Breeding Maggots

[garymc]

Over the last few years I have become increasingly concerned about the maggot breeding process being a potential source of yeast infections in finches. So much so that I have put a great deal of effort in producing dry, clean maggots (given yeasts need warmth, moisture and food to proliferate).


At the recently completed Finches '14 convention Mike Fidler commented that he feeds out his maggots breeding and growing medium and all without cleaning them out. Was this because he has added Virkon S to the process?

Further (no name mentioned just in case I have it wrong, but if I have it correct contact me and I will edit this post to give credit where credit is due) mentioned that he had used wormer - one with praziquental - to worm his maggots which he then allowed to pupate and utilise for his initial breeding stock.

Any thoughts on these two topics appreciated.

[Craig52]

Over the last few years I have become increasingly concerned about the maggot breeding process being a potential source of yeast infections in finches. So much so that I have put a great deal of effort in producing dry, clean maggots (given yeasts need warmth, moisture and food to proliferate).


At the recently completed Finches '14 convention Mike Fidler commented that he feeds out his maggots breeding and growing medium and all without cleaning them out. Was this because he has added Virkon S to the process?

Further (no name mentioned just in case I have it wrong, but if I have it correct contact me and I will edit this post to give credit where credit is due) mentioned that he had used wormer - one with praziquental - to worm his maggots which he then allowed to pupate and utilise for his initial breeding stock.

Any thoughts on these two topics appreciated.

G'day Gary,yes that has freaked me out hearing about breeders using their maggots straight out of the fly cage and not cleaning them out for at least 8hrs in fresh dry bran.But in saying that,there is only one bird where the maggots need to be cleaned out for longer or their young emerge with white diarrea ? caked to their rears and tail but if their maggots are cleaned out for double that time they emerge clean.The birds are bluecaps and myself and another breeder spent many years weaning them off termites and on to maggots with good success.
All i can say is,you breed a hell of a lot of birds and are more successful with them than probably anyone i know so you must be doing something right with your livefood.

Why would you have to worm your maggots If you had the same captive strain going for years and have never added any new wild blood there would be no need to worm them,to me that's being a bit paranoid.
Cheers Craig
Sorry just read your post again,initial breeding stock,well that gives it food for thought.So if they were wild caught bush flies and the maggots could survive the treatment and turn to pupae then i can't see anything wrong with worming them to be cautious.

[Spitfire]

I was also confused about breeding maggots as was suggested by the experts at Finchs 14, 2 things that I could not fathom were. 1. all the cleanliness that was needed and
2, the fact that the mixture contained milk powder. Years ago it was said by some expert or other that birds are Lactose intolerant. So whose right and whose wrong.
I will keep doing it my way.

[Craig52]

I was also confused about breeding maggots as was suggested by the experts at Finchs 14, 2 things that I could not fathom were. 1. all the cleanliness that was needed and
2, the fact that the mixture contained milk powder. Years ago it was said by some expert or other that birds are Lactose intolerant. So whose right and whose wrong.
I will keep doing it my way.

I don't know about you Guy but every one i know uses calf replacer milk power,it contains all the essentual vitamins,minerals and amino acids more so than milk powder produced for humans.
Yes i remember all the knockers years ago when bush fly maggot breeding came about but you will now find that they are using CRM and their foot's in their mouth Many tried blood and bone,fungus,mould and other bacterial problems and like Gary said they fed their birds with maggots loaded with this stuff,yuk.Craig

[VR1Ton]

Don't know about being lactose intolerant, I use skim milk powder in my Lorikeet wet mix, & I have use it to hand rear all of the Australian Lorikeets for over 20 years.

[Spitfire]

Some 30 odd years ago we use to hang sheep hearts out in the backyard and the bush fly and other nasties such a blowflies did the business. We than cleaned the maggots
in bran for at least 48 hours and then fed them to the birds. I know use Pollard and Turkey starter and by the time the maggots have eaten to the bottom of a 100ml container they are as clean as a whistle. No milk powder. I did use milk powder some years ago but I found it too expensive. As the old timers used to say : If it works for you don't change a thing.

[Craig52]

Some 30 odd years ago we use to hang sheep hearts out in the backyard and the bush fly and other nasties such a blowflies did the business. We than cleaned the maggots
in bran for at least 48 hours and then fed them to the birds. I know use Pollard and Turkey starter and by the time the maggots have eaten to the bottom of a 100ml container they are as clean as a whistle. No milk powder. I did use milk powder some years ago but I found it too expensive. As the old timers used to say : If it works for you don't change a thing.

Yes we all did that but times have changed and we now actually use fly cages to house the one specie of fly,bush flies,smaller maggots that resemble the size of termites and easily eaten by the smaller finches.
No more smelly ox hearts and sheep hearts hanging around the back yard and the large blow fly maggots had the advantage of eating their way out of the birds crops if swallowed whole,all this has gone now Guy,it's time to catch up with the rest of us. Cheers Craig

[TomDeGraaff]

Even if birds are lactose intolerant, you're feeding the milk powder to the flies, not the birds
Also, you must have great (or no) neighbours to tolerate blowflies buzzing around your yard!!
I agree with the cleaning process though. I don't think I'd risk not cleaning them.
Tom

[Craig52]

Even if birds are lactose intolerant, you're feeding the milk powder to the flies

Tom

Edit...........Your feeding the milk powder to the maggots and the flies eat sugar. Craig

[garymc]

Thanks for those replies - food for thought.

The two things that stand out from the discussion so far are:-

1/Everyone does there own thing in a roundabout sort of way
2/Breeding of maggots for livefood has been an evolutionary process, with great improvements made along the way - none more so than Craig's bushfly box.

I personally put in a fair bit of effort trying to produce clean maggots, but if adding the Virkon S to the process eliminates the need to "clean" out the maggots because it destroys all the potential nasties then surely this must be an additional step forward in the evolution of maggot breeding.

With everyone doing things their own way, everyone thinks there are flaws in everyone elses method, whether they be actual (ie harmful to the birds) or percieved.

For example over the past 15 odd years I have seen an overall downgrade in the quality of a lot of Aurora's in aviaries. Whilst those feeding termites seem to have and continue to produce top notch young, over the last four or five years I have seen a general (and I mean general) downgrade in the quality of this species. Put simply they just don't look as good (not in feathering but in energy and vibrancy) as they used to. I am no scientist but my thoughts are that these birds are suffering from low level yeast infections which were originally introduced to the hatchlings by the parents which were fed maggots which harboured the candida.

The case as I see it is we need to get it right or as right as we can, for eventually most of us will suffer. If Virkon S is the answer great - but is it?