HELP FOR THE NEWBIES

[guinea fowl galore]

The mealworm farm looks fabulous.
I haven't looked into it as I have around 60 chickens and I feel it would take me ages to set up and continue keeping the farm just to have the chooks devour them in two seconds.
So the chookies have to go find their own worms in the yard

 

[Aussie Lady]

I started off with the 100gram container, probably be about 50 to 100 worms. I know that's not much. I'll see how I go and add more if I don't seem to be getting anywhere. At least these ones have plenty of room. They are quite expensive, I paid $10 for mine and that's cheap, everywhere else they wanted $16 - that's crazy.

 

[tweetysvoice]

Wow!! That is insane! Good thing you are planning on breeding them! I paid 7.99 for the bucket of 1000 at our local pet store.

 

[Aussie Lady]

I just checked my meal worm farm and I noticed a bit of mould probably from the corn I put in there. I wanted to ask, do you put your scraps on a piece of paper first and not on the actual wheat bran? I also noticed some ants, a few were in the box - so I got rid of them. Do you think they would harm the worms? I'm not seeing them multiplying as I thought they would - maybe I'm just being impatient and I realise I didn't start off with a whole heap of them.

PS I fed one to my chicken for a treat, she didn't know what it was and pecked at it for some time. It was actually quite funny to watch.

 

[tweetysvoice]

I do just stick the food in there right on the bran. I don't put too big of pieces - maybe about 2 strawberry sized pieces twice a week - and that's with 1000 worms. It will take them a while to turn into the pupea and then into beetles. I'm just at about a month now and I have finally noticed a couple beetles. FINALLY. I thought it was taking forever as well. I hear that once they drop eggs and those hatch into worms, you won't be able to even see them with the naked eye for at least a couple weeks after they hatch too. It's a slow process, that's why i wanted to start before I got chickens. Only a week and a half left!! I can't wait!!!

That's hilarious that she didn't know what to do with it! Did she finally eat it? I bet once she gets a taste for them then it'll all be you can do to get them outta your hand before she's snatching them up!

 

[yorkchick]

Hi, Aussie Lady! I'm really enjoying your enthusiasm and drive to learn! I am considering starting a mealworm farm myself, haven't quite decided, but my hens are frantically fond of dried mealworms. My little silver Sebright Edna will fly onto my head and perch if she gets the suspicion the mealworms are coming! But the dried ones are so expensive--and my chickens seem to be psychicallly able to induce me to give them a large amount at a time. So I would save money by raising them myself I'm sure. I'll be watching your experiences to learn as you do.

How is Schatzy doing with getting up the ramps/onto the roost? I've never had a Silkie but I have read that they very often do not get up on a roost to sleep because due to the structure of their feathers, they aren't flyers. I'm sure someone who has owned Silkies will be able to give you more information. But also, she doesn't currently have a flock to follow and copy. I know you are getting Australorps--do you have a plan in mind for how you will integrate them with Schatzy?

 

[Aussie Lady]

Hello everyone, I am soooo excited - I had a look in my mealworm pox and low and behold, I saw beetles everywhere, in all different stages. There were ants also, I think making their own colony. I don't thick they will harm the worms, I'll keep checking. They are so hard to get rid of. Shatzy did finally eat the meal worm - she certainly likes the worms she finds in the garden.

Welcome Yorchick to this thread and thank you for your input. Shatzy is real good now in getting around and onto the ramp. We have just changed the whole setup. We took the chicken coop apart and added the brooding part to the tin shed (aviary) we are going to use for all the chickens. Things are almost complete however we had a hold up again because of the rain. I was just standing out in the rain with hubby to put a tarp on top of the shed so rain won't get into everything. Shatzy is now getting used to the bigger premises. I want her to be real settled before I inter-grade the australorps. I'm hoping that because this breed is very laid back that Shatzy will be OK. Once I get these, I will put them in the coop at dusk and hopefully because Shatzy has been there first there shouldn't be too many problems - I hope. I hope that Shatzy will be able to learn from the other girls what to do.

 

[tweetysvoice]

yay!!! Beetles!! That means that within a couple weeks your meal farm will be teaming with microscopic worms! I don't think the ants would harm them either, but who knows. I hate ants.

I"m sure she'll do fine with the other chickens. Sounds like you have a good plan. She might even become the dominant one since that was her place first.

I can't wait.. My chicks are due to arrive within the next couple days!!

 

[Aussie Lady]

Hi,

Just the latest on my worm farm. There's lots and lots of beetles yippee

I got rid of the ants. I have a grooming table outside (were I use to groom my poodles) and on the bottom shelf is where I keep the worms. I sprayed that part of the table with surface spray and just let it dry for a while. I put Vaseline (petroleum jelly) all around the plastic box so no more ants could get in. This actually worked. The ants that were in the box are no where to be seen, I killed a few of them but the others seem to have disappeared. Hallelujah. Hopefully they are gone for good. I am noticing they certainly like feeding on pumpkin pieces and it seems these do not go mouldy so much.

Tweetyvoice, how are your new chicks? Please post some photos of them, I would love to have a look. Our larger chicken coop is coming along really well, Shatzy my silkie is settling in well. I don't think she knows what to do with all the room. We added her coop and joined it to the big shed. My hubby just needs to put on an extra roof (with help from our lovely neighbour) to keep the rain out and a chicken wire fence around so the chickens will stay in their area and not go eat any of my plants or vegs. So it won't be long now - it's just hard when you are a shift worker. I will make some photos when all is done and we have our Australorps.

Have a wonderful weekend and week everyone.

 

[Aussie Lady]

PS: I forget to mention about the 2 beetles doing their thing.

I caught them at the right time. Quite interesting to watch. They ended up going "underground". Probably thought, you pervert - this is private business