First attempt at mealworm farming

How do you guys decide how many to harvest? I'm still a few months from that point, but I would hate to harvest too many and have to essentially start over.
right now I have the opposite problem! (They grow faster in the warm months.) Too many are pupating before I get to harvest them. So I'm putting some in the fridge to hold them back; it slows down their metabolism.

To answer your question, each female beetle should lay about 200 eggs, so you should be able to harvest at least 3/4 of any batch and still expect to reproduce as many or more than you started with.
 
right now I have the opposite problem! (They grow faster in the warm months.) Too many are pupating before I get to harvest them. So I'm putting some in the fridge to hold them back; it slows down their metabolism.

To answer your question, each female beetle should lay about 200 eggs, so you should be able to harvest at least 3/4 of any batch and still expect to reproduce as many or more than you started with.

Ah ok! Thanks!
 
I’m stumbling upon this post and I’m wondering about how much time does it take out of your week to raise meal worms? I one main reason to not take on the task, I am busy with three young kids. But I have lots of reasons to do it. I live in the south west where water limits the amount of bugs outdoors, even in the spring and summer. My chickens show symptoms of too low amounts of proteins, feathers missing. Coyotes are frequent visitors so free ranging is limited. I’m also finding it hard to find any feed over 16% protein and dried bugs are cost prohibitive the feed store.

I hate to take on a project that might be a failure. I really want to take on worms raising, but it seems like sifting and rotating might be a bit time consuming. I have also heard that frequent expose to the larva can cause sensitivity or allergies. While handling, should I wear a mask?
 
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I’m stumbling upon this post and I’m wondering about how much time does it take out of your week to raise meal worms?
Hello, meal worms in my experience with TRYING to raise them, they are low maintenance and pretty much do their own thing once you are set up. One of the big problems I experienced was a grain mite infestation and that became a very time consuming process trying to get that mess cleaned up and under control.
My chickens show symptoms of too low amounts of proteins, feathers missing.
What do you consider symptoms of low protein? Missing feathers can be from molting, fighting and or from an aggressive rooster mating, or even too many roosters to hen ratio. How many chickens do you have?

I am no expert, but some members will also tell you that meal worms are considered a treat and not a main source of a protein substitute for your chickens daily diet. Chickens are little cantabiles and can eat a variety of unseasoned cooked people food to help boost their daily protein, like meat, scrabbled eggs etc.

If your chickens are molting, that is when it's a good time to give them the extra protein to help with new feather growth.
I hate to take on a project that might be a failure.
Very understandable. IMO, If your main reason not to raise meal worms is because you are very busy with your three young children. I don't see the pros out weighing the cons for the little extra amount of protein you will gain from the meal worms.

Maybe more experienced members will chime in and be able to help you better. Best of Luck. :)
 
I’m stumbling upon this post and I’m wondering about how much time does it take out of your week to raise meal worms? I one main reason to not take on the task, I am busy with three young kids. But I have lots of reasons to do it. I live in the south west where water limits the amount of bugs outdoors, even in the spring and summer. My chickens show symptoms of too low amounts of proteins, feathers missing. Coyotes are frequent visitors so free ranging is limited. I’m also finding it hard to find any feed over 16% protein and dried bugs are cost prohibitive the feed store.

I hate to take on a project that might be a failure. I really want to take on worms raising, but it seems like sifting and rotating might be a bit time consuming. I have also heard that frequent expose to the larva can cause sensitivity or allergies. While handling, should I wear a mask?
Sorry about the tardiness of this reply - I didn't get any notice that you'd posted here. 416bigbore thankfully saw it then and offered a reply. Mine is slightly different.

I am retired so timing is not an issue and I'm sure I spend a good deal more time on them than necessary, for example rummaging about in the harvesting drawer to find and remove pupae to a safe place while they metamorphose, or lifting out beetles that I missed as pupae! My routine is every day I harvest some of the biggest worms I can see on opening the harvest drawer, and check all three drawers have some moisture source - typically veg trimmings e.g. broccoli stalks or banana skins - and nothing mouldy. The 'sifting' and rotating takes me about an hour, once a month to 6 weeks (depending on time of year and how fast they're growing). I put 'sifting' in apostrophes because I don't sift as such any more.

