BACKYARD POULTRY (LITB)-देशी मुर्गी पालन

Feeding of Black Soldier Fly Larvae to Backyard Poultry or Country Birds for Sustainable & climate Resilient Poultry Production in India

September 29, 2023

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Feeding of Black Soldier Fly Larvae to Backyard Poultry or Country Birds for Sustainable & climate Resilient Poultry Production in India

Poultry Sector in India is one of the fastest growing sectors with an annual growth rate of 6-8%. Today, India is third largest egg producer and fifth largest broiler meat producer in the world. Feed accounts for 65-70% of broiler and 75-80% of layer production cost. Feed cost is the major constraints but a major mean for manipulating production cost and making enterprise profitable. Thus, a regular supply of low-cost balanced feed over and above maintenance requirements, is essential for sustaining performance in poultry. Today, Poultry industry in India is being challenged by the escalating cost of feed ingredients and shortage of conventional feed resources for increased productivity. Constant efforts are, therefore, being made to search the newer and alternate feed resources and their evaluation for optimum inclusion in the poultry ration. Insects are one of the promising alternate poultry feed resources as they contain valuable nutrients and compounds that modulate growth and optimize health. Among the insect species, Black Soldier Fly (Diptera Hermetiaillucens) larvae is one of the most promising potential alternative protein sources for the poultry. The adult black soldier fly (BSF) is black, wasplike and 15-20 mm long. The larvae can reach 27 mm in length, 6 mm in width and weigh up to 220 mg in their last larval stage. They are a dull, whitish color (Diclaro et al., 2009). They feed on a variety of organic matter, from rejected food waste to manure. They also have high waste-to-biomass conversion efficiency. The dry matter content of fresh larvae is quite high (35-45%), which makes them easier and less costly to dehydrate than other fresh byproducts.

Poultry rearing initiated as a backyard crop from time-immemorial. Man used to carry few birds in a basket on his head while moving from one place to other during nomadic life of human civilization and every day few eggs were made available for his consumption. Over a long period of time a lot of changes occur in this practice. Poultry becomes a highly mechanized, sophisticated commercialized sector through scientific research and development, ultimately given the status of industry. Developing varieties of birds specific for meat and egg, modifying houses and management practices, feeding balanced diet to achieve desirable growth and egg production, protecting birds from various diseases and proper value addition to the product are the milestones achieved through selective breeding, optimizing nutritional requirements and other management practices. Fast growing broiler birds as a short period crop meets the ever increasing demand of meat for human consumption. Similarly, small sized feed efficient layer birds producing maximum number of eggs in one laying period are still trying to fulfill our per-capita egg requirement as recommended. Now India is fourth in world egg production table. To bring further modernization and more profit, scientists are contributing a lot to bring changes in all types of poultry birds that are suitable to the environment. Changes in genetic make-up, in feed, in housing, reproduction characters and disease management with need-based technology have made the industry viable. However, in the fast changing global climatic condition it becomes a challenge for scientists, farmers and policy makers to bring much progress in the poultry industry to cater the need of egg and meat for the whole population of the globe.

Poultry keeping for commercial production of egg and meat is one of India’s most innovative industries. Chicken rearing on large scale has achieved spectacular growth and is serving as the dependable source of animal protein for ever increasing human population. Chicken has also the unique distinction of the best converter of agricultural by products and nutritionally poor feedstuffs into high quality meat and egg. India has achieved unprecedented growth in poultry sector and Poultry industry in India has transformed itself from the age-old backyard farming into a dynamic agri-based industry. Its development is not only been in size but also in productivity, sophistication and quality. Several breakthroughs in poultry science and technology have led to the development of genetically superior breeds capable of higher production (layer 320-330 eggs; broiler 2.2-2.4 kg at 6 wks). This together with standardized package of practices on nutrition, housing and management, and disease control have contributed to spectacular growth rates in egg (4-6% per annum) and broiler production (10- 12% per annum) in India. Consistent with increase in productivity, the annual per capita availability also increased to 74 eggs and 3.6kg of poultry meat. However, it is far below the recommended consumption of 180 eggs and 10.8 Kg poultry meat per person per annum. Thus, to meet the nutritional requirement, the poultry industry has to grow several folds. Poultry eggs and meat with high quality nutrients and micronutrients provide food for good human nutrition (Table 1). Egg is an excellent source of high quality protein, vitamins and trace minerals. Eggs are classified in the protein food group with meat, poultry, and fish. Egg contains 44 out of the 45 essential nutrients for the human body. Although, egg is a multifunctional food with superior nutritional quality, it is available at a relatively lower price. Thus, egg is within the reach of poor people. Availability, lower cost, ease of preparation and good taste give eggs a deserved place in diets of humans. Lutein and zeaxanthin are two newly-recognized nutrients that have put eggs in the “functional foods” category. Recent studies have shown that consuming lutein and zeaxanthin can significantly lower risk of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), a leading cause of blindness affecting people over the age of 65. In addition, there is a less likelihood of cataracts. Poultry meat is well accepted, relatively cheaper natural food and a valuable source of nutrients for human being. Nutritionally poultry meat is a valuable source of protein, vitamins and minerals and has a relatively low fat content. It is also one of the main sources of vitamin B12. The protein content of chicken meat is about 22% with a biological value of 79. Chicken meat does not contain the trans-fats that contribute to coronary heart disease. Poultry meat is rich in omega-3 fats and is an important provider of the essential polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), especially the omega (n)-3 fatty acids.

