BLACK SOLDIER FLY LARVAE WASTE DISPOSAL WITH REWARD
A Comprehensive Guie !o Or"#ni$ W#s!e W#s!e Re$%$&in" e$%$&in" ' (#""o! Cu&!iv#!ion
Welcome to the wild and wacky world of Black Soldier Fly cultivation. Within this packet, you will find instructions on how to build a larvae box, answers to common questions about Soldier Flies and tasty recipes chocked full o’ prepupae !oodness. But first, a bit of history about the pro"ect# $n early September %&&%, $ was at the home of 'nthony Simm in (acloban )ity, *eyte. We were sittin! on the porch of his nipa hut, drinkin! beer and discussin! politics when there was a lull in the conversation. +o you want to see my fly house- 'nthony asked. $ thou!ht that $ had misunderstood him. +/our what- +0y fly house. $’m raisin! ma!!ots. $ stammered, +Why- +(hey make an excellent animal feed, fortytwo percent protein and thirtyfive percent fat. )ome, take a look. ' lifelon! fan of all thin!s creepy and crawly, $ readily a!reed. 'nthony handed me a flashli!ht and we maneuvered our way throu!h his "un!lecumbackyard until we reached a rectan!ular structure. 1e un2ipped the openin! of a mosquitonet wall and we entered the fly house. $nside the twometer by twometer room, flies bu22ed about and knocked themselves a!ainst the corru!ated plastic roof. 'nthony raised the aluminum lid off one of the larvae boxes to reveal a writhin! mass of ma!!ots. ' pun!ent odor !reeted my nose. 1e picked a stick off the floor and prodded the prepupae. 's the ma!!ots du! themselves into safety, 'nthony emptied an icecream carton filled with banana peels and e!!plant stalks into the box. From the ed!e of the box, he unhin!ed a soupcan with a hole cut out of the top. 'nthony emptied the contents, about twodo2en inchlon! prepupae, into his hand. +(he ma!!ots eat or!anic waste. (hen, you can feed the ma!!ots to animals#)hicken, pi!s, fish. $t’s a recyclin! pro"ect. /ou can turn !arba!e into animal feed. (his was the first explanation that 'nthony had offered thus far, so $ prodded him for more information. For the remainder of the evenin!, he told me about this pro"ect. *ike modernday alchemy, 'nthony was transmutin! or!anic waste into hi!hprotein animal feed. $ was transfixed. 'nthony helped me to construct a larvae box of my own, and $ be!an to recycle my or!anic waste, feedin! the ma!!ots to my host family’s ho!s and chickens.
Black Soldier Fly cultivation eventually be!an to draw interest from the local and national a!ricultural communities. (herefore, we decided to make a film about the critters. 3lease use the information contained herein, alon! with the film, to expand the pro"ect. (his is really a workinpro!ress, so feel free to record your experience in ma!!ot cultivation and attach it to this packet. Ro)er! Wi&son
Con!en!s
$ntroduction
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*arvae Box ia!ram
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*arvae Box 0aterials 5 $nstructions
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*arvae Box 3ictorial 8uide
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Frequently 'sked ;uestions
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'rticles, Scholarly Studies
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>ecipes
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$ntroducin! 0a!!ot )ultivation to ?thers
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isk @< A Black Soldier Fly Larvae: Waste Disposal with Reward 03C8 formatD isk @% A Black Soldier Fly Larvae: Waste Disposal with Reward E) formatD isk @ A *iterature, $nternet resources, pictures 5 3ower3oint presentations (his disk, complied by 'nthony Simm, contains everythin!youalwayswantedtoknow butwereafraidtoask about Black Soldier Fly cultivationD
L#rv#e Bo* Di#"r#m
GoteH /ou may cut out this dia!ram and create a minibox to serve as a visual aid when constructin! the real thin!. >emember to ct strai!ht lines and fold the dotted ones.
