Frequently asked questions

Visit bsfproject.com in a modern browser, then:

• Android (Chrome / Edge): open the browser menu → Install app or Add to Home screen. Confirm. Launch from the home screen icon.
• iPhone / iPad (Safari): tap Share → Add to Home Screen → Add. Open from the new icon (standalone window, not a Safari tab).
• Desktop (Chrome / Edge / Chromium): look for the install icon in the address bar, or menu → Install BSF Project / Install app.

After install, browse a few design and guide pages once while online so the service worker can cache them. Later visits prefer the network when available and fall back to cache offline.

Pages, CSS, JS, schematics (SVG), and other assets you have already opened can load from cache when you are offline. New pages you have never visited need a network connection the first time.

Tip: before a trip without signal, open the design packages and build guides you need (for example 5-gallon, lid kit, rack bucket) so they are cached.

Open the design overview or its build guide in the browser (or the installed app), then use the browser print dialog: Ctrl+P / Cmd+P, or Share → Print on mobile.

• Prefer printing the build guide page (schematics and materials are already on that page)—or print the design overview.
• Do not measure from marketing or AI photos.
• Materials appear as an on-page table; optional CSV download is only for spreadsheet users.

Example: open rack bucket or its build guide → Print.

HTML + SVG stay editable in the repo, update with the site, and work offline in the PWA. Browser print already produces paper for the shop. Optional PDF exports can be generated from SVG when a fabricator asks—see design formats.

Usually no. Adult black soldier flies are not house flies. They do not bite, do not seek kitchen food, and do not hover around faces or picnic plates the way Musca does. Adults are short-lived and focused on mating and egg-laying near moist breeding sites—not on molesting people.

What you mostly “live with” is the larval bin: quiet, contained, and outdoors or under a shade roof. You may see a few dark wasp-like adults near the tank in warm weather; that is normal and not a swarm on the patio. Thick clouds of flies around people or indoors usually means a different problem—house flies from anaerobic waste, uncovered wet feed, or a nearby unmanaged pile—not typical BSF adult behavior.

Details: BSF vs house flies — people · biology guide.

A well-run aerobic bed should smell earthy or mild—more like damp soil or compost than rotting trash. Neighbors often notice less putrid odor once larvae are processing wet scraps that used to sit in a can or open pile. Meat, animal remains, and manure are fine feeds—larvae often thrive on them; denser loads can smell stronger at dump time, then settle as the bed works.

Strong sour, sulfurous, or “dead animal” smells that persist mean the bed is too wet, overloaded, or leachate is standing—conditions that also invite house flies. Fix moisture (drain to a tray/sump), match daily feed to appetite, add dry carbon if the bed looks like soup, and keep shade. Collection buckets on a kitchen route should stay lidded; process modules need airflow without open puddles.

See aerobic vs anaerobic, leachate, and troubleshooting.

A dense, oxygenated BSF bed tends to outcompete house-fly breeding in that same wet niche. House flies boom where waste goes anaerobic and unmanaged. If house flies increase after you start, treat it as a process fault (spills, standing leachate, open trash nearby)—not as “BSF attracting flies.”

Research note (still needs a stronger primary cite): aerobic vs house flies. Full article: BSF vs house flies.

No. Larvae take the wet, high-energy flash; worms finish moist, structured residuals into castings. Run them in tandem—or as layers in the same outdoor pile—not as rivals for the same meal.

Details: BSFL and worm compost.

Start with one 5-gallon module: intact collection thinking plus a lid kit. When you process on a stand or rack, adapt a shell with the rack bucket kit (drains + harvest port). Scale to a modular stack only after one loop runs clean.

Most commercial and lab systems use stacked trays in HVAC halls. This project defaults to open-air 5-gal modules because black soldier flies are already suited to warm climates, tropics need drainage more than fake weather, and food-grade buckets are buildable almost anywhere.

Rationale and Boquete CapEx sketches: buckets vs climate trays · unit economics.

Collection pails stay undrilled (kitchen / route pickup). Rack / process modules are drilled for drains and a hanging harvest bottle, and sit in a cradle. Both use the same lid kit. Glossary: designs glossary.

Often no. A practical seed pack is wet food + torn plain cardboard; a few active larvae are optional—they mainly add colony smells that help attract egg-laying adults. Field tip: a bit of meat is a powerful lure, and bones left sticking out of the bed are favorite laying sites for adults. See seed a new bucket.

Sorted wet organics. Larvae are not limited to salad scraps—they thrive on meat, animal remains (trim, offal, slaughter leftovers), and many manures when the bed stays moist and aerobic. A little meat is also one of the strongest attractants when trapping wild adults; bones left protruding from the bed give adults dry edges they like to lay on. Kitchen fruit/veg trim, plate scrapings, and spent coffee grounds as a blend ingredient (not a sole diet) also work well.

Still reject solvents, pesticides, unknown chemical history, plastics, and bulk dry paper. Heavy fryer oil needs a plan. Local rules may restrict how you use larvae or frass from manure/meat diets as animal feed—biology capability and feed-law compliance are different questions.

More on streams and QA: waste stream · economy roles (feedstock tiers) · biology.

Prepupae crawl uphill toward the open (high) end and drop into a bottle hanging underneath. This project defaults near 36° (band 35–38°) for a stronger funnel and a narrower crawl path on the inner wall; literature still spans about 28°–45°. Stand or cradle sets the angle. Details: tank design.

Many operators dry or use fresh prepupae as a protein supplement for poultry. Treat feeding rates carefully and read BSFL as chicken feed plus local feed rules. Fat remodeling and PUFA carry-through: BSFL fat profiles.

Frass is the dry residual solids (often used as a soil amendment after care). Leachate is the liquid that drains from wet beds—collect it; do not confuse the two. See frass and leachate.

Hardware designs are CERN-OHL-P-2.0; guides and first-party writing are CC BY 4.0; site code is MIT. See the design license and project license map. You may build, adapt, and share under those terms.

No. BSF Project is the global open platform. Place-based pilots (such as Boquete) are registered communities—not the brand itself.

Use Contribute (questions, feedback, corrections, sources) or open a pull request on GitHub.