Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

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Congrats!!!

While laying in bed last night, I was counting the months it takes for the mealies to grow and it will be winter when they 'come of age', which is PERFECT timing!!! We got started just in time!

 

[ROCKIN R FARM]

Hi I am new to this thread and glad that I found it. I was going to start a worm farm and still might but love the idea of the meal worms. I was wondering the other day if this was something I could do. Well you have all answered that question for me LOL
You all talk in reference of the beetles where do you get these beetles to start the meal worms or is it the other way around? I am trying to learn as much as I can before I get started. I am waiting till we move before I start. Not sure if it will upset them if i try and move them, We are only going 2 miles up the road to bigger land 4 acres and cannot wait.
I have a small farm with horses, donkey, pigs and chickens. I do need to get more to add to the flock I just sold 3 to a neighbor friend of mine that wants to start getting eggs as well. It is okay but really did not have the heart to tell them No sense they helped us out alot. I will start hatching me some more eggs when we get moved.
right now i have Rhode Island reds, Red sex links, red plymouth rock.
And in my Juvie pen i have Easter Eggers, silkies, and the cochins, Silkie cochins, my cochins are full size they seem to like to hang out with my younger group, barred rock, welsummer x RIR,
I am on the look out for some Lavender Orpingtons, and thinking of ordering me some Red silkies as well.
well guess i better stop rambling and get this posted.
deana in Texas

 

[Shelley Joleen]

I am so glad I found this thread! We got meal worms around Easter and now have a lot of pupae and 2 or 3 beetles so far, but still many worms that have not turned into pupae. After reading this thread I am going to change the way I am doing everything! My husband decided that he knew best when it came to the worms and insisted on setting everything up. We have had many deaths, but I got 5000 so I still have plenty to start doing things right with. Thanks for all of the great instructions and advice on raising the worms... my chickens absolutely LOVE them and will trip over each other trying to get to me when I feed them some as a treat. It is so funny watching them fight over them and play keep away instead of eating them. They also love grub worms and my daughter has fun digging them up for the chicks. The smart chicks follow her around and scratch everywhere she digs or rakes the dirt.

 

[Shelley Joleen]

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You buy the worms and they will turn into beetles who then lay eggs to make more worms. Happy little worm life cycle to keep your chickens happy with mealworms all year! Check online for mealworms. My local stores that carry them sell them for about $2 a dozen and I was able to get 5000 online for about $30.

 

[hannakat]

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Welcome Rockin R Farm and Shelley Joleen!!! Sounds like you have your hands full RRFarm!!! Awesome!

Yep, get some worms and watch em grow. Moving them is no problem since you keep them in a container of some sort. It does take a while for the worms to reach the pupa stage, then into beetles that will then lay the eggs that hatch into little wormies and then grow into big worms *whew* It does take several months so keep that in mind. Once the colony is established, there is a constant turn around of stages but it will take awhile to reach that stage.

It's been fun from the start....and the chickens LOVE them, as Shelley Joleen just described.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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That is what I was thinking, too. It will be winter but that will be perfect since right now they are all getting lots of stuff from running around the farm. I do not plan to raise chicks next winter like I usually do but I am sure I will have youngsters growing up. AND come spring when hatching starts in earnest, there will be lots of mealies to feed the new babies.
Of course, it seems mine are growing and maturing at an incredibly fast rate. I did not expect all this so soon and I am still finding very small mealies in the worm bin so they are still growing up. I guess Speedy Worm sent me older mealies and tiny ones so I could keep the meal worm farm active all summer. Actually, they probably didn't do it on purpose since I am sure my system will be with all stages, too.

I noticed last night as I was going through and picking out tons more pupae that most were closer to the sliding glass door side of the bin. My house is at 74 degrees right now, unless someone lowered it again, and I bet that warmth from the north side of the house is perfect for them. Plus I have it half covered to keep the cats from playing in it. DD figured they would use it as a litter box! With my cats, yeah, I could see it!

The bin I have my pupae in now is looking way too small. There isn't much space for the beetles once they hatch but I guess they don't care as long as they have food.

And I want to say to everyone who found this thread and loves it, please read through the pages. There is so much great info in this thread that by the time you get to here all you have are more detailed questions or you already know which way you would like to set your meal worm farm up for working.

And I bet there are plenty of new great ideas we have not heard yet.

 

[hannakat]

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Oh yes Nadine....cats and mealworm boxes!!!! Mine will sit beside it and listen! With so many beetles now, there are lots of interesting sounds.

I want to mention that I did put the refridgerated worm containers on the counter for about 24 hours to let the worms feed. Oopoo suggested taking them out for about an hour and boy did they appreciate the carrot dinner. Never would have thought of that....thank you Oopoo.

 

[sassifrassi]

Got my first beetle!
A friend of mine, who has had mealworms for her reptiles, suggested sprinkling cheap flaked fish food on top of the substrate. I did that and it disappeared in a day. Things started to take off after that... Coincidence? Maybe. But I will continue to use it.
I am thinking of combining my (now) 7 drawer sytem into 3 large rubbermaid containers. I don't think I will be separating them anymore. It is becoming too labour intensive. I'm sure in a grainery all life stages co-exist without too much cannibalism.

 

[DickGJ]

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I agree! Today I separated close to 300 pupae from the larvae and put them in the pupae bin. I have so many beetles and pupae...I may have enough larvae to turn against me and feed me to the chickens! I am tired of separating the different stages...I fed a whole bin of remaining larva to the chickens yesterday. Now one large bin of larvae, another bin with a ton of pupae, and another bin with a butt-load of beetles. Once I start seeing new little larvae, I'm gonna put a bunch in the fridge. When all conditions are right, it seems the metamorphosis/changes in stage can occur must faster than what I previously saw posted. Seems to me like it's only taken about two weeks between each stage...larva, pupae, beetle. In six weeks, I now have so many beetles...I'm a little concerned that I don't have enough room for them. My bin almost looks like one of the temple floors full of insects on one of those "Indiana Jones" movies! My wife and kids won't even hang around when I change substrate and feed veggies...they get creeped out!

 

[ralleia]

All right, you crazy chicken people convinced me. I liked that drawer setup so I ordered the wide drawers. I picked up a small container of mealworms--it's label 50 mealworms, marked down because some were dead. Can I start with those or should I buy a 1000 or 2000 batch?

We have about 40 chickens and I also would like to use some in my wild birding activities.

I put a section of potato in with them yesterday to give them moisture and several are chowing down on that.