The source of egg and meat for masses

In recent years a lot of measures have taken by government and non-government organizations (NGO) to encourage the rural farmers for backyard poultry production. Many schemes and programme are being implemented through Rural Development Department, Tribal Welfare Department, National Co-operative Development Corporations (NCDC) and many other national and international projects to augment rural poultry production by landless, small and marginal farmers. All these programme in a broad way aim at: a) Nutritional security for farmers family through egg and meat production (Eradication of mal-nutrition programme) b) As a mean of livelihood c) Employment generation and d) Women empowerment However, a lot of benefits and prospects can be achieved through backyard poultry production. In contrast, commercial poultry production has several limitations and uncertainty in the changing climatic scenario to which rural poultry production may be the only alternative. The potentiality of backyard poultry production needs to be exploited fully in order to fulfill the gap between availability and requirement of egg and meat in our country. The GOI has fixed target to increase the production of egg and poultry meat from time to time.

Backyard poultry production can be expanded as a practice by masses to strengthen nutritional security as well as financial status of a landless or marginal farmer family. Sometimes it is practiced as group activity (Self Help Group) by village women who are not engaged directly in any income generating activity. The groups manage a big flock of color birds suitable for backyard production with the participatory mode. They collect waste food material from their houses, watch the birds outside on rotational basis and marketed the eggs and live birds throughout the production period to generate substantial money for the group account from which they avail loans for their need. Individual farmer family used to purchase 25-30 day old color chicks, brood them inside the same living house for 15-20 days, feed them from environment and house hold waste, provide the birds night shelter in a low cost house prepared by the available materials and maintain the adult birds as a part of their family. Chances of early mortality are minimized due to the carefulness of the members of the house. They used to sell or consume the adult male birds by 5-6 months of age when the hens start egg laying in the flock. Many a times it is found that each family from their backyard poultry unit gets 7-8 eggs every day which fetch a good regular source of income besides availability of eggs for family consumption throughout the production period of one year. It was observed that a farmer family could able to earn the average net income of Rs 20,000/- (twenty thousand rupees) by maintaining a flock of 25 adult birds (CARI-Devendra variety) in backyard under “CARI-Model of backyard poultry production” in three tribal districts of Odisha state (ICAR-Reporter: October to December 2012: Reported by S C Giri). Many state Governments in our country encourage the rural landless or marginal families towards backyard poultry production through various schemes through Animal Resources Development department, Water-shed Mission, Tribal subplan and so many other programme. NABARD and other nationalized banks are also funding the rural educated youth for development of entrepreneurship in backyard poultry production sector. Government (Krishi Vigyan Kendras) and non-government organizations (NGO) providing training, mass vaccination camp against Ranikhet disease and many capacity building programme for the unemployed youth and women to encourage for backyard poultry production. The aim of all such attempts to augment backyard poultry production by various organizations is to increase the egg production of country through unconventional means where investment will be very less, no need of commercial feed, protection of environment and no cruelty to birds in captivity. In this way the production cost of egg will be very less and availability of protein from infants to adults will be easier and better. The market demand for such eggs (organic) is very high as the consumers have keen interest for the product from better aesthetic point of view. On the other hand if this activity will be systematized though formation of unions and federations in different parts of country with proper coordination for supply of chicks and essentials commodities as well as collection of eggs from farmers doorstep to storage place and can be marketed through proper transport and supply on demand driven mode, then true revolution of egg production will be made in the country. This will hasten the country’s egg production status in a much faster rate and definitely meet our minimum percapita availability to eradicate malnutrition in the society.