I rummage around by hand in the harvesting drawer to pick out whatever big mealworms or pupae remain after a month/6 weeks of harvesting, then give the drawer to the flock to glean. (Because I've been harvesting from that drawer daily for a month/6weeks, there are not many mealworms left in there by this time). Then I put whatever bran/fras etc. is left in the drawer on whatever bit of the garden looks like it needs some organic matter and fertilizer, wash the drawer, add some fresh bran, and - and this is the only time-consuming bit - pick the live beetles out of their drawer and put them into the newly clean one. Any dead beetles go into the feed bowl for the chooks' next meal. I find handling both beetles and worms easy, and there's no dust if you don't sieve; no allergies have reared their heads for me as yet. The drawer the beetles used to be in and contains their eggs and very small mealworms is put back in the middle shelf of the unit with some fresh vegetation to be the grow-on drawer. And what was the grow-on drawer is moved down to the bottom to become the harvesting drawer, while the new beetle drawer goes up to the top shelf.

I think a few live mealworms are a great source of protein, and also a great training treat for the chickens; if they know you are the bearer of live mealworms, they will come running when you call!
 
Hello @Perris, Great thread post you started on raising mealworms. I looked back through all the posts and seen that I had posted way back on #75 and #78. :) That seems to be about the time I was doing my research before I jumped in head first . LOL

I like you have several different tubs also for the different stages of the mealworms cycle. I would only mess with them every 3-4 days and not everyday like yourself, maybe this is why my issues started? :confused:

At the time @Celeste Villegas posted her question, I had seen your thread post had not been active for sometime and I wanted to help with her original question of time invested each week to raise mealworms.
they are low maintenance and pretty much do their own thing once you are set up.
What I meant by low maintenance was this, the mealworm cycle will happen on it's own with the exception of adding food for them.

From what I have seen from other people raising mealworms, a person can still successfully raise mealworms in just one tub without going through all the trouble of having several tubs for each stage and spending the extra time with separating them.

I would have to agree that several tubs is the way to go if a person wants to raise a large number of mealworms and do it correctly. :)
 
Recently reminded of this thread's existence, I thought I'd post an update.

We are still going strong from the initial batch. It took a while to learn how many I could harvest without causing too few or too many to be produced in the subsequent batch, and I think that's something that each mealworm farmer has to work out for themselves given their facilities and flock size.

Varying the veg component and making sure the mealworms get a range of vitamins and minerals is easy if you eat seasonal produce and give the mealworms the bits that you don't want to eat (outer leaves, tops, roots, stalks come to mind) and I've learned that the smell can be changed quickly, easily and temporarily (for better or worse) by providing aromatic things. They are currently munching through some mint, and it smells lovely!
 
Thanks for the update. My parents (well, my mom) swears by mealworms. I gave it a try for my son's bearded dragon, but didn't pay them enough attention to be successful. I think the humidity and temperatures were too low as they were in a semi-open, unheated container in the house, so the HVAC dried them out too much and the house temp wasn't ideal for their life cycle. I will have to try them again now that we're back in chooks.

I do raise dubia roaches for his lizard, though, and that colony is very healthy. In fact, his lizard needs to get into high gear with her eating and/or I need to split the colony soon.
 
The mealworm farm continues to provide a steady supply of protein in a form that the chickens enjoy, and recycles some of our veg trimmings. But it's been a closed population for over 2 years now, and today I happened to pass a pet shop specializing in exotics, so took the opportunity to purchase a tub of fresh and unrelated stock. They look close to metamophosing into the pupal stage, so I plan to keep them separate until they do and introduce them to the farm when they emerge as beetles. At £2.35 for the tub, I think it is a bargain :D
 
The first of the new blood beetles emerged today, and were added to the existing population in the farm. Scores more are pupating, and will be joining them over the next few weeks.
 

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