Black Soldier Flies - Compost & Livestock Feed in One | General Homesteading Discussion | Forums

I've been doing a lot of research lately on black soldier flies (and their larvae). In my opinion, including a BSF setup is a no brainer for anyone who can use compost and/or livestock feed (or fish bait). There are a bunch of resources online that can explain the process in greater detail than me, but here's the "for dummies" version. I'm going to make one of these in the coming weeks, so I'll include pictures and such.

Make a BSF "harvester" out of as large of a container as you wish. They sell pre-made ones online, but they are fairly expensive for something you can make out of any size tote or bucket, some old garden hose, and maybe some pvc if you're so inclined. The basic harvester needs to have the following:

1. The main compost bin - can be any tote, bucket, barrel, etc. You will need to cut holes for ventilation and to allow the adult females inside to lay eggs. Some glued on cardboard provides great places to encourage egg laying. If you're going to have this outside (more on that later), you may need to tailor your design to minimize rain getting inside.

2. Drainage for compost tea. This can be as simple as some holes drilled on the bottom, or any variety of collection methods you can find online. I'd recommend using the tea for compost rather than just letting it drain away, since it's nutrient rich and contains natural insect-deterring pheromones. You'll need to place some sort of filter medium between the drainage area and the larvae/compost, keeping in mind that active larvae will distort a lot of stuff with the quickness.

3. An escape route for the larvae. As they mature, the larvae will stop eating and move away from their food source in search of soil. You can do this with any type of tubing, a ramp system, or old garden hose. Bear in mind that you'll want the tube to be semi-movable to account for increases/decreases in the amount of compost in the bin. Your tubes will lead to...

4. The collection bin. This can be a tupperware container or bucket with some sawdust or soil in the bottom. Some resourceful people have it drop right into a tray for their chickens to feed from. Again, the design is up to you. These larvae are loaded with protein and calcium, low in fat, and make an excellent food source for chickens, fish, reptiles - anything that will eat worms. I've even read shit about people using them to make biodiesel. As a reptile owner, I can assure you that any excess BSF larvae can be sold off at a premium (just google the prices for reptiworms, phoenix worms, or calciworms). Make sure to let some emerge into adult flies.

5. Food source. BSF larvae will basically eat anything you would put into a compost pile. They'll even eat dog/cat/human shit, and turn it into usable compost. You'll have to experiment with how much material your colony can handle in order to prevent excess bacteria (and stinkiness).

The compost contained within can be retrieved as needed and added to your main compost pile so your bin doesn't get too full.

I hope this gave you guys some food for thought.

For people like KVR and I that live in colder climates, BSF aren't as prolific as they are in warmer, more humid climates. There are additional plans online for BSF "traps", which are basically the addition of a screened-in box surrounding your harvester to keep the flies contained - you can even move the whole setup indoors if you wanted. Larvae can be purchased online to start off the experiment. If anyone else considers doing this, I'd love to hear about it.