Chickens LOVE Grasshoppers!

Backyard poultry love grasshopper snacks!

 

More Schistocerca americana

Schistocerca americana (also known as the American Bird Grasshopper) love to eat. Below is a photo of some that are a couple of weeks old at feeding time. They are feasting on some homegrown lettuce from our caterpillar tunnel.

Schistocerca americana nymphs hatch

There have been struggles recently with consistent hatches. After speaking with several entomologists, I began to follow of different hatching protocol for Schistocerca americana egg pods. Today was the day the first egg pod was supposed to hatch and it happened right on time. Several dozen nymphs have hatched and more are on the way.  

Schistocerca americana nymph

This one container holds 3 or 4 egg pods. This is the first one to hatch and the first one laid. So there should be several more hundred that will hatch from this container in the coming days.

The above video shows the newly hatched nymphs in their new home. The following video shows a side view of the egg pod container. Hatching nymphs can be seen (they are bright green) below the surface in the cavity left by the egg pod.

Work also continues on M. differentialis, but for now the focus of production will be on S. americana. 

Working on incubation and hatching....

Work is ongoing relative to establishing a reliable incubation and hatching protocol. Egg pods collected over the summer have been slow and sporadic to hatch. The images below give some insight into what has been going on the last few months.

Some industry contacts have been made as well. Much has been learned and they were kind enough to share a great amount of information.

Melanoplus differentialis egg pods

Thoptera has been working hard to harvest a large amount of egg pods from the first generation captive grasshoppers. Dozens of Melanoplus differentialis were wild caught in northwest Tennessee late last summer into the fall (2019). Those grasshoppers mated in captivity and deposited egg pods. Those egg pods were hatched during the winter indoors. After having over 200 adults almost ready to begin egg laying, we were struck with a fatal error that wiped out our breeding stock to 100 in number. These remaining grasshoppers have grown large after lots of experimentation with lighting, temperature, and feed. They are now laying eggs pods with gusto.

Egg pods in individual cups. 

According to literature, each Melanoplus differentialis pod should contain around 100 eggs depending on the size of the pod. We are conducting our own experiments by placing each pod into its own incubation cup. This will allow for testing of different incubation and hatching protocol, and also to gather data about hatching rates.

Keeping track of each egg pod as it goes from being deposited until hatching. 

If all goes well, Thoptera should see mass hatching begin to occur in late June well into July. Anyone in the market for grasshoppers?

Egg pod typical size thus far.

Grasshopper Feeding Time

I have been growing several different types of grasses for the grasshoppers to feed on. This spring I planted milo, sudan grass, and wheat in my family's garden. I know that Melanoplus differentialis enjoy eating sudan grass since that is what I feed the wild caught insects last fall until frost.

Grasshopper feed right out of the garden.

 The grasshoppers really enjoyed some fresh produce straight from the garden. I am sure it was a welcomed treat considering they usually are fed romaine lettuce grown somewhere on the west coast of the U.S. I cut the trio of grasses and took them right in to feed to the hoppers. Talk about a fresh meal.

Grasshopper Feeding

I filmed a little clip of a grasshopper foraging on romaine lettuce. This grasshopper was hatched and raised entirely indoors.

Mass Casualities

Things have been humming along nicely with the indoor grasshopper growth work of Thoptera. If you have been following along with previous posts, you know that an initial small batch of grasshoppers nymphs hatched in December 2019 from wild caught grasshoppers from Fall 2019. These egg pods were incubated indoors and eventually hatched. In March another batch hatched from these original eggs. The total number was nearly 300. That was in addition to the couple of dozen from December. The December batch has matured and has been actively laying egg pods for a few weeks and are nearing the end of their reproductive period. In the meantime the later (more numerous) batch has been consuming large amounts of store-bought romaine lettuce hearts. They have been growing quickly thanks to plenty of food and improved temperature and lighting resources, which include both UVA and UVB.

Adult Melanoplus differentialis (notice wings are present).

A new venture like this is always about experimentation and learning. Months back I experimented with some other food types. These included other lettuce types, turnip greens, collards, etc. While the grasshoppers seemed to like the variety to a degree, based on consumption, they always seemed to gravitate back to the romaine lettuce. As a consequence, I have stuck primarily with this food source along with plenty of dry bran.

Turnip green bundle.

This week, while at a big box grocery, I picked up some turnip greens. It was really just on a whim. The leaves are big and dark green. This was a fatal error. I placed a few leaves of turnip greens into each of the growth chambers. Immediately the grasshoppers began to devour the leaves. I usually check on the grasshopper chambers every few hours. When I returned I noticed several of the grasshoppers in the chamber with the higher population behaving erratically. Some were on their backs, others had legs that were quivering. There were many that appeared to be dead. Upon closer examination, a few of the older grasshoppers were noticeably sick as well.

Grasshoppers having a meal.

The high density chamber had consumed all of the turnip greens I had given them and I was preparing to give them more. Based on the observations, I gave that a second thought. I remembered a research publication I had read that detailed experimentation with growing grasshoppers in captivity. I recalled that one particular paper pointed out the problem with some of the greens that were feed to their grasshoppers had been contaminated with pesticides and resulted in deaths of their stock. This is likely what had just happened to Thoptera's largest batch of grasshoppers hatched to date. I quickly removed what was left of the turnip greens in all of the growth chambers. I hoped that all of the grasshoppers hadn't indulged in the juicy leaves. I would have to wait until morning to see what the final death toll would be. 

