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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!
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