When raising BSF larvae for chickens, growers usually concern about how much larvae to raise, what to feed them, the feeding costs and when to harvest the larvae. If you're looking to raise BSF for your chickens, let's explore some ideas together.
What to Feed Your BSF Larvae
Sourcing a Local Food Source
Firstly choosing what to feed your BSF larvae will very much determine the cost, the larvae gut microbes & the nutrients your chickens will eventually get. The easiest way is to look around for what's available in your local area for cheap or usually for free.
In Indonesia, for example, people use rice bran because this stuff is sold for pretty cheap–about 50 cents per kilo (2 lbs). But in Cambodia, rice bran is expensive so growers look for other solutions.
A kilo of soybean waste, left-over of the tofu making process, can be had for a fraction of a penny. If you have it shipped to you, they may charge some shipping fees. If you go pick up at the store, it's usually free.
A Green-Based Diet: Pros & Cons
The advantage of feeding the larvae with greens, veggies or fruits is that they don't smell as bad as the meaty stuff. The downside, however, is that some of these are highly fibrous, which the larvae may not find very appetizing.
They tend to grow slower or smaller on a plant-based only diet. If you want your chickens to have a bit more muscles, consider some higher protein foods for the larvae.
One Way to Get Rid Of the Smell of Rotting Foods
If you want to feed them meat but don't like the unpleasant smell of some rotten meat, fish or guts, try pre-treating them with some microbes like EM1.
The method used is based on the fermentation process. The bacterial or fungal pre-treatment can help the digestion of food for the BSF larvae. It only smells bad when the food is decomposing. When they're done eating (usually within 2 weeks or so), the smell will be gone.
On this topic, I have a post here to show you How to make EM1 effective microorganisms at home (3 recipes): https://zenyrgarden.com/how-to-make-em1-effective-microorganism/
Continuing with our BSF feed story, many people often ask:
Is Fresh Manure Okay for Feeding?
Fresh manure is okay & some growers have had good results with it. You can use chicken manure or pig manure. Larvae about 4 days old will be able to consume these.
A good, disease-free source is always better. Some people have found that these guys actually devour human manure/waste pretty well. But it's not recommended to feed them this way unless you're pretty sure that contamination is kept within control.
Within the stomach of BSF larvae, there's some really strong acid & gut bacteria that help them break down food 24 hours a day non-stop. This acidic environment (pH 3-5) may shoo off some troubling bacteria in the manure.
Cow dung or goat manure don't seem to be very effective for feeding. Mostly because cows & goats eat mainly grasses, which are the high-fiber food that the larvae don't really enjoy.
To sum up some food ideas, you can try:
Veggies:
- Oats/barley/corn/beer grains
- Kitchen scraps/zucchini/carrots
- Potatoes/beans/rice bran/rotten eggs
Meats:
- Rotting fish/bird/pork
- Guts/organs
Manure:
- Chicken/pig
- Crickets
Pre-made chicken feed, fish feed or brewery waste is fine if fresh food sources are not available or too expensive.
The next question people usually concern about is:
How Much Food to Feed the Larvae
Starting from how many chickens there are in your flock to feed, we can calculate the feed amount for larvae. A starting 1:1 ratio (feed:larvae) would be a good start.
For example, if you have 10 kg/lb of larvae, you can feed them 10 kg/lb of food daily. If the raising conditions are well, from the initial 100 grams of eggs, we can end up with around 300 kg (660 lbs) of larvae after 2 weeks of raising.
With 300 kg larvae, mixed together with 1/3 rice bran and 1/3 greens, you can increase the feed weight to around 1 ton of food. If a chicken eats on average 100-120 grams (1/4 to 1/2 lbs) per day, this amount can feed a flock of 10,000 chickens pretty well.
Likewise, if you have about 60-70 chicks to feed, about 3 kilos (6.6 lbs) of BSF larvae mixed with 1/3 veggies & 1/3 grains will be enough to feed them daily.
And from growers experience, to get about 3 kilos of larvae you can start with a humble 1 gram of egg. And about a tiny 10 grams of starter feed would be good for these new hatchlings.
As the larvae hatch:
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As they grow bigger 2-3 days later, we can transfer them to a bigger food house.
Here is 2-day-old larvae:
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And here is the 5-day-old larvae (5DOL):
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How to Tell if There's Not Enough Food
When there's not enough food, instead of digging in heads-first into the food, you may see the larvae crawling around heads-up a bit. They're either trying to evacuate because it's too hot or trying to find a food source or a better place to eat (a better restaurant in town). Sometimes, when growers are busy & don't replace new food in time, they may see some larvae wiggling out of their feeding boxes.
