Got my meal worms ready to make my farm--questions

[Jenlyn9483]

My son actually heard us talking about the worms previously and he asked santa clause for a worm farm to feed his quail. Really thats the only thing he put on his letter to santa! He's five. He loves bugs so much I figured this would be a really easy project for him to play with and maintain. plus he will get a kick out of feeding them to the quail.

 

[knjinnm]

IMO the biggest drawback to MW's is the requirement for warmth for them to reproduce. I don't want to reproduce them if I have to provide heat at this time of the year, it's 10 degrees @ 9:00 AM.

So MW's will have to be a summer project for me.
That said the ideal keeper would be a five foot galvanized water trough with a screen cover. I could produce thousands of MW's for the flock.

Happy New Year fellow BYC'ers

Joe

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
I think most folks are using something small -- plastic tub or aquarium or something of that size. No big deal to provide warmth. They just have it in an already heated building -- house, basement, heated garage, or whatever you already have. I don't believe people are heating anything extra for this.

 

[knjinnm]

Quote:
No basement

,garage is about 40 degrees, spouse says "you already have fish in the laundry room" ... so MW's will be a summer project.

Happy New Year fellow BYC'ers

 

[Valley quail breeder]

I have several colonies of mealworms ive been raising over the past few years in containers all mine are out in the barn all year round with no heat they go dormant in the winter it seems when its really cold, It's been in the teens and when the temp changes they get really active I spent maybe 4 dollars a year or so on Oates and I use scraps to throw in for moisture for the Beatles or carrots. I get thousands of worms and I only started with 25ct at pet smart so basically really cheap to maintain and re produce. I feed to all my quail during breeding season seems to help egg production and I love to see them whistling when there eating the worms...

 

[Rozzie]

Quote:
No basement

,garage is about 40 degrees, spouse says "you already have fish in the laundry room" ... so MW's will be a summer project.

Happy New Year fellow BYC'ers

ROFL! Marital peace must be maintained, eh?

Ahem. Knowing me, I'd just put them in a sweater box, with the top partly converted to window screening, and stick it out of sight. Under the bed might be a good place.

 

[featherbaby]

Quote:
No basement

,garage is about 40 degrees, spouse says "you already have fish in the laundry room" ... so MW's will be a summer project.

Happy New Year fellow BYC'ers

ROFL! Marital peace must be maintained, eh?

Ahem. Knowing me, I'd just put them in a sweater box, with the top partly converted to window screening, and stick it out of sight. Under the bed might be a good place.

It's always better to ask forgiveness later than permission first.

Getting caught is a bummer, though. Better go ahead and buy your spouse something nice and save it for "D" Day (Discovery Day) HA!

 

[Rozzie]

ask permission?

Does not compute....

inform about what I'm getting ready to do?

Does compute....

 

[shelleyd2008]

Quote:
Mine are on top of the cabinet in my bathroom, it's a catch-all anyway. So they get heat from being in the house. Before I cleaned the catch-all to put them up there I kept them in shoe box-sized totes under the bathroom sink.

 

[joe125]

Quote:
Meal worms pupate, grow into bugs shiny black beetles , then have sex, lay eggs that turn into larva (Meal worms), that pupate and the whole cycle starts over again. Can anyone give me the protein content of a meal worm...living or dead? I really need this figure if I'm to determine if meal worms are a good source of protein or not. I'm thinking not, but extra data would be helpful!

What does it matter? You said you don't want to raise them, then don't. They are just something extra to give your birds for fun.

Or you can raise them and sell some off to local fisherman.

Well, Shelly...My whole contention with meal worms is the myth that feeding them to (What ever animal) is some kind of huge protein boost, and you can feed (What ever animal) the most awful low protein feed and toss them some meal worms and everything will be OK! Also the the lack of knowledge of the "meal worms" life cycle ,which isn't really a worm at all, shocks me! Of course, I have a similar contention, about cat food, but that's just the bean counter in me as well.

My whole analysis of the "TREAT Factor" in any animal has nothing to do with the health and nutrition of (What ever animal) and more to do with a humans Brash/sadistic/loving nature to see their animals preform/love them back. Treats, treat the human master, and I will say this again...Just because (What ever animal), goes crazy over/sends back love/whatever over anything.....It's not necessarily the best thing for them!

You can raise meal worms or not, the choice is yours. Just please don't think that you can cook up some kind of high protein Game bird feed, out of coffee grounds, stale oatmeal, meal worms and a bit of cat food.
That's all I'm saying.