L#rv#e Bo* (#!eri#&s ' Ins!ru$!ions 0aterialsH <. Sheet 0etal A 7 x :7 %. 3ermanent 0arker . Silicone rubber !lue 4. Super!lue 6. Six I inch screws 7. % meters of braided plastic twine 9. (wo 7 inch hi!h, < inch circumference plastic containers =. )orru!ated cardboard :. uct tape $nstructionsH <. 3urchase a piece of sheet metal at a hardware or construction supply store. (he piece of metal should be thin and malleable e.!. 8.$. 3lain @%7D. $t should measure at least 7 x 96 inches. (he piece $ was sold measured 7 x :7 and cost <==3D. Brin! a tape measure to be sure. %. Jsin! a permanent marker, draw the entire +cut desi!n on the sheet metal. . Brin! the metal to a car repair or construction shop. (hey will use a lever operated metal cutter to cut the desi!ns out. Be sure to cut out the tube and top cover as well. $ paid <&&3. 4. Jsin! a permanent marker, draw the +bend desi!n on the sheet metal. 6. Brin! the metal back to the shop and ask them to bend it. Bend the back and front first, then the sides and the ed!es. 3rint and cut out the blueprint before doin! this, so you have an idea of what the end product should look like. $ paid <&&3. 's this metal is quite malleable, you can bend the top cover and tube yourself. 7. Brin! the metal to a tinsmith to have it riveted. $ paid %&&3. 9. Jsin! silicone rubber !lue <&&3D, seal the tube under the hole at the front. 'ny openin!s on the box should be sealed with duct tape. =. 8lue two of the screws on opposite sides of the front rid!e. :. Screw two of the screws on opposite sides of the plastic containers. Wrap a meter of twine around the containers and han! them by the screws at the top of the front rid!es. <&. Super!lue four
GotesH
$n the film Black Soldier Fly Larvae: Waste Disposal with Reward , you may notice that the boxes are not riveted and no silicon rubber !lue or duct tape is used. (his is because the boxes are soldered. $ would highly recommend solderin! as opposed to rivetin!, !luin! and tapin!. (he solderin! will be more resilient to the forces of nature i.e. rain and rustD than rivets, !lue and tape. ?nce moreH Jse a solderin! !un if at all possible. ' search on the $nternet indicates that solderin! !uns cost between & and 4& JS. 3erhaps a !rant would cover the cost of a solderin! !un. $ used a plastic container as a collection bin. Soup cans were used in the ori!inal desi!n. $ would recommend soup cans because the plastic containers cracked in the sun. $n the film Black Soldier Fly Larvae: Waste Disposal with Reward , you will notice that the larvae boxes are stored inside a screened fly house. /ou do not need to build a fly hose. (his was built only to provide a space for the flies to mate. (hey will mate in nature, but we wanted to be able to film the act. (he fly house was nice because it provided shelter for the boxes. $f you would like to build one, it wouldn’t be such a bad idea. )onstruction would be simple. ' wooden frame, with mosquitonet and a corru!ated tin roof would suffice. Jnder any circumstance, make sure that the box is protected from rain. 3lace it under and awnin! or an overhan! of some nature. Be careful when workin! with the sheet metal because the ed!es are sharp and can easily cut skin. $n re!ard to this matter, you may want to fold the ed!es of the top cover so that the sides are blunted. (he !uys who cut and bent the metal did not ask for a specific fee. $ paid them what $ thou!ht was fair and, "ud!in! from their reactions, this was more than ample. (he tinsmith asked for %6&3, but $ thou!ht this was a bit too much, so $ talked him down to %&&.
