First attempt at mealworm farming

[Perris]

Yesterday I bought my first live mealworms and set them up in what I hope will be a suitable mealworm farm. I am starting this thread to chart its progress and share the experience with those thinking of doing the same - and, no doubt, as we go on, to ask for help from those who have already been there, done that! Youtube is great for the initial research stage, but nothing beats Q&As with other people in real time for a proper understanding of something, as Sokrates might have said.

 

[ColoradoPip]

I started two colonies in early January and both appear to be thriving. My plan was to have them ready for the chickens to eat in April/May, giving me a solid 4-5 months to learn, let them do their thing, and get a solid colony started.

1 in a 55 gallon aquarium and 1 in a 20 gallon. They are two different types.

It's very dry here so I run a small humidifier in the room where they live. When I didn't run the humidifier it was ~30% humidity at best and things weren't happening. Once I got it up to ~50% the colonies flourished. On the positive I've had no issues with mold with it being so dry. I also placed them in a room with it's own thermostat so the temps maintain ~65-70.

They have been extremely easy to take care of and mildly interesting to watch. The one thing I'm noticing is the dust. There's a lot more dust lately and it seems heaviest in the room where they reside. In the summer I may move them out into the garage/shop/barn if the dust remains an issue. I did not notice the dust until the last couple of weeks so it's possibly just telling me it's time to change their bedding/substrate out and put it into backup aquariums in case there are eggs. Once the beetles hatch it takes no time for them to start getting busy!!

 

[Fluffyflufffluff]

Yesterday I bought my first live mealworms and set them up in what I hope will be a suitable mealworm farm. I am starting this thread to chart its progress and share the experience with those thinking of doing the same - and, no doubt, as we go on, to ask for help from those who have already been there, done that! Youtube is great for the initial research stage, but nothing beats Q&As with other people in real time for a proper understanding of something, as Sokrates might have said.

Mealworms are always great for chickens, It's too hard to maintain sometimes spacially here in the Philippines, Other coops sometimes eat them 1st.

 

[aswank22]

SUPER easy to mealworm farm.
I find it easiest to do drawers. I know a lot of people that don’t separate their stages but I do. I find I get a better turn out because the beetles aren’t eating the larvae/eggs.
I’ve got thousands of worms. I started last April so it’s almost been a year.
The best bedding I would suggest is something small so they can eat it faster. The worms grow really well on wheat bran. I get a 50lb bag at my feed store for less than $15.
make sure to microwave or bake it to kill extra bugs! Grain Mites are a HASSLE but they only come around when the humidity Is too high. So make sure whatever water source you add to your drawers they eat right away.
I would stay away from apples and potatoes. They tend to smell and mold if forgotten about.
My farm goes crazy for aloe, cactus, carrots, lettuce, cucumber, etc.
Anything with a high moisture content make sure to watch and don’t add it straight to the bedding cause then it could mold. I add a piece of cardboard and then put the water source on top and they will crawl to it.
I almost always just use carrots. They’re easy and cheap.
Make sure you’re watching if they’ve been sprayed with pesticides though and wash thoroughly because that can kill your whole farm.
I leave my beetles in the bedding about 2-4 weeks. After that I remove them to new bedding and leave the “old” where all the eggs are to sit. I can usually see babies immediately.
the warmer it is where your farm is, the faster you’ll see worms.
I keep my room about 70°ish so I see worms relatively quickly.
Mealworm farming is pretty interesting and cost me... maybe $6to start. I haven’t had to buy anything again other than the occasional bag of carrots.

$30- 10 drawer craft drawer system (Walmart)
$15 - wheat bran (still have a ton! I just had to repackage it in sealed bags)
$5 - carrots
$15 - mealworms

I personally sell kits for mealworm farms and it get you a jump on farming. I give you all the cycles.
beetles, eggs in the bedding and jar, worms and pupae.

if you have any questions I would love to answer them! Farming mealworms is a fun and interesting process!

 

[ColoradoPip]

Pupae, yes. They arrived as worms mostly (I ordered 5000 so there might have been pupae that I didn't see). After a couple of weeks, and lots of molting, a few pupae started appearing. Then lots and lots and lots of pupae. Then a few beetles popped up. I'm sure more than I knew because they like to hang below the surface. Now there are 1000s of beetles. I expect to have my first generation worms any time in the coming week or three. They are cycling a lot faster than I expected! I thought it would be 3-4 months before the first hatch, I'm on track for ~2 months if I start seeing them in the next week or two.

Yes pay close attention to the mold situation.

The second type of mealworm is darker. According to the website they are Tenebrio obscurus where as the other ones are Tenebrio molitor.

 

[ColoradoPip]

Seems to take forever for those first beetles to hatch.

With the eggs...don't be fooled, if you sift everything out you are likely to find small worms have hatched. I thought nothing was happening until I did a full clean out and found lots of small worms.

 

[Perris]

hi @ColoradoPip ! thanks for the encouragement Have you had any pupae yet? What's the difference between the two types you have?

Humidity here is at t'other end of the scale, near 90% a lot of the time. I've put mine in the boiler room to keep them warm and toasty while temps are close to freezing outside and everything is very damp. Mold is something I'll have to watch out for.

 

[ColoradoPip]

wow! that's quick!
so are you leaving them in the same tank through all stages? the youtube videos I saw picked them out as they went into the next stage and moved them on to a separate tank, so one tank of worms, one of pupae, one of adults beetles, and the eggs from them periodically separated by sieving out the adults and putting them into another tank.

That's too much work for me.

Based on my reading, you do not need to separate them as long as they have the proper amount of food and hydration. Just like with keeping chickens or any animals, food, water, and shelter, as long as those are good, the animals generally get along

I do have enough tanks to do this but do not want to maintain 6 tanks!! 2 is much easier

 

[Perris]

yes I read that too, but since they lay the eggs, there must be a period when beetles and eggs are in the same container, surely? I'm using a stack of 3 plastic drawers, mealworms in the bottom, moving pupae up the middle one, and when any beetles emerge I'll move them on to the top drawer. When the bottom drawer is completely empty of mealworms I'll clean it out so the beetles get a nice clean home to lay more eggs in, and the one they left should turn into the mealworm drawer as their first eggs hatch; at least that's how I think it works! Hopefully this rotation can continue indefinitely

 

[Perris]

we have beetles! 1st ones hatched last night