Mealworm farming

[ContessaKris]

Where does everyone buy their mealworms? I'd like a good amount for cheap. I can get 1000 for about $13 on Amazon.

 

[weidnercharm]

Rainbow mealworms. 3000 for about $20 including shipping.

 

[ContessaKris]

Thank you. I'll check them out.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I also used Rainbow, twice... no problems.

 

[ContessaKris]

I went ahead and orders some from Rainbow. Thanks for your suggestion and comments. Does everyone use oatmeal as your base for them to grow in? I've read that some people use a mix of wheat and cornmeal.

 

[Latestarter]

The best substrate for them for fastest growth in wheat bran. If you'll be doing a multi layer with screen for drop through of the eggs, oatmeal works best for where the beetles will be kept (the eggs sift down through but the substrate doesn't) You can use basically any grain as that's what they eat... Some use ground up dog food or chicken feed I don't recommend either for a variety of reasons (which you can read discussions about through this forum). Make sure you pay close attention when they're delivered that the PO doesn't set the package down outside and they freeze to death.

 

[azygous]

Recently I needed to change out the substrate in several of my worm trays, and I didn't have time to get to the store, being so far from town and all. I raided my pantry and found some boxes of Cream of Wheat, and some oat bran. The worms thrived. Even rolled oats will work, and you can grind them up smaller in a blender or food processor to be suitable for tiny larvae.

I also would not recommend using animal feed. It has proteins that could harbor and nurture bacterial growth when the substrate becomes damp during periods after you add carrots for moisture for the worms and beetles. Any bacterial growth can kill off your colony very quickly.

 

[Kusanar]

Recently I needed to change out the substrate in several of my worm trays, and I didn't have time to get to the store, being so far from town and all. I raided my pantry and found some boxes of Cream of Wheat, and some oat bran. The worms thrived. Even rolled oats will work, and you can grind them up smaller in a blender or food processor to be suitable for tiny larvae.

I also would not recommend using animal feed. It has proteins that could harbor and nurture bacterial growth when the substrate becomes damp during periods after you add carrots for moisture for the worms and beetles. Any bacterial growth can kill off your colony very quickly.

I use horse feed, it's just grain, no added stuff that will spoil, I have also ground up scratch grain, but something in it has a lot of fat, it gets kind of greasy when ground up, so I only add a little of that to a lot of other stuff. I have a mixture of the following stuff currently (all ground up fine) grape nuts, horse feed, scratch grain, cheerios, corn flakes... lol, I cleaned my pantry out of stuff that was sitting around not being eaten

 

[mbsidden]

I've ordered my worms. Not sure yet which way I'll keep them. Thinking going 3 drawers 1st.can't wait. My chickens love metalwork. This way at least it will be cheaper then buying that bag of dried worms.

 

[MiddleWoods]

I've ordered my worms. Not sure yet which way I'll keep them. Thinking going 3 drawers 1st.can't wait. My chickens love metalwork. This way at least it will be cheaper then buying that bag of dried worms.

Wow you have clever chickens, they do metalwork Can you teach them to do some woodwork too, they could build a new coop then

(Lol funny autocorrect fail )