Mealworm farming

[frostbite]

I have found that at room temperature (68-70 degrees F), from the time I have new beetles to the time the first eggs have hatched and I have larvae big enough to detect is about two months. It takes another month and a half for the oldest larvae to grow to 1/2 inch long. In the meantime, the beetles are presumably still laying eggs (they're still alive and kickin' in there) so I am assuming that after the beetles die, it will take two months for all of the eggs laid to have developed into visible larvae, before I can clean out the bin and start over. I typically feed them to the birds at about 1 inch long or larger. (when they were chicks, I let them have smaller ones) I don't know how long the beetles will survive and keep laying eggs.

Granted, the incubation time is shorter than two months, but the larvae when they hatch are way too small to see without significant magnification, and any screen that would allow the substrate to fall through would also let the tiny larvae fall through. It takes two months for them to be visible, (for my stock, anyway) and three months for them to be sortable. Then when they're sortable, I'll put a bunch away in the fridge for midwinter, use a bunch till then, and let more pupae develop into beetles so that I've always got more coming.

Hope this helps.

 

[DMRippy]

One of these days I will have time to make my 2 tier system AGAIN. The first one the screen fell through and I have never put it back together. I bought smaller containers and cut the bottom out and the top to match. This time I am going to put hardware cloth on the bottom to add more strength. Then I will put screen over the top. May not be needed, but I don't need anymore accidents... that was a mess.

I sorted the worms out today and pulled most of the pupae and beetles into my BREEDER bin. Feed everyone and they all seem to be doing fine when I leave them alone. Since it is getting cooler, I am thinking about putting them back on top of the bator or even in it. SOOOOO wish I could move the bator. (it is too BIG) That room is going to be unstable when it get colder.

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Hi all! I am joining the ranks of Mealworm Farmers!

I just received my first batch of about 2200 live mealworms on Monday (we ordered them off of E-bay). They all looked plump and healthy on arrival! I put them in the top drawer of a plastic 4-drawer setup with some wheat bran. So far they seemed to really enjoy the veggies I gave them for moisture - spaghetti squash, fresh green bean, slice of zucchini, slice of orange sweet pepper, and 1/4 of apple! (I didn't give these all at once, but in succession as they devoured the others.) Last night I saw my first pupa! Yay!!! I separated 700 worms and put them in wheat bran in a small plastic container in the fridge to "delay" their growth so I can stage them a bit. This morning I found several more fresh pupae in the drawer! I am currently placing any pupae I find in a smaller container inside the drawer to keep them separate for now.

I know it will be a while until I have enough to feed out in significant numbers, but I am so excited to get started! My only concern is with winter coming, it will be hard to keep them warm enough to continue multiplying and growing... we tend to keep our house just under 70 degrees in the winter. Any suggestions on easy ways of keeping them warmer? Is 70 degrees ok?

I have learned a lot from this thread! Thanks everyone!

 

[frostbite]

70 degrees works okay, but it may take longer than during hot weather. I do it at 70 degrees, see three posts back...

 

[mychookschick]

In the winter, our house hovers from 60-65 degrees and my mealies are fine! Yes, they slow way down, but that isn't an issue for me.

 

[RainbowMealworm]

It may be a little warmer on top of your refrigerator (because it blows the warm air out the back) if you don't mind mealworms being on top of it!

Hi all! I am joining the ranks of Mealworm Farmers!

I just received my first batch of about 2200 live mealworms on Monday (we ordered them off of E-bay). They all looked plump and healthy on arrival! I put them in the top drawer of a plastic 4-drawer setup with some wheat bran. So far they seemed to really enjoy the veggies I gave them for moisture - spaghetti squash, fresh green bean, slice of zucchini, slice of orange sweet pepper, and 1/4 of apple! (I didn't give these all at once, but in succession as they devoured the others.) Last night I saw my first pupa! Yay!!! I separated 700 worms and put them in wheat bran in a small plastic container in the fridge to "delay" their growth so I can stage them a bit. This morning I found several more fresh pupae in the drawer! I am currently placing any pupae I find in a smaller container inside the drawer to keep them separate for now.

I know it will be a while until I have enough to feed out in significant numbers, but I am so excited to get started! My only concern is with winter coming, it will be hard to keep them warm enough to continue multiplying and growing... we tend to keep our house just under 70 degrees in the winter. Any suggestions on easy ways of keeping them warmer? Is 70 degrees ok?

I have learned a lot from this thread! Thanks everyone!

