Mealworm farming

[hemet dennis]

Yay! I have rabbits, so I might do red wigglers in the spring!

Where would I buy them?

You can find them on line or on Craigslist. You don't have to raise the red wigglers, almost all worms will do great under rabbits.

Good luck

 

[onafixedincome]

Sorry, should have clarified. The EARTHWORMS come to rabbit manure like nothing else (apparently, per a vermiculture book I once read and have around here somewhere, the only manure superior to rabbit for worm culture is that of the elephant. Since an elephant is very difficult to fit in one's yard, I just use bunny poo.)

The mealies are happy in their wheat bran. And yes, they do love stale (and not so stale) bread as long as it isn't moldy. I found that by thoroughly drying the bread, it was just as palatable and took much longer to mold.

You can get redworms from almost any bait supplier, but look first in the yellow pages under Worms, Vermiculture, Composting, or Bait. The preferred species are either Lumbricus rubellus (the red worm) or the Eisenia foetida (manure worm, red wiggler, tiger worm--they have a striped tailpart of yellow on red). Keep it moist and full of nice rotting organics and they will thrive.

 

[hemet dennis]

Sorry, should have clarified. The EARTHWORMS come to rabbit manure like nothing else (apparently, per a vermiculture book I once read and have around here somewhere, the only manure superior to rabbit for worm culture is that of the elephant. Since an elephant is very difficult to fit in one's yard, I just use bunny poo.)

The mealies are happy in their wheat bran. And yes, they do love stale (and not so stale) bread as long as it isn't moldy. I found that by thoroughly drying the bread, it was just as palatable and took much longer to mold.

You can get redworms from almost any bait supplier, but look first in the yellow pages under Worms, Vermiculture, Composting, or Bait. The preferred species are either Lumbricus rubellus (the red worm) or the Eisenia foetida (manure worm, red wiggler, tiger worm--they have a striped tailpart of yellow on red). Keep it moist and full of nice rotting organics and they will thrive.

There's a traveling show that spends the winter a few miles from my house and they have elephants so I may need to see if I can get some poop from them. I wonder if tiger worms would do good in tiger poop ?

 

[Tikkajazz94]

hey guys,
So Here's my new setup. I got a under the bed storage container, Which Im using for baby mealies (two different months). I have a container I have in it (at the moment of the pic, not there all the time) It has about 20 pupas, I have a small square I have 57 mealworms in, they're the last mealworms I have from my Order in September. Where I got 1000 worms. The rectagle I have 100's of beetles in.
I'm going to buy a few more under the bed storage containers, and put my beetles in one, and use the others for mealies, and other beetles.
Enjoy... The beetles in the storage container are dead.

 

[Chicks Galore3]

Sorry, should have clarified. The EARTHWORMS come to rabbit manure like nothing else (apparently, per a vermiculture book I once read and have around here somewhere, the only manure superior to rabbit for worm culture is that of the elephant. Since an elephant is very difficult to fit in one's yard, I just use bunny poo.)

The mealies are happy in their wheat bran. And yes, they do love stale (and not so stale) bread as long as it isn't moldy. I found that by thoroughly drying the bread, it was just as palatable and took much longer to mold.

You can get redworms from almost any bait supplier, but look first in the yellow pages under Worms, Vermiculture, Composting, or Bait. The preferred species are either Lumbricus rubellus (the red worm) or the Eisenia foetida (manure worm, red wiggler, tiger worm--they have a striped tailpart of yellow on red). Keep it moist and full of nice rotting organics and they will thrive.

EARTHWORMS. Gotta remember that.

 

[onafixedincome]

There's a traveling show that spends the winter a few miles from my house and they have elephants so I may need to see if I can get some poop from them. I wonder if tiger worms would do good in tiger poop ?

Ew. Talk about STINKY!! Even the hungriest fish wouldn't touch 'em! I suspect the worms would run as fast as Usain Bolt from that 'feast'....!

 

[JulieNKC]

These are tropical non climbing non flying, they die in temps below 60'. Short of dumping your container over into the house they can't escape. They eat cat food (dry) and fruits, veggies, breads etc..... My signature line has pics

Feeder roaches are very easy to raise, much easier then even meal worms, and much quicker results, the chickens LOVE them. There are alot of people who buy roaches. The roaches you raise are not like the common house roach at all.

Ok. I think the roaches are disgusting looking. Completely creep me out, but I love my chickens and want some variety other than mealworms. When I had lizards I only fed a few mealworms because they are full of fat and something else and not all that healthy for them, so while I think they make a perfect training treat for my birds I also want a healthier bug to supplement them with. Crickets stink, and are too noisy so I think I might try the roaches. Would small bantams have any problems eating them? Is there a roaches for chickens thread? Where do I get them?

 

[Kassaundra]

Ok. I think the roaches are disgusting looking. Completely creep me out, but I love my chickens and want some variety other than mealworms. When I had lizards I only fed a few mealworms because they are full of fat and something else and not all that healthy for them, so while I think they make a perfect training treat for my birds I also want a healthier bug to supplement them with. Crickets stink, and are too noisy so I think I might try the roaches. Would small bantams have any problems eating them? Is there a roaches for chickens thread? Where do I get them?

I have posted several vidoes of my couple of day old chicks eating the dubias. So your bantams would be more then up to the job. Dubias like most insects go through several molts or instars, just feed out the largest of the sub adults if you have any question about your chickens size, that way the shell isn't as hard, you will need to feed out most of your adult males too, but they are quite a bit smaller then the females so shouldn't be a problems, my 6 wk old chicks have not problem w/ adult males.

 

[Kassaundra]

Ok. I think the roaches are disgusting looking. Completely creep me out, but I love my chickens and want some variety other than mealworms. When I had lizards I only fed a few mealworms because they are full of fat and something else and not all that healthy for them, so while I think they make a perfect training treat for my birds I also want a healthier bug to supplement them with. Crickets stink, and are too noisy so I think I might try the roaches. Would small bantams have any problems eating them? Is there a roaches for chickens thread? Where do I get them?

Post 7 of this thread shows some of my videos, all but the most recent, but that one is dealing w/ sprouting grains not dubias

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/729996/anyone-got-a-youtube



This whole thread has good info about raising diff feeder insects, page 24 (the last one) has pics of my new larger set up, but I started w/ a fish tank, those pics are in there too, but not sure where.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/412070/raising-feeder-insects/230

Sorry I didn't notice your last question. You can buy them online there are lots of sources, I got mine from The Roach Guy, his prices were fair and his reputation impecable for good product.

 

[JulieNKC]

Post 7 of this thread shows some of my videos, all but the most recent, but that one is dealing w/ sprouting grains not dubias

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/729996/anyone-got-a-youtube



This whole thread has good info about raising diff feeder insects, page 24 (the last one) has pics of my new larger set up, but I started w/ a fish tank, those pics are in there too, but not sure where.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/412070/raising-feeder-insects/230

Sorry I didn't notice your last question. You can buy them online there are lots of sources, I got mine from The Roach Guy, his prices were fair and his reputation impecable for good product.

Thanks! I think I will give them a try. If I can deal with mealworms I can suck it up and deal with roaches.

I worked at a pet store a long long long time ago when the roach things were just starting, and we had some there. They were sold as PETS back then, and like $10 for a pair of them. Easy enough to care for, but until chickens I never thought of trying to make more bugs. Even with my lizards I preferred buying them, but the mealworms have been so easy I figure why not?