Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

Amazing Kiz! I can't wait for your update!

 

[Chickangel79]

That will be a no to the celery then

they are so fussy!! (mind you I wouldn't eat that either.) They seem to prefer to crawl and sleep on the toilet roll tube and cant be bothered to eat.

I have about 50 pupae wiggling their back ends every now and again!

Just a shame everyone thinks I have totally lost my mind.

 

[bobbyc1970]

mine likes lettuce and carrots. but didnt like potatoes at all

 

[Mommato5]

Wow! I LOVE the math class plan! That is awesome! I have a kid going into 7th (and 8th and 3rd and 1st) and I wish his teachers did fun stuff like that! And who DOESN'T want to feed a chicken? Although the kid's that get ~400 worms should share with the ones who got none.

My mealies like apples (from our backyard) but LOVE (organic baby) carrots! And the chickens love love love the mealies! LOL They are SO friendly when they think you have a mealie treat for them.

I found a bunch dead yesterday and I wonder why. Maybe they are too crowded? I don't know how much space they require. But I'm not too bothered by it. The chickies happily ate the dead bodies and I still have tons alive!

 

[sassifrassi]

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Mine are totally into bananas. Skins AND the fruit. No problems with mold so far and I think they are growing faster too. Maybe its the sugar in the banana. I still give them carrots for water.

 

[BuffyGRL]

I went through my drawer today and have 10 pupae since yesterday

I have several pupae already in the beetle drawer that haven't transformed yet.

Anxiously awaiting

 

[TerryLou]

Hey Kizanne ~

Do you mind if I share your lesson plan with a teacher hear in NC ? I was hoping to get her to do a meal worm farm with the students and you've already got it all laid out for math. I am sure the science will take care of itself ; )

 

[CartierChicken]

Tragedy came to our house today. I have been growing my meal worms for several months. I had built up a nice batch of mature beetles for egg laying. I was going to separate the various stages into separate drawers later in the week. Anyways, I have a house rooster. His name is Chickadee, and he is a 7 week old Leghorn. We have too many roosters in our flock, and he was my first hatched chicken, so he was special. The whole family loves him. He follows us around the house and garden, just like a dog. He is more then lovely. Since he was raised by hand, he was spoiled on meal worms. Well he found my stash. While making dinner, I noticed he was not around my feet pecking at the crumbs on the floor. When I went in search of him, I found him at my meal worm bin. I could not believe what I found, or should I say didn't find.

He had scarfed down EVERYTHING. His crop was bulging.

So now I am just waiting to see if any baby worms show up. I keep checking for any kind of activity, but I see nothing. Back to the drawing board

 

[LibertyChick]

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So sad to hear about your problem, but I couldn't help but laugh

when I read he ate the whole thing...hehehe.. How many mealies/pupa/beetles were in there? I remember some of my chicks having really stretched out crops, I thought they had tumors. See one of my first posts.

On another note...how is it that you keep the chick from pooping all over the house? Otherwise, does he make a mess?

 

[hannakat]

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It can take about 3 weeks for pupae to morph....be patient!


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NOOO! But definitely

!! He must watch you closely and knew where you kept the stash...waited while you were distracted and made his move!

If you had beetles in there, you have baby wormies so don't throw the substrate out. At least you have one very happy chickadee!