Mealworm farming questions

[Kris5902]

.I simply move the beetles to fresh bins every two weeks.

Is two weeks a good timeframe for rotation, and why? I’ve been doing 1 month then moving them...

 

[paneubert]

Is two weeks a good timeframe for rotation, and why? I’ve been doing 1 month then moving them...

Some do weekly. The idea is to stop the beetles from eating the eggs. But 2 weeks is ok.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

Is two weeks a good timeframe for rotation, and why? I’ve been doing 1 month then moving them...

2 weeks works for

Is two weeks a good timeframe for rotation, and why? I’ve been doing 1 month then moving them...

Weekly or biweekly generally allows ample time for egg laying but not enough for consumption of those eggs/resulting baby worms that can occur if you go longer. Weekly is more work than I want to do,lol, and 2 weeks is working well

 

[Apocalypse]

still dont understand why there are 3 drawers? Do both top drawers have screen bottoms? top drawer for beetles right? bottom for eggs and thus worms... what the heck is the other drawer for?

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

still dont understand why there are 3 drawers? Do both top drawers have screen bottoms? top drawer for beetles right? bottom for eggs and thus worms... what the heck is the other drawer for?

You can do a couple of things.....use the top drawer for pupa or, more commonly, rotate the drawer that is under the middle drawer....so you have grow out worms up above and then a new drawer for egg catching/new batch worms below

 

[paneubert]

Yeah. Might be easiest to think of it this way. Top drawer is beetles laying eggs that fall into drawer below. Eggs hatch and start to grow in drawer 2. Bottom drawer is medium and large worms. So people move middle drawer contents down to bottom drawer eventually.

 

[Mimi13]

I am really contemplating taking on either a meal worm or red worm breeding program. For one, I am tired of spending the money these dried meal worm companies command. Our land has plenty of red worms, but if I go that route, I want the worms I use to all be in a central location for me. I do have instructions on beginning the red worm colony, but I think I’d rather start raising meal worms.

Can any of y’all, @Kris5902, @Ol Grey Mare, @Chickassan, @MissChick@dee, @Jus1, @paneubert, or any other experienced “wormer” tell me how you learned how to get the meal worms established or give me a site to pull up to read and learn how? Thanks bunches!!

 

[paneubert]

I am really contemplating taking on either a meal worm or red worm breeding program. For one, I am tired of spending the money these dried meal worm companies command. Our land has plenty of red worms, but if I go that route, I want the worms I use to all be in a central location for me. I do have instructions on beginning the red worm colony, but I think I’d rather start raising meal worms.

Can any of y’all, @Kris5902, @Ol Grey Mare, @Chickassan, @MissChick@dee, @Jus1, @paneubert, or any other experienced “wormer” tell me how you learned how to get the meal worms established or give me a site to pull up to read and learn how? Thanks bunches!!

I would not do red worms. Too much need to deal with keeping the moisture up and adding lots of "food", etc... Risk of mold and it getting slimey, etc..

I have done both a red worm bin as well as mealworms. So my "2 cents" on the topic is based on trying both.

While the following link is to a page that is not super pretty, it is dense with great information.

http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm

If you are more of a visual learner, there are lots of videos on YouTube if you just search for something like "mealworm farm" or "3 drawer mealworm".

 

[Mimi13]

I would not do red worms. Too much need to deal with keeping the moisture up and adding lots of "food", etc... Risk of mold and it getting slimey, etc..

I have done both a red worm bin as well as mealworms. So my "2 cents" on the topic is based on trying both.

While the following link is to a page that is not super pretty, it is dense with great information.

http://www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm

If you are more of a visual learner, there are lots of videos on YouTube if you just search for something like "mealworm farm" or "3 drawer mealworm".

Oh yes, I am a visual learner, but I’ll check out your link first before checking out YouTube.

I hesitate to go straight to YouTube because you can pull up such crap from people who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. And not knowing anything myself I can’t decipher what’s good info and what’s bogus. I found this to be true about chickens and so I figured it’s the same for just about anything.

Thank you very much. I want to read/learn as much as I can before beginning this endeavor.

 

[paneubert]

I hesitate to go straight to YouTube because you can pull up such crap from people who don’t have a clue what they’re talking about. And not knowing anything myself I can’t decipher what’s good info and what’s bogus. I found this to be true about chickens and so I figured it’s the same for just about anything.

I have watched a lot of mealworm videos on YouTube. Most seem pretty good and accurate. Many of them all have the same basic content and don't really provide any special tips or tricks. But sometimes you see someone drop a gem of a good trick that you have not seen before. I think the easiest way to filter the crap from the good ones is to look at the length. If it is over about 5 minutes long, it is usually good. Although there are some long ones out there where they just have a shakey camera filming nothing for 80% of the time. But usually you can tell if it is that kind of video pretty quick.