Urban Farm breeds soldier flies to make animal feed
Black soldier fly larvae as animal feed is not a novel idea, and neither is the concept of insect-based animal feed.
By Miriam Rixon
Trevechoes Online
Nov 15, 2023
Excerpt:
The bin, covered by a wooden pallet, does not look all that interesting from the outside, but like every special thing, it is what is on the inside that matters. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of crawling maggots greet Burnham. These black soldier fly larvae are a nutritious, fatty, protein-packed and calcium-rich meal—not for Burnham, but for the farm’s chickens.
Black soldier flies are tiny, blueish- black, wasp-like insects that may look threatening, but pose no threat to people and are completely harmless because of their lack of a stinger. Their larvae, however, are extremely valuable to the farm.
“Soldier fly larvae are these amazing little creatures that burrow into, in our case, these little cardboard boxes that we’ve left on the top of their space,” said Jason Adkins, director of the Trevecca urban farm. “Their eggs hatch out and drop into this lovely pit of old food that is smelly and bad and we don’t like it, but they love it.”
The primary purpose of the black soldier fly larvae on the farm is to act as chicken feed that is both physically and mentally enriching.
“The chickens will leave their shining trough of $40 bag of chicken feed, and they will flock to the larvae,” said Burham. “I think that in itself says something about what a chicken needs in its diet and what they need to be happy as well. They love bugs. They’re animals and they eat grubs and bugs.”
