BRIEF DESCRIPTION:
The adults of Black Soldier Fly which is known as Hermetia illucens measure about 16mm (5⁄8 inches) long.
These medium-sized flies have a predominantly black body, with metallic reflections ranging from blue to green on the thorax and sometimes with a reddish end of the abdomen. The second abdominal tergite has translucent areas, from which the specific Latin epithet derives. The head is wide, with very developed eyes. The antennae are about twice the length of the head. The legs are black with whitish tarsi. The wings are membranous; in the resting time, they are folded horizontally on the abdomen and overlapped.

Hermetia illucens is a mimic fly, very close in size, color, and appearance to the organ pipe mud dauber wasp and its relatives. The mimicry of this particular kind of wasp is especially enhanced in that the fly's antennae are elongated and wasp-like, the fly's hind tarsi are pale, as are the wasp's, and the fly has two small transparent "windows" in the basal abdominal segments that make the fly appear to have a narrow "wasp waist".[6] Black soldier fly larvae can be differentiated from blowfly or housefly larvae by a thin gray-black stripe on their posterior ends.
Lifecycle

An adult female lays between 206 and 639 eggs at a time. These eggs are typically deposited in crevices or on surfaces above or adjacent to decaying matter such as manure or compost and hatch in about 4 days. Freshly emerged larvae are 1.0mm (0.04 in), being able to reach a length of 25mm (1 in) and weight of 0.10 to 0.22 grams (1.5 to 3.4 gr) by the end of larval stage. The larval stage lasts about 22 days, of which the post-feeding (prepupal) stage lasts around 7 days. The length of larval stage can be delayed by months due to low temperature or lack of food. The pupal stage lasts from 1 to 2 weeks. Adults can live typically 47 to 73 days when provided with water and food, such as sugar in captivity or nectar in the wild, or survive for about 8 to 10 days on fat reserves gathered during larval stage when water is provided.

Human relevance and use
Black soldier flies are considered to be sanitary, as they're designed to break down the bacteria in their food.
They're so efficient at this that there's no bacteria in their waste once they've digested it.
In fact, to survive they've had to develop an odour that repels other household pests from them.

The larvae and adults are considered neither pests nor vectors. Instead, black soldier fly larvae play a similar role to that of redworms as essential decomposers in breaking down organic substrates and returning nutrients to the soil. The larvae have voracious appetites and can be used for composting household food scraps and agricultural waste products.
Additionally, black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) are an alternative source of protein for aquaculture, animal feed, pet food and human nutrition.
As feed
Black soldier fly larvae are used as feed. The harvested pupae and prepupae are eaten by poultry, fish, pigs, lizards, turtles, and even dogs. The insect is one of the few insect species approved to be used as feed in aquaculture in the EU.
At the pupal stage, black soldier flies are at their nutritional peak. They can be stored at room temperature for several weeks, and their longest shelf life is achieved at 10 to 16 °C
As food
Black soldier fly larvae are edible to humans. The larvae are highly efficient in converting proteins, containing up to 45% of protein, much calcium, and many amino acids. In 432 hours, 1 gram (0.035 oz) of black soldier fly eggs convert into 2.4 kilograms (5.3 lb) of protein, which means more than 45,000 eggs are in 1 g of eggs. They thus can be a source of protein for human consumption. They do not produce protein, but convert human-inedible protein into edible food.

Other inherent natures and benefits

1. They're packed full of energy

As larvae, black soldier flies eat and eat and eat.
They'll just keep going, right until they hit the pupal stage and emerge as flies.
They do this because they're essentially fattening themselves up for that final stage in their lifecycle.
In fact, they eat twice their own body weight every single day, so they can grow at a hugely accelerated rate.
Once they become flies, they're basically not going to eat again.
At that point, they don't even have functioning mouths. They basically live for a few days as they reproduce, and then they die off.
Why does this matter to you?
Because when you feed your livestock with those larvae, there're getting the benefit of all that energy.



2. They're A Clean Source Of Food

Their digestive processes kill any bacteria that they may encounter in their own food.
Even their waste is sanitary.

3. They Reproduce At Much Higher Rates
The can complete their life cycle within one month under favorable condition.
This means that you may be having up 300 times the quantity you started with within a month.
In most cases, the fly can lay up to 600 eggs easily in one go.

4. They're Easy to Farm and They Harvest Themselves
If you're farming your own black soldier flies at home, then you'll find it easy to manage them.
In fact, the small larvae hate light.
So, when you want to harvest them, all you need to do is give them a bucket as a shelter, and they will harvest themselves!

As a species, they're not known to fly far as they have weak wings, and they're not averse to being picked up.
As this is the case, you can set up your own black soldier fly farm.
Doing your own farming means that you can control how many flies you have at once, and harvest your larvae as soon as possible.

5. They Are Great At Converting Feed into Meat

To produce 1 kg Black soldier larvae you’ll need only around 1.5 kg of feed!

6. They Have An Incredibly Short Life Span

The Black soldier fly larva has a life cycle of only 4 to 6 weeks (Including egg, larva, pupa and fly stage).

7. Raising Black Soldier Flies Is Much More Easier
Black soldier flies are much easier to keep and farm.
They naturally thrive in higher densities, and prefer to stay close together.
Farming them is much more humane and practical than most other livestock.
8. They're Almost Indestructible

If you're thinking of farming your own black soldier flies, then you're probably worrying about keeping them alive long enough to harvest.
In fact, they're super easy to take care of.
They'll eat almost any organic matter and thrive on it.
Some insect farming companies will feed them food that's been rejected for human consumption, but is still of good quality.
In fact, those flies can survive almost anything.
For example, they can survive being immersed in pure rubbing alcohol for two hours, or even being spun in a centrifuge!



9. They're solving The Food Waste Problem
Farming black soldier flies is one of the best ways to deal with food waste that can't go anywhere else.
Farmers, whether they're farming the flies for animal or human consumption, find that they can feed their flies anything that can't be used elsewhere.
For example, flies can eat chicken dung, food scraps, pig dung, rotten fruits, brewery grain waste, etc.
This is amazing as it means there's much less waste happening overall.
Again, if you're concerned about the environment, then you'll be glad to hear that your new favourite snack can actually help save the planet, even when it's still being farmed.

10. Production Waste Is An Excellent Fertilizer
By growing black soldier flyes, you not only produce food and feed from organic food waste, but you also produce a high quality fertilizer for plants.
You're wondering how?
Well, in short, their poop, dead flies, egg leftovers and so on are an excellent food source for your plants.
Or in other words, there's absolutely no waste from BSFL production.


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