Personal Reflection: For a while one of Gerald’s obsessions, or manias, as he called them, was the study of Black Soldier flies and how they could be beneficial. But the connection between rabbits and eggs is one of those things that makes you go Hmmm…
Gerald would have been gratified to see an article on the benefits of Black Soldier flies in the March-April 2023 issue of Discover magazine. I can hear him bragging that it only took them about 12 years or so to catch up with him.
The following is a piece of fictional correspondence from Karl to his friend George intended to introduce the subject of Black Soldier flies and their uses.
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Dear George,
I have been reading about the diet of Black Soldier Fly larvae. They don’t eat plants. I mean they eat cucumbers, but not the vines. They eat meat, and they eat fruit, vegetables and all kinds of manure.
So what if you fed different plants to rabbits? Think of all the plants rabbits eat. Then you let the Black Soldier Fly larvae eat the rabbit manure. Would not have to be their only diet, but I want to find out about that. They eat cattle and horse manure, and horses and cows eat plants.
Then the grubs could be a major part of the diet for chickens and ducks. So you would be getting eggs from plants via rabbits.
* Plants-to-rabbits.
* Rabbit manure to Black Soldier Fly larvae.
* BSF larvae to chickens and ducks.
* And eggs from the chickens and ducks.
Sound like a lot of work? Maybe some day soon, some of us will have no jobs, and this could be an occupation?
As a child I had both rabbits and chickens and loved taking care of them. The only thing missing was the Black Soldier Fly larvae. Who knew about them in those days?
I really want to try it this summer. What do you think, George?
Your friend,
Karl
