Mealworm farming

[theceltichorse]

I'm having great luck using banana peels!

 

[mobius]

My worms are prolific and live on top of my fridge in a small sterilite container. No problems and low maintenance.

 

[SuperK]

You guys having trouble getting the numbers up in your colonies, at what temperature are your maintaining them? They are mighty slow at reproducing at just room temp. Need hot house temps for some real "action". (80F)

Thanks for the support azygous, I am on the Big Island of Hawaii with year round temps of 80-85 degrees. Nov-Mar is no different than Jun - Oct. Humidity is on the high side- about 80-90% every day, we get rain about every other day(180-300 inches / year) so its real warm and moist here.
I almost gave up but they are hanging in there so I guess I should too.

Any help is appreciated.
Ken

 

[azygous]

It's a logarithmic thing with meal worm farming. I began with 50 meal worm larvae. It took years for them to multiply to where they now are. Of course, it's even slower going when you are feeding larvae as treats to your chickens.

Now, I keep beetles going full bore all the time, adding new beetles all the time, never feeding pupae and beetles as treats, only larvae. Every pupa is a potential beetle with the potential for hundreds of eggs, so they're precious. The eggs are kept separate from the beetles, falling through their screened tray to a collecting tray underneath. When those eggs hatch and I see movement in the substrate, I replace the tray with fresh substrate and let those baby larvae grow out over the next couple months.

Keeping the substrate as dry as possible is another key to good farming. Mold is murder on meal worms. I use only carrots for moisture, and my worms and beetles go through lots of carrots. I think having a constant source of moisture is also key to getting maximum production out of your colony.

If you're mixing all the stages, you might see better results by separating them since beetles can eat the eggs.

 

[SuperK]

If you're mixing all the stages, you might see better results by separating them since beetles can eat the eggs.

Thanks- I have two bins with three trays. I can also go get another fullset to have a few "empty trays" that can be swapped out from under the beetle layer so I can actually have one bin with beatles,next an tray to catch the eggs, one below that to grow out the pupae once they start to turn from their larvae stage. Next two bins will have space then for three trays each for growing out various aged larvae. Plenty of room then.
Thanks again

 

[aart]

It's a logarithmic thing with meal worm farming. I began with 50 meal worm larvae. It took years for them to multiply to where they now are. Of course, it's even slower going when you are feeding larvae as treats to your chickens.

Now, I keep beetles going full bore all the time, adding new beetles all the time, never feeding pupae and beetles as treats, only larvae. Every pupa is a potential beetle with the potential for hundreds of eggs, so they're precious. The eggs are kept separate from the beetles, falling through their screened tray to a collecting tray underneath. When those eggs hatch and I see movement in the substrate, I replace the tray with fresh substrate and let those baby larvae grow out over the next couple months.

Keeping the substrate as dry as possible is another key to good farming. Mold is murder on meal worms. I use only carrots for moisture, and my worms and beetles go through lots of carrots. I think having a constant source of moisture is also key to getting maximum production out of your colony.

If you're mixing all the stages, you might see better results by separating them since beetles can eat the eggs.

This sounds like an excellent system.

" When those eggs hatch and I see movement in the substrate, I replace the tray with fresh substrate and let those baby larvae grow out over the next couple months."
Then do you feed out all these larvae...or let some go to pupation..or...?

 

[twigcrafter]

How many pupa should I be collecting? I know it all depends on how many worm do I want , but is there a limit? I've got at least 100. Probably 200+.. Some have turned into beetles. I read each female can lay 500 eggs.

I've been catching the pupa and putting them in the top draw of my new set up. Every time I open the draw to put pupa in, the fine particles fall out of the screen onto my floor.

lol.

how old do the beetles have to be before they start laying eggs? I think my meal worm farm is growing faster than I thought it would. Hopefully not in my carpet. Well more like my vacuum. yuck!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

How many pupa should I be collecting? I know it all depends on how many worm do I want , but is there a limit? I've got at least 100. Probably 200+.. Some have turned into beetles. I read each female can lay 500 eggs.

I've been catching the pupa and putting them in the top draw of my new set up. Every time I open the draw to put pupa in, the fine particles fall out of the screen onto my floor.

lol.

how old do the beetles have to be before they start laying eggs? I think my meal worm farm is growing faster than I thought it would. Hopefully not in my carpet. Well more like my vacuum. yuck!

I started with 50,000 worms!

Don't forget that 1/2 will be male and not lay eggs.

Are you using oatmeal in your beetle drawer? I'm going to switch to oats in the beetle drawer when I add a mesh bottom, as it is my understanding all the walking around pushes the wheat bran through the mesh.

Nope, no limit. Except for maybe a couple inches deep (worms not feed) seems like they start getting smushed if they get too deep.

 

[SuperK]

Quote:
I started with 1000 pupae and 500 beetles and I am having the opposite trouble. I am getting just enough new worms to replace the dying beetles. I must have beetles that lay mostly male eggs- LOL I may have to order 50000 just to get a big enough head start to reap a few for the chickens.

 

[Kusanar]

My worms have started ramping back up for the year. Even in the house it is too cold for them in winter, they still move, but they are slow, and they don't change life cycles much at all. But with the 80 plus degree days and no AC on in the house they have fired up and beetles and pupae are popping up like popcorn. I have them all in one bin currently.