Method for growing maggots at home

Maggots are the name given to the larvae of the round stitch fly. They are widely used in various fields of human activity: as bait when catching peaceful fish species, as well as for food in aquarium farming, poultry farming and fish farming. The habitat of maggots in nature is places where meat or fish waste accumulates. The fly lays eggs on the remains of decaying flesh, from which larvae emerge after a few days. It is not difficult to create conditions suitable for this, so breeding maggots can be described as a profitable idea for business, especially considering that a minimum of funds will be required for its implementation.

Justification of a commercial idea

The agricultural sector is one of the main polluters of the environment. Organic waste from livestock farms causes enormous damage to soil and water. Artificial breeding of maggots not only solves the problem of waste disposal, but also allows you to obtain a lot of useful products:

Live biomass of larvae, which can serve as food for farm animals
An indispensable fishing bait of animal origin
Zoogumus is a very valuable fertilizer that stimulates the growth and development of plants, increases productivity, promotes soil reclamation and frees it from heavy metals.
Flour (a product of processing dried maggots), which in its properties is several times superior to meat and bone meal, is used as an additive for combined feeds

Note: larval biomass is especially effective when breeding fish species such as carp and trout.
As practice shows, if maggots are introduced into the diet of fish, the survival rate of fry increases, the risk of disease decreases, and individuals gain weight twice as fast as usual. In addition, flour obtained from dried fly larvae is a raw material for the production of oncology drugs and is widely used in cosmetology. There are only a few enterprises in Russia engaged in breeding maggots on an industrial scale. That is, this niche is practically unoccupied. The low level of competition, the absence of the need for large start-up and ongoing investments, as well as ample opportunities for selling finished products make this business idea relevant and promising.

How to plant maggots correctly

Another advantage of maggot is that it sticks perfectly to the hook - this is not the case for fish, it’s easy to pick it off and not fall into the hands of the fisherman.

There are different ways to attach a larva to a hook. We won’t describe them; it’s best to show them visually, which is much more interesting and understandable.

Breeding conditions

If maggot breeding is planned as a home business, you need to take into account that during growth the fly larvae emit an unpleasant odor of ammonia. Therefore, the room intended for these purposes must be located at a considerable distance from residential areas. Basic conditions for breeding larvae:

The air temperature should be at 22-25°C, otherwise maggots may go into suspended animation or die
Air humidity is recommended to be maintained at 50-70%
The room should be ventilated periodically
Do not allow foreign insects to enter the premises
Lighting should not be too intense (larvae “do not like” bright light)

The production facility should be divided into two main zones: the insectarium and the incubator. The first one can contain flies, the second one can hatch larvae. Equipment for these purposes can be made independently. You will need metal frames, trays, facades (can be made of plywood) and fine mesh.

Breeding maggots at home

For your first experience in growing maggots, you should use the simplest and least expensive method - breeding larvae in a plastic bottle.

To do this, you will need a 1.5 liter plastic bottle. The bottle is cut crosswise into 2 parts. The lower part should be slightly larger than the upper.

A layer of sawdust 5-7 cm high is laid on the bottom. The upper part with the lid unscrewed must be installed in the lower part. In this case, the neck of the bottle should be directed downwards and not slightly reach the layer of sawdust. There should be a distance of 2-3 cm between them. A piece of raw meat is placed in the upper part of the bottle for feeding maggots at home. You can replace this product with a boiled egg or raw fish.

The finished structure must be installed outdoors in a shaded place. When meat or fish begins to rot and emit a characteristic odor, flies will flock to it to lay eggs.

After a week, the maggots will be ready to be used. If the larvae have already pupated, casters can be used.

There is another simple option for breeding maggots, but it requires financial costs for purchasing sawdust and preparing boxes. Raw meat, liver or fish, cut into small pieces, are used as food for the larvae (it is not advisable to use minced meat). These pieces are laid out outdoors in direct sunlight. After a few hours, the meat can be harvested. During this time, flies, attracted by the smell, will fly to the meat to lay eggs.

The collected pieces are placed in boxes with sawdust. They can be lightly buried or, on the contrary, laid out on top. The larvae do not like sunlight, so they will always try to bury themselves in sawdust. After 5-7 days, maggots can be used for fishing.

The method of producing maggots in sawdust is best suited for mass breeding of worms. An undeniable advantage is the convenience and possibility of breeding maggots as a business.

Some fishermen prefer to use yellow or red maggots. Thanks to this trick, it is possible to increase the catch. To give maggots a yellow tint, they should be fed with the yolk of a hard-boiled egg. The yolk is pre-mixed with cottage cheese.

To obtain red worms, food coloring of the desired color is used. Before painting the maggot red, a small amount of pigment is dissolved in milk or water. The larvae are placed in the liquid and left there for 5 minutes. After this, the worms should be dried.

In the liver

This method of breeding can be called costly, since it will require something to feed the maggot, for example, a piece of cattle liver (beef will do). The main condition is that the liver must be raw. In this case, the freshness of the product does not matter. You can replace the liver with a piece of raw meat.

