meal worms now are beetles!

[nuchickontheblock]

On Jan 10, we started with about 50 meal worms, some oatmeal and a carrot and this week some of them have morphed into the beetles. So about a month. Quicker than we thought it would take and Interesting watching them transform.

How long does it take now for them to lay the eggs and have them grow to reasonable size to feed to the chickens stage?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Quote:
50 mealworms is not a lot. I always start with at least 500 for a starter colony. (Preferably 2,000) The beetles will start to sfter 2 weeks, and will lay soon after. Depending on how warm you keep them, the eggs will take 3-4 weeks to hatch. (At room temp) It will probably take another 2-3 months for the mealworms to get to a reasonable size for feeding. Out of 50, you will get anywhere from 300-1,000 large mealworms. More than that will hatch, but not all will make it to the "chicken feeding size". Good treats, but they need plenty of time to get going, and if you want a constant supply, you will need a couple thousand.

 

[BlackBrookPoultry]

Oh gross. I'm imagining 1000 meal worms wiggling around.