Growing mealworms...

[sillybirds]

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How many you start with depends on how many you want to end up with. Like redhen said, a few hundred, if you buy them locally, would be fine. If you were going to get them by internet/mail, might as well get a thousand or two, that way you can feed some along the way.

As I recall, the ideal temperature range is in the 70's to 80's. I think they say above 85 or 90 and they can get too hot and die.

If I were you, I wouldn't use straight crumbles. I used about 3 parts wheat bran to one part crumbles. I don't know if it's critical everywhere, but I think the wheat bran is looser and might be less likely to mold. YMMV.

Along that same line, make sure you have plenty of ventilation. I cut two 2 1/2 inch holes in the lid of my 6 qt plastic shoe boxes and hot glued screen to cover those holes.

I think I must have 50,000 or so rapidly growing mealworms in the cabinet in my garage now. My chickens are going to be very happy!

Have fun!

 

[chickabiddies]

very cool! I have 53 birds so i would think I'll need A LOT of meal worms ... I'd rather have them continually then run out and have to wait for more. Just not sure how to do it. Honestly, I've heard of keeping red worms (which I would love to do) but never meal worms.

I also had an infestation of mealy worms in the house one time and it was unbearable. I'll probably keep these boxes right down in the coop ... the birds can keep the bins warm ... LOL

 

[chickabiddies]

Anybody have a brand name for the wheat bran?

 

[sillybirds]

I just got a big bag (I don't recall if it was 25 or 50 lbs.) from my feed store. It was pretty cheap, $7 or so. The bag was plain brown paper and didn't have a brand name printed on it.

 

[TM Chickens]

I've got worms!

Should I peel the carrots before placing in the box?

 

[joebryant]

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Nope, just lay them in the box in straight rows.

 

[theDregs]

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You sure they are mealworms and not the larger "Superworms?" Superworms are a different species that can stay as a larvae untill conditions prompt it to pupate. They are just a bit harder to culture.

 

[shelleyd2008]

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Everything I've read says that the adult beetles do fly??

 

[ShaggysGirl]

I got both meal worms and the super worms going now. The super worms we put in a white tackle box with one worm per divider. We put the lid on that we drilled holes in over each compartment and within a few weeks we had the superworms pupated sp?
No food or meal or water at first . I placed the pupa in a bin with wheat bran and carrots. Now we are waiting for super Beatles

 

[chicks4kids]

Question.......I hand pick out my mealworms...does anyone have a faster way of collecting them?? My strainers are too small for the chicken crumble to fall through. Any ideas?? I'm figuring that I'm going to have to make some sort of diy sifter.