"Louisiana "La-yers" Peeps"

[1MrsMagoo]

Cool! Thanks!

No problem. These are said to be Calcium depleting so you may want to keep a bit of the layer crumbles in your mix: At least that is what the reptile people who buy them tell me. They sprinkle Calcium powder on them to make sure their lizards and turtles get enough!

 

[LemonMeringue]

I don't know what dried distillers grains are. Is that what people use to make beer? It was pretty crazy the day that I got them. They obviously come in WHEAT BRAN. My face was burning and my eyes were puffy and itchy. I guess I don't just have reactions when I eat wheat. Crazy!!! I forgot I also added some small millet birdseed I had. Basically I just mixed a little of this and a little of that until it looked "right". I might mix up a big batch so it stays pretty consistent. I haven't had any reactions when dealing with them after I got them out of that initial bedding. I did read about some people being allergic to the worms themselves.

 

[LemonMeringue]

I have plenty of oyster shell. I wonder if it would help if I mixed some of that into the bedding.

 

[foreverlearning]

What a great way to start a Saturday! They are too cute! What breeds were they again. You might have said, but my brain is mush after the kids exam week.

This is dad. Silkie barnyard mix in molt. His tail feathers (blueish black) usually go up and fan down to the ground.

Mom of the grey ones is a Blue Sumatra. Mom of the yellow ones is a TSC "RIR" that was completely white with orange eyes when I got her, and is now gold with white feather tips and red eyes.

 

[CackedNut]

I purchased them online from GrubCo: You can get much better pricing online.

As to bedding, I started out with Wheat Bran but it smelled terrible after a very short amount of time and tended to clump up. So, I started playing around with mixtures till I found one that seemed to work really well. I mix Dried Distillers Grains, Gluten Dried Distillers Grains, Corn Gluten or Germ Meal, a bit of Soybean Meal, and 18% grower crumbles. You can also raise them in rolled oats or lay crumbles or a mixture of those.

As to food, they EAT their bedding. You have to keep a slice of apple, carrot, sweet potato, or regular potato in each drawer since that is how they get their moisture. Put a piece of newspaper on the surface of the bedding or a couple pulp egg carton ripped in half since the beetles they eventually turn into don't like light.

The mealworms are the larvae stage of the Darkling Beetle, in case you want to look up more information about them. The beetles don't bite or fly and each female can lay a few hundred eggs during their short life span.

They do best between 65-85 degrees, but didn't die the winter I had to keep them in our unheated barn. They are now in the finished office we put in my barn and have a small heater during the winter, which doesn't hurt my feelings either since I spend a good bit of time out there myself.

About twice a year you have to sift their poo, called frass, out which is by far the worst part of the whole deal. I keep the frass in a tote for several weeks to allow any eggs that are in it to hatch, then sift out the worms and put the frass into the garden boxes: It is a decent fertilizer.

Thank you so much for the information!! I will now have to try this. It seems pretty easy, and my girls LOVE mealworms.
I really didn't need another thing to do.

Everyone here has been so helpful, and FULL of good ideas! I just need to figure out where to find the time to do them all. I want meat birds, to try canning, soap making, and the list goes on...

 

[catdaddyfro]

This is dad. Silkie barnyard mix in molt. His tail feathers (blueish black) usually go up and fan down to the ground.

Mom of the grey ones is a Blue Sumatra. Mom of the yellow ones is a TSC "RIR" that was completely white with orange eyes when I got her, and is now gold with white feather tips and red eyes.

that is the description of a gold sex link GSL some call them or mark them as production reds but they are hybrid brown egg layers is all

Jeff

 

[CackedNut]

This is dad. Silkie barnyard mix in molt. His tail feathers (blueish black) usually go up and fan down to the ground.

Mom of the grey ones is a Blue Sumatra. Mom of the yellow ones is a TSC "RIR" that was completely white with orange eyes when I got her, and is now gold with white feather tips and red eyes.

Oh, isn't he a hadsome boy (even molting).

 

[foreverlearning]

that is the description of a gold sex link GSL some call them or mark the as production reds but the are hybrid brown egg layers is all

Jeff

That's what I thought but I bought it from the RIR bin. That is why I put quotation marks for her breed. I did however get 2 just below show quality RIR's with her but they were from a local seller outside. The red on them is so deep (almost blackish red) I couldn't think of her as the same breed. TSC knows nothing about breed, heck they gave me a blank look when I asked if they were straight run.

 

[foreverlearning]

I never think about the feathering my roo will produce but just noticed what he can. He had a really bad (calloused) scaley leg mite problem when I got him and has grown feathers on his legs since final treatment for it. I just noticed that 3 of my chicks have furry legs and of those 2 have 5 toes. I don't think much about the silkie in him because he doesn't look like a fluff ball but both of his parents were silkie (mom full and dad half). I can't wait to see what the feathering will look like!

 

[foreverlearning]

Oh, isn't he a hadsome boy (even molting).

Thank you, he thinks he is "sexy". Struts his stuff all over the yard, but wants to ride on my shoulder to the coop at night and when I do chores. He is great with the girls.