Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

ETA: As of 7/28/11, I am warning folks not to order from Uncle Jims. Order after order contains mostly all dead worms, with resolutions taking way too long. There are excellent sources for bulk worms listed on the first post of this thread. Any questions...PM!

 

[sadies chicks]

BTW I found 4 pupa today as I took out the dead worms, awesome!

 

[DickGJ]

Quote:
Keep in mind that what you feed to the worms will be fed to the chickens and can be enriched by using the corn meal, wheat flour, dried milk, etc. I'm growing my 'stock' worms in basic oats and feed but will have the enriched layer for the baby larva to grow in. Some people 'load' their worms for 48 hours before feeding them to the chickens, adding more specific vitamins and minerals. They do this loading for lizards and young frogs too.

I have a very well stocked pantry so I didn't need to go out and buy anything except for the worms and plastic unit. I've read a lot about brewers yeast (which I don't have) and want to do more research on it before my worms are to the stage of freezing for my winter supply.

I'd love to see pictures of your set-up DickDJ. The more ideas the better and I do better 'seeing' things! Also, why the 2 sizes of worms? Did you buy the separate sizes or will they all grow to be the same? The site where I bought mine had 3 sizes and I got all mediums. (btw....I'm certain now that they sent WAY more worms than 1000 since I have 625 (yes, i counted

) pupae and too many worms to try to count!)

Are you going to stage them during growing to get beetles at different times? I have some in the fridge but can't decide if I want to let them all get to beetle stage ASAP or save some for growing later. Definitely will need a bigger container, so again, I'd love to see what you have going!

Hannakat, sorry it took so long for me to reply on this. I'll try and post some pics this weekend...I've been swamped with projects this week and haven't got around to it yet. There's really not much to see since I only have two bins "working" at the moment. I ordered the two sizes (small and large) so I have them already "pre-staged" without having to refridgerate. I figure I should have larva for a while...depending on how fast they gorge themselves on food and grow! I couldn't help but offer up some heaping helpings of them to the chicks. The 8-week olds got large mealies and the 1 month old chicks got small mealies...everyone was crazed with happiness! I plan on getting my larger ones to beetle stage as soon as possible in order to graduate my current 2-bin system to a four bin system. I think mine are doing extremely well in the black bins and seem to be developing (molting) rapidly. I wish I had a translucent 3-drawer operation going simultaneously as a "control" to study if there's any difference in development. Rest assured, in time...I'll probably be doing that in the near future for the sake of "research"...and my chickens content!

 

[hannakat]

DickGJ ~ The 3-drawer is very good for research and control. I've really enjoyed it. With the farm getting big so quickly, I'm kicking around one large bin for when this group of babies get big enough to see. I can see where it will be a lot less 'work' but I really do enjoy fussing with the 3-drawer set up!

Glad yours is underway and doing well too!

 

[DickGJ]

I just checked out the large ones that I received three days ago and see quite a few pupating...tomorrow morning I'll have to get in there and preserve my first batch of pupae to ensure beetles. I'll probably do this for a while (initially) to ensure I get a good batch of adult beetles. Especially since I read where they can consume the pupa. Later after it appears I have more mealies than I really intended to raise...I'll just let nature do her thing. If a few pupa get munched on...oh well, I guess those grubs should become pupae themselves pretty quickly. We'll see how highly motivated I remain with separating the different stages...I've seen at least one You-Tube video from a guy that's been raising his for 11 or 12 years (from the original batch)...all in one bin! Eggs, larvae, pupae, and beetles all together...and he claims to still have more mealie worms than he needs. This method may not produce the numbers you're after if you plan on getting into this commercially...but it probably resembles the closest thing to what environment they have in real life with mother nature, and you're likely to still have enough mealie worms to keep your chickens happy unless you have 25 or more! It's interesting and it's easy...so far I've learned that my mealies seem to prefer celery stalks over carrots for their moisture. My celery stalks and carrots are placed freshly in the container every three days (just three four inch stalks of celery), and the celery is dessimated by the 3rd day while the carrot only has some holes and tunnels burrowed into/through it. I raise my mealies in nothing more than a substrate of Purina Flock Raiser crumbles and am having great success. I may experiment with some other recipes later, but for now...I say why struggle to make changes when the current "recipe" is successful? I'll experiment when and if I find that I have more mealies than I know what to do with... Part of the fun is experimenting with this project...have fun with it. It's a pretty cheap venture...and I'm thinking there may be a science project my son will have help with next year for school!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I bought 2 plastic tubs yesterday. I wanted to do the drawer method but could not find any large enough. I will have to use a shelf to put these on, I suppose.

So what places do you all recommend purchasing from?

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
I don't know that I can 'recommend' them but they did pull through in the end.... Uncle Jims. They sent me 1000 red wigglers instead of 1000 meal worms, did not communicate well at all, but did send the correct worms the next week (they only ship on Mondays). AND they must have sent me 2000.

Sadies chicks just recieved a batch with what looks like 90% dead worms...(see her picture on the previous page) ?!?!?! She successfully made contact with Uncle Jims and hopefully they send her worms as healthy as mine.

I don't understand how they can afford to keep resending packages out. They've been in business for quite a while and seem to have a questionable record. At this point, I think you'd be taking chances with them, but who knows. There are other online places to purchase them.

Shop around and let us know what you do. If a reliable, reasonably priced site can be found, we can provide them with some business!



ETA: As of 7/28/11, I am warning folks not to order from Uncle Jims. Order after order contains mostly all dead worms, with resolutions taking way too long. There are excellent sources for bulk worms listed on the first post of this thread. Any questions...PM!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

It looks like Worm Man's worm farm is going to get a chance from me. We'll see how it goes.
I think I wills start with 2000.

I have over 300 chicks right now and I believe I will always have a big demand for the mealies here. I usually hatch year around but am trying to slow down and cut back. Mealies should have been added to my farm many years ago but I just have put it off.

So.....how big of a container do I need for 2000 meal worms? I think my tubs are big enough but I am still trying to learn all this. Once I start it and get some hands on then I will be fine. It is the first process of info that boggles my mind. I am very much a visual and hands on person.

Or not! I can't seem to get the order to go through. I will update you all on this website. It may not be legit or it may just be a snafu.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
Don't need a very big container for 2000. Mine were in a 10x14 (approx) with no trouble. However, if you plan to leave them alone to become beetles, then why not start out big! They can end up producing thousands if you let them go and not feed any to your birds yet. You'd end up with thousands and thousands within a few months.

Have you checked out Gallo del Cielo's worm farm? https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/viewblog.php?id=56638-how-to-raise-mealworms

This can be as hard as you want to make it or as easy as you want to make it. I have my 3-drawer going strong now and the next few hundred that become pupae are going into one large container. I want to see how that produces in comparison.

Good luck!!! Let us know how Worm Man does.

 

[greatchicken]

I just ordered my mealworms and I cannot wait until the girls see what I got them. My DW is going to pick up wheat bran on monday and the worms should be here sometime around Thursday. I bought them from Speedy Worm and got 5000 for a much better price than anything on Ebay. I am so excited to start up my farm.