Mealworm farming

[NCGrammie]

I have a flock of approximately 50 chickens...how long do you think it will take before I will actually have enough worms for treats for them say...once or twice a day? I started with 1000.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

It was a lot of reading

.
Up date on my colony. I started small in a 4X4 container. When I got beetles I moved them to a bigger bin. Today I was cleaning out my porch and found the original 4X4 container and noticed there was still some oats in there. Went to wash it and saw hundreds of little mealworms moving around. The container they were in sat on the east side of my house so they got a lot of morning sun, surprised they survived. Added some oats and a carrot to the container and put it in the shed with the other containers.
Now I have more, "sweet".

YAY!!! Wee Wormies!!

 

[Epreciado]

Yes very exciting. To bad my DW doesn't feel the same, you should see the looks I get when I come in the house and tell her I have worms.

 

[cluck-cluck]

I wonder the same thing, NCGrammie. Since my DH nearly killed our "flock o worms" while I was away, we may only have had 100 turn into beetles, so I suspect I won't have many worms for the chickies still for a while, yet I might be able to get 20,000 worms out of it if all goes well.... but... I can't tell if anything is going well!

Congrats on your wormies, Epreciado! Oh well, worms aren't for everyone! I must say, I'm still skittish when they wiggle in my hands, LOL, but I"m getting better at handling them!

 

[chrissy12]

Hi all, I'm new to this forum, and I am currently studying my third year for a BSc Animal biology. I want to do a dissertation on mealworms, but I have trouble finding a good topic to work on. I did, however, read a post about the density of mealworms affecting their colour and that interested me . So, I was wondering if there was any information you guys could help me since you all seem so knowledgable about them!

If anyone knows of a way could experiment with this that would be most helpful!

Thanks

 

[NCGrammie]

I wonder the same thing, NCGrammie.  Since my DH nearly killed our "flock o worms" while I was away, we may only have had 100 turn into beetles, so I suspect I won't have many worms for the chickies still for a while, yet I might be able to get 20,000 worms out of it if all goes well.... but... I can't tell if anything is going well!

OMGosh, what did your husband do?! My DH won't have ANYTHING to do with them. lol

I haven't seen any beetles in my yet. Hopefully very soon, 20,000 worms would be an awesome return!!

 

[bobbieschicks]

Fall is upon us and I can already see that winter will be here before I want it to be. I've noticed that my larva are turning into pupae at an alarming rate. So while I still have many many thick large worms, I also have a bunch of tiny skinny babies as well. I've spotted a few beetles - but not too many. Of course with all those pupae I should I have beetles within a few weeks. Seems like they are changing fast. I'm worried that I will soon have all beetles and no mealies to feed out.

How to I keep this going all winter so that the chickens can eat them during the colder months? Do I freeze a bunch of worms to feed them out later? Do I have to preserve them somehow? Do I just purchase a new crop of larva once these go to pupa so that they are growing at different stages in different bins?

My recent thing was to separate the pupae into the top bin and let those turn to beetles so I can clearly see how many mealies I have left. I've also cleaned out most of the larva from the bottom drawer and am waiting for some time to see if anything still exists in that drawer. How long do I need to wait before I can dump that drawer and start it fresh without worry that I've dumped the tiny babies?

Thanks!
Bobbie

I hope this makes sense - I'm operating on lack of caffiene and 3 hours of sleep - lol!

 

[cluck-cluck]

OMGosh, what did your husband do?! My DH won't have ANYTHING to do with them. lol
I haven't seen any beetles in my yet. Hopefully very soon, 20,000 worms would be an awesome return!!

LOL, I came home to a moldy mess, green as grass! He put a lot of stuff in there, and I did have a cup of water in the center that may have spilled? Lots of bread left to mold. We pulled out what we could and put them in new material but a lot died anyway. Now I have some that survived and have pupated and I'm hoping for a new batch of healthy worms again, LOL.

bobbieschicks, you can refrigerate them to slow down their development, but I don't know the optimal temperature, I think regular refrigeration temps should be fine. Freezing them would kill them of course.. Maybe what you should do is take the pupa and beetles out, let them develop and grow, but take the worms left and refrigerate to feed the chickens over the winter (or even freeze?

 

[griffinkid02]

Yeah!!! Tomato worms do drive them insane don't they! It's even funnier when the chickens are small.

Sorry for referencing an ancient post, but I want to raise THESE! lol. So much prettier than the mealies. Anyone got an idea how to start

 

[DMRippy]

Quote: First start growing some tomatoes

then HARVEST

I never saw these things in my garden till last summer.... HUGE worms. I would think only a hand full would fill up a few birds.