Will BSFL eat other (dead) BSFL??

Hi all!

So, I have 6 BSFL structures and one of them was exposed to the cold Michigan temperatures last night and froze. Assuming they are dead, will the other bins consume the dead larvae? I was thinking of feeding the dead larvae and remaining food waste of this bin to a thriving bin and restart the population of the bin that died off last night. What are your thoughts?

Thank you!!

Howdy Ali, welcome to permies!
I am bumping your question back up to the top in hopes that someone who knows about these things will help us both learn.

No harm in trying is there? I suspect that they can eat them, if not immediately then when they start breaking down a bit.

Two things are likely to happen. One, the living larvae will eat the dead ones and two, some of the frozen population will turn out not to be dead after all.

I don't really see a downside to the move, other than possibly overloading the healthy bin(s) if you add too much too fast - but if you're running multiple bins, you already know that stuff

Side note, how are you keeping them warm in Michigan winters? It's on my list of things to do when the wife and I get set up in Michigan and I have not figured out how to do it yet

I couldn't imagine it being a problem one way or the other, folks outlined why previously...I'll concur with them! It should be no problem to feed them to the living BSFL, they'll eat them along with everything else...would put a few george washingtons on that guess!

How are you managing to successfully overwinter BSFL in Michigan? I am in NC Washington state, and have to purchase new larvae every year, as we have not yet found a way to keep them alive overwinter. We have even went so far as to bring in a few hundred larvae before the temps got too cold, and set up a bin indoors, and have been able to get them to finish inside, but not breed.