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Freesteading group focused on the discussion of livestock.
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Black Soldier Fly Larvae
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Black Soldier Fly Larvae
Anyone out there raising BSF larvae? Very interested in starting this to feed our hens.
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27 Replies
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They love too wet compost, manure, rotting fruit. Will not mate @ below 70 degrees. Short life cycle 4 adults. Just days. Some folks have screened in “mating area” and even over winter em (indoor room) grubs, larvae are voracious and FAT. trick is, (as with vermiculture) to get them to leave the goodies and drop in receptacle. Worms go downward. Grubs go up. The tutorials on YT are good. The Asians have it in spades….Caio4Now. good luck!!
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We made compost bins out of large garbage cans last year. We drilled holes up and down the sides and on bottom and used half inch hardware cloth to make an aeration tube up the center. Then we moved from north Texas to Central Texas a few months ago and took the composers with us. I found black soldier flies in the composers after the move, and for a long time I had a lot of larvae whenever I opened one to put materials in it. Now I don’t see them in there anymore. I suspect they inhabited my composers in north Texas and didn’t thrive in the new environment.
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I’ve thought about BSF production; there are a lot of videos on youtube about it, and they are a great protein source for chickens. I’ve also come across the larvae “in the wild” around here, so I know it should be possible to start production – you can also order larvae to begin production; just let them mature to flies in a contained environment.
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My Bearded Dragons love them.
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Some systems are VERY expensive and some are DIY fabulous. I have been lazy and have an actual subscription to grub-terra for 5# every 3 months. My chickens?….spoiled?…of course! I may try a bin next year.
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Well, I’m happy to say that I was wrong. I didn’t lose all my black soldier flies after all. I saw more larvae in my composter yesterday.
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I’ve got them living in my compost pile, but I would like to get a harvestable system set up to help feed my chickens too. I’m thinking of using a cracked IBC tote like I saw online somewhere. don’t know how I could store them for winter feed though? I’m not willing to stick them in the food dryer… 😝
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My compost is crawling with them again. I don’t know enough about them and would like to know how to overwinter them, myself.
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We just found ibc containers with heating pads at the bottom very inexpensively. If you could find something like this, maybe that would work?
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Maybe? I’ve seen people use IBC containers for a lot of projects that I’d like to try. We just moved into an old house and have so much work to do here that we won’t have time for more projects for a while. I don’t know where to find them affordably, BUT if we come across some, we will get them.
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I just started a BSFL bin for the first time this summer and July at that. I was amazed at how fast things exploded! I hope y’all don’t think I’m crazy but I pressure canned two full cases to use this winter. My chickens are crazy over these things. They act like crackheads, lol. They canned up real nice. I was afraid they might get mushy so I did a small test batch to try out. They held up great and my chickens fought over them. When I started doing full canner loads I used regular meat times.
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OMG!!! I would have never thought of that! that would work. shure would be alot of jars for the chickies, though. it would put a bigger dent in the already short lid supply. but them chickens probably will think you opened a jar of candy for them!!! 😆😆
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That could be an issue for a lot of people I guess. I’ve been collecting canning jars and lids for over 20 years now. I have a massive supply of them and have found that the older lids work way better than the new ones. Some of my girls have turned 18 months and are molting. Yesterday I opened up a jar for them because they look a little rough. I’m sure they could use the extra protein and calcium right about now. The things we will do for our girls….lol
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Have you thought about dehydrating them?
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Hi Nanagoat yes I have thought about it but decided against it. I just don’t want larva all in my dehydrator. Also with the high volume of larva I would think it would take way too much time to do that. I would have to have more than one dehydrator for sure. Pressure canning them is just easy. It don’t take but a few minutes to rinse them off, load them in the jars, fill with rainwater to one inch and can. Also I read an article where a man had a special microwave built and he is microwaving them. I definitely don’t want to do that. I like the looks of the finished product after I can them. This was one of the half pints I did as a test run. They look and weigh the same after pressure canning them as they did before. I can honestly say………it took a couple weeks to talk myself into doing this and now I sure am glad I did.
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oh, wow! those don’t look icky and squishy at all!
If I put jars of canned larvae in frount all of my other cannd food, I bet it would be safe from marauders. … 🤣
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Thanks Jen…………as long as the marauders aren’t your chickens.😄
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Lol! you are right! then ALL those jars would be busted open!! : )
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LOL!!
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I purchased a hanging mesh dehydrator for herbs last year that might work for BSF larvae. It’s inexpensive and they come in different sizes. This isn’t the exact one I got, but it’s close. https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08FH4JCPT/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_awdb_imm_KA2TE3JX8PX5NPKAAGNG?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
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I hope someone will try this out come next season. Interest in BSFL is gaining in this country. I’m curious as to how people “shut them down” in cold weather. We got really chilly temps way earlier than usual this year. My bin is still loaded with larva but they have mostly been in sort of a hibernating state. On a few warm days I noticed that they get lively and start heading up the ramps and my bucket starts filling up. We’re coming into a warm spell so I’m going to feed them real heavy and get as many as I can out so I can get them canned up. There’s a lot of black compost in there and I would like to get it out and use it in my garden come spring. Hopefully as more time goes on others with experience will chime in and and we will learn more about these little creatures that my chickens go crazy over.
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I started a BSFL bin for the first time this summer. I was amazed at how fast things exploded. I’ve been working on ways to feed my chickens without relying on a feed store. I hope y’all don’t think I’m crazy but I pressure canned two cases to use over the winter. I was afraid they would get mushy so I did a small test batch. They held up great and my chickens fought over them just like the live ones. They act like crackheads over the larva. I didn’t start my bin until July or I would have a lot more. This was an experiment that went very well. I used the largest heavy duty tote that I could find at lowe’s and I just bought a second one for next year. I used 1 inch pvc pipe, made two ramps one on each side. Next year one bin will keep the chickens happy and I’ll use the second bin for pressure canning for winter food.
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Wow! That’s great information! Thanks for letting us all benefit from your experimentation!
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Thanks Freckled Texas and you are very welcome. Sorry for the double post, I was trying to edit and it disappeared on me so I started over. The other thing I need to add is….. don’t fill the jar so full because the larvae absorbs a lot of the water. Also I figured during the canning process that it would make for a bad odor in my house but there was none at all. The whole idea of it kind of freaked me out a little bit at first, I mean the thought of larvae in my jars and pressure canner seemed “really out there”. I had a lot of 24 ounce Atlas mason jars from classico pasta sauce that I hadn’t ever used and four presto canners. So now I just dedicated my smallest presto and all these jars, a spare funnel and a spare strainer just for canning BSFL.
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I figured that’s what happened with the double post. I’ve written posts and then thought of things I should have added. It took me a few tries to figure out how to do it.
Thanks for the additional information in your latest post. I see that I’m not the only person who appreciates it. I’ll have to try to print it out and keep it for next year when (hopefully) I might have the time to try it myself.
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Yes, thanks. I had never even thought of that!
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