Excellent bulk mealworm source...

[LoneCowboy]

So, how long would 5000 last? I have 13 girls. approx. how many to you feed at a time?

 

[Wildsky]

5000!

I just ordered a small tub - and I ordered some crickets as well, cause I LOVE seeing the girls running around like crazy things... I only got 250 crickets.....
I'm guessing you don't want to over do it, a few a day each would probably be plenty!
Edit to add - I have 14 chickens!

 

[LoneCowboy]

Well, Poison Ivy orders 5000. You don't want her to out do you now, do you?

Shipping for 5000 is $7 so why not get a bunch for the same price of shipping a little container?

 

[claud]

You can grow the mealworms yourself. Use a plastic tub, fill with wheat bran, nestle a chunk of carrot down in the bran, add worms, put piece of newspaper over top of bran ---instant mealworm farm. The worms will turn into black beetle bugs(they can't climb out of the container), the beetles will lay eggs and die, eggs hatch into worms, worms into beetles.....................you get the picture. I had the same culture going for years.
They get moisture from the carrot(you'll need to replace when it's all dried up.) and eat the bran(which will need added to or replaced eventually too).

 

[Scrambled Egg]

Stacey, can't you feed the extra crickets to your chickens? They love them so much and then you arent wasting any. I might order from this Nature's Way since you all seem satisfied with them, thanks for the link. Darlene ...now off to see if that fat possum is on my proch again!!

 

[LoneCowboy]

Quote:
How long does this process take? Do the worms double? Triple?

 

[FutureChickenMan]

raising mealworms http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm

 

[LoneCowboy]

Thanks for the link, but that all just seems gross.

I think I'll just buy them

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
but shoveling up chicken poo, pushing in prolapses, butchering a chicken, etc isn't?

lol

 

[FutureChickenMan]

Quote:
http://skylab.org/~chugga/cricket/

sport the kid a couple extra bucks for some breeding stock and start breeding them yourself. help her get started, explain that by raising the crickets you'll save money and can use the allowance for other stuff. Monitor her progress for a while then turn it all over making her responsible for the whole process.

great learning opportunity