Mealworm farming

[Bogtown Chick]

I don't believe this at all. How enjoyable would it be if we had to eat the exact same thing for each meal day in and day out? I believe that snacks/treats not only decrease boredom but add diversity and therefore interest in life and food itself. Snacks and treats don't destroy, they are a good thing... in moderation.

Also, I don't know if you feed a commercially bagged mix, but remember that the scientists that formulate poultry food, spend a ton of money finding out how little the chicken can survive and produce eggs on... so just know that this balanced diet is the bare minimum needed.

Lacy Blues: I too believe in a varied diet. And am not totally on board with the "careful with 'treats' " bandwagon. I fully believe feed companies do what they can to put out information to the public that ensures they make their money. More concerning-- 2 days ago I had to pick up more feed-- switching from layer pellets to a flock raiser (I have roos) when I noticed the top bulleted bragging point for the feed is" all plant protein. No animal bi-products." Watching my birds feed while free ranging I am fully aware they are omnivorous. I'm not sure these "well rounded/formulated feeds" are up to snuff... I'm going to treat away with mealies or what have you until spring weather finally makes its way around these parts.

Well, here goes! I was going to wait until I had the 'right' bin set-up to buy mealworms and get started but I worked at an office next to a pet store today. I ended up walking out with (supposedly) 200 medium mealworms for $2.50. I have them set up in a Chinese take-out container for now. They were out of food in their original containers. I don't have any wheat bran on hand so I put them in oatmeal (maple and brown sugar - hope that's not an issue!) with some flaxseed meal. I added a couple slices of carrots and a small end of a potato. They must have been parched because they latched on to the carrots and potato quickly. I didn't count them but there seemed to be quite a bit less than 200 in the containers. I'm wondering if some were eaten?
I will pick up a larger bin this weekend to move them in to. I hope by the end of summer I will have a nice steady supply of treats for my girls!

My chicks were still in the brooder when I got my first round of 1000 mealies from Amy at Westknoll farms nearly a year ago and have been cycling pupa/beetles and mealies in a two bin system with wheat bran and apple or whatever fruit is in season. As soon as I saw the power of mealworms with my birds I knew it was worth the little effort it took to have these creepy crawlies on hand.

 

[onafixedincome]

Regarding balanced diets, treats, and varied diets....As a veteran rabbit breeder (30 years), I'm pretty darn well versed in dietary requirements and how to mess them up.

If you are feeding a complete-balanced-but-seemingly-monotonous diet, you *can* spice it up a little by providing a WIDE variety of additional food items in reasonable amounts. A varied diet can indeed be balanced and complete, but it takes a fair bit of research to ensure that what you are giving does not wind up unbalanced or incomplete.

To the dismay of those in the 'the feed companies are jerks' camp, , these folks do indeed know what they're doing. Their jobs depend on providing good, solid diets that do what they are supposed to do, and do it well. Yes, there are feed mills out there who do a lousy job. But there are also mills which pride themselves on doing the best possible job! I currently feed my laying flock (banty orpingtons, a buff LF orpington, SL Wyandotte and two easter eggers) Nutrena All Flock and am totally satisfied with the health, weight, and production of my flock, for example. But they, too, get treat stuff here and there to break up the monotony--sometimes scratch, sometimes mealies, sometimes a clump of fresh grass or bunch of weeds. But always in moderation!

None of this means that treats or mealies are a Bad Thing, though....it just means that we each should do our research on just how much of various treats and supplements are appropriate and reasonable.

Many feeds, by themselves, lack various nutrients or have one or more in serious excess; it's good to know which those are before you just start tossing feeds in the pen for your flock.`

 

[BackYardChknLvr]

meal worms are great, but i started doing roaches instead, they breed faster and are way easy to care for and the breed i do if they ever get out of the container they never live maybe pass 2 days they will die since they need so much humidty and heat to live.. i started breeding them about 5 months ago and started out maybe with 50 roaches i now have over 1000+ roaches but the only thing that sucks is the babies take for ever to grow up

 

[Kassaundra]

meal worms are great, but i started doing roaches instead, they breed faster and are way easy to care for and the breed i do if they ever get out of the container they never live maybe pass 2 days they will die since they need so much humidty and heat to live.. i started breeding them about 5 months ago and started out maybe with 50 roaches i now have over 1000+ roaches but the only thing that sucks is the babies take for ever to grow up

I way prefer my dubias too, so much easier and more bang for your buck then mealworms. I started tiny like you w/ under 100 dubias, once you reach the tipping point the wait for the babies to grow isn't an issue any longer. I feed the sub adults to the chicks from nearly day one, they love them.

