Question Black Soldier Fly Breeding Box

[Perry]

G'day,
I have made my own Breeding Box. It is made of wood and I have given it plenty of aeration. It has eggs in it now. I had it in full sun. I went to my friend place today to see how his box of larvae was going, he is the guy that got me interested. All his Larvae were dead. He said that he thinks that they go too hot. Question Where is the best place to set your breeder up? Full Sun, Part Shade, Full Shade? Many thanks.
Cheers Perry

 

[Mataeka]

They can thrive in heat so I find that kinda unlikely - mine are in black 20L buckets that get full morning sun till midday and they're all their on their own volition. When I researched I liked that they're much hardier than worms in regards to heat. That said my buckets are open lidded so some heat would escape for sure. They do become less active in the cold so maybe partial shade would be ideal?

Do they have enough food for the quantity of them? A m² of BSFL can eat 15kgs of food each day.

 

[Perry]

G'day Mataeka,
Thank you for your reply. 15kg a day. I do not think my grandkids can eat that much & they eat like horses!!!!
I have a large veggie garden I also kill and eat our young Roosters. I put the bones & insides in with veggies & bread and I see now that the fly has laid eggs. I will see how this box goes and hope to make a large Black Garbage Bin like the one the guy from Sydney demonstrated. He was Hi Teck !!!!!! My type of guy to understand.
Cheers Perry

 

[Mataeka]

Yeah ive been chucking the remains of bones etc in after a process (roast chook then goes to make chicken stock/broth so the bones become full mush) - also they seem to love hair - I chuck my offcuts in there after I trim my hair and they seem to dig it. Glad you've got some action now. I found some of the online stuff I read seemed to be slowing down the process as it worked for me so have since gone back to just basically leaving them alone to do their thing, just shaking them up once a month or so. I dont have a way the larvae can get out when they're ready to become flies so ive noticed they're instead frequently moving to the bottom of the buckets - stirring them basically guarantees an influx of flies the next day.

 

[Perry]

G'day Mataeka,
Thank you for your message. Making a ramp or placing a tube for the larvae to crawl up is simple. I think that is the important part so that you can just collect the black larvae for the chooks. Mine at not at that stage yet only a few crawling white larvae as yet. I have read that October is the time the B S F will start laying but with this warm winter it might be earlier.
Cheers Perry

 

[Mataeka]

Yeah ive been tipping the buckets on an angle if I want to harvest them - but I was not getting as many hatching into flies when they were collected - not sure if there was not enough shade etc for them to huddle under or what conditions they prefer to hatch. At this stage I'm wanting a lot to become flies to ensure my buckets are full of BSFL

They've been laying all year round here - definitely not waiting till October. The flies life spans are pretty short because they dont eat after they become a fly so really when they lay eggs would depend on when they become flies more so than a specific time of the year. They do slow down in the cool so it makes sense that more would become flies in the heat.

 

[OskarDoLittle]

Hi perry, I get these all the time in my worm farm, so i presume they like similar conditions...light but no direct sun, esp if you have a worm farm of the black plastic variety like I do. Because it's a worm farm I don't put meat, onion, pet poo etc in it, but they seem to thrive anyway...I wondered if perhaps they came in with the worms originally as I've never seen them anywhere else at home.
There is a commercial group selling these (farms and larvae) they had a stall at the Ipswich garden show earlier this year...if I ever remember their name I'll let you know. Much more efficient then worms apparently.
I have noticed they drop off a lot in winter, and like the worms, don't see, to like the castings to become too mushy, so it's a matter of getting the ratio of wet to dry scraps right - I chuck quite a bit of shredded papers mine and that absorbs a lot of the excess dampness. I think this is a bigger problem if you have a plastic worm farm (should be a forum somewhere around here on that too) as they don't seem to be as free-draining as they could be.
Not sure if that helps any!