Mealworm farming

[macdoogle2]

I'm just jumping in as well and have not read all the posts. I have one of those tumbeler composters from COSTCO. The kind that spin. I had been filling it for a couple of months when I noticed it was full of large meal worms. No beatles just huge mealies. My mother in law has Avocado trees and brings me lots. Way more then we can eat and alot of them end up in the composter. I think that's where the mealies come from. Anyway just wanted to share and see if anyone else had a similar experience.

 

[binders]

I may be wrong, but the mealies that you are seeing are most probably not mealies but may be Black Solider Fly larva. They love compost piles and are an even better source of protein for your chickens. I don't know if mealies are usually found in compost.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Meal worms live and grow in wheat or wheat products or grains if they can't find that but they are not known to live in fruits. I would think it would be something else also.

 

[triplepurpose]

What do they look like?

 

[happyhens120]

I noticed my first little baby wormies today! I was wondering when they were going to show up... apparently my eye just wasn't trained to see them. Very excited!! All my worms from Amy are now beetles. I think the girls are looking forward to the never ending supply of wormies!

 

[Bloomin' Chickens]

I bought my mealworm's from Amy at West Knoll Farm. She is very nice and I was very impressed with her shipping and customer service. I started them about one month ago and things are going really well. It seems to take a little longer for the eggs and baby mealworms to appear, but I'm sure it'll be soon. I also moved them into our utility room where the furnace keeps the area a little warmer then the house. I had a pupae and beetle explosion when the temp. was increased. Because it's so dry in the winter here in the Midwest, I added a damp paper towel in a dixie cup to add some humidity in the rubbermaid containers. I'm going to watch and make sure this doesn't cause the bedding to mold. Of course, I don't have enough things to do so I started to experiment with raising superworms. You have to deal with them a little different, so we'll see how that goes. They're about 3 times the size of mealworms.

 

[TedJan92_in_Idaho]

I have mine in a small room that has its own heater. I am keeping them at 80-83 degrees. In 2 weeks 90% of mine have turned to beetles. They are piling in the corners and it looks like they are boiling.. LOL

 

[hannakat]

Wow...I haven't been here in a while and it's so exciting to read how your farms are doing! I've switched from Internet Explorer to Firefox and am now able to get around the new BYC a little better.

I stuck 2 dead beetles in the grow-out mealie container that I keep in the oven....just to see what would happen. Three weeks later and those 2 beetles are still intact. I thought the mealies ate them...NOT! It must be the beetles that eat the beetles. It was a surprise to me.

Another observation about my own colony.....this generation that is developing in the oven has had the least amount of dead wormies of any group I've raised. I've found 4 dead worms and 2 dead pupae so far and it's been going for months. I don't know what the difference is but it's a nice change from picking out dead worms all the time. The pupae from this group are also developing well with only 1 deformed beetle so far. Doubt that this will continue but it's a cool observation. The difference in this colony from my past colonies is that I'm using only wheat bran in that container and it's in the oven with the light on 24/7 since it's cold here in PA.

Actually, the oven worm containers had to be out for a while today....DH baked a pecan pie AND dinner! Dinner was de-lish and I'm sure the pie will be as well. The worms are back in warming up again. Very thankful that he takes care not to hurt the colonies by turning on the oven first! EEEEK! One of my young hens laid her first egg today and DH is adamant it is because of the mealies, fresh veggies, and sprouts I give them. Oh how I

my chickadees!!!

 

[hannakat]

If you fold newspaper and lay it in the substrate, the worms will migrate into the folds. Most of the ones I find in the newspaper are the almost full grown to full grown. They also like toilet paper rolls. If you skip feeding them a day, you can pick them off of whatever veggie you put in there. They attach quickly but it's the wee ones with the big ones. I rely on the newspaper folds along with picking them out by hand.

I do this for feeding the girls....not selling them.

I admit I haven't read all 290 pages of this thread, but I have an easy question.

I started my mealworm in September and now I have worms that range from full adult size, down to microscopic. How can I easily separate out the grown worms?

 

[OkChickens]

I just found a more pupae in my colony! soon there will be thousands! I cant wait to see a colony of beetles soon!
Hannakat, That is a cool idea to put them in the oven.

Nate