The meat is left in the fresh air for 2-3 days. During this time, the product will begin to deteriorate and flies will fly to it.
After 2-3 days, the liver or meat is placed in a container with sawdust. This container should be convenient and have a lid to close tightly.
The meat is stored in a closed state until the larvae appear. When this happens, the container is opened. For active growth of larvae, a small amount of bran is added to the meat.
When the larvae reach a length of 8 mm, they are transferred to a separate container, but continue to be fed with meat.
After reaching the desired size, maggots are used as bait.

The growing process will take about 6-8 days.

The advantage of this method is greater productivity. From one batch you can hatch enough maggots to last the entire fishing season.

In fish

Growing maggots in meat and fish is largely identical. In the latter case, you can do without a box, bran and sawdust, so the scheme using fish is considered low-cost.

To grow maggots, you should take raw fish with the head. The product is hung on the street. After a few days, the fish will begin to rot. Attracted flies lay their eggs in the gills of the fish, from which larvae will begin to develop.
After some time, the fish is removed from the hook or rope and wrapped in newspaper. The paper should be folded in several layers, as grown worms crawl throughout the newspaper.
Maggots for fishing can be used immediately after reaching a suitable size.

In the egg

Eggs are another suitable medium for raising fly larvae. This is a relatively inexpensive, fast and effective way to breed maggots at home. The disadvantage is low productivity when using one egg (about 20-30 worms). However, this problem can be solved by increasing the number of eggs.

You need to act in the following sequence:

Boil the egg hard, remove from the water and allow to cool.
The shell is removed from the top of the egg, after which the egg is sent to a shaded place outside.
After a few days the egg will go rotten. The smell will attract flies, which will lay eggs in the spoiled product.
After some more time, larvae will develop in the egg, which can be used when fishing for live bait.

Technology

Cages for flies need to be covered with mesh and containers (trays, boxes, containers) with substrate placed under them. As a substrate, you can use sawdust or bran mixed with bird droppings, meat by-products, and rotten vegetables. Some entrepreneurs use poultry deaths from poultry farms. To grow 1 kg of larvae, you will need approximately 4-5 kg of substrate. Feeders and drinkers for flies should be installed in the cages.

You can also feed insects with leftover food and organic waste. It is important to monitor the availability of water. One cage measuring 50 cm × 50 cm × 50 cm can contain about 1000 flies. A natural question arises: where to get such a number of insects? A fishing store will help with the formation of breeding stock.

Usually a test batch of green blowfly larvae (pinkies) is purchased. They are placed in containers with tightly closed lids, or directly into cages. If the temperature regime is observed (25-28°C) and the food supply is available, the first flies will appear within 10 days. Already on the second or third day the flies reach sexual maturity. After mating, the males die, and the females remain fertilized and look for a place to lay eggs.

Thus, already three days after the insect turns from a pupa into a fly, the first collection of eggs can be carried out. It must be said that the eggs quite quickly (within 8-10) hours move into the next stage of development and become larvae, capable of moving and feeding on their own. Containers with laid eggs need to be moved to the incubator.

As the latter, you can use lockable cabinets with shelves arranged in several tiers. Now you need to periodically feed the larvae and monitor their growth and development to prevent them from entering the pupal stage. If the larvae are grown for sale in fishing stores, Sudan III dye and anise oil can be added to the substrate. When the maggots reach the desired size, they should be separated from the substrate and placed in storage. The optimal temperature is - 2°C. In such conditions, the larvae are immersed in suspended animation and can be stored for 3-4 weeks.

Conservation

Preparation for preservation involves drying the larvae. For this, many fishermen use flour, but, as practice shows, this method is not suitable for long-term storage, since the flour quickly begins to mold. The best option is to add small sawdust from deciduous wood, which is odorless. After this, the maggots must be cooled, and then, separating them from the sawdust, place them in a container and close it tightly. This must be done in order to close access to air. The container with the larvae is eventually placed in the refrigerator.

Another preservation option is to add bread crumbs to the maggot box. From them it will acquire a yellowish color, and the skin will become stronger.

Sales of maggots

Growing maggots is not difficult, and there are usually no problems with their sale. You can offer your products to owners of fishing and pet stores. Larval biomass is most often sold in 1 liter containers. The wholesale price averages 350 rubles. for 1 l. Zoogumus is readily purchased by owners of greenhouse farms, dried larvae and their processed products - farmers engaged in breeding poultry or fish, as well as beekeepers.

The cost of 1 liter of zoohumus is about 15 rubles, the price of flour can reach 30 rubles per 1 kg. The resulting products can be sold not only on the local market, but also on the regional one - it all depends on production volumes. Gradually expanding your business, you can start selling online by creating your own website.

How to paint a maggot

You can often find red larvae on sale, which are even more attractive to fish. But changing the color of the bait is quite easy on your own.

Method No. 1. An interesting feature of the maggot is the color saturation of the food that the larva feeds on. It is enough to add food coloring to the curd mass (maggot’s favorite food) so that the bait changes its color.

Method No. 2. It’s even easier to color the maggot directly with food coloring.

Method No. 3. If you have bloodworms, you just need to mix two types of larvae. The maggot will eat the bloodworm and turn a rich red color.