L#rv#e Bo* Pi$!ori#& Guie 3. Top cover cut out
1. G.I. Plain #26 Sheet Metal (36 X 96 inches) 2. arvae !o" cut out
. arvae !o" $ol%e% (an&le 1)
'. arvae !o" $ol%e% (an&le 2)
6. arvae !o" rivete% (an&le 1)
. arvae !o" rivete% (an&le 2)
. Tu*e an% scre+ &lue% to *o"
9. Materials $or the collection container
1,. S+iss -r/ 0ni$e in action cuttin& hole throu&h li%
11. ollection containers han&in& $ro scre+s
13. orru&ate% car%*oar% super&lue% un%er ri%&e
12. ollection container han&in& $ro scre+s (solo shot)
1. - coplete% *o"
Fre+uen!&% As,e -ues!ions <. 'ren’t flies dirty- Won’t $ be spreadin! disease by cultivatin! them1ouseflies and other flies do spread disease. (hey do this by indiscriminately eatin! chicken feces and your spa!hetti within the space of halfanhour. Black Soldier Flies do not eat upon reachin! adulthood. (hey do not like to be near human bein!s. (hese flies are known as Hermetica illucens in *atin. 'nd $ believe that the hermit part of Hermetica alludes to the flies’ solitary nature. Cven if Black Soldier Flies re dirty, this wouldn’t be a problem because they don’t like to be near people. (he spread of disease by ordinary houseflies will be curbed by Black Soldier Fly cultivation because the soldier flies secrete a pheromone that repels other flies. $f you decide to take part in this pro"ect, you will encounter this question in numerous variations over and over and over a!ain. $t is !ood to be acquainted with the literature contained in this packets and some of the studies contained in isk @. $t is !ood to have a !rasp of the native lan!ua!e so that you can provide an explanation to your nonCn!lish speakin! constituency. %. )an anythin! be done about the smell?r!anic waste smells bad. Gothin! can be done about this. 3erhaps you cold place leaves over the rottin! or!anic waste to contain the smell. Some Filipinos will act as if they are revolted by the smell. Some will make a !reat show of this. 0y wife has a theory that one of our boxes was destroyed because some people were not happy with the smell. (his may prove to be a hu!e hurdle when implementin! the pro"ect. . Why am $ not collectin! more ma!!otsSometimes the weather will have an effect on the number of prepupae that you are collectin!. 1i!her temperatures will yield a hi!her number of ma!!ots. 1umidity and rainfall seem to play a role too. 4. Why is the larvae box soupy(here is too much moisture. Shred some newspaper and add it to the box. 6. What do $ do when the box is fullStir the contents and wait a few days. Shake the box a bit. (his will prompt the ma!!ots to burrow to deeper depths.D (hen scrape a few inches of the mulched compost off the top and throw into your !arden.
Flies may be new swine waste management tool
(he idea may seem to fly in the face of reason, but researchers at Gorth )arolina State Jniversity and the Jniversity of 8eor!ia think a type of fly may play a pivotal role in the development of new waste mana!ement technolo!ies for ho! farmers. Flies are usually considered pests, and farmers typically try to !e t rid of them, but scientists think some ho! farmers may eventually embrace black soldier flies. >esearchers from the two universities think that by feedin! swine manure to the larvae, or ma!!ots, of black soldier flies they can not only reduce si!nificantly the amount of manure but produce two valuable byproducts. (hey’ve developed a system that uses the fly’s instincts to eliminate much of the human labor that mi!ht otherwise be involved in harvestin! one of these byproducts. r. avid W. +Wes Watson, an entomolo!ist in G.). State’s )olle!e of '!riculture and *ife Sciences, is workin! with rs. )rai! Sheppard, 8ary Burtle and *arry Gewton from the Jniversity of 8eor!ia to refine and optimi2e a system that Sheppard developed to treat poultry farm waste. (he work is funded by a!reements between the G.). 'ttorney 8eneral and Smithfield Foods and 3remium Standard Farms. (hrou!h the a!reements, L<9.< million is bein! used to construct and test <= alternatives to the la!oonandsprayfield technolo!y used on most G.). ho! farms. (he la!oonandsprayfield system is attractive to farmers because it’s relatively inexpensive. >esearchers think that the key to makin! more expensive alternative waste treatment technolo!ies economically feasible is to have them turn the nutrientrich swine waste into valueadded products that farmers can sell.
