Mealworm farming

[WestKnollAmy]

Yeah, really! I would love to have 2 duck eggs every night for supper along with the bacon and biscuits and he makes wonderful gravy. Silly man thinks i have enough time to get any fatter than I already am!

 

[galanie]

Quote:
LOL 'round here, fat means happy. Surely he's got time to make you happy!

.. now I hide before I start something...

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

Question for those who have been doing this longer. I started my first meal worm farm earlier this year and had great success. As it matured, I scooped out a bunch of worms and started a second farm. I wanted to be sure I didn't feed all the worms from the first farm to my hens. And it's coming along nicely. LOTS of beetles.

The first farm is almost done. I'm almost out of worms and the farm has about three inches of droppings in it. My question is, what do you do with it at this point?

I've read that some people keep it going and going but I don't see how given it's so full of droppings.

Would I be tossing out something good if I just toss the thing into the chicken run and let them have the last of it and then focused on my next batch of worms?

 

[kizanne]

That was one of my plans when all done just toss for the birds but someone else mentioned they use it as fertilizer in the their garden and that maybe what I do with it. I don't think I'm going to keep going in the same bin. I am going to grow out a batch which will take 4-6 months then toss the left overs. But haven't gotten to this stage yet, so it is all theoretical. My first farm is in the maturing stage.



My own problem is I have a farm I know didn't have beetles just worms and I keep finding a few beetles here and there which means they are hatching out. But I'm checking for pupae and not finding them. When I run my had through the substrate I'm finding tons of small/medium worms but not large.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

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Those small/medium worms will grow up into big worms that will turn into pupae and then beetles.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
At this point in that particular colony, I don't think you'd lose anything to toss it. Depending on the type of substrate you have, another option would be to sift it. That really only works with rolled oats or something larger like that.

When my 'second drawer' was done growing wormies, I sifted it and then put it in the compost. Figure worm poo is good too!


kizanne ~ What are you using as a substrate? I've found that the pupae are usually laying on the surface. And, yep....those babies will grow and grow!!

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
LOL 'round here, fat means happy. Surely he's got time to make you happy!

.. now I hide before I start something...

Yes, hide..... FAT? Haven't you ever seen.... "Ewe's not fat, Ewe's fluffy" ? (Need a picture of a lamb inserted here)

 

[galanie]

Quote:
LOL 'round here, fat means happy. Surely he's got time to make you happy!

.. now I hide before I start something...

Yes, hide..... FAT? Haven't you ever seen.... "Ewe's not fat, Ewe's fluffy" ? (Need a picture of a lamb inserted here)

I guess that means I'm fluffy and happy! hehe

 

[hannakat]

ditto

 

[Kassaundra]

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Your batch took 4-6 months to grow from bought large meal worms to complete harvest out? (pupate, adult, eggs, large mealies again that are feed out size) right?

What temps do you keep them at?

I keep mine at room temp (high 70's ish) I am trying to figure out if keeping them at higher temps (90's ish that I keep my roaches at) would increase the growth rate enough to make it worth while.

Anyone have any comparisons on that?