Grasshoppers were piled in quantities of 10 to obtain a death count.

Morning revealed mass casualties. Over 150 of the large batch had died or were near death. Several of the December group had died as well. Thankfully these were nearing end of life anyway. Without a doubt though, some potential egg pod production was lost. There are still around 100 left of that large group. A few more may die still, but hopefully the carnage has ended!

Deceased grasshoppers from presumed pesticide contamination.

Lesson learned. From now on, stick to a tried and proven variety and brand of lettuce (greens). If I want to experiment with a new feed type or source, I always need to try it out on a small test group of grasshoppers.

More Hatchlings...

Hundreds of grasshopper nymphs.

We had lots of new hatch-lings this week. It will be interesting to see how many survive. Plenty of moisture is key for hatching.

Thoptera Growth

Thoptera, the only US commercial grasshopper breeding operation (as far as we know) is ramping up....

The first generation of hatched Melanoplus differentialis (Differential) grasshopper nymphs are reaching maturity. Several are now starting to lay egg pods.

Differential Grasshoppers basking in an incandescent heat bulb. Some are attached to the outer wall screen. Others are perched on a wire basking frame inside the growth chamber. Romaine lettuce can be seen in the foreground, which presently serves at the primary grasshopper food source.

Learning & Experimentation

Much has been learned over the last few months. Initially LED "daylight" light bars were being utilized for 14 hours per day in each grow chamber. A ceramic heat emitter (no light source) was being used to provide heat for the grasshoppers 24 hours per day. The first group that was hatched in captivity was undersized and the color of the grasshoppers was very pale, almost translucent white. 

Recently, the ceramic heat emitters were replaced with incandescent bulbs (75 to 100 Watt) to provide heat and UVA basking. These are left on 24 hours per day currently. In addition, a UVB bulb has been added to each growth chamber. These are programmed to remain on for about 14 hours per day, mimicking natural daylight hours.

This change immediately resulted in larger and more naturally colored grasshopper.

Differential Grasshopper laying egg pods.

There are still several American Grasshoppers (Schistocerca americana) still alive from when they were caught in the wild in the late summer months. They have been living in captivity for nearly 6 months. They have laid egg pods, but to date, none have successfully hatched. 

American Grasshopper attempting to lay eggs in sand tray inside growth chamber.

 One grasshopper has been repeatedly drilling egg pod holes in the sand trays located inside the growing chamber.

American Grasshopper loitering around inside the growth chamber.

What's next?

Several batches of egg pods are in the incubation queue. Many will be hatching in the coming weeks. This is where exponential population growth should occur.

In addition, more will be wild caught during the next few months as well. 

Thoptera

It's official.... Thoptera now has a website. www.thoptera.com Thanks to my business partner for setting that up and also for the cool new email address: john@grasshopper.farm How cool is that?!?!

Still been feeding grasshoppers everyday and hatching some new ones. Things should explode exponentially in the coming months. Still much experimentation, with more to come in the months ahead. The initial batch that was hatched in December is now beginning to breed and lay eggs. Here are a few photos of those.

I believe they are Melanoplus differentialis (Differential grasshoppers). I think I have a few Schistocerca americana as well in captivity. Some of the nymphs may be of that type as well. As they grow, it will be easier for a non-entomologist (like me) to identify them. 

I have noticed that these have not gotten as large as their parents, who were caught wild in the Fall (2019). I suspect that the diet and lighting may be the culprits. I will need to tinker more with lighting to see if that helps. I hope to have a greenhouse type structure, at least a building is many windows on the South side of the structure, to give them plenty of natural light year round. Light in the wintertime will need to be supplumented.

There is a major locust outbreak in Africa going on currently. 

Thoptera Grasshopper Operation Ramping Up

Progress with the Thoptera grasshopper growing operation is ramping up. I posted in the fall about my interest in starting an alternative protein business focused on mass rearing of grasshoppers here in the U.S. In my research, I have yet to find a company in America that is involved in commercial grasshopper production. If you know one, please post in the comments. My aim is to continue working to optimize year round production of grasshoppers for human consumption and for agricultural feed purposes (poultry and aquaculture). Earlier posts contained pictures of grasshoppers that had been captured in the wild and then caged to breed. After some research and lots of trial and error to getting them to hatch I successfully hatched out a few dozen in December (obviously not within the normal seasonal hatching in North America). If all goes well, the next generation with yield several hundred, and the generation after that will be in the thousands by summer. This would allow for direct to consumer sales initially with a more commercial type operation to follow. I am sure there will be several more things to learn over the next few months, especially as the quantity increases. The goal is to have a commercial, year-round production system in place by next fall that can be scaled for growth as demand increases.
Check out this video of one group of itty-bitty grasshoppers emerging from their eggs in my "desktop hatcher."

Here is a photo of the same grasshoppers a few weeks later in the growth chamber.

The following photo shows the grasshoppers that were caught in the wild about 6 months ago.