Insect Meal as an Alternative Protein Source for Poultry

Black soldier fly larvae is an excellent and promising alternate feed ingredient for poultry diets and could potentially be used as substitution ingredients of soybean or fish meals in broiler or layer diets. The larvae (BSFL) are rich in protein (40-44%) and fat (26-32%). It can be used 10-20% in the diet of poultry without any adverse effect.

Protein sources are second largest component of Poultry diets. Due to limited distribution and expensive nature, usually Poultry is depriving of a rich protein source. Soya bean seed is the premier protein source followed by Fishmeal used by poultry industry. Seeds are rarely used, rather the residue after oil extraction i.e., Soya bean meal (SBM) is usually fed to poultry. Owing to limited no. of producers and demand, the price of SBM is high and tends to fluctuate with changes in climatic condition. Similarly, Fishmeal is based on fish cultivated in aquaculture or marine fish. Due to overgrowing population and scarce conventional protein sources, it is the need of the hour to shift the focus towards identifying alternative protein sources. Insect protein is one of the very apt alternate protein sources that can be explored and brought in usage for poultry industry.
Finding Alternative Source
Due to overgrowing population and developing industries, justby relying on traditional sources such as Soya bean meal, Fishmeal would make the sources scarce and expensivein near future. Therefore it seems indispensableto consider alternative protein sources to fully or partially replace the conventional sources in poultry feed, Generally, a product fits in the category of competent alternative protein substituent in poultry if it is in good supply, reasonably priced and has proper nutrition level. However there is some nutritional and technical consideration that determines the competence.

Nutritional aspect- Essential amino acid balance, presence of naturally occurring Anti nutritional factors such as tannins and enzyme, presence of pathogens and need for supplementation.
Technical aspect- Availability and supply throughout the year, bulkiness and wetness &/or powdery texture processing requirement, predicted availability of ingredients in long-term, consistency in research and development efforts.
Economical aspect- Farmers may use on farm waste such as crop leftovers as input for insect production and add resulting flies larvae to feed their livestock. With limited space, resource, poor farmers can engage themselves in insect farming and increasing their productivity while contributing to waste management.

Insect meal fulfilling these aspects stands out to be the very next alternate solution for scarce conventional protein sources.
What is Insect Meal?
Insects being used as an alternative protein source for poultry and aqua industries. Insects are either fed as a whole or processed such as in powdery form, either fed as fresh or dried. Insect meal is being a great startup for entrepreneurs where protein and fat is extracted from insects and processed. E.g., INSECTFii, a company piloting in India uses Black soldier fly larva and convert organic waste that is obtained from urban areas into high value insect protein, that replaces water and climate intensive plant protein as well as over harvested and depleting fish protein used in animal feed. next Protein is a company that produces insect-based protein for animal feed stocks in order to develop sustainability in agriculture and tackle resource scarcity.
Insect Protein- A Sustainable Alternative Protein
Fly larvae can be reared on a wide range of wastes and byproduct, offering a way of recovering values from material that may traditionally be disposed of by Agriculture and food industries. Moreover, as far as environmental impact of insect industry is concerned, compared to Fishmeal production, Housefly and Black soldier fly production have shown favorable results regarding impacts on fossil fuel depletion, Freshwater and marine eutrophication and ecotoxicity and natural land transformation.
Nutrition composition of insects depends on growth, environmental growing conditions, as well as the life stages. E.g., When Methionine content of housefly larvae grown in Poultry stools, it was found to be higher than that grown in various vegetable residues. On average, insects can convert 2 Kg of feed into 1 Kg of insect mass, whereas cattle require 8 Kg of feed to produce 1 Kg of body weight gain. Protein levels in insect meal vary between 55%-75% (levels comparable to animal protein i.e., meat and bone meal and fish meal sources). Feed incorporation rates range between 5-40% for aqua and broiler feed. Production of one metric ton of Housefly larval meal replaces .5 metric tons of Fishmeal and .5 metric tons of soyabean meal.
Industrial Scale Production and Process Control
Food waste should be avoided as much as possible in the chain from food production to consumption. However from farm to fork some waste is unavoidable. In rural areas, agricultural by products and wastes from farming will be available while in urban areas it will be from distribution centers and final consumers. This waste can be used to feed insects. The dried insect larvae are then used in chicken feed. In developing countries, poor urban people can collect food waste (usually for free) and use it to farm insects. Smallholder farmers usually depend on external sources for feed, including National & International feed companies which usually cost them expensive. Fly larvae maybe produced locally by smallholder farmers that opens their door to become feed supplier in addition to/ or instead of being feed buyers. This helps in gaining income from producing fly larva as feed component and to improve livelihood and food security of smallholder farmers. In this way this strategy works at three levels: reduce the disposal of waste in the city, provide cash income opportunities and improve nutrition. This strategy of economical sustainability sooner or later can be developed from ‘hobby style’ to industrial scale and process control. Most companies are exclusively dedicated to insect production and fully integrate all production steps from farming up to delivery of insect meal or oil. A startup can be established by smallholders with limited input to generate insect meal for animal feed and the residue from insect meal cam be used as organic fertilizer for crop production. Insect production by smallholder farmers may both somewhere disconnect them from the conventional external input such as Fishmeal and Soyabean meal based feed as well as connect them to local economies by selling insects to local livestock farmers as well as feed millers.
Thus insect rearing and farming proves to be an economical pavement and moreover should be explored for new employment and revenue generation.

