Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

About how long after they become beetles do they start laying eggs? And how long before I will start to see small mealies? I have about 200 Beetles right now. Today I found over 75 so far. Thanks!

Nate

I don't think it takes very long. You can actually watch them and tell by their behavior if they are procreating..... they .... ah hemmm... do it just like any 4-legged creature.... blushing.....

Seeing the wee wormies will take several weeks. What type of substrate are you using? If it's wheat bran, in about 4-6 weeks, gently move a section kinda piling it up a little bit and watch VERY closely. You will see the wheat bran move ever so slightly and if you gently scoop it, you'll see the wee mealie. Another way is to take the veggies out for a few hours or a day then put a fresh piece of veggie in. It will be only a matter of minutes before you will be able to find them attached to the underside of the veggie. It's really cool.

 

[hannakat]

vclark321 ~ We're excited for you and appreciate you joining the 'farm'! Another person walking around proudly announcing that "I have worms" is a be-u-ti-ful thing.... well to us!

 

[OkChickens]

Yes I use wheat bran. I am going to leave the Beetles in with large mealworms this time. What do you recommend, Taking the beetles into separate bins to lay the eggs then take out the beetles? Or should I leave them in there and just keep making new bins when I get new Beetles? I am trying to keep this as easy as I can. I have 10,000 divided between 3 drawers. Should I look into getting another 3 bin setup and start putting beetles into there? Say about 200-300 in each drawer and keep doing that? Which do you prefer wheat bran or rolled oats? I would like to be able to "sift" worms if possible. I have many questions about now having Beetles!

Nate

 

[WestKnollAmy]

The meal worms I put in the bator were youngsters, only about 6 -8 weeks along. Mine won't pupate for a long time yet. But I just want them to grow faster than what they were doing because so many people are waiting on them and I have millions of these puppies....er, I man...meal worms and want them to be at their potential before they go to their new homes. They were just dragging a long for weeks while folks were waiting so I thought I might get them to mature like they do in the summer.
And I am happy to share with my mealie friends the fun and excitement of trying something new.
Now to add this to my website.

Oh, and I got a kick out of someone wanting to buy an incubator now. Got an extra crock pot you could put on warm or low? Go to the thrift store. Might pick one up for a few bucks!

BAM! Did it again! Must be the extra Vit B I have been taking lately. Gotta be something.......maybe the chicken poo I am around all day is making fertilizer in my brain so something will grow. LOL

 

[Emily1220]

Here is my little trick that seems to be working really well. I am doing the 3 drawer bins and each day I put a drawer of wormies on an old heating pad set on low for an hour or so and then I put it back into the stack and pull out another drawer and put it on the heating pad for awhile. Only on the lowest setting tho. This could be risky to anyone whos pad gets to warm. But it really seems to be working great. I am getting lots of pupa every day.

However, many of my pupa are very small so I am wondering if the extra heat is rushing them thru their life cycle to pupate before they reach their largest size and therefore are smaller. I would think a smaller pupa would make a smaller beetle and therefore a smaller beetle could possibly lay fewer eggs?????????? Am I way off target here or could this be possible??? I dont want to rush things along if in the long run it will make less mealies!!!

 

[Kassaundra]

Here is my little trick that seems to be working really well. I am doing the 3 drawer bins and each day I put a drawer of wormies on an old heating pad set on low for an hour or so and then I put it back into the stack and pull out another drawer and put it on the heating pad for awhile. Only on the lowest setting tho. This could be risky to anyone whos pad gets to warm. But it really seems to be working great. I am getting lots of pupa every day.

However, many of my pupa are very small so I am wondering if the extra heat is rushing them thru their life cycle to pupate before they reach their largest size and therefore are smaller. I would think a smaller pupa would make a smaller beetle and therefore a smaller beetle could possibly lay fewer eggs?????????? Am I way off target here or could this be possible??? I dont want to rush things along if in the long run it will make less mealies!!!

My first generation of my own pupa, not the ones that putated just after purchase for some reason were smaller too, but the next generation went back to normal. Don't know if that is the same generation you are working with or not.

 

[OkChickens]

However, many of my pupa are very small so I am wondering if the extra heat is rushing them thru their life cycle to pupate before they reach their largest size and therefore are smaller. I would think a smaller pupa would make a smaller beetle and therefore a smaller beetle could possibly lay fewer eggs?????????? Am I way off target here or could this be possible??? I dont want to rush things along if in the long run it will make less mealies!!!

I have had a few small Pupa but not a whole lot. I also nave noticed some large beetles and some much smaller ones as well. Is this a normal thing?

Nate

 

[hannakat]

Emily1220 ~ Do you know how warm it actually gets? I know they do fine at 100 degrees so I can't imagine heat would cause a reduction in size...but hey... we're still learning! That's certainly an interesting observation. Could it be because they are going back and forth on being hot then not so hot? Maybe assign one drawer to be kept at room temp and compare the pupae.
oh.... would love to see photos if you are able to do the comparison !!! I LOVE pictures!

Nate ~ Oh my goodness....10,000 and 3 drawers! Love it. You can keep thousands of beetles in a drawer....that's what I do. They really don't need a whole lot of space. 10,000 though.... geesh...I need an 'envy' smilie face. Did you replace the bottom of the first drawer with screening? For me, I find it a lot easier to keep the beetles above another container. I take out the second drawer after a few weeks and replace it with a fresh drawer. I have been emptying it into another container and keeping them in the oven to grow out.

Even my larger single container has another container in it that I put up on used thread spools to keep the beetles separate within the same container. (pictures on my mealworm page). I actually made 2 of those elevated beetle containers in case one should get over crowded but since I'm feeding out to the chickadees right now, too many isn't gonna happen again until summer.

You could still just stick 'em all in one big bin to live and multiply willy nilly.... that would be awesome... 10,000 wormies making all those pupae morphing into all those beetles. Dang, but your farm is destined to be incredible like Amy's farm!!!

Easy would be a couple bins and forget about separating. It really boils down to how much time you want to spend taking care of it. If you want to separate go for it. I still recommend a screening top drawer so that the eggs can drop into the second or a screened container in a bigger container. I do like keeping the beetles separate for 'housekeeping' reasons.

hope some of this rambling has helped

teeheee



I have had a few small Pupa but not a whole lot. I also nave noticed some large beetles and some much smaller ones as well. Is this a normal thing? YES

 

[OkChickens]

hannakat

Which do you prefer, Rolled Oats or Wheat Bran for Bedding? I saw in you picture you have used both. Which is better?

Nate

 

[hannakat]

They both work well Nate, but I did notice when I had one container in wheat bran and another in the oatmeal that the wheat bran colony developed just a bit faster. I'm not sure that it would make that big of a difference but it's why I'm keeping the wormies in wheat bran now. I still use rolled oats for the beetles. They really don't seem to care, and for me, it's way cheaper. It also doesn't sift through the screen as easily.