Mealworm farming

[itsy]

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When was the last time you changed out your substrate? If I were in your situation, I'd remove all of the worms and beetles and start with fresh substrate. Unless of course your flys are in the container with mealie eggs. That's a different story.

I wanted to let you guys know....

I am farming my mealworms again and I'm trying something new. Instead of bran or oatmeal or dry baby food, I decided to use chicken crumbles with a little bit of chicken scratch. I have never seen mealworms move to the pupating stage as quickly as I am now!

I may add some dry babyfood oatmeal just to make it easier on some of them to chew.... but I was quite surprised.

 

[bloom_ss]

Just made this today:

Not sure if it will work or not since I haven't tried it yet, but I hope it works. I just used some scrap wood that I had laying around (was meant to be kindling for the fireplace...lol) and some metal screen from an old screen door. I only just started my mealworm farm about a week or so ago so I haven't had to do any sifting yet.

Oh, and I used hot glue to seal the gap between the screen and the frame on both sides. The frame is screwed together on the back side.

 

[oneofseven]

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Looks good. Nice use of available resources.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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That looks great! So much better than what I use.
We have a screen door for the sliding glass door that has a rip in the top and DD uses it on the Guinea Pig room to keep the cats out. It just fits in the door frame. It gets dusty from shavings and hay and has to be sprayed off every once in a while so before we do it I use that door while it outside to sift out some mealies. I will do that today on the last of those in the blue bin. I am super surprised at how many I keep getting out of there and we really want to get that bin moved into the bathroom closet so today we are sifting out the frass and getting the last of the mealies. I found a blasted beetle in that bin last night!

I have been working for weeks to get this one finished so I can use the frass.

But while I have the screen door laid up on sawhorses I will be separating out quite a bit of mealies that are being shipped out tomorrow. I have one bin that is just wonderfully full of nice fat shiny mealies. They have a new home so they need to be moved to a holding bin.

And I took some out to my BLRW flock yesterday as they were milling around the front steps. They love me! Er....them, the mealies. They are already very nice birds but I just hold out my hand and they eat the meal worms so gently.

Oh! I could kick myself for not having my camera but will try to snap or video today my house brooder. It has some older chicks in it and I scooped some wheat bran out of the mealie bin beside them to sprinkle over their starter. I did not realize that I had scooped mealies up too (that bin is very full!) and those chicks pounced on the mealies and there were so many tug of wars my DD and I were laughing with tears rolling down our faces. It was hilarious! I want to add a video of that to my website but they may not do it again.

 

[yankeefan]

So I've had my mealworm operation going for just a few days now and I'm hoping that things are going ok but I'm not too sure. I have the 3 drawer setup going. Beetles on top, babies (in time) in the middle and worms in the bottom drawer. The beetles seem happy and lively in their oatmeal and I've been feeding them carrots and apple. But, I don't see much activity or feeding in that bottom drawer.

I'm thinking that the temperature in my house isn't as warm as is needed possibly. The house seldom drops below 70 and is usually around 71-72. Obviously, I don't expect to see too much activity but I'm just a little concerned that the worms don't seem to be drawn to the food at all.

I should add that I'm using wheat bran for a substrate. Maybe they're happy with that for now ??

I've read much of this thread and I'm thinking - Don't worry about it - I just wanted to see what y'all thought.

Thanks a bunch.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

The worms are about to pupate probably. They slow down and often look dead for a few days before they pupate.

My house right now is at 65 and the beetles seem active but I am getting a lot of the worms pupating and I find most mealies are not on top of the substrate anymore but rather down in it. Probably to stay a lot warmer.
During the day in my southern room where I have a few bins becomes more active with mealies but near dark they are back down again. One bin is right beside the computer so I get to watch it a lot more. Since I work on the computer a lot more than I would like to I get to experience how the colony functions. That is something I am enjoying!

 

[yankeefan]

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Thanks Amy. I kinda figured it was no big deal.

I did feed a few to my chickies the other day. They went bonkers over them !!!

But, they still have zero interest in earthworms. Go figure.

 

[kizanne]

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Love it. I wish I had some screen laying around the right size. Most of what I tried around the house either was too big or so small I had to sift forever to get the wheat and frass seperated from my worms.

When you use it you might want to put a little wood up the side. so that when you shake you don't lose abunch of what you are sifting over the side.

 

[oneofseven]

Has anyone used a bright light to corral the worms and beetles? Since they hate it so much. Perhaps, place a bright light at one end and chase them to the other.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

But, they still have zero interest in earthworms. Go figure.

This time of year the earthworms do not have the best "flavor" for chickens. Something about the change in the soil temps and their metabolism , bacteria etc.​