First attempt at mealworm farming

[igorsMistress]

they are going nuts over the carrot tops! thanks again for this tip @igorsMistress

My pleasure. It must be going well if you have beetles now. Congrats!

 

[jolenesdad]

Oh man, I miss real Swiss/German/Austrian spaetzle, usually with some meat and gravy! And that wiener schnitzel. Those were the days! Used to have it every couple of months, then my regular travel came to an end (well before the current travel situation). Dangit, now I'm hungry.

Anyways, I agree about all of the work and went with a large 55 gallon tank and no sifting or separating. We'll see how it goes, it's still early on and so far the cycle has been happening. I did add cotton balls to protect the eggs.

The worst part is the dust, for sure, but I've noticed it really only gets dusty once there is a certain amount of frass so I've tried to keep up on changing their whole set out a little more often.

I also took a small bucket, cut off the bottom, then attached screen to the bottom. It's an awesome sifter and cost almost nothing.

Omg I just made spaetzle the other day and I can never get enough of it!

 

[Perris]

thank you both for these suggestions; I shall have to experiment when my beetles have produced some progeny!

 

[Perris]

My pleasure. It must be going well if you have beetles now. Congrats!

thanks! a few pupae seem to have fallen by the wayside, as a few worms did, but the rest of them seem to be thriving. It's quite funny to hear them all munching away in there!

 

[jolenesdad]

thanks! a few pupae seem to have fallen by the wayside, as a few worms did, but the rest of them seem to be thriving. It's quite funny to hear them all munching away in there!

Totally normal. Also, the first round of you hatching beetles from pupae you may lose a fair amount of pupae as they adjust to your environment and humidity. Don’t worry, after worms grow through your setup and then turn into pupae, you’ll have much higher rates making it to beetle.

 

[kwhites634]

I just noticed this thread the morning, and had to sit and read the entire thing up to this point.
Very interesting read.

I tried raising mealworms a few years ago. My first mistake was trying to house them in styrofoam. I couldn't understand why they kept escaping, 'til I realized they were chewing through the container.

 

[CindyinSD]

I've heard of people feeding them styrofoam in an effort at recycling. I'm not sure a mealy worm fed up on styrofoam is gonna be very nutritious, but I dunno.

 

[Perris]

so this morning for the first time I saw movement in the egg/baby mealworm drawer They are still too small to see, but the bran is squirming

The parents meanwhile seem to be shredding the cotton wool balls; I've seen lots of them laying into them, so I guess they're functioning well as hatcheries.

 

[The crazy chinken boy]

I have been considering starting a mealworm farm but haven't got the time yet I feed my chickens mealworms occasionally but I have seen many videos on meal worn farms and I'm sure u will do great

 

[Perris]

The baby worms are visible

Only another 4-6 weeks till I can start treating my chickens to live mealworms