Mealworm farming

[WestKnollAmy]

I figured I would make the meal worms work another way for me.....I enjoy playing on the Swap thread down in the "Chickenstocks, Shows and Meetups" section. One of my swaps on my "Swap page" that I made specifically for swaps is meal worms! No takers yet because most are still not understanding it all and do not realize how easy and beneficial the worms can be but they are there for the swapping fun if anyone ever wants to try.

So there is yet another fantastic point for the meal worm team!

Reminds me, I better go feed them yet again! Having 4 big bins of meal worms that are multiplying like mad is so cool to me. My chicks love me and they are so easy to care for! I barely felt the impact of losing those 2 bins to grain mites, thank goodness. And DH says next trip to Walmart and we are picking up 2 more big plastic tubs to start more colonies. He doesn't help with them much because I am so picky about what food they get and where they get it but he always cuts up foods for me to give them if I say they need something.

Thank you, hannakat for starting this thread and giving me the confidence to try something new!

 

[appychick]

I have been reading this thread for over a week now & sounds like ALL you worm farmers are having way too much fun ! So guess that means it is time for me to try worm farming ! Is there any source of "starter worms" available in Western US that anyone can recommend ?
Thanks !

 

[hannakat]

Wow....so many farms growing! Better yet....so many chickadees knocking their keepers over to get some of the tasty wormies.

Amy ~ I keep missing your swaps! Everyone wants your chicken eggs so it's a don't blink kind of event! I have a swap page made just in case though!


Quote:
Welcome appychick! Please look on the first post of this thread for reliable places to purchase worms from. We even have our own BYCer and mealworm farmer, crazyhuhn, who sells them.

 

[OwensMom]

Amy, got to find out about your page!! Have never tried that before. You go girl with the worms. Whole new horizons open up!!! I've seen you on the Cochin thread but you only have bantams right??

appychick, you have no idea!! Hannahkat has made this a community and we are happily raising bugs that in other places people are calling pests!!! The worms are fun to feed and hopefully will provide some independence from manufactured feed. So welcome and let the games begin!!

 

[AyeUpChuck]

hmmmmm looks like I may need to do the mealworm game! Maybe I will make this one of my swaps. For some reason I was thinking larger scale but this size is perfect. DH wouldn't even know that I had them growing!

I even have a set of those shelves spare!

 

[mothrhen]

Quote:
OMG! Grain mites!! What are those?!! I'm new to farming as well but, getting ready to divide one farm into two. I've got beetles like crazy! How do you know if you've got grain mites? Or do you just figure it out when you lose your farm?

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
Welcom AyeUpChuck! They're very easy to hide

...now all you need is to get some of them wormies!


mothrhen ~ Grain mites don't hurt your worm farm but really are a nuisance for the farm's environment and your home cause they do not stay confined to the worm farm. You can google grain mites for a good picture but if they show up, you'll see a mass of tiny moving (mostly white) stuff that wipes up easily but returns.

We've all started to either freeze the wheat bran/wheat flour/chicken feed, etc. or microwave it before using it as the substrate. Most of my original substrate was rolled oats, which does not need anything done since it doesn't get mites.

Most people are never bothered by mites, but it took just one of our farmers to get invaded

convincing a lot of us to take the freeze/micro route. Hope you join us even though the wee mites gave you a scare! booo

 

[Kassaundra]

I have baby wormies!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Nope, not just bantams. I have LF, as well.
I am finally getting down to the 500 mark which is where I would like to be, if not a bit lower for chickens, Guineas and ducks. These meal worms have been great for me to feed my chicks.

Go to my website and spend a bit of time looking around. It is sort of big and I need to add many more pages but I never seem to find the time.

 

[airmechreed]

Im interested in starting a worm farm what do I need? Have not done any research as of yet. Just saw this post and thought heck yeah that sounds fun.