 

[BeccaSmith]

I haven't posted in a while, everything was going smoothly. I had and have a ton of meal worms in all different stages, beetles, and pupa. I've been trying the 3 bin system, but it more turned into a two bin system, one with the worms, and then I would move the pupa into a small container until the beetles hatched, and then when they hatched I moved them into the top bin that has a screen on the bottom of it and it is above the bin with meal worms so the baby worms will fall into the bin with the worms. I haven't been able to keep up with it due to being so busy lately. I have had a small container, maybe about an 8 ounce cup size, that I was putting the pupa in. I noticed the garage was starting to get stinky smelling and figured it was just all the frass from the bins since that is where I keep them until the cool weather keeps the garage to cool and then I move them inside for the winter. Anyways, back on track.....today while taking out several beetles from the pupa container I found the bottom was all gunky and the more I dug into it the more I realized how bad it was, I found small maggots at the very bottom. I didn't have any bedding in this container since it was just pupa with beetles hatching out. I would put a piece of carrot on the top for the beetles that would hatch out, but it never seemed like I had a moisture problem. So I am not sure where I went wrong with this. I lost a lot of pupa not only due to tossing them because of the maggots, but also because before then a lot of the pupa where turning black on me at a very fast rate. It isn't a complete loss, I still have a bunch of worms, pupa and beetles. I'm starting to think the one bin system might be the way to go since I can't keep up with separating them all for the three bin system. One thing I am curious about is with the one bin system, how do people harvest the meal worms? Is there just such a large amount that the worms are simple scooped up and then sifted through a collender? Also I just haven't had time to find a collender that will allow large meal worms to fall through and leave behind the beetles and pupa so if anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear them! If anyone has any recommendation on how to make things simpler I would appreciate it, it is sad, yes I really don't have time for something that is such low maintenance and I really haven't had the opportunity to freeze any of the meal worms or feed them out because I am just to busy!

 

[frostbite]

I have a three drawer cabinet, the bottom drawer has my sifter and my plastic containers to store worms for later in the fridge. In one drawer I had the 35 worms I was going to use for breeding stock. I documented the date they started turning to pupae, then I documented the date they started turning into beetles, and then I documented the date the new worms were large enough to be easily visible (1/4 inch or so).

In the other bin, I had all the leftovers from the first time around when I didn't document the life cycle, and extra worms that I purchased because I ran out of feeding sized worms.
Now I've harvested about 50 worms to allow to grow to be breeding stock. When the beetles in my documented drawer die off, I'll begin the process of retiring that bin, using worms as they get big enough, storing excess in the fridge, until enough months pass that all the worms are harvestable. Then I'll discard the old meal and frass and start over.

In essence, I'll have two bins with all stages of the lifestyle, and I'll change out all the bran whenever the beetles in that box have died and I've used up all the worms. I'm guessing at the rate these guys are growing, and as long as the beetles are surviving, I'll clean out each bin once every 6-9 months. Eventually I'll figure out how often I have to save out some breeding stock to keep enough of a stash. I don't use that many worms, actually, about a dozen a day for my six chickens.

I think it's probably not very critical that you separate these guys at different stages in their life cycle, and if that's true, it doesn't matter how many bins you have. Enough to contain enough food for the wormies, I guess. But that's just me, I'm kind of interested in having it be as easy as possible, and finding 12 worms a day in a bin of everybody isn't all that tough.

 

[Slinglings]

I haven't posted in a while, everything was going smoothly. I had and have a ton of meal worms in all different stages, beetles, and pupa. I've been trying the 3 bin system, but it more turned into a two bin system, one with the worms, and then I would move the pupa into a small container until the beetles hatched, and then when they hatched I moved them into the top bin that has a screen on the bottom of it and it is above the bin with meal worms so the baby worms will fall into the bin with the worms. I haven't been able to keep up with it due to being so busy lately. I have had a small container, maybe about an 8 ounce cup size, that I was putting the pupa in. I noticed the garage was starting to get stinky smelling and figured it was just all the frass from the bins since that is where I keep them until the cool weather keeps the garage to cool and then I move them inside for the winter. Anyways, back on track.....today while taking out several beetles from the pupa container I found the bottom was all gunky and the more I dug into it the more I realized how bad it was, I found small maggots at the very bottom. I didn't have any bedding in this container since it was just pupa with beetles hatching out. I would put a piece of carrot on the top for the beetles that would hatch out, but it never seemed like I had a moisture problem. So I am not sure where I went wrong with this. I lost a lot of pupa not only due to tossing them because of the maggots, but also because before then a lot of the pupa where turning black on me at a very fast rate. It isn't a complete loss, I still have a bunch of worms, pupa and beetles. I'm starting to think the one bin system might be the way to go since I can't keep up with separating them all for the three bin system. One thing I am curious about is with the one bin system, how do people harvest the meal worms? Is there just such a large amount that the worms are simple scooped up and then sifted through a collender? Also I just haven't had time to find a collender that will allow large meal worms to fall through and leave behind the beetles and pupa so if anyone has any recommendations I would love to hear them! If anyone has any recommendation on how to make things simpler I would appreciate it, it is sad, yes I really don't have time for something that is such low maintenance and I really haven't had the opportunity to freeze any of the meal worms or feed them out because I am just to busy!

what I am using is a screen mesh basket thing that I bought many many years ago, I really wish I could find another one. It has smaller holes than a colander, but bigger holes than typical mesh kitchen strainers. the mesh is like window screen, but bigger and stronger. The basket fits inside a dishpan very nicely. The frass, eggs, fine wheat bran,and tiny meal worms fall through, and the beetles, large worms, pupae, new wheatbran, and other food, stay on top. To get worms out, I just use a big spoon, dig to the bottom of the basket, dump the spoon in bowl, fish out any beetles/pupae that are there, and that's it. I don't bother separating the bran or anything.

 

[Slinglings]

something like this, but smaller--it's more like 8 x 10 and sits inside a standard dishpan.
http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50218520/#/10218517