Implementation of Black Soldier Fly Breeding

and Chicken Feed Production at Pickards

Mountain Eco-Institute

Neill Bullock, Emily Chapin, Blake Elder, Austin

Evans, Matthew Givens, Nathan Jeffay, Betsy Pierce,

Wood Robinson

Spring 2013

April 30th, 2013

Outline

• Waste Management and BSFL

• BSFL 101

• Project Planning

• Experimental Design

• Structure Setup at PMEI

• Deliverables

• Final Recommendations

• Acknowledgment

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Waste Status Quo

• Lagoon system from CAFOs

• Major environmental and health issue

• Smithfield Settlement

Image http://www.doveimaging.com/picturelibrary/hurricanefloyd.html Image taken by Matt Givens 2

Black Soldier Fly Larvae

3

BSFL: Closing the loop

Animal Waste Animal Feed

4

BSFL: Closing the loop

Animal Waste Animal Feed

BSFL Compost

5

The Client

• "Healing the Human-Earth Relationship

through Earth Literacy and Local Economy"

• Educational sustainable farm

• Raise chickens, cows, bunnies, and horses

Image from pickardsmountain.org

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BSFL 101 - Life Cycle

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BSFL as Biological tools

• Waste Management o Nitrogen reductions up to 25%

o Overall mass reductions of 56%

• Animal feed o Swine, chickens, catfish

o Nutritional content

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BSFL as Biological Tools cont.

• Pest Control

• House flies and blow flies o Oviposition prevention

o Larval competition

9

Project Planning: PMEI Visit

• Met with the clients at PMEI

• Set project goals: o Meet the protein supplement need of 45 chickens

o Off-season production?

10

BSFL Experiment

• Goal: Determine conditions and resources

necessary to breed Black Soldier Flies

indoors

• ~100 BSFL ordered online,

feeding begins o High mortality

11

Redesign

• Reevaluation: focus on feeding first,

breeding later

• Experimental Design o Vary food sources

o Maintaining constant temperature and humidity

12

Experimental Results

• Observations o Food scrap/coffee: largest

o Coffee: most active

o Food scraps: burrowed under tape

• Greenhouse temp highly variable: 57-108 oF

• Humidity maintained close to optimal (50%)

13

Structure Design: "Grub Tub"

Basics:

• Structure & Design

• Scale

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Structure Design: "Grub Tub"

Source: Newton, G.L. et al. (2005) Black soldier fly, Hermetia illucens, as a manure management/resource recovery tool 15

Structure Design: "Grub Tub"

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/the-

share-board/vermimans-diy-bsfl-bin/

http://www.waldeneffect.org/blog/Home

made_black_soldier_fly_bins/

http://www.thebiopod.com/page

s/pages/products.html

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Structure Design: "Grub Tub"

17

Structure Design: "Grub Tub"

Final Design:

• Small dish tub (1x1.5 ft) with tubing

extended

• Shed near chickens to protect from weather

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Deliverables

• How-To-Guide for BSFL

production in the

Piedmont bio-region

• Poster to be presented

at the Association for

Environmental Studies

and Sciences 2013

conference

• Grub Tub

• Final report with

complete account of

research

19

Final Recommendations

• Off-season BSFL operation

• Advocacy for implementation

• Closed system vs. Natural breeding

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Acknowledgements

• Clients: the Tobens, John Mattox

• Advisors: Elizabeth Shay, Susan Caplow

• Wes Watson

• Buttercup and Daisy

• The chickens

• Kofi the dog

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References

“Black soldier fly larvae”. Photo. Sustainablog.org. August 2011.

http://sustainablog.org/2011/08/composting-food-scraps-black-soldier-fly-larvae/

“Black soldier fly pupae”. Photo. Helpfulgardener.com November 2012.

http://www.helpfulgardener.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=49346

"BSF Egg Clusters". Photo. Blacksoldierflyfarming.com

http://www.blacksoldierflyfarming.com/galleries/category/9-bsf-egg-clusters

Karim, Muhammad Mahdi. “Black soldier fly”. Photo. Micro2macro.net January 2009.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Black_soldier_fly.jpg

Newton, L., Sheppard, C., Watson, W., Burtle, G., Dove, R. Using the Black Soldier Fly, Hermetia

illucens, as a value-added tool for the management of swine manure. June 6, 2005.

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