Recent content by WillK

  1. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    I'm set on mealworm now, using a series of containers to allow for a near constant flow of adult larvae, rather than storing big batches of mealworm. I actually found that link a few days ago, I've printed it off and it's been a real help!
  2. WillK

    Mealworm farming

    Why do you suggest sifting the bran through the mesh and leaving the beetles without a substrate? What is the benefit here? I've received 3 answers so far so I'm going to post my questionnaire again - sorry (thanks to the three that did it)! https://will340.typeform.com/to/q4drQC (For...
  3. WillK

    Doing a study on hobbyist mealworm farms - Come enlighten me!

    Bump!
  4. WillK

    Mealworm farming

    I will keep that in mind, I assume this is down to wind etc? As far as I can tell the frass is essentially dust? I am growing some mealworm currently but they have yet to produce much frass as I have not had them long, so this is an area I'll have to keep an eye on. I am aware of it being used...
  5. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Temperature and humidity are things that will affect the performance and yield of the farm and are things I will be looking at pretty seriously in order to minimise the time of each life cycle - this brings issues with energy use but I think creating a form of microclimate will be worth it if I...
  6. WillK

    Mealworm farming

    Thanks, feel free to answer it based on your past experiences growing mealworms - its still valid feedback that will help me. I may change the currency, thanks - I have a second questionnaire which is also in £s so for continuity I didn't want to have two different currencies but it does look a...
  7. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Quote: Great point about DE, I've just looked it up and will be sure to keep additives and chemicals in mind regarding what feed is suitable.
  8. WillK

    Mealworm farming

    Hi guys, I'm doing some research in mealworm farming for a university project so I have been doing some loitering around this thread, I've now begun performing deeper research and made a questionnaire in order to gather some information about how any why you farm mealworm. If any of you could...
  9. WillK

    Doing a study on hobbyist mealworm farms - Come enlighten me!

    Thanks for answering! Would love to get some more feedback and start a discussion on past attempts (successes or failures!) that people have had. How many mealworm do you feed to your chickens? Is it more of a treat or to suppliment their diets?
  10. WillK

    Doing a study on hobbyist mealworm farms - Come enlighten me!

    Hi all, I'm performing a lot of research on hobbyist chicken owners and mealworm farmers. Some of you may have seen a post over on the random ramblings section gathering research on hobbist chicken owners already (link). I've been lurking Backyard Chickens for a few weeks now while...
  11. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Yep, seems like lots of benefits, but the fact that they fly (and are known to escape!) is putting me off for a consumer product. Lots of potential as soon as people figure out how to reliably mate BSFL in non-native areas though.. How long are your life cycles roughly? From Egg to Harvest? I...
  12. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Thanks for your responses! The pecking order issue is something that I'll have to combat. How are you currently dealing with this issue? I suppose keeping 48 chickens its easy to spread the feed around to ensure that most the chickens get a fair share, but with 2-4 chickens in a small garden, it...
  13. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Great! Thanks, lots more information keeps popping up. Do you think you'll continue to grow red wigglers as opposed to other insects? Assuming the wigglers support the entirety of the chickens protein requirements now, how do you feed them and how does this differ to when their protein source...
  14. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Thanks! Great news, I'm aware that most people on here seem to be farming mealworm due to the ease of farming them and giving them as additional treats rather than replacing some of their daily feed 'allowance'. What is your current aim with raising mealworm/red wigglers? Thanks for the...
  15. WillK

    Doing some research on feeding habits of chickens - Please help me!

    Hey, thanks for the response! Yep, it seems like the dietary needs are something that can't be recreated, my focus will be on providing a sustainable source of protein as opposed to soybean or fishmeal sources. The idea is to persuade people to use local feed (grain + veg) along with this...
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