Mealworm farming

[WestKnollAmy]

I feed a lot of celery to mine. They like it okay but not as much as apple! They hate potatoes and they usually go bad. Maybe my mealies and beetles are just spoiled. The beetles will only touch potatoes if they are desperate.

I keep my beetles on less than an inch of wheat bran. It falls through the screen most often down into the bottom bin with eggs. There is some wheat bran all around the edges of the bin and the beetles like that okay but I keep paper and egg carton cut offs in there for them to hide in. I have over 1000 beetles in one bin and add more each week as they hatch out. Naturally, some die off each week, too as their life cycle ends. Whew! They sure stink when they die so I try to spoon those out. They are in a tub near my chair where I collapse every night to watch some TV before bed. I can't stand that smell.

Happy farming everyone!

 

[hemet dennis]

I know it's probably some where in the 3600+ posts but can someone tell me what temp. range they need the high and the low ?
Thanks
Dennis

 

[Kassaundra]

They can survive anything above freezing, but at the cooler temps their metabolism slows way down. Several have growing colonies w/ their house temps in the 60's optimum for growth appears to be in the 80's, but completely doable at normal house temps.

 

[mychookschick]

Agreed! People even have tried housing them in an incubator, for fast reproduction! But you can also refridgerate them to slow them down and stagger your hatch...

 

[drott3]

Dose anyone feed fresh or cand corn,green beans?I buy caned and frozen over the winter for my girls. DH says I spoil them.

 

[Kassaundra]

I never buy canned veggies except tomatoes. I never thought to feed them my frozen veggies. I always have carrots for the dubias. My first choice for feeding both insect colonies are leftover parts of fresh veggies I am eating (skins, tops, bottoms, inedible plant parts etc..) when I don't have those I feed carrots. They really like all the root veggies the most from what I have seen, oh and the innards of okra.

 

[OkChickens]

Agreed! People even have tried housing them in an incubator, for fast reproduction! But you can also refridgerate them to slow them down and stagger your hatch...

They grow much faster in my incubator! They are over 1/2 inch or so long right now and some that are at 70 degrees are less than a quarter inch long. I cant have a lot in there but i have 2 small tubs in my hatcher!

Nate

 

[DMRippy]

I have mine on top of the incubator... never thought about inside the incubator.... hum....

Love the celery thing... got to try that. I have had mine going since septemberish.... and still have not been able to feed any to the chickens..... I started with only a thousand, but still..... I will give it one more cycle and we will see.

 

[Kassaundra]

I have mine on top of the incubator... never thought about inside the incubator.... hum....

Love the celery thing... got to try that. I have had mine going since septemberish.... and still have not been able to feed any to the chickens..... I started with only a thousand, but still..... I will give it one more cycle and we will see.

That is my one complaint about them, even before I was wiped out this week, I had been raising them since early fall of last year and still no where near enough to feed out. I'm not giving up I am starting over w/ the mealies, but don't see them replacing my dubias, but hopefully they will work into being a good supplement to the dubias.

 

[G-Man]

What tempature do ya'll have the mealworms at and how fast are they going through their life cycle? THANKS

I finally set a thermometer in my colony.. The closet I keep them in stays at 82 degrees. They must like it because they are always in high gear when I check in on them.