(he G.). State and 8eor!ia researchers believe black soldier flies could be an important component of several alternative technolo!ies that separate the nutrientrich solid portion of the waste stream from the liquid portion. Black soldier fly larvae could be used to treat the solid portion. +(he black soldier fly is a common species in southern states, says Watson. (he flies are not considered pests, Watson adds, so people !enerally don’t notice them. (he flies aren’t usually found in residential areas, althou!h they may be seen around backyard compost bins. (he flies are slender, about an inch lon! and are often mistaken for wasps. *ike the larvae of many other flies, the larvae of black soldier flies feed on decayin! or!anic matter, includin! manure, but the black soldier fly is different. +(here’s a hu!e number of insects that are decomposers of feces, says Watson. +But most are also pests. 1e adds that black soldier fly larvae seem to be particularly voracious when it comes to decomposin! manure. $n the selfharvestin! system that Sheppard, the 8eor!ia entomolo!ist has desi!ned, manure and fly larvae are put into shallow concrete pits, where the larvae feed on the manure. (he ed!es of the pit are sloped up at 46 de!ree an!les. When the larvae turn into prepupae, their natural tendency is to move up and away from the larvae. (he prepupae are about an inch lon!. (hey have no discernible features, with the exception of tiny rid!es, and move by inchin! alon!. Sheppard has found that the 46de!ree an!le is steep enou!h to keep larvae in the pit but not so steep that the prepupae can’t crawl out. 3repupae crawl up the 46de!ree slope, fall into a !utter at the top of the pit wall, crawl alon! the !utter to a pail, then fall into the pail, where they can be collected. $n other words, the prepupae harvest themselves. (he flat shape of the soldier fly prepupae appears to help them crawl up the slope, Watson says. (he rounder prepupae of other flies tend to roll back down the slope. (he researchers believe that the prepupae, which are rich in protein and fat, may have value as an animal feed in!redient, perhaps for aquaculture. $ndeed, Watson points out that adult black soldier flies are nourished their entire lives M a period of about two weeks M by the protein and fat accumulated by the larvae. (he adult flies never eat, which is why they aren’t considered pests. 't the same time, the scientists say the material that remains after the larvae have di!ested manure should have value. (his material, which looks almost powdery, should have value as a soil amendment. $t has little odor M it smells like soil M and can be transported easily. (he researchers are workin! to develop a simple !reenhouse that farmers may use to raise larvae to di!est manure. ' !reenhouse is necessary to encoura!e adult soldier flies to lay e!!s to replenish the basins in the winter. — Dave Caldwell
' Govel Way to 1andle )hicken Waste Nune <%, %&&< By Brad 1aire bhaireOu!a.eduD %%:=7=&& )olle!e of '!ricultural and Cnvironmental Sciences SourcesH 8len 1arris !harrisOu!a.eduD %%:=7<:4
)rai! Sheppard sheppardOtifton.cpes.peachnet.eduD %%:=7&=4 Findin! an economical and environmentally friendly way to handle the vast volume of chicken manure from 8eor!iaPs poultry industry has been a concern for years. Gow a Jniversity of 8eor!ia researcher has a novel way to handle the mess and make money, too. )rai! Sheppard, an entomolo!ist with the J8' )olle!e of '!ricultural and Cnvironmental Sciences, says a certain notsopicky ma!!ot would be more than happy to help clean up 8eor!ia chicken houses. Sheppard has developed a system usin! the black soldier fly. (he system could reduce the bulk of the manure by half and supply added income by sellin! the ma!!ots as feed for animals. QWe can !et rid of the manure and in the process help the farmer make more money,Q Sheppard said. Q$t will also help the farmers with their nutrient mana!ement problems.Q Better 0ana!ement 's 8eor!iaPs poultry industry continues to !row, mana!ement practices will have to be developed to handle the manure, said 8len 1arris, a J8' Cxtension Service scientist. Q'nybody that produces animal waste is !oin! to have to have some sort of manure mana!ement plan that uses the manure in an environmentally friendly fashion,Q 1arris said. ' practice !ainin! in popularity uses chicken manure to fertili2e crops. Cxperts recommend % tons of manure per acre. (heoretically, 8eor!ia has enou!h cropland to use up the chicken manure produced each year. But 1arris said haulin! it to distant fields costs too much. Gew environmental re!ulations could also cut back the amount of manure farmers are allowed to spread in fields, he said. Q(he bi!!est problem is the excess nutrients in manure,Q he said. QWe canPt distribute it all. (here is only so much cropland and safe places to distribute the waste close to the layer houses. QWe will eventually !et to where there wonPt be a sin!le way to handle the manure,Q 1arris said. QBut we will develop a number of different ways to !et the manure distributed.Q 0oney 0a!!ot SheppardPs system works in chicken houses with e!!layin! hens. 8eor!ia hens produce more than %4&,&&& tons of chicken manure a year.
