Mealworm farming

[WestKnollAmy]

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I don't do chicken math and I certainly can't do meal worm math! All that made my little brain hurt.
But yeah, I can do cups!

 

[galanie]

Meal Worm Math!!1111 OMG something worse than chicken math!

 

[Kassaundra]

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Well if it take 2 bantams to equal one chicken, and 3 serema's, it must be like 10,000 mealies to equal 1 serema.

So that must mean 30,000 mealies at a minimum to equal 1 chicken. Then according to chicken math baby chicks don't count soooooooooooo young mealies don't either.

 

[binders]

I started a bin several weeks ago and I now can see pupa and several beetles. What do I do now? When and what do I transfer to a new bin? Do I just transfer the bettles and keep on transferring them when I see new ones are what? I would like to have several bins going so that I will always have a good supply of worms for the chickens but I don't understand when you move things about and when you clean out a bin to start again. I don't want to clean out the eggs by mistake.

This is almost as much fun as my chickens! (well not really, but I do love to see how things have changed in the bin

)

 

[Animalian]

I forgot to give mine fresh carrot for two weeks, I was sure they would be dead but no! All had pupated so now I have at least 30 beetles rather than 3!

So glad they are ok! Won't be forgetting again any time soon!

 

[hannakat]

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Hi binders! Congrats on your mealie farm!

How many worms did you start out with? If you bought bulk (1000 or more), I'd move the pupae to the new bin letting all the worms pupate and morph into beetles. If you want, you can use the calender and move them over for 5 weeks and leave whatever is left in the originial bin to develop. That way you'll have 2 separate ages of beetles. And I say this because after about 3 months, egg production really declines so if you want to cull the beetles, it's easier.

If you bought less than 1000, (or even if you did buy bulk) you can let them all develop and wait for the next generation to start a new bin. You'll have a ton more worms by then and you can then start separating the pupae out into the new bin for a few weeks and then start a third if you want since the worms will be developing at different rates.

You can actually do it all in 1 bin and get similar results.

I still have my 3-drawer system going and the single bin. What I've changed is having 2 smaller containers in the big bin for beetles. These have the screened bottom so that worms/eggs drop through. I've been harvesting the worms and older beetles for a few weeks now but another generation of worms is already brewing and another group of beetles is being collected. I plan to give the beetles about 3 months and then they are chicken food, either frozen or on the hoof.

Hope this helps!

Animalian ~ Whew.... glad they're okay! Remember ... they are for the chickadees!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Anyone wanting to see one of my mature brooder pens going after meal worms just go to my website. DH put a short video on it at the bottom of the meal worm page. We have many other videos of all ages of chicks but this was his trial run. It looks odd because it is a wire bottom cage and older chicks are underneath grabbing any mealies that fall through the wire. They aren't stupid! They were all raised getting these delicious treats and know what tastes the best.

My favorite part is where I have a mealie stuck on my hand and tell the chicks to pick it off and one reaches over and grabs it. Mommy's lovely babies! They deserve more mealies than they get...truly.

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I got a few refrigerators set up with large containers with screens in the bottoms. The eggs and worms fall through but the beetles can't. It seems to be working really well. I hope to find a few more freezers\\ refrigerators to I can do it on a larger scale

 

[hannakat]

Oh Amy I

the video! It's so sweet how the chickadee obliges and picks off the stuck mealie.

 

[Kassaundra]

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I would really like to see pics of that set up.
Do you keep the refrigerators inside, or out? Does it help to stabilize the temps? How do you get enough ventilation? How do you keep the moisture levels dry enough?