Black Soldier Fly - mature larvae harvest

[Living4fishing]

So i keep watching these vidss , but where can you buy them first , an second once you have them do they reproduce if you let them turn to flies an have more or u have to keep buying larva ???

[zain8noah]

are black soldier flies the assholes who bite people all the time?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@zain8noah No. BSF don't even have working mouth parts. The winged adults only live a few days for the purpose of reproduction. They are as harmless as a butterfly and rarely even land on a person.

[likayouful]

Awsome short Movie

[PeanutButterGtr]

Why do you discard the white ones?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@PeanutButterGtr I wasn't discarding juvenile BSF larvae; I was nervously picking out the shed "skins" that the larvae throw off as they "molt" between stages and also a few housefly larvae that had gotten into the system.

[PeanutButterGtr]

@BlackSoldierFly Why would you be nervous? They're harmless right?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@PeanutButterGtr LOL, yes, they're harmless. I'm not afraid of the larvae, I hold them all of the time. I was just fussing with them because I was making the video and had nervous energy.

[50kT]

that handful looked like 200 to 300 in my opinion

[BlackSoldierFly]

@50kT Do you usually do well in those "guess how many jelly bean" contests? :)

[acetrem]

thts gross...

[BlackSoldierFly]

@acetrem Not when you understand what's really happening. These harmless larvae are a simple and beautiful part of nature. Knowledge makes the gross go away.

[66jaxon66]

hi, i set up a bsf bucket recently, i started it with aprx 200 larvae.would this be enough to start a breeding population? also is it too late to start anyway? if so, what should i do?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@66jaxon66 You don't need any larvae to seed a colony if BSF are present in the wild where you live, however adding some initially can speed up the process because the larvae release a pheromone which attracts egg laying females. The season varies with location; south FL has year round reproduction and in some northern states the season is probably over now. Try fermenting corn or cabbage in a separate bucket to confirm that they are in your area and active. See my blog for a post about that.

[66jaxon66]

@BlackSoldierFly i live in south louisiana, they should be here i guess?

[BlackSoldierFly]

@66jaxon66 Absolutely.

[hiedi11]

I noticed the other day that the black soldier fly larvae are in my compost pile again this year, for the third year in a row. Lucky me! I do agree that the BSF larvae can break down food waste at an amazingly fast rate. I also put chicken manure in my compost pile as well, and they are really great at breaking that stuff down as well.

[BlackSoldierFly]

@hiedi11 Since you already have BSF you might want to try your hand at working with them in a device specifically designed for that purpose. I have a DIY design on my blog if you're interested.

[HeatherOfOz]

I was shoveling around in my compost bin today and saw tons of these creatures under the surface layer. I have a lid on my bin that I only remove to add stuff. Should I leave the lid off sometimes to let the flies excape? Also, do I want my compost full of these things?

[BlackSoldierFly]

People go to great lengths to attract BSF. They are much faster at breaking down food waste than traditional composting or worms. BSF are a non-pest native fly that don't carry diseases and also act to repel pest species of flies.

When the larvae mature they will try to escape the bin to pupate elsewhere. If they can do that you won't have adults (flies) in the bin. If you are getting adults inside then you can leave a small gap for them to escape.

For more details check out my blog.

[hiedi11]

I may try to make one of the composters this summer. The design looks fairly simple. I do have chickens, and I know the chickens absolutely love the BSF larvae. So far, I haven't seen any larvae yet in my compost pile. Hopefully, they will appear soon.

[BlackSoldierFly]

@hiedi11 I live about 30 miles north of Tallahassee FL and BSF mating begins here in mid April. The weather is still a bit cool then so the larvae don't reach full size until mid May. I've just recently noticed a lot of mating so there won't be many big larvae until the end of May. If you live further north then you would need to adjust the time frame accordingly.

You can see the adult BSF or their eggs well before you'll see the larvae if you know what to look for.

[hiedi11]

I have these in my compost pile every summer since I started a compost pile. At first, I had no idea what they were. Now that I know, I am starting to become more interested and thinking of some ideas for use. One thing I do know, they are little composting machines. By the way, thanks for the video.

[BlackSoldierFly]

You're welcom hiedi11. If you want to try out a dedicated BSF composter I have a design available on my blog that costs less than $20. I will give you more opportunities to study the larvae in action and if you want to collect mature larvae (the dark ones) as animal feed it will do it automatically.

[9showoffsin1]

Next summer I would like to buy some of those from you if you will. I live in MO and I fish year round but I built a small insulated shed so I can raise my own bait. I will love to raise this; they look like good pan fish bait. We float down the rivers here and come home with full baskets of crappie, gills, etch. So I think these will come in handy. How much will you sell me for $50.00?

[BlackSoldierFly]

You can raise your own BSF grubs in the summer. BSF larvae are excellent panfish bait and I've caught small bass and a 2 lb catfish with them. The best for bait are the juvenile larvae which are light in color. I'll sell larvae for about $30/lb + shipping. A pound is 4000-5000 and you can keep them for weeks in the fridge. Check my blog for contact and BSF info.

[NCRxtreme]

what are u using to farm them?

u said it not a bio-pod?

[BlackSoldierFly]

I used plastic storage bins with vent holes cut out and no harvesting ramps. I have the bins on a table and when there is condensation on the? inner walls of the bins the larvae simply crawl up and out. I have buckets under the table to catch the larvae as they fall. I don't have complete coverage with the buckets and some larvae miss them and crawl away. You don't need a well designed unit to raise BSF, but it makes it more convenient and efficient.