Mealworm farming

[Gold Griffin Chicken Mom]

Hannakat has posted several times the life cycle of mealies. Go back and read the first post. Rounding and adding up those weeks looks to be a range of 20 to 30 weeks.

So, under best, near-to-perfect temperatures and humidity, we are looking at 20+ weeks. YMMV.

Make a copy of the life cycle. When you start a new colony, note the date on a piece of paper. "The faintest mark of a pencil is stronger than the strongest memory." Wait four months (20weeks) before having a meltdown! Feed your box of mealies a carrot or something and forget about them for a couple of days. Read the posts here to learn from everyone's mistakes and don't repeat them. Good luck and happy growing!

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

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It depends on the temp. At 80 degrees I would think only a couple weeks. Let us know when the pupae morph. It'll be interesting to know how long it realy takes at that temp.

Life cycle stages... this is relative to conditions such as temperature, food source, etc:
Egg Incubation: 4-19 days (usually 4-7). Another source says 20-40 days
Larva: 10 weeks. Visible after about a week
Pupa: 6-18 (18-24?) days
Beetle and Egg Laying: 8-12 weeks (followed by death). Egg laying starts 4-19 days (average 12) after emergence

I have a dozen beetles this morning. So first ones appeared in 5-6 days after turning to pupae

 

[kizanne]

Ok I just had a Duh moment.

I keep the house pretty chilly to keep utility bills down. I keep it at about 65-66 which in north florida means many days are warmer outside then inside.

But today the cold just seeped in the house. The high today was 45 and you could feel it.

My mealworm bins seemed very sluggish and I was contemplating putting my seed heater mat under the current it bin. (I have 4 bins)

Then I walked into my spare bedroom which is actually now the chicken room as it has 24 cornish cross 3 1/2 week olds and 9 one week old layers (well hopefully).

It was warm in there with a heat lamp and 33 birds breathing.

I hadn't put them in there originally cause of the dust but then today I thought of how fine the frass is and decided it was worth the risk.

I put all 4 bins in the chicken room and they are much livelier now. Hope it works. I am definately going to get my money's worth on that one heat lamp in that room.

My meaties wiped out my current feed out bin and my second one is almost ready so they could use the boost.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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LOVE IT!!!!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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well we had one... sold to me as a nice brown swiss milker with her first calf just weaned. at least *I* thought she was a milker. *SHE* thought she was a fighting bull... snorting, head tossing, pawing a big pit in the center of the pen whenever she saw us, and then charging the fence...

so we figured out how to corral her in a squeeze, and snubbed her short, and we tied a back hoof, and milked her anyway. I figured with time, and grain, and gentle scratching on the good itchy spots, we'd make progress...

nope.

2 months, no progress.

apparently the delta between "milking cow" and "fighting bull" is "dinner".

just goes to show if you're tasty, you shouldn't also be mean

going to try that again some time, I'm looking for a 1/2-1/4 jersey with big soft liquidy eyes and no aspirations in the bullfighting department.

then maybe we'll breed some nice jersey angus crosses.

OMG! I fell off my chair laughing at this! It was great! Thanks for sharing!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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I have spent most of the day with mealies. I had several orders to get out and the blasted things that were in their tub to be measured and shipped out decided to pupate yesterday! So I spent most of the day going through the wheat bran in 2 thriving bins sifting out more mealies. Blasted buggers! Obviously they can't count correctly! They were not old enough to pupate!

I do enjoy going through the bins but lately I am putting a lot less wheat bran than I used to put in. Only because they can get away from me so dag gone fast! Have you seen some of them that flat out move? Must be speed racers!

They are addictive! And I love the temperature control of having them in the house.

 

[Terri O]

I am glad that I read about microwaving the bran. Mine has been frozen outside for a few weeks but I think I will micro it too; having had a problem in the past with those nasty little mites. Thanks for the suggestion! Terri O

 

[so lucky]

This question has probably been answered several times in this thread, but I don't have through all the pages right now.so I was wondering if anybody could tell me if the worms shed their skin as they grow? I have lots of various size small worms, but also lots of empty skins lying in the bedding. Die-off or shedding?

 

[Josie360]

Shedding

 

[Emily1220]

Lot and LOTS of shedding!!!! Means they are growing!!! Good job!!