International Feed Industry Federation (IFIF 2016) predicts that livestock production will get doubled by 2050. Therefore in order to meet future requirement, need of hour is to explore new protein sources. Poultry that have access to outdoor areas voluntarily pick and eat insects which clearly indicate that they are evolutionarily adapted to insects as a natural part of their diet. Production of fly larvae is based on waste streams as input. Usually the waste streams ends up in landfills leading to environmental damage. Producing insect for feed yields a residue after harvesting the larvae that can be used as fertilizer. Thus, insect meal production proves to be an economical employment option with eco friendly trait that should be explored. Due to high nutritive value and ubiquitous presence, insects are potential sustainable feed resources in poultry nutrition. Value of insects as feed component not only improves livelihood of small farmers but also reshapes food system into efficient climate resilient and nutrition driven element of a circular economy. Inclusion of insect meals in poultry diets may lower the cost of feeds, thus resulting to more profit for smallholder poultry production, then why there should be any delay and restriction to open that door and to explore the area.

What are the Challenges Related to Poultry Feed?

Feeds account for up to 70% of the entire cost of poultry production.Besides, the conventional feed supplied to the poultry, majorly cereals and soya, competes with the food demands of a growing human population.
In addition to rising cost, thefeed resource availability is a major determinant of the sustainability of the poultry sector.
One such alternative is brewers dried grains,a byproduct of the brewing industry.
- Though rich in protein and amino acid,its limitations include high moisture and fibre content.
Rice bran is another economically viable alternativeto wheat in certain parts of the country. It has a comparable apparent metabolisable energy as wheat.
- However, studies show that the laying performance of the chicks declined on incorporationof rice bran to the feed.
The larvae ofblack soldier fly (Hermetia illucens), for instance, have a high nutritional value and are easy to raise.

What is Black Soldier Fly?

About:
- The black soldier fly is a fly (Diptera) of the Stratiomyidaefamily that is commonly found in many parts of the world.
- They are a dull, whitish color. They feed on a variety of organic matter,from rejected food waste to manure.
- They also have high waste-to-biomass conversion
- This means, unlike hot-blooded mammals and birds, which use a lot of energy to keep themselves warm, insects are efficient converters of food into body mass.
Utility:
- They can be a low-cost, low footprint, eco-friendlyas well as natural feed companion to poultry farmers.
- The larvae are capable of converting the organic waste into a wide range of useful vitamins and minerals.
  - They are thus richin calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium, potassium, iron, zinc, copper, manganese and so on, which makes them a promising candidate for livestock feed.

