 🤗
I have two dozen chickens( 2 rosters included) and feed them around five cups of fermented grain per day (without fermenting, I was feeding them up to eight-nine cups) along with garden timings and their crops are always full.
Fermenting process:
Five cups of grain/cracked corn, wheat, sorghum, a little black sunflower seed, etc in a bucket and cover X2 with water. To start I did this three days in a row and started feeding the first lot on the third day. Nb; drain the liquid from the first batch and reuse in the fourth batch( this liquid is the culture for the lactic acid process to continue your ferment).
After you've established the culture, you can cut the batches back to only two, (giving you a forty eight hour ferment) and continually strain and reuse the liquid in the next batch topping up with fresh water to maintain the level of the first batch.
I'm in Western Queensland; Australia and our climate never gets really cold; if you're in a colder region, you may need to have three batches to allow for fermentation.
It's not rocket science, just give it a go🙏👍

[DMAneoth]

We had a Big back yard (really big); in the big city, had a garden covering about half the yard. We had lots of chickens (76 at the highest count). We bought lots of feed and other things (like crushed oyster shells) but supplemented that in other ways.

We let the birds roam through the garden during the day. The garden plants were helped by many bugs being eaten plus the birds did eat certain plants but not too much. The bird poop helped too.

We also got old veggies from a local market since they would otherwise toss them out when they are too old to sell. Some stores refused that option saying corporate would never allow it. Seemed silly to me - but whatever…

[BornFreeFilms]

I am thinking, just the bin set up at a slight slant to drain any water to bottom of slant with a few small holes if needed, a 2-4" hole in the top for black soldier fly access, a horizontal slot at the high end a few inches up from bottom, for the larvae to crawl out, a piece of flat wood like a 1"x4" that would fit in the slot, the larvae would crawl up and just fall in the floor of the chicken coop if it was inside the coop and all you would have to do is put left overs, animal manure, kitchen scraps in it, the rest would be automatic. The wood slanting up extra would be so it would keep above the food for a while. Subbed, like, and black belled. I may put a video of this up on my channel.

[sethbarredo]

Thank you for this, two years later this is still the most simple way that I've seen to harvest fly larvae

[vinimarshall]

Jus find some road kill stick it in mesh wire and hang on a tree or stick and the maggots fall of for the chickies, we also did this for feeding fish by hanging road kill from bridges

[katykayy]

Oh my goodness I just tried to watch a video just before this one and had to stop because it was so complicated!!!! Thank you, I prefer stupidly simple!

[markregan]

I love fermenting my feed. I just take a couple scoops, throw it in a jar, put water in and wait a few days. Sometimes I cover it, sometimes I don't. I've had flies lay eggs and it turns into a little larvae snack too. It looks gross but the girls go bananas for it.

[DBHawk]

Excellent “simple” presentation! Loved it! For years, I’ve been feeding maggots to my chickens right from one of my compost heaps that will grow thousands and thousands of maggots in the warm weather. But I love this bucket method. Never thought of it before lol thank you for this info Jeff!

[tadhoney]

Thank you for making this project super easy. I hadn’t given this project a go because you have to spend money getting the sifting equipment, containers and crap that takes money. We’re old and having to tighten the already tightened belt like every one else. Again thank you for making it simple. You just gained a Follower

[ramhornjoe]

Great video Jeff, new subscriber & new parent of a 17 bird free range flock.

[rodaguirre]

I think we can say super smart simple. Love Jeff’s approach to nature. Much respect.

[kjanssen]

I have been researching so many of these and yours is far and away the simplest.

[JessicaScott]

This is awesome! I have been drawing out plans for a BSF farm and this is perfectly simple and effective!!