Will They Die With Too Little Food?
Black soldier fly larvae will not die when there's not enough food. These larvae are the toughest of toughest once they hatch out of the eggs. In some harsh environment where other life forms may not even survive, the grubs will still do well.
Without enough food, they may get much skinnier & shrink down in size significantly. They only die when it gets too cold, for example, if we freeze them or when it drops below 20F (-6C) or when we boil them (100C / 212F). Or beyond 115F (46C) may cause them to suffer.
When to Add More Food for Larvae
If you feed them some fruits/veggies or a big piece of meat, you'll be able to tell easily by not seeing that food piece anymore the next few days.
If you feed them with something light-colored like oats, you may see the oats turn darker or a little black. This is when the little larvae have devoured most of the food.
Also, the volume of the food in the box may drop down as the larvae eat. These are the tale-tell signs that we can then give them some new food.
After going through some feeding points for bsf larvae, back to the topic of using bsf to feed chicks, here are a few ideas for:
When to Harvest the Larvae & Feed Your Chicks
Five- or seven-day-old larvae are good for the chicks. If you want bigger larvae, you can wait for 10 more days or so. The period from day 5 to day 10 is when these guys the larvae devour the most food. As they grow older, they will eat less.
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The feed amount for small and bigger chicks varies, for example:
For Baby Chicks (Feed 5 to 7-Day-Old Larvae)
The little 5 to 7-day-old larvae are suitable for feeding baby chicks. Remember don't feed the baby chicks too much too soon because excess protein may cause diarrhea or white poop.
The downside to these little young larvae is they contain a bit less nutrient than the bigger ones. But they should be enough for baby chicks at this stage. The bigger larvae may be a bit too big or too much for little chicks to chew at this stage.
Chicks about 7-days-old can be fed with BSF larvae. People do this so their chicks can get used to the taste of this thing from early on. If you're careful, mix in some little pebbles to make it easier for the lil chicks to digest.
For Bigger Chicks (Feed 12-Day-Old Larvae)
Bigger chickens can eat small & large larvae without any problems. 12-day-old larvae are great for the big chicks. Because at this point, before turning into pre-pupae, is when the larvae packs the highest amount of nutrition in them.
But remember one point:
Filtering Out the Larvae Poop
When you harvest the young larvae for chicks, use a sifter to filter out the feed & the larvae poop. Some people do this by hand using a sifter to shake the pieces out. If you have some fan near by or the ventilation is good for air drying, the remaining food + poop will be quite crumbled & easy to sieve out.
Alternatively, you can stack up the whole feed (with the larvae) into mounds or little mountains and hills (like this /'''\). After some time, the larvae will naturally move down the slopes. The stuff on the top is undigested food, their exoskeletons & their poop. You can scoop it out for filtering.
The larvae poop or frass (left-over food that the larvae eat) can be a good food source for red worms/fish or a smell-free fertilizer. It's good to treat it with some good fungi like Trichoderma for 1-1.5 months just to be on the safe side.
Here is 'What to do with BSF frass: Some ideas' if you're interested:
If you would like a step-by-step example of this whole process, check out:
A Step-by-Step Example
Let's say we're raising 60 chickens.
Each chicken eats 100-120 grams (or 1/4 lbs) per day or 700-840 grams (1.5 lbs) per week.
We can prepare other greens & veggies plus 3 kg (6.6 lbs) of BSF larvae daily.
To get 3 kg of larvae, we can start with 1 gram of egg:
Step 1: Incubating the Eggs
Incubate your eggs in a mixture of rice bran or chicken feed + water with 70% humidity. After 4-5 days, the hatchlings will hatch.
They'll stay & eat the first food in the box for about 5 days. You can harvest the 5-day-old at this point for the baby chicks. Or, you can transfer them to your prepared feed of choice. This could be your kitchen scraps, fish, meat, etc.
Step 2: Feeding & Harvesting
For a kg/lb of larvae, put in a kg/lb of food. If you're busy, put in some more. They'll consume it all but look out for molds on the foods that are not consumed yet. Layer it not too thick to prevent the heat issue, which could cause the larvae escaping out.
After 10-12 days, you can harvest the larvae. If the food is good & the conditions are good, you should expect to get 3 kg (6.6 lbs) of larvae after about 15 days. And from about 1 gram of eggs, we may get now 3 kg larvae to feed our chickens. You can do a small math to multiply it from there. :) depending on how many are in your flocks.
These 15-day-old larvae can be fed live to the chickens. An easy way to do it is just to bring the whole box of live larvae to the chicken coop & let the chicks enjoy them whenever they feel like it. We can then collect the empty bin after that.
From some farmers whom we've interacted with, it is good to feed the chickens the larvae while they are still cream or whitish in color. This is because as the larvae approach the pre-pupae stage (or as they're turning darker), the chitin level in their bodies increases.
And chitin could cause protein binding in the intestines of monogastric animals, causing digestive problems. So feeding them while the larvae are still whitish could help avoid this issue. Additionally, some research has shown that when larvae reach about 12 days old, they pack the highest amount of nutrient there is inside their bodies.
And then:
Step 3: Reproducing More Larvae
To keep a steady supply so you'll have chicken feed every day, you can keep some some 15-day-old larvae to continue growing into adult soldier flies. It's only long when you're first beginning this cycle with this first round. If we have new eggs hatching every day, then the cycle continues everyday. Meaning, you may get new fresh egg everyday. In some larger farms, their capacity is around 1 kg of egg per day.
We can sequence the egg hatching together. For example, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday & so on so you'll have new larvae hatching every day of the week. Then gradually the steady stream of BSF feed supply opens and continues on.
Alternatively, if there is too much larvae for your needs, you can delay feeding them. The larvae will not die. They may get into dormant mode & will grow quite slowly and small.
Looking at what we just did up to this point, the timeline may be:
| Day | What happens |
|---|---|
| Jan 1 - Jan 4 (4 days) | incubating eggs |
| Jan 4 | eggs hatch, young tiny hatchlings |
| Jan 4 - Jan 9 (5 days) | larvae 5 days old, feed for young chicks |
| Jan 9 - Jan 15 (6 days) | feed larvae some more food |
| Jan 16 | harvest 12-day-old larvae for big chicks |
If you don't harvest all of the larvae for chicken feeding but keep some for reproduction then, from Jan 20, we can wait another 3 weeks. We can get:
| Day | What happens |
|---|---|
| Jan 20 | keep some larvae for reproduction |
| Feb 9 (21 days later) | the flies mate & we get more eggs |
| Feb 9 - Feb 13 (4 days) | incubating eggs, eggs hatch |
| New cycle | Begins again |
In this new cycle, we only have to wait for the first one or two months, then when the cycle kick starts you can really get a good supply of BSF eggs & larvae almost every day. The total cycle days, depending on the temperature, are about 40-50 days from egg to fly.
Some raw estimated numbers for the returns:
- Starting egg weight: 1 gram
- Starting larvae count: ~33,333 larvae
- Est. female adult flies: 16,500 (half ~33,333)
- Ending egg count: 16,500 x 500 eggs/female = 8,250,000 eggs
- Ending egg weight: 206.25 grams (8,250,000 x 0.000025 grams per egg)
So starting from 1 gram of eggs in about 1-1.5 months, if growing conditions are well, we may expect to get a little over 200 grams of eggs in return. As you can guess, this is a very rosy picture.
We need to factor in the larvae lost due to environmental factors, our own beginner mistakes, the early death rates or the number of males/females, their eggs, etc. If you're just starting out, it's good to divide up into smaller portions so you don't put all eggs in one basket.
But a possibility is there & this is why also BSF eggs are usually much more expensive than BSF worms. Two pounds or 1 kg of BSF eggs is around $500-$700+ whereas two pounds or 1 kg of BSF worms is less than $5 in some places. In some other areas, a box of 2000 larvae is about $20 and a box of 200k (200 thousand) larvae is $425.
In another case, if you can't find BSF eggs from the start, try getting some worms (another way they call the larvae). It helps you skip the incubation process. The yield may not be as much as the eggs but they give you a good start in BSF.
Here are some good sellers:
To wrap this all up:
The Key Point Is...
To find a cheaper safe food source to feed the larvae than the chicken feed you're currently using. The larvae then will be your ever renewable reliable food source for the chickens, reproducing again and again. Try local restaurants or food markets to see if they have any food waste.
Be creative in your exploration for reducing chicken feed costs while still maintaining the sufficient nutritional value. Growing your own chicken feed this way means stronger chickens & less money spent on antibiotics for the chicks. They actually are healthier, weigh heavier (less excess fat/more muscles) & give you back more tasty eggs.
>> When you have successfully raised BSF for chickens, you may want to learn about 'How to feed chickens with black soldier fly' here in this post: https://zenyrgarden.com/how-to-feed-chickens-with-black-soldier-fly-larvae/
Have lots of fun raising bsf and chickens & happy feeding!
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