(he manure is allowed to fall to the ma!!ots under the floor of the chicken house. By itself, a ma!!ot is only about an inch lon! and onefourth inch in diameter, Sheppard said. But if you !et enou!h of them, tons of animal waste vanish. $nsects !o throu!h three ma"or sta!esH larvae, pupae and adult. 's the black soldier fly transforms from a larva to a pupa the prepupa sta!eD it crawls out of the manure and sheds its skin and the linin! of its !ut. $t then buries itself, he said, and !ets ready to become a fly. With SheppardPs system, the prepupa uses a ramp to crawl out of the manure. 't the end of the ramp, it falls into a holdin! pit. (he collected prepupae can be fed strai!ht to animals or milled into other feed sources. Q$Pm workin! on a system that can produce the larvae yearround,Q he said. ' full ma!!ot is 4% percent protein and 6 percent fat. ' lar!e collection system can yield 6= tons of prepupae in five months, he said. QWe want to help the farmer make more money,Q he said. QWe can turn the manure into L6&& per ton feedstuff. (hat could mean as much as L&,&&& a year.Q (he ma!!ots could also help mana!e swine waste and possibly human waste, he said. 0any types of ma!!ots like to feed on animal waste. But Sheppard prefers the black soldier fly because itPs harmless to humans. $t also, throu!h competition, reduces housefly populations. QWhen the soldier fly matures, it usually !oes to the woods,Q Sheppard said. QSo, itPs not a pest to humans.Q
Craig Sheppard The black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens (L.)) occurs worldwide in tropical and warm-temperate regions. The larae of this large wasp-like fly occur in ery dense populations on a ariety of organic wastes. !dults mature and mate in wild enironments and do not attempt to enter houses and restaurants as the house fly does. "lack soldier fly larae ("S#) consume fresh manure$ immediately conerting protein and other nutrients in manure into insect biomass. %mmediate laral consumption and digestion of manure remoes nutrients that are potential pollutants$ and concentrates these nutrients into the
biomass of the laral mat residing on the manure residue pad. This actiity not only reduces manure olume (&' or more) and nutrients (&'-')$ but gies *+-,'' house fly control. repupal "S# empty their gut with their last molt a nd cannot feed. This stage has maimal stored energy to sustain the pupae and adult and it/s migratory habit make it easy to self-collect. ! simple ramp and pipe system directs the migrating prepupae to collection essels. ,'* tons of dried prepupae could be produced from a ,''$''' hen caged layer house in ,0 months and would hae a alue of 1+2$''' as animal feedstuff. 3ried prepupae contain +0 protein and 2& fat. This feedstuff has faorable amino acid$ fatty acid and mineral profiles. ublished feeding studies hae shown faorable responses when fed to poultry$ swine and fish. ! recent unpublished study demonstrated that soldier fly prepuape can successfully replace fish meal in a catfish diet. The manure residue from this process (now "S# manure) is about half the mass of the original manure$ is drier$ and has reduced concentrations of 4. hosphorous is typically about the same concentration within the reduced olume of residue$ giing about a &' oerall reduction. Some "S# residue samples hae as much as +' less concentration than do undigested samples. ! better understanding of enironmental factors affecting the "S# larae may allow een greater nutrient etraction5reduction. 