Mealworm farming

[sueblack]

I would like to grow my worms so that they are all about the same size. I started a small Sterilite container each week for the last 4 weeks, but now that the pupa have morphed into beetles I am wondering how long I should Ieave the new beetles in the container before I move them out. What do I do with the beetles? Start a new container or feed them to my birds?

 

[DHinton]

I would like to grow my worms so that they are all about the same size. I started a small Sterilite container each week for the last 4 weeks, but now that the pupa have morphed into beetles I am wondering how long I should Ieave the new beetles in the container before I move them out. What do I do with the beetles? Start a new container or feed them to my birds?

um, leave them alone until they die off from having mated too much? then feed the dead beetles to your birds?

 

[Jayzor]

I have been reading about meal worm farming for a while now. I'm amazed at how complicated some make this process. I have some chick starter that got wet from rains while stored in plastic bins with a hole in the top. I have meal worms by the thousands. I didn't purchase meal worms from an online supplier. This occurred outdoors near their run in summertime. I don't pick out dead or have three bins to rotate life stages. So far I've simply added more feed to the old cat litter bucket with it's damaged lid. The bucket of meal worms I encountered has lasted my 7 chickens a several months. I simply dump a bit into their run on occasion. It's not hardly a sustainable farm. But it is an indication of how simple it is. I lucked upon it so to speak. When the bucket finally dries up I may adopt some of your "farming techniques". Maybe I will simply allow some chick starter to get wet again and keep it in a warm spot.

 

[AletaG]

Update. Bloody rain started in earnest last night. Yesterday, nothing. Today? MITES! AGH...

So, put a warming tray under my meal worm totes, removed anything vaguely resembling moist, and spent 2 hours mopping them off every conceivable surface.

Sigh. Just when the going gets good...

Jayzor... it' possible you have the other mealworm... few pages back... there's a species that harbors worms. Not sure how you tell them apart, so might do a little digging.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Update. Bloody rain started in earnest last night. Yesterday, nothing. Today? MITES! AGH...

So, put a warming tray under my meal worm totes, removed anything vaguely resembling moist, and spent 2 hours mopping them off every conceivable surface.

Sigh. Just when the going gets good...

Jayzor... it' possible you have the other mealworm... few pages back... there's a species that harbors worms. Not sure how you tell them apart, so might do a little digging.

Oh crud! It sounds like you're tackling the problem well though. Good luck.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

I have been reading about meal worm farming for a while now. I'm amazed at how complicated some make this process. I have some chick starter that got wet from rains while stored in plastic bins with a hole in the top. I have meal worms by the thousands. I didn't purchase meal worms from an online supplier. This occurred outdoors near their run in summertime. I don't pick out dead or have three bins to rotate life stages. So far I've simply added more feed to the old cat litter bucket with it's damaged lid. The bucket of meal worms I encountered has lasted my 7 chickens a several months. I simply dump a bit into their run on occasion. It's not hardly a sustainable farm. But it is an indication of how simple it is. I lucked upon it so to speak. When the bucket finally dries up I may adopt some of your "farming techniques". Maybe I will simply allow some chick starter to get wet again and keep it in a warm spot.

I agree with AletaG that you probably have a different species of mealworm. Some are incredibly invasive and, therefore, quite easy to raise. The downside is that they are generally much smaller than the common mealworm that we're raising. Some species also burrow into wood to pupate and are very destructive to wood structures.

 

[Jayzor]

They probably are a different species of meal worm than is purchased commercially. The chickens don't really seem to care what species they are. They eat them up quick. My gravity type feeder had also absorbed some rain and the feed went a bit mealy. Again, the chickens don't seem to mind. They go nuts over the meal worm regardless of it's species.

 

[AletaG]

They probably are a different species of meal worm than is purchased commercially. The chickens don't really seem to care what species they are. They eat them up quick. My gravity type feeder had also absorbed some rain and the feed went a bit mealy. Again, the chickens don't seem to mind. They go nuts over the meal worm regardless of it's species.

Of course they don't care... didn't 'pect they would! Just warning you of possible pitfalls. If they eat your house, bad. If they carry worms, bad. If neither, GOOD! Makes it easy as pie for you!

 

[Jayzor]

A wood boring spp. would be a considerable problem. Then again, they don't survive but a few seconds when released into the chicken run so I'm not much worried about that. I simply know I put some chick starter in a used cat litter bucket for storage. It was probably a 3 gallon bucket. The hinge wore some so there was a hole in the lid. Rain introduced moisture to the feed and I have thousands of meal worms now without effort. I feed the meal worms as often as I have a free moment by simply dumping some of the feed/meal worm mix in their run. They eat em up as fast as I dump them. I have recently approached the end of that supply and it has seemed to be effective to simply add more feed to the mix when it runs low. We have had enough rain and humidity here that I have not had to add water in any form to the colony. But as I have not separated the harvest from the feed it gets consumed so replacing it is necessary. I have not seen the worms mature into pupae or beetles. I would think that would be key to their identification. Really, does it matter? The birds eat them regardless. The chicks have a large run for the number of chickens I have so they have pretty good access to a lot of native bugs. I would think this spp. of meal worm has no more risk than the native insects and is equally as nutritious. But then I'm not one to believe that raising chickens is rocket science. Feed em, water em, keep em safe, they grow, they produce. I'm pretty sure that meal worms are that simple too. lol

 

[chrissyr]

I bought rainbow mealworms and they were really nice. Last order was supposed to be mediums but a third were small. Called them and they have me a $20 credit. And very few of those ever died off. Very happy with them.