Im starting a mealworm bed...

[Tabatha]

Im starting a mealworm bed and I know everyone says to use wheat bran. I was wondering if I could use other stuff too, like dry shredded beets. I have a lot left over from deer season when I create my own feed. I have just been trying to figure out how to use it up instead of wasting it.

 

[Tabatha]

 

[Tabatha]

this Was A Stupid Question, Wasn't It?
:'''(

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I don't think it was a stupid question, I think people just didn't know. I don't know.

Can you start more than one bin of mealworms? They don't have to be large bins. Try one with the wheat bran and one with the beets or a combination of wheat bran and beets. I'd love to hear about the results from an experiment like that. I'm guessing that a combination of beets and wheat bran might work better than all beets.

The other thing I'd think about is starting a red worm bin. I'm sure worms would love to eat beets. They eat lots of different kinds of vegetable matter. I'd probably lightly moisten it for a worm bed.

Do your chickens like the beets?

 

[Tabatha]

I Was Afraid To feed them To Them. This Sounds A Little Nutty, But I Try Our Animals' Food (And Our Mix For Deer) Before I Give It, To See If I Think They Will Like it. The Beets Are Kinda Big Chunks And Very Dry And Fibrous...Although Slightly Sweet. They Swell A Little When Wet, And That Scared Me. I Just Had A Macabre Image Of My Chickens Exploding One By One...Lol. Do You Think They Could Eat Them?

 

[lovincolorado]

I use chicken feed for mine!!!!

 

[Hammerga]

I am looking for these kind of ideas..what feed can I provide for my birds to graze on. I built a compost pile just for the chickens, I spread out wild bird seed all over around the coop. I planted alfalfa for them too. I read an interesting article about fermented feed here. Today I was looking into soldier fly larvae as chicken snacks. I know chickens like raw meat too. I would give them deer bones after I cut all I could off of them and they loved it and picked them clean. it makes me think road kill would be a treat to them. I think chickens want and need more than what comes in the bag. I will look into mealworms too.

 

[brianb88]

I made a composter out of a 55 gallon plastic barrel and put banana peels, orange peels, lftovers from kitchen (onions, tomatoes,basically anything but meat) coffee grounds, peanut hulls etc. One day I opened it and lo and behold it was literally crawling with the little buggers. I have since read here that they really love coffee grounds.