PRODUCING BLACK SOLDIERS FLY LARVAE AS SUPPLEMENTAL FEED IN BACKYARD POULTRY

Black soldier fly larvae are the juvenile state of the black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens). The adults look a little like wasps, and the larvae might remind you of mealworms. But don’t confuse them – black soldier fly larvae and mealworms are different species, with different advantages for backyard chickens and ducks.

Insects are increasingly proposed as a component of feed for monogastric animals such as poultry and fish, as a replacement for conventional protein sources that are becoming increasingly expensive and considered unsustainable (van Huis 2013; van Huis et al. 2013; Makkar et al. 2014). Fly larvae are particularly recommended for this purpose because they contain a high amount of animal protein (Makkar et al. 2014) and because they can be produced rapidly and at low costs on organic wastes (Diener et al. 2011a; van Huis 2013; Kenis et al. 2014, Pastor et al. 2015). The demand for animal-derived protein sources will increase due to the combined effects of the growing human population and rising living standards in developing countries (FAO, 2009). Scarcity of resources has increased prices of animal feedstock during the last years, which represents 60-70% of production costs of animal production systems and results in competition between human food and animal feed. For instance, use of ingredients like fishmeal, fish oil, soybean meal and grains is on the rise in both human food and animal feed (Van Huis, 2013). Insects are proteinaceous (Bosch et al., 2014) and have high feed conversion efficiencies and growth rates (Van Huis, 2013), making them a high quality and potentially profitable feedstuff for animals production (DeFoliart, 1989; Veldkamp et al., 2012) The black soldier fly (BSF; H. illucens) is native to the Americas and is widespread from Argentina to central USA, throughout tropical and temperate regions (Sheppard et al., 1994). Transported by humans, BSF has established in Australia, India, Africa and Europe (Gujarathi and Pejaver, 2013; Martínez-Sánchez et al., 2011), because BSF can tolerate a broad range of environmental conditions (light, temperature, humidity). For use as animal feed, BSF has several major advantages over other insect species. The species is polyphagous and its gut extracts have high amylase, lipase and protease activities (Kim et al., 2011). Thus, it is employed in sustainable recycling of animal waste (Myers et al., 2008; Nguyen et al., 2013; Newton et al., 2005b; Sheppard et al., 1994), faeces (Diener et al., 2009; Lalander et al., 2013; Oonincx et al., 2015a), and other types of organic waste (Diener et al., 2011; Green and Popa, 2012; Gujarathi and Pejaver, 2013; Kalová and Borkovcová, 2013; Nguyen et al., 2013; Rachmawati et al., 2010), turning bio-waste into a high quality nutrient source for animal feed (Veldkamp et al., 2012). As a result, BSF larvae have been used as feed for a variety of animals, including swine, poultry, and fish, and is being explored as an important ingredient for pet food.

Moreover, BSF is not a pest, so its rearing requires no specific precautionary measures and it reduces the presence of harmful bacteria (Erickson et al., 2004; Liu et al., 2008) in contrast to other dipteran species such as the house fly, M. domestica. The list of ‘services’ that have been developed includes the conversion of liquid manure and other domestic and agro-industrial waste types into a source of animal proteins (Caruso et al., 2014). Because of the valuable nutrient content of the Black soldier fly larvae, they can be employed as the basis of a highly promising technology to sustain a circular economy, which is the concept of an economy that is producing no waste and reducing consumption of raw materials and energy by improving their utilisation, based on the interrelationships between the environment and economics. This concept will contribute to remediating the expected future scarcity of sufficient, nutritious and healthy food. Black soldier fly larvae and prepupae, grown on swine manure or kitchen waste, have been used satisfactorily as a feed additive for young chicks (Hale, 1973). Partial replacement of soymeal (10-20%) for broilers showed a production performance, feed efficiency, mortality and carcass traits similar to those fed on commercial diets (Arango Gutiérrez, 2005; Cullere et al., 2016; Zhang et al., 2014b). The partial (50%) or full replacement of soybean cake by partly defatted BSF larval meal in a diet for layers did not affect their laying performance, nor feed efficiency, if compared to organic standard diets for layers (Maurer et al., 2016). The high apparent metabolisable energy and the amino acid apparent ileal digestibility coefficients of BSF larval meal, also make it a valuable ingredient for use in the formulation of broiler feeds (De Marco et al., 2015). Additionally, Arango Gutiérrez (2005) suggested BSF larvae have a suitable mineral content for the nutrition of poultry, according to broiler mineral requirements, cited by the National Research Council (NRC, 1994). According to Gura (2008), competition between food, feed and agro-fuels is expected to increase prices of poultry feeds that enforce poultry farmers to look for alternative and locally available feed sources. The current research was designed to establish dietary supplement using BSF Larvae as an alternative protein source to replaced fish meal at different inclusion levels on growth performance of broiler chicks.

