Mealworm farming

[BriardChickens]

Beatle explosion in the bin! I have only fed worms very sparingly so looking forward to the worm explosion in a few weeks.

I think on Wednesday I will open a container of store bought crickets in the coop, that should be fun for the chickens.

 

[Sarahsdawn]

We bought 1000 to add to our mini colony to try to boost numbers, but one of our quaker parrots seems to just love them...and of course once the kids found out, they were feeding him non-stop! ;o) So it might take awhile to get our numbers up, if they keep feeding off our future beetles! I can't blame them though, it is pretty cute to see that little green chicken gobble them up.

I've got cold concerns. It's going to drop down into the 40s tonight, and will only be in the 50s here tomorrow, but then by the week we'll be back into the 80s. I cannot turn on the heat yet, we have another month of warm weather! I'm trying to bake stuff today to warm the house a bit, and we're working on getting them into a bigger, insulated drawer system tomorrow. That will at least shield them from drafts and maybe contain more of the heating pad warmth. Don't want to slow them down too much!

I need to make some kind of warm perches before winter hits, too. It's coming all too soon!

 

[Sarahsdawn]

I wanted to give them some extra heat, so I put the 2 biggest mealie sizes on the stove top, under the light. They all swam up to the surface to play in the light! I guess they really like it?

 

[MealWorm Farm]

What kind of screen did you use for the top drawer?

Regular window screen rolls seems to be popular. However, make sure you buy the metal version, and not the plastic / vinyl type. We have experienced the darkling beetle eating holes in the non-metal variety, and escaping.

 

[collingwood]

I just got mealworms!

 

[MealWorm Farm]

I just got mealworms!

Congrats!

 

[MealWorm Farm]

For those interested in what dead mealworms look like, here is a photo of them...

 

[Sarahsdawn]

I accidentally cooked about 50 pupa.

 

[estamets]

I accidentally cooked about 50 pupa. 

Oh nooooooooi!

 

[aart]

I wanted to give them some extra heat, so I put the 2 biggest mealie sizes on the stove top, under the light. They all swam up to the surface to play in the light! I guess they really like it?

I accidentally cooked about 50 pupa.

The ones on the stove? Ooops! Bummer!!! Maybe they were trying to escape from the heat underneath rather than 'playing in the light'?