Mealworm farming

[Lacy Blues]

If someone could post a picture of their drawer set up?

 

[Chicks Galore3]

I found 14 beetles this morning!!!! Yay! When can I start feeding some mealies to my chickens?

 

[kukupecpec]

Any suggestions for keeping worms outside? I don't have a garage and I just can't convince DH to let me keep them indoors. I'm in Tucson AZ so it doesn't get SUPER cold, but it can get cold, definitely below freezing in the depth of winter. My three drawer system will fit in the bottom of my coop and my two little seramas won't be able to get to it. There it will be surrounded by the wood coop and I can insulate it with hay if needed. I'm worried about bugs getting inside though.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Any suggestions for keeping worms outside? I don't have a garage and I just can't convince DH to let me keep them indoors. I'm in Tucson AZ so it doesn't get SUPER cold, but it can get cold, definitely below freezing in the depth of winter. My three drawer system will fit in the bottom of my coop and my two little seramas won't be able to get to it. There it will be surrounded by the wood coop and I can insulate it with hay if needed. I'm worried about bugs getting inside though.

My only thought would be a reptile heating mat. you can attach it to the bottom of the container, if you are using a single container.... you could switch to a single tote for the cold months. If you do go below freezing, it will kill the colony. The bug problem, likely won't be with the colder temps but i am not familiar with what insects you have there. the heat mats don't get super hot, usually 90 at most. Mealies love warm temps and develop a LOT faster. If that won't work for you, that would be my 2nd option too, make a hay barrier around it. Hope that helps

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I found 14 beetles this morning!!!! Yay! When can I start feeding some mealies to my chickens?

YAY!!!

soon you will see the wee wormies! i was getting good sized mealies at about 8 weeks from the 1st beetles. the more you let go, the larger the colony grows. How many chickens/fowl are you feeding?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

If someone could post a picture of their drawer set up?

lacy, i will get one posted soon. My camera isn't working, so i will ask DD to snap pictures for me. here's my 3 drawer i got for my birthday, walmart has them very reasonable and the dollar stores do too..

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi,
I still don't get this part of the setup with the screened drawer? What makes the eggs and babies fall through because when I look up at the underside of my box thinking I'm going to see all my darklings crawling around feverishly I see nothing, to me they seem to congregate on the surface and hide in the egg cartons etc that I have in there? So what makes them fall through?

Cheers,
John

Hi John,
Just their movement, tunneling and digging will cause the eggs and worms to sift down into the drawer below. I was very skeptical, but it works GREAT! the eggs and worms are so tiny they just fall right through. I mentioned to lacy also, i will have my daughter take pics of mine, hope it will help.
Regards
Janet

 

[Lacy Blues]

I'd really like to see the inside of someone's drawer system showing all the stages. Top drawer with wire bottom for beetles? Subsequent drawers further down for ????

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I'd really like to see the inside of someone's drawer system showing all the stages. Top drawer with wire bottom for beetles? Subsequent drawers further down for ????

I hope someone else can post it sooner than i can, my camera isn't working

I do the middle drawer with the screen bottom, that's for my beetles. The beetles are starting to die off but there's still gobs of them!. I am on month 5 of mealies now. Top drawer is my "emergency stash" of the colony. i have all stages there, and just feed it. With all the bins i have now, I will rethink that.. the bottom drawer is for the eggs/wormies that fall out from the middle beetle drawer. I empty that bottom drawer on the last day of every month into a shoebox, date it, and add more bedding put the drawer back. I have TONS of worms. 2 large bins now, 2 months each, and will add a 3rd next month. By spring, i have a bait store that will buy my excess worms, and a friend that raises geckos i trade off with. I feed out about a 1/2 cup of worms every other day to the chickens and guineas. that's only 12 birds. I have oscars (a large tropical fish) and they just love them. My youngest daughter breeds sugar gliders, she gives them mealies as part of their diet too.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Quote: I'm feeding 12 chickens- They would eat all 2000 mealworms if I let them.