Mealworm farming

[DickGJ]

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There are many people who do not do any of this. The beetles and larvae will eat dead flesh for protein. They lay so many eggs that even if they eat some, there are still plenty.

I agree. I mentioned that in my earlier post as well. I truly believe that some folks are really making this more work then really necessary. For the most part, the only thing I never fail to do is change out my veggies every other day or three, I ensure there container doesn't fall within direct sunlight through a window or something, ensure thing's aren't too moist, too dry, ensure there's no mold, no ants, and no flies. For the most part (other than the initial separation I'm doing for my first batch of pupae), I don't plan on doing much anything with them. Like I said earlier, I don't even remove the exoskeletons from molting. Nothing stinks. The only think I expect to do once a month is sift out the frass, add new food, and ensure they're getting the veggies they need for moisture.

 

[galanie]

The first few weeks I had mine, they didn't seem to like anything. And they didn't move around much, either. Even after pupating, they were just.. lethargic or something. The weather was cooler then but the room was warm. Now, though, they devour everything I put in there and are frisky as all get out! The potato that they used to turn their noses up at just disappears. The green pears and apples the squirrels pull off the trees

- SLURP gone. Some days I'm afraid they'll eat my hand if I leave it in there too long! Maybe the temp is a couple degrees warmer and I don't realize it or something, I don't know, but they eat any plant based thing I put in there. I bought some generic oatmeal the day I got them for bedding but haven't bought a thing since.

My little white crested black polish chick jumped in the drawer this morning when I opened it (she rides around on my shoulder) and I let her eat. WOW did she ever eat! I finally took her out of there cause I was afraid she'd bust open and get worm guts all over the house

My setup is the same as DickGJ's with the 3 drawers and screen. I took the second drawer out last week and put a "fresh" drawer under the breeders so I'd be able to grow out some big ones and not have so many baby ones in with them. That's one way to do it, I guess. No way I'd dig around there with a spoon. I started to one day and quickly said, "forget this, I'm going to spend hours getting nothing accomplished!"

 

[DickGJ]

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People won't believe it until they see it for themselves. Once those little chicks learn how good meal worms are (cause usually the first time they see them...they're not quite sure what to do with them), there's no stopping them. My chickens look like shoppers running through the just opened doors of Wal-Mart on Black Friday!

 

[hannakat]

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woohoo!!!

 

[GiddyMoon]

We got our chicks in and they were about 3 days old..becuase it is so dry here I add a small bowl with a wet sponge in the drawer for the pupae...I thought it would be funny to throw a worm in and see what they would do with it...sure enough, they played keep away for 5 minutes..then bam, one lil BR chick picked that puppy up AND SWALLOWED THE WHOLE THING!!!

I immediately went outside and got some of our AZ sand and sprinkled it around the brooder for grit. Scared the crud out of me..this was a few days ago and she is fine, but that was a big worm!!!

 

[galanie]

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People won't believe it until they see it for themselves. Once those little chicks learn how good meal worms are (cause usually the first time they see them...they're not quite sure what to do with them), there's no stopping them. My chickens look like shoppers running through the just opened doors of Wal-Mart on Black Friday!

 

[hannakat]

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You done good! A bit of grit makes for happy worm eating!

 

[DickGJ]

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Your post brought back memories of when I first gave meal worms to my 3 week old chicks...they did just like you said..."Ran around like a game of keep away while all the others gave chase." The first thing that came to mind for me was"uh oh" GiddyMoon is feeding these to 3-day olds who don't have grit...but your next line took care of that. I guess they shouldn't have problems...you've thought about the grit needed, and the worm is mostly protein juice and chitin anyway!

 

[GiddyMoon]

Well, I thought, if they were with mom..they would be out checking out the worms..I thought for sure we would have a frenzy and that thing would be broken up in bits..no big deal..my son was the one that watched her swallow it..you should have seen his face! I was wondering why he was looking so shocked..then he blurted....SHE ATE IT!! SHE ATE THE WHOLE THING! LOLOL

I thought for sure I was going to have to deal with sour crop or something...sighh...

 

[DickGJ]

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I'm still laughing everytime I read this...I know how it is! I use to hole them in my hands "TIGHTLY" so the chickens can rip 1/4 to 1/2" sections off the mealworm. It got a little messy, and as soon as they tasted the juice of the worms...they went nuts! Now as you said, they suck them in whole...and they can do it fast when you hold a palmful. Mine are between 4-9 weeks old and on grit...so no worries. I let them eat a bunch about 2-3 times a week.