Mealworm farming

[WestKnollAmy]

Heeeeyyyy, that has a nice ring to it! Hummm....Amy"s Mealworm Company. Wonder how much money one could make on that?

Now really, I don't think I will have many extra once I get to the stage of feeding them to my chickens and ducks of all ages.
AND DH says he wants to feed some to the bluebirds next winter and spring IF I have enough.

Thanks for the info.
Yeah, my eyes are not too good either. Old age sure has gotten in the way of my living it up!

I still am only finding a few pupae but some is better than none and your math is better than mine!

Here is my stage one.....

I know it isn't much to look at now but there are mealies everywhere and I like talking to them. Encouraging them to grow! I put them beside the sliding glass door because it has a bit of warmth coming in. There isn't any direct sunlight except early morning but the trees filter most of that out. No way they can get too hot there but the door opening and closing should allow for more air movement around their tub. Already the gnats have found the food. I need a house chicken to take care of that problem! I have been changing the food every day though I know some say to leave it. I will leave the carrots but the apple and potato looked pitiful.

Can they have cilantro and leaf lettuce? We grow it and have plenty to share after picking it for the Guinea Pigs.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
Nice Bin-O-Worms!!!

You've raised the bar....now we must TALK to our wormies?

You asked about moving the white worms (unless I didn't understand it). I wouldn't. They molt up to 20 times and it would be hard to say which molt is their last. They are that whiteish color after every time. You'll drive yourself crazy (let us know if that's a far drive or not!!!)

I don't see anything wrong with cilantro and leaf lettuce. Used to have piggies too and they LOVED dandelions and clover...lots of vitamin C. yum.... and Timothy hay...miss the smell of that!

 

[sadies chicks]

Oh man you guys are making me jealous!

I haven't received my "compensation" order from Uncle Jim's yet for the bunk order I received two weeks ago. Maybe tomorrow!!!

I can't wait to have a bin full of wormies!!!

 

[galanie]

I talk to mine! I use mostly pretty bad words though. It doesn't seem to slow them down.

 

[MysticScorpio82]

Ok I have a few questions before I dive into this meal worm farming adventure as well.

1) If using the 3 drawer method-

at what point do you put the pupa into the beetle bin? When they first become beetles or do they change color just before adulthood and that is when you seprate them? I imagine it would be hard to catch adult beetles to put in the top bin one at a time.

My thoughts were to have the top drawer with the screen on bottom and then rotate the bottom drawers and when the very bottom has developed into the adult stage, to dump them in the top drawer, rotate the now empty drawer to the second tier and then the drawer that was the second tier to the bottom to feed the as treats and continue to grow til the adult stage again. Would this be a correct way or is it better to pick them out with a spoon? Also do the adult beetles eat dead beetle or do you have to move them around and look for the dead ones? (I don't want the top to be over crowded!)

2) with the one bin method -

do you feed your chickens just the seperated meal worms or do you reach in and grab a handful of whatever stage you grab (like a mixture of adults, pupa and larva)? If you wanted to sell your extra worms is it hard to seperate 1000 of mealworms from the other stages?

Thank you in advance for any insight!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
Nice Bin-O-Worms!!!

You've raised the bar....now we must TALK to our wormies?

You asked about moving the white worms (unless I didn't understand it). I wouldn't. They molt up to 20 times and it would be hard to say which molt is their last. They are that whiteish color after every time. You'll drive yourself crazy (let us know if that's a far drive or not!!!)

I don't see anything wrong with cilantro and leaf lettuce. Used to have piggies too and they LOVED dandelions and clover...lots of vitamin C. yum.... and Timothy hay...miss the smell of that!

LOL Yes! You have to tell them to grow and pupate quickly and then get the beetles to laying lots of eggs by encouraging or threatening, whichever motivates yours the best!

Thanks for the info on the white ones. I didn't realize they turned white after shedding or molting so that is awesome to know. DD found a few pupae this afternoon but I am leaving them for now.

And nope, I am pretty close down the block from crazy. Not hardly worth the drive, I could walk it!

Yes, the cilantro smells great in the house when we feed it to the piggies and the Timothy is wonderful when we bust open a bale. They all live in the spare bedroom so the house gets filled with those nice smells.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
What I did was dump my first mealworms into the top bin and let them grow. No separating or anything, just let them do their thing. After they all pupated and started breeding, the second drawer started, of course, having worms and I waited till it seemed pretty full (teeming really) then put that drawer on bottom.

In the meantime, some worms were growing in the top drawer with the beetles in it and I just left them there. At the moment it seems I have a self-perpetuating unit at the top. The few that don't fall through are growing and pupating as the adults die. The second drawer is getting full again and the bottom drawer has tons of good sized worms in it. Soon I will harvest all the ones on bottom and rotate the second drawer again.

Not all the worms are the same size but I don't worry about that. I just scoop up whatever I get and away we go. If I wanted to spend the time I could separate the big ones with the spoon but I choose not to worry about it.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
We all kinda have our own system and every one of them works. I have the worms in the bottom drawer and move the pupae into the top drawer. I have the top drawer 'customized' to the needs of the beetles (cardboard, paper, rolls, etc!). I still haven't seen any wee wormies in the second drawer. Once that drawer gets teaming with worms it will become my bottom drawer.

I have been picking out the dead....but you certainly don't have to.

I only feed worms and dead things...I want more worms so I protect the pupae and beetles!! Someone said that they stop feeding the worms for a day then put slices of apple in, wait 10-15 minutes, pick up the apple and shake the worms off.

Wondered about the selling part too....think it goes by weight so you'd have to count out 1000 the first time with substrate??? I'm not sure!

Hopefully, someone who is selling can answer this question.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Wow, mine have really slowed down on the eating.

I change out the fruits and veggies every 24 hours and they haven't hardly touched the strawberry. Thinking it was just that I put in fresh cukes and nothing. They seem content. I think I found a few dead ones because it doesn't seem like just skin. It is like a carcass.

Still finding only one or two pupae but I don't expect many of those for a few weeks yet.

And to think DH looked into the bin today and asked what was going to happen when then I had about half a million.

I looked at him and said I was going to teach them to drive a car.

Somehow I do not think that all my chickens and ducks will let me become over run with them. If they turn up their nose then I shall put tubs of them in the fridge.

He is worried I will get into too many of them. Really? Really? I have 400 chicks growing up, 27 breeding pens and 12 grow up pens. All full. Not to mention about 50 ducks and ducklings.

I just can't wait to finally be able to feed everyone a snack. The few I gave them were such a hit.