Nutritional Composition of BSF Larvae

The DM content of fresh larvae is quite high (35–45%), which makes them easier and less costly to dehydrate than other fresh by-products (Newton et al. 2008). Proximate analysis of BSF larvae contained 41.1–43.6% crude protein (CP), 15.0– 34.8% ether extract (EE), 7.0% crude fibre (CF), 14.6–28.4% ash and 5278.49 kcal/kg gross energy (GE) on DM basis (Arango Gutierrez et al. 2004; St-Hilaire et al. 2007). Arango Gutierrez et al. (2004) reported that larvae are rich in calcium (Ca; 5–8% DM) and phosphorus (P; 0.6–1.5% DM), however, other minerals profile is potassium (K; 0.69% DM), sodium (Na; 0.13% DM), magnesium (Mg; 0.39% DM), iron (Fe; 0.14% DM), manganese (Mn; 246 mg/kg DM), zinc (Zn; 108 mg/kg DM) and copper (Cu; 6.0 mg/kg DM).

Nutritional Value

Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are rich in protein (40-44% on dry matter basis) and fat (26-32%). The fat content is highly variable and depends on the type of diet and on its fat content. The ash content is relatively high but variable (11 to 28%). The larvae are rich in calcium (5-8%) and phosphorus (0.6-1.5%). The amino acid profile indicates that it contains 2.34–2.57%, 0.71–0.87%, and 1.54– 1.68% lysine, methionine and threonine, respectively. The fatty acid composition of the larvae depends on the fatty acid composition of the diet on which larvae is grown.

Nutrient composition of Black Soldier Fly larvae (% DM basis)

Nutrient % DM Crude

protein 42

Ether extract 26

Crude fibre 7

Total Ash 20.6

Calcium 7.5

Phosphorus 0.9

Lysine 2.78

Methionine 0.88

Threonine 1.56

Effects of BSF larvae on Performance of Broilers

Dietary inclusion of BSF larvae in the diet of broiler chicks showed comparable body weight gain similar to those fed the fish meal control diet. In another study, Dabbou et al (2018) reported that body weight and average daily gain during starter growing periods were increased due to the inclusion of BSF (10% in diet) into the broiler chicken diets, while the average daily gain decreased linearly during the finisher stage, which was attributed to negative effects of dietary BSF larvae meal on gut morphology due to higher level of inclusion of BSF larvae. Viella et al. (2021) reported that full-fat BSFL can be safely used at 20% in balanced broiler diet formulations without compromising broiler performance or health, and an inclusion level of 15% to 20% impacted immunologic parameters. The use of BSFL in broiler diets at 20% level improved growth performance parameters potentially due to the reduced energy demands of the immune system. In another study, it has been reported that body weight of broilers was significantly higher in the groups fed BSF larva meal (2.5 or 5%) in comparison to the control group during the early life of 0-3 weeks of age. However, no such difference was observed during the subsequent period of 4-6 weeks of age where the body weight was similar among the groups. In another trial with Vanaraja chicks, it was reported that BSFLM could be safely included upto 12% in the diet of without any adverse effects during 0-6 weeks of age.

Effects of BSF larvae on Performance of Layers

A feeding trial with a partly defatted meal of dried BSF larvae @ 12 and 24% meals replacing 50 or 100% of soybean meal in laying hens resulted in comparable egg production, feed intake, egg weight, and feed efficiency (Maurer et al. 2016). In another trial on BSF larvae and BSF pre-pupae meal on production parameters in laying hens revealed higher egg production and lower FCR on larvae meal. Dietary inclusion of 7.5% defatted BSF larvae meal in the diet of laying hens from 19 to 27 weeks of age showed significantly higher body weight than other groups (Mwaniki et al., 2018). In a study with laying hens, Van Schoor (2017) reported that BSF pre-pupae meal may be used at 10% as an alternative protein source in layer hen diets with no significant effects on the egg quality, shelf life and production parameters.