6ell digested hen manure residue is often a finely diided coffee ground-like material with an earthy odor. 7ost manure management studies with "S# hae been with poultry manure. !n earlier swine manure management study with "S# which utili8ed li9uid manure gae poor yields. ! recent test with three drainage systems for swine manure was promising. The three drained manure basins (,' pigs each) produced an aerage of 0,.: lb prepupal dry matter (d.m.) per basin from an estimated ,' lb manure d.m. in a +* day period. This amounted to a 0' conersion of swine manure d.m. to "S# prepupae d.m. Similar studies with caged layer manure hae shown manure to prepupal conersions of up to ; on a dry matter basis. repupae produced on the swine manure aeraged '.00 gm each while those reared on caged layer manure aeraged '.,: gm. "etter conersion rate and larger aerage si8e indicate that swine manure may be a superior medium for "S# production$ warranting further study. This study$ supported by the 4orth Carolina !nimal and oultry 6aste 7anagement Center (Smithfield rogram)$ will inestigate swine manure management using the black soldier fly in con
The ob ,. 3eelop and demonstrate a system using black soldier fly to digest fresh manure solids from an ad
Re$ipes •
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0'88?( )1>$S3$CS emove from heat and stir in rice krispies and ma!!ots. 3ut in :x< !reased pan. )ool and cut. 0'88?( (')?S A contributed by Renny < packa!e of taco shells < lb of ma!!ots % cups of diced tomatoes % cups of shredded cheese < packa!e of taco sauce < cup of sour cream
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Since ma!!ots are principally composed of larvae and fat, you must combine them with a carbohydrate source when you feed them to chicken, pi!s or fish or do!s or peopleD. ' cheap carbohydrate source called tikitiki is available at most a!rivet supply stores. 3i!s will find a tikitikiKlarvae combomeal quite tasty. /ou may have to play around with the proportions. >emember that wet prepupae holds a lot of water and that dry ma!!ots are basically concentrated nu!!ets of protein. $f animals in!est too much protein, they will "ust shit it out and it will !o to waste. /ou don’t need a bucketful of ma!!ots to meet most animals’ nutritional requirements.
In!rou$in" (#""o! Cu&!iv#!ion !o O!hers So what’s a !ood way to spread this recyclin! technolo!y- $t all depends on your audience. $f you work at a SW center, you may want to have an +Cnvironment Week. /ou can cover a ran!e of topics e.!. endan!ered species, pollution, recyclin!#etc.D 0y wife and $ did this at her center and the kids had a !reat time. We devoted one day to litterin! and pollution. $ remember that we roleplayed a situation where $ threw trash on the !round and my wife scolded me. ?ut of shame, $ modified my behavior and $ think this really resonated with the kids. We also talked about other thin!s that need to be kept clean, includin! the body. We used this to se!ue into a lesson about the dan!ers of smokin! and +pollutin! the lun!s. We talked about overfishin! and deforestation. We asked the kids to draw pictures of clean and dirty environments. (his activity was !ood because it involved everyone. 'nother day, we covered endan!ered animals. We used the World 0ap on her wall to demonstrate the !eo!raphic areas that are inhabited by endan!ered animals. (his activity stressed the worldwide nature of speciesendan!erment. We also talked about the characteristics of !iraffes, ti!ers, foxes and elephants. We !ave the kids colorin!pa!es of these animals after talkin! about their habitats. We also set up an activity where the kids had to differentiate or!anic from nonor!anic matter. (his activity allowed the kids to become acquainted with the items that +are allowed to !o into the larvae box i.e. banana peels can !o into the larvae box, but airplane cannotD. ?n the day that we introduced the actual box, the kids were really exited. (hey were not squeamish when they saw the ma!!ots and had many questions to ask. ' !reat thin! to do is to buy a chicken so that you can feed the larvae to the bird as it !rows up. (his way the kids will be able to see the full revolution of the pro"ect i.e. or!anic waste to animal feed. (his will alter their entire conception of recyclin!. $f you have any questions, !ood people to email areH • • •
'nthony Simm atH anthonysimmOweb.de )rai! Sheppard atH sheppardOtifton.u!a.edu >obert Wilson atH >obert.WilsonOfiu.edu
