Aussie Finch Forum

Greg/Pauline wrote:Is there any great difference in using either, Full Cream milk powder, Whey Powder or Denkavit Powder?
Not looking at price difference, I use Denkavit and a friend uses either of the other two.

Cheers Greg.

Hi Greg,everyone to their own but when i first got this up and going i always advised to use calf replacement milk powder as i found it the best which i think denkavit is.
Most of the phone calls i got was regarding the poor growth of maggots.The first thing i asked was what milk powder are you using and always got the answer, super market milk powder.
CRM has way more added vitamins,minerals and amino acids amoung other things than what is sold for humans,others may disagree but they are probably using three times as much as i would in my mix.
For my medium to go in the fly cage i use one heaped dessert spoon to half a 2ltr ice cream container of bran then add the water to make a dry crumbly consistency to poke holes in that will stay there and not collapse.
Hope that helps. Craig

Since I have been paying particular attention to cleaning out the maggots (about 2 years ago), all faecal test results have been clear. Before that it was never a huge issue but this could probably be put down to my low humidity, low rainfall climate which is less condusive to candida infections (amongst other things) rather than good management.

Whilst I think my management skills are ok, and the methods are working for me, I think we should always strive to do better and to learn, hence my original two questions.

Craig52 wrote:Be just like eating long grain rice Diane

Any long grain rice Ive eaten doesnt try to crawl off the plate.

Do you both mean long grain lice?

Diane wrote:

Craig52 wrote:Be just like eating long grain rice Diane

Any long grain rice Ive eaten doesnt try to crawl off the plate.

OK

Can your birds actually get worms through maggot consumption? I've never heard that before.

Interesting read. I have to admit I had not realised not cleaning the maggots runs a risk of candida. Two questions:

1) how does everyone separate the maggots from the medium they are grown in?

2) don't the maggot desiccate and dry quickly in the dry bran?

I've been placing two take away containers of brand/milk powder mix into the fly cage every 48hrs. After said period of time these come out and are replaced and the maggots and medium is dumped into a larger plastic tub. I mist the medium to break up the crust that has formed on the top and mix it up and place in the fridge. I keep adding maggots and medium to this mix for a week or so and then switch to another plastic tub. whatever is left in the old one is now getting rather large and these are put back in the fly cage to pupate. I've found if i don't keep the medium damp the maggots dry out and die. like this i have managed to keep things going relatively well all summer but being a newbie i'd not be surprised if i'm doing something wrong - not cleaning out the maggots being one of those...

toothlessjaws wrote:Interesting read. I have to admit I had not realised not cleaning the maggots runs a risk of candida. Two questions:

1) how does everyone separate the maggots from the medium they are grown in?

2) don't the maggot desiccate and dry quickly in the dry bran?

I've been placing two take away containers of brand/milk powder mix into the fly cage every 48hrs. After said period of time these come out and are replaced and the maggots and medium is dumped into a larger plastic tub. I mist the medium to break up the crust that has formed on the top and mix it up and place in the fridge. I keep adding maggots and medium to this mix for a week or so and then switch to another plastic tub. whatever is left in the old one is now getting rather large and these are put back in the fly cage to pupate. I've found if i don't keep the medium damp the maggots dry out and die. like this i have managed to keep things going relatively well all summer but being a newbie i'd not be surprised if i'm doing something wrong - not cleaning out the maggots being one of those...

You are doing pretty much what i do other than wet and break up the crust. The maggots do not dry out and die in fresh bran in the fridge, they go dormant after cleaning themselves out due to the cold but sometimes cluster together to keep warm. A daily tumble to separate them prevents this.
I usually pour the contents of the maggots out of the fly cage on some 6mm welded mesh to remove large dried out crust over a large kitty litter tray then add a small amount of feeding medium to grow them out for a day. After a day the medium turns to a fine brown saw dust like colour and at this stage you can either put this through a 2-3mm sieve to remove the maggots or just add twice the amount of fresh bran to them,tumble and place in the fridge with no lid or they will sweat.
Never add water to them before they are refrigerated, the drier the better to stop mould etc. Craig

How do you worm and disinfect a maggot? How is it done?
All ive heard of is to flush them out in bran or pollard.

Rob wrote:How do you worm and disinfect a maggot? How is it done?
All ive heard of is to flush them out in bran or pollard.

I have never heard of anyone doing this, if everything is kept clean their shouldn't be a problem. Bushfly maggots bred in an enclosed environment would have no way of feeding on or carrying worm eggs. Craig