Mealworm farming

[Kusanar]

"There are horror stories about chickens eating superworms whole and them chewing their way back out of the crop..."

All I can say is

I'd never heard of this.

Yeah, I've seen it a few times, not seen the superworm come out of a bird, I have actually never owned either, but I have seen the stories a few times, and I figure it's better safe than sorry especially since they are so tropical that killing them is easy, just toss them in a Tupperware with a lid, toss in some bran, and put the whole thing in the freezer for a few hours, the bran keeps them from sticking together...

 

[coyoyo]

Any suggestions on ideas for mealworm farming for 15 hens?

 

[Emily1220]

Does anyone else get some sort of 'different' little worm coming out of their bins that makes a web and then hatches out to a mothy looking thing?? I am thinking it is coming from the substrate that the original worms comes in. Any ideas how to get rid of them without hurting the mealworms?

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Does anyone else get some sort of 'different' little worm coming out of their bins that makes a web and then hatches out to a mothy looking thing?? I am thinking it is coming from the substrate that the original worms comes in. Any ideas how to get rid of them without hurting the mealworms?

Likely a moth!

They are notorious for invading the grain and laying eggs in it. Yes, I have this right now because I did not screen my bins. Working to correct it though.

I pull out the webby stringy things that are found in the substrate and smash/dispose of all those eggs I hear popping plus kill every moth I see. They are garden foe in my book! Haven't seen the little wormy things you associate with them though. But that doesn't mean they aren't there.

I might use my moisture source to attract them and move them to new substrate with a screen or cover to keep the moths out. If there's beetles I would still save the old stuff for the hatching larva. Other than being a pest, I don't know if the moths actually have an effect on the colony.

Sometimes there are dermestides (sp) in with your original which the companies use as a housekeeper to clean out dead stuff. Yours sound like moths though.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Any suggestions on ideas for mealworm farming for 15 hens?

Hi, welcome to BYC!

My suggestion is start big... takes a while for it be up and running getting you new worms hatching... several months in my experience.

Good luck and have fun!

 

[evemfoster]

Yes they are grain moths. You need to control them because they will spread into everything that has grain in it.

In other words they will git into your kitchen. After my first infestation i ended up purchasing plastic storage containers that i could pop my groceries into as soon as i bring them home.

 

[twigcrafter]

Thanks everyone for your help.

My aliens have hatched into beetles and I'm waiting to see baby worms, waiting, waiting,waiting.waiting. It's been over a month since I've seen my first beetles. Still no baby mealworms. lol Just thought I'd post my slow progress.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Thanks everyone for your help.

My aliens have hatched into beetles and I'm waiting to see baby worms, waiting, waiting,waiting.waiting. It's been over a month since I've seen my first beetles. Still no baby mealworms. lol Just thought I'd post my slow progress.

Slow progress is part of the norm.

The mealworms are so tiny when they first hatch. and for quite a wile afterwords. I often see movement in the bran before anything else.

 

[azygous]

Those of you beginners that are disappointed in your slow progress of your new meal worm farm should know that keeping the beetles and eggs and larvae at around 80F or 25C will speed up the process. It can take two or three months for eggs to hatch if they're kept at 70F, and only a month if kept around 80F. Beetles are much more active at 80F and lay more eggs.

In winter, my wood stove keeps the colony toasty, but in summer, the temp drops to 70F since I'm not using the wood stove. So I place my trays on racks and fill tubs of water to fit underneath. I then warm the tubs of water in the microwave and the heat from the warm water is enough to increase meal worm development and activity.

 

[Richard Pryor]

I tried reading as many pages as I could before asking my questions but obviously 873 pages is a lot of reading.

I want to raise mealworms to give to my chickens but also for their frass. Just placed an order for 40k.

I know the 3-drawer setup is the best to breed, but is it a PITA to get the frass out? Excuse me if this is a stupid question, I’m just not familiar with how this will work.

How many 3-drawer setups will I need for 40k worms? Should I cram all the worms into one drawer or should I do two 3-drawer setups?

Will I use 1.5” of wheat bran on all 3 drawers? Should the top drawer have less so that the eggs and babies fall down to the next drawer?

What size screen should I get and where should I get it?

How big do you let the mealworms grow in the middle drawer before transferring them to the bottom drawer?

How will I harvest frass? Do I need to wait until the worms eat all the wheat bran?

Thanks so much for your time and help guys!!