A British insect
farm with nothing
to hide.
We raise black soldier fly larvae in Yoxall, Staffordshire. Every Calci Worm we sell and every bag of Flytiliser we pack comes from this one farm. No imports, no middlemen, no mystery.
Started in Staffordshire. Built around one question.
Syntects was founded in 2022 around a simple observation: most of the insects sold to UK chicken keepers are imported, processed long before they reach your birds, and raised with no transparency about farming conditions. We thought that was worth fixing.
We built our first grow rooms in Yoxall, Staffordshire — a small market town in the heart of the English countryside. We started raising black soldier fly larvae on UK surplus food and spent grain. And we started asking our customers a question that most suppliers avoid: where do your larvae actually come from?
Three years in, the answer to that question is still the same. They come from us. From this farm. From Staffordshire. Not from a warehouse in the Netherlands. Not from a factory in China. From grow rooms we built, in a county we operate in, dispatched by people who work here.
We sell two products — live Calci Worms for chickens and Flytiliser insect frass fertiliser. Both come from the same operation. The frass that our larvae produce becomes the fertiliser we sell. The larvae themselves become the treat your hens run for. Nothing is wasted. Everything has a purpose.
First grow rooms built in Yoxall
We set up our initial BSF rearing operation in Staffordshire, focused on developing our farming system using UK surplus food as substrate.
Live Calci Worms launched
Our first live larvae subscriptions went out — dispatched fresh direct to chicken keepers across the UK. The easy-pour tube format was designed from the start.
Flytiliser insect frass launched
Recognising that our larvae’s frass was a genuinely valuable product, we began processing and bagging Flytiliser as a separate product line for gardeners.
Subscriptions scaled, capacity expanded
Subscriber numbers grew significantly. We expanded our grow room capacity and refined our dispatch process to maintain live arrival rates.
Building toward 1,000 subscribers
We’re still the same farm, still in Staffordshire, still raising every larva ourselves. Working toward becoming the UK’s leading live BSFL subscription.
From surplus food
to live larvae in 10 days.
The black soldier fly lifecycle is one of nature’s most efficient conversion systems. We’ve built our entire operation around it.
Substrate sourced from UK food waste
We collect surplus food and spent grain from UK producers — material that would otherwise go to landfill or anaerobic digestion. This becomes the sole food source for our larvae.
Eggs hatched in controlled grow rooms
BSF eggs hatch in our temperature and humidity-controlled grow rooms. We maintain optimal conditions throughout the larval development phase — typically 7–10 days from hatch to harvest.
Larvae harvested and graded
At the right size, larvae are harvested and graded. The best go into our 500g easy-pour tubes as live Calci Worms. The frass and substrate residue is collected separately for Flytiliser.
Packed and dispatched same week
Live Calci Worm tubes are packed and dispatched in ventilated packaging to ensure larvae arrive active. Flytiliser bags are dried, screened and sealed in resealable 500g pouches.
Frass becomes Flytiliser
The frass — larvae castings and shed exoskeletons — is heat-dried and processed into Flytiliser. Nothing leaves the operation unused. Every kilo of substrate in produces two valuable outputs.
Adults breed the next generation
A portion of each batch is allowed to pupate and emerge as adult flies. The adults breed, lay eggs, and the cycle continues. Our colony is entirely self-sustaining — no external pupae or eggs are brought in.
BSF farming uses a fraction of the resources of conventional agriculture.
Why black soldier flies are uniquely efficient
Black soldier fly larvae are extraordinarily efficient converters of organic material. They can process food waste at densities and speeds that make most other forms of protein production look wasteful by comparison. A single kilogram of larvae can be produced from roughly 2kg of organic waste — a conversion ratio that no conventional livestock system can approach.
They produce no meaningful greenhouse gas emissions during their larval stage. They require no antibiotics, no growth hormones, and no pesticides. The entire operation — from substrate to final product — is chemical-free.
A closed loop — not a theoretical one
We use the term circular economy deliberately. Our loop is real and closed: UK food waste → BSF larvae → live Calci Worms for chickens + Flytiliser for gardens. Both outputs have genuine value. Neither is a waste stream.
The frass we produce as Flytiliser goes back into UK growing — allotments, raised beds, gardens. The nutrients our larvae extracted from food waste return to British soil through the gardens of our customers. It is, as far as we can tell, exactly how a sustainable food system is supposed to work.
We’re a real farm. We’re happy to talk.
One of the things that distinguishes Syntects from most insect suppliers is that we are genuinely transparent about our operation. We are not a brand sitting on top of an anonymous supply chain. We are the farm.
If you have questions about how we operate — our substrate, our welfare practices, our dispatch process, our product specifications — we are happy to answer them. Email us, and you will hear back from someone who actually works on the farm.
We also occasionally open the farm to trade buyers, researchers and journalists who want to see the operation first-hand. If that is you, get in touch and we will see what we can arrange.
Syntects Ltd
DE13, United Kingdom
Live Calci Worms — subscription from £10/week
Fresh British-farmed BSFL, dispatched alive in a 500g easy-pour tube. DEFRA compliant. 37× more calcium than mealworms. Skip or cancel anytime.
Start subscription →Flytiliser — insect frass fertiliser from £8.50
BSF frass with the highest N and K of any insect frass. NPK 3-1-2, chitin-active, microbially alive. Made on our farm, bagged by hand in Staffordshire.
Shop Flytiliser →