Mealworm farming

[Kassaundra]

Steve, not sure what that container is, but should be fine as long as it is deep enough to put the substrate in and they still can't climb out.

80' is great

Gale, I don't sweat the rock hard pieces that have worms or beetles in them they just stay in the bin until they are vacant. I also don't pick out the dead beetles

tried it once it was way to boring and tedious. I figure when I finally get to the point of feeding them out I'll harvest the dead beetles w/ the live worms

if not oh well extra protien for the beetles/worms. Making the slices thinner is an option, but they will dry out quicker that way too.


I think I'm ready to split my bins I will go from 2 to 4 I'm hoping once they get good and going after this split I will finally be able to feed them out. It seems to be taking much longer then I thought to get the colony up to feed out size.

 

[OkChickens]

Well I have a BUNCH of Beetles now! I am wanting try a method with the screen in bottom of the top drawer. which is better bedding for that wheat bran or oats?

Here are updated pictures! These were from a few days ago. Everyday It seems lie I have more Beetles in every drawer.


Nate

 

[OkChickens]

Well I finally got on board with you guys. I bought a 10 gallon fish tank, 5 lbs of wheat Bran put 2 cups of oyster shells in it. I bought 100 Meal Worms at Petco for $5.95 for 100 and found 1000 for $16.

on line with free shipping so bought an additional 1000 Meal Worms to really get it going.

I cut up an apple with some skin and some potato slices will that due for now? Sounds good to me.
What other stuff do I need to do? Whisper to the colony every day: "Grow....Grow.....Grow...."
Is 80 degrees to hot? How hot should I get it? WestKnollAmy and OkChickens (I think?) are having great success keeping them in their incubators at about 99 degrees. They do well on my back patio at 110 in the summer.
Now its basically wait for? How long is the question before they start multiplying? An eternity. At least it will feel like it.

Yes The Incubator is working well! The hardest part is that the veggies dry out very fast from all of the air movement. Other than that they grow very very fast!

Nate

 

[hannakat]

I LOVE the photos Nate. For beetles, I prefer to use rolled oats since it doesn't sift through the screen as easily.

SteveBaz ~ Congrats! Sounds like you're on your way. The temp is great too. The develop differently depending on the temperature. The higher, the faster they develop. Keep in mind, though, that they will still continue to develop even at 55 degrees. They end up going pretty dormant in the fridge so anything from that on up is good.

Don't feed them too much or have too much moisture in the colony. That is the main reason for colony failure...moisture. It causes mold and with the right temps, mites. Only feed them what they can consume in a couple of days. I no longer keep veggies in mine 24/7 since they seem to still do very well and I don't have to worry about mold or mites.

TerriO ~ Great update!

Scooter&Suzie ~ A cottage cheese container is fine for 1000 wormies....

in21a ~ Yep, any kind of window screen works.

algopurple ~ Welcome! Hope you've had time to look over the first post and check out the 3 mealworm links. Awesome info in those!

Ivywoods ~ Should I include New York Worms on the "recommended list" then?

 

[hannakat]

I didn't even realize it but our worm farm has exploded. They are all pretty small now although there are a couple of big ones which puzzled me. I guess I had different ages of worms from the start. I have been neglecting the cleanup so now I'm in the middle of picking out hundreds of dead beetles, pupa and worms and then what? Do you strain out the frass and compost it? Do you worry about eggs being in the frass? Is it all frass or is it oatmeal (or wheat bran if you use that) that has been picked to a powder?

One thing I am going to do is always slice potatoes thinly. Nothing like trying to break roaches and worms out of a veritable maze of tunnels in a chunk of potato that is rock-hard.

I compost the frass. The frass is the fine sandy looking material in the bottom layer. It can actually build up quite high as they consume the substrate and it's helpful to refresh the substrate from time to time to give them fresh food. I use a kitchen strainer to sift it out and keep the frass in a smaller container for a couple of weeks with carrot shavings to lure out the wee babies. At a certain point, though, I just pitch it.

 

[1 silkie 2]

nice pics

 

[1 silkie 2]

and dose any one now if chickens eat fishing worms thanks

 

[OkChickens]

Hannakat

Ivywoods ~ Should I include New York Worms on the "recommended list" then?

I bought my worms from NYWorms.com and they were very nice people and fast delivery with little to none dead! I will order from them again if I need More worms.

Nate

 

[OkChickens]

and dose any one now if chickens eat fishing worms thanks Denise

Yes as a treat but I would not feed them a lot. They have a lot of protein and the extra Protein causes loose poop and cleans them out more of less. When I have extra I throw them to the chickens.

Nate

 

[Ivywoods]

I am just one person, but from that one experience I would recommend NY Worms without hesitation.