Raising feeder insects

[hannakat]

My lead, at this point, is a dud

I hate to 'bug' people (hahahaaaa) but I REALLY want some of these big boys. Dang...guess it's time to be a 'pest'.

btw...when I finally do make the deal...how much should I expect him to sell them for? Is it per roach?

 

[Kassaundra]

I haven't sold mine at all, but I think I remember paying somewhere near $20 for 200 mostly small there were only 2 or 3 adults in the group.

I was confused by your question though, are you going to raise them after all?

 

[hannakat]

No...DH would kick me out

I want to buy all males and just enough for a couple weeks at a time.

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
You have about 6 chickens right?

So your wanting to feed about 1/day so about 50/wk, 200/month right?

If your not getting them local I would suggest buying them by the month (save on shipping) I don't remember if any of the roach sources sell all males or not.

If / when my colony gets large enough we could maybe work something out, but my colony still isn't there yet. I am expanding it though.

I'm sure freezing them isn't out of the question either same as w/ mealies.

 

[animalover]

I probably feed out the roaches two or three times a week. I have 9 chickens, so I am probably feeding around 50 roaches a week. I don't know how big my colony is, but there always seems to be a lot! If you are buying roaches to feed, it doesn't matter what sex they are. But when raising them, it is the females that produce offspring, and you only need a few males for mating, so it makes the most sense to feed off the males. I bought mine locally from a small petshop that raised them for their reptiles. I spent about $30, but I don't remember how many I got. You can compare prices on The Roach Guy's website (http://theroachguy.com/). He has a lot of good info there. Dubias are 36% protein, while mealworms are 10%. Given how small the mealworms are, you'd have to feed a lot of them to equal one roach.

 

[DanielleinLA]

I "raise" earthworms and roly polies (pill bugs). I have a compost and it's loaded with both. I also have a large 20"x5' planter box with tomato plants growing in it. Every couple of weeks I throw some organic steer manure and organic fertilizer on top and it's crawling with worms. I grab a handful of it and toss it to the chickens. They pick out the bugs quick! In an hour one hen learned to take a worm from my fingers

 

[hannakat]

Hey Kassandra! How's the d. roach farm doing? Neither of my possible suppliers came through

and I'm so frustrated. Why someone would destroy a creature when there's someone wanting it is beyond me.

Anyway...I think of you and your farming and hope it is doing well. Still wishin' you were my neighbor!!

Trish

 

[Kassaundra]

Quote:
It's still going!!!! I fixed the smell issue w/ some sand in the bottom of the container. I really need to divide the colony, and I have a second smaller aquarium all set up and ready, but I need to find a good location for them in the house, where both aquariums can be undisturbed and safe from ants.

My girls sooooooo love the dubia's, it makes it all worth it. They still haven't tried the mealies yet, I am working on establishing the colony size first since I started w/ only about 200. The individual dubias are soooooo much bigger then the mealies, but I think the mealy colony is growing faster then the dubia colony, I think they will compliment each other well for food variety and nutritional values.

 

[hannakat]

Good to hear the smell problem is in the past! I can only push DH so far and even though I've been working on DH, it's still not an option. Keeping my fingers crossed. With winter closing in....it would be very reassuring to have the roaches in the works!

 

[annageckos]

Anyone looking to buy roaches (and other bugs too) check out Kingsnake.com. Go to the classifieds > feeders. You will find all kinds of great deals there. Also LLLreptile.com. I know there use to be a person on kingsnake.com that sold male dubia roaches. I raise dubia roaches for my bearded dragon. I use a heating pad set on low and they do great. They are in a rubbermaid tote, I forget what size. I tell people who can't get over the word 'roach' to think of them as beetles. They are nothing like german roaches.