 

[BackYardChknLvr]

oh yeah.. i think my chicks go more nuts for my nubia's then they do wheni have meal worms or king worms.. so much more protiene and nummy goodness in them

 

[Mwilliams32931]

Quick question from someone who just started her mealworm farm this week....ants! I checked today and there are ants in there. What do I do?

 

[gaitngirl]

Thanks! I generally hit Goodwill and Salvation Army before looking elsewhere. Or used to anyway. . . the Goodwills around here raised their prices quite a bit last year and I can't believe what they are asking for used, damaged, etc. stuff!!! SA is starting to get ridiculous, too. I went to the local SA last weekend and they had 2 brand new boxes of pint jars (12 jars per box). They wanted $15 per box! I went to the head cashier and mentioned them (you can buy these at the grocery store for $7.50 - $9.50). She's a canner, too, it turns out. She said she would come down to $6.50. Yikes. I bought boxes of brand new quart jars at another resale shop for $4/box.
I haven't seen much in the way of aquariums at either in some time but I will start looking again. I do have a really nice 29 gallon aquarium in storage that I haven't used in 11+ years. I could repurpose that but I think it would be too big. I love your all-in-one set up. I had seen 3 drawer bin systems on youtube last year and was considering going that route, but I think your way will be so much easier. I'm going to set up another worm bin and experiment a bit with the frass and if the worms like it as much as they like(d) BSFL castings.
As much as I would love to try BSFL again, I think mealies may be the way I have to go up here in the cold north.

 

[Bogtown Chick]

Regarding balanced diets, treats, and varied diets....As a veteran rabbit breeder (30 years), I'm pretty darn well versed in dietary requirements and how to mess them up.

If you are feeding a complete-balanced-but-seemingly-monotonous diet, you *can* spice it up a little by providing a WIDE variety of additional food items in reasonable amounts. A varied diet can indeed be balanced and complete, but it takes a fair bit of research to ensure that what you are giving does not wind up unbalanced or incomplete.

To the dismay of those in the 'the feed companies are jerks' camp, , these folks do indeed know what they're doing. Their jobs depend on providing good, solid diets that do what they are supposed to do, and do it well. Yes, there are feed mills out there who do a lousy job. But there are also mills which pride themselves on doing the best possible job! I currently feed my laying flock (banty orpingtons, a buff LF orpington, SL Wyandotte and two easter eggers) Nutrena All Flock and am totally satisfied with the health, weight, and production of my flock, for example. But they, too, get treat stuff here and there to break up the monotony--sometimes scratch, sometimes mealies, sometimes a clump of fresh grass or bunch of weeds. But always in moderation!

None of this means that treats or mealies are a Bad Thing, though....it just means that we each should do our research on just how much of various treats and supplements are appropriate and reasonable.

Many feeds, by themselves, lack various nutrients or have one or more in serious excess; it's good to know which those are before you just start tossing feeds in the pen for your flock.`

Balance is the key word in all of this. And I understand the concern of overdoing one particular "treat". I think the word "treat" though--for me-- is a misnomer.

My thoughts and history on animal feed are varied and too diverse to be put into any 'camp'. But this I know, I come from a long line of supplementers. My Grandfather supplemented his beef cattle feed, so did my Dad. My Vet recommended a conditioner for my Dog's food which I whole heartedly agreed and took on this advice. I've seen the results of adding to basic "well researched and formulated feed". Trust me I don't want factory animal bi-product in my chicken feed...so I'm glad for the progress there. But I see my birds free ranging and I know it's more than plant based protein.

I think we're basically on the same page onafixedincome. And this should probably be its own thread.

But I digress as this is a mealworm thread...

 

[Kassaundra]

Quick question from someone who just started her mealworm farm this week....ants! I checked today and there are ants in there. What do I do?

There are a couple of ways to keep the ants out that I know about. One way is to put the colony on something w/ legs and put the legs of the table in small bowls/cups/containers of water or oil, this will work if there is NOTHING else touching the table the ants can climb up and onto the table from (or put legs under your container, this could be as simple as pvc pipe pieces) The other way is to form a vasaline seal between the lid and the container.

 

[Demosthine]

Quick question from someone who just started her mealworm farm this week....ants! I checked today and there are ants in there. What do I do?

I had no idea that ants would be interested. It's been a completely moot point for me, though, because they can not climb up the sides of a glass aquarium. It's sitting in a big open space on my spare entertainment center for many months without any sort of problem. The only precaution I've done at all is putting the PetCo Heat Resistant Screen Top on mine, since my wife had a "fear" of the beetles flying out, despite me saying they wouldn't. It's a comfort factor for her.