How Do I Feed Them to Chickens?

You may be wondering why these insects are so healthy for fowl. While the adults aren’t generally fed to chickens, their larvae make an exciting, nutritious, and free supplement in your flock’s diet. Black soldier fly larvae are about 50 percent protein and a rich source of vital nutrients, such as calcium. Since protein is necessary for feather growth and egg production, it’s clear how beneficial these yummy treats are for hens. The extra calcium will help your flock lay better eggs, too.

There’s no exact percentage for how much of your flock’s diet is replaceable with black soldier fly larvae. Just make sure that your chickens are getting all the nutrients they need. You can start by replacing 10 percent of your flock’s regular grain, and increase from there. They’ll thank you! It’s always a good idea to consult your veterinarian as well.

To feed these insects to your flock, you have some options. You can:

Feed the insects live
Sacrifice the larvae by freezing them (thaw them before feeding)
Dry the larvae for long-term storage

Each option has advantages. Feeding live insects is exciting and fun for your chickens because it lets them indulge in their natural behaviors. Our birds are omnivores; they evolved to forage and seek out tasty insects. Since we keep them cooped all day, they get a bit bored! Live insects break up the boredom and give your flock a bit of exercise.

Eventually, live black soldier fly larvae will pupate into adults. The mature black soldier flies will stop breeding as summer fades to fall, and you’ll have no more larvae to harvest until the following spring. If you don’t harvest and store some of the young, your steady supply will eventually dwindle.

Feeding dead black soldier fly larvae makes it easy to mix them with feed. It’s also easier to hold onto dead larvae for longer-term storage (either by freezing them or drying them). If you don’t want to keep the black soldier fly larvae in your freezer, you can dry them after they’ve died in the freezer. Use a solar oven or even a household oven to dry them for long-term storage. Another method to dry black soldier fly larvae is to microwave .

Challenges and solutions to boost up backyard poultry production

In the fast changing climatic scenario, improvement in overall agricultural productivity for the country is undoubtedly a challenge for the researchers, policymakers and the farmers. In India egg production needs a major thrust with a holistic approach so as to meet the requirement of 134 crore population as per ICMR recommendation. Commercial poultry farms trying hard to minimize the demand-production gap for eggs; but the interest on huge capital investment, ever-increasing feed cost, prevalence of disease like “Bird-Flu”, disaster like repeated cyclones, environmental pollution and fluctuating market made the poultry industry puzzle to sustain and grow. Thus the need and effort to produce egg from backyard poultry rearing realizes its importance and challenge ahead. Few suggestions are enlisted to overcome the problems associated with backyard poultry production in our country: a) Suitable variety of bird: The poultry birds (chicken) for backyard rearing need to have ability to protect itself from predators besides having color plumage, early onset of laying, free from broodiness, disease resistance and good scavenging quality. The varieties available in present time need to be genetically modified or up-graded by the poultry researchers through incorporation of certain genes from native fowls. This will significantly improve the survival rate of backyard poultry population in farmer’s field. b) Eradication of Ranikhet disease (RD): The most common dreaded disease found in poultry under backyard production is Ranikhet / Newcastle disease for which full-proof vaccine is available. This disease is not at all a threat in commercial farms because in-time vaccination against R.D. is undertaken as per the schedule. However, the existing native / country birds the villages need to be vaccinated (cent percent) at regular interval prior to the introduction of more developed varieties of chicks for backyard poultry production. This will create Ranikhet Disease free villages in the country where there will be no threat of mortality to birds during any stage of growth and production. The sincerity of Animal Husbandry department and due concern of farmers will be the combined responsibility in eradicating RD from every village so as to make the backyard poultry production a successful programme in the country. c) Controlling “Bird Flu”: Avian influenza / Bird Flu is a viral disease and poultry birds are highly sensitive to this disease that causes high mortality and serious economic loss for both commercial poultry farm and birds in free range. No vaccine is available till date against this disease. Sanitation and bio-security measures are the only means to handle the disease outbreak till vaccine is to come. Therefore precautionary measures need to be adopted in every step by Govt and NGOs to check the occurrence / spread of disease especially during winter when migratory birds from Siberia and other countries (carrier birds) fly to India. This will protect the poultry population of our country in a great extent and help in egg production in both the sectors.