Starting the cycle from laying eggs, a female black soldier fly can lay around 500-800 eggs (0.0125-0.02 grams) in her lifespan. After laying the eggs, the female will die. From these little eggs, a new life cycle of black solider flies will begin.
/hermetia-illucens-black-soldier-fly-eggs.jpg?ref=zenyrgarden.com)
Let's check out the bsf life cycle now:
Egg to Larvae (4-5 Days)
/black-soldier-fly-depositing-eggs-in-cardboard.jpg?ref=zenyrgarden.com)
BSF eggs are very tiny & they usually cluster up together. The average weight of 1 egg is around 25 microgram. In 2.9 grams of egg cluster, you'll have about 99,000 to 116,000 individual eggs.
/bsf-egg-under-microscope.jpg?ref=zenyrgarden.com)
Female soldier flies like to lay eggs in the crevices of wood or cardboard pieces near smelly places with decaying organic matter. Here, the eggs will be protected from other predators, the loss of moisture & be near a food source to provide for the babies when they first emerge out.
It takes around 4-5 days for these eggs to hatch. After hatching, they will turn into little wiggly hatchlings with cream-like color. They're super tiny & may be a bit difficult to see sometimes. As you can see here are some newly born larvae:
/new-hatchling-larvae-black-soldier-fly.jpg?ref=zenyrgarden.com)
Here are the eggs & the egg shells before and after hatching. They turn darker in color, more fluffy & lighter.
/black-soldier-fly-eggs-hatched-unhatched.jpg?ref=zenyrgarden.com)
After hatching, they move on to the larvae stage: