Two of my favorite things: baby animals and
free stuff!
On my regularly-scheduled day to take the
office food scraps out to the compost bin, I was excited to discover BABY BLACK
SOLDIER FLIES!
If video does not play in your browser, follow this link:
Ok, so baby black soldier flies are technically
called “larvae,” and some people may even refer to them as “maggots,” which
doesn’t sound as cute, but the real reasons for my excitement were...
Black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are insatiable
feeders of nitrogen-rich decaying materials, like food scraps and manure. In
fact, some commercial swine and poultry farms use them to break down their
abundance of animal manure.
People actually sell them. I’m not too
concerned about someone breaking into our compost bin because the average cost
I find online is $9/100, depending on size, but we got them without needing to
use any resources to package and transport them.
BSFL are also an excellent source of sustainable
protein for animals, like chickens, fish, etc. Some people even buy them to
feed wild birds. (I’m going to stick to birdseed myself.)
The main reason I wrote this blog post is so that my fellow composters don’t freak out if they find the larvae or adults in or around their compost bins. The larvae can be rather big, reaching 3/4” in length. The adult fly is also big (about 5/8”) and closely resembles a wasp. But have no fear – they don’t sting and since they do not consume any food as adults, they don’t even have a mouth to bite you.
I’m not the only one excited about these
amazing insects. Since you obviously
like blogs, check out this Black Soldier Fly Blog.
I have lots of those flies in my tumbler so I'm glad to know what they are and that they're normal (or even good) to have.
ReplyDeleteLucky you!!! :)
DeleteWhew! I DID freak out last Sunday when I was out rolling my tumblers. One of my bins is LOADED with them. I was afraid they'd die in there, and then I've got all that 'protein' ruining my compost! Thanks for the heads-up!
DeleteThank you makes me feel much better knowing what they are. They sure can eat!
ReplyDelete