Mealworm farming

[yamahog3187]

I haven't seen them go this nuts over anything offered before...

Have you tried a hard boiled egg? If I walk out of the house with a "white anything" in my hand I have the whole flock at my feet. They are expecting an egg sliced into slivers. I have had several jump up and knock the paper towel or paper plate out of my hand trying to get to it. My wife says its not right, but the girls seem to love it, and who am I to argue!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Turkeys are fun, they really liven up your barnyard! It's gonna be awfully quiet when 2 of the 4 visit the freezer

The mealworms seem to be fine down in the warm dry boiler room. I am noticing that quite a few have turned into beetles now. Roll on production of mealworm eggs

haha I LOVE the picture in my head of your alpacas mugging you on the way to your pigs

they are such characters aren't they? Those big eyes melt me.... I will get with the program and try some FF for them at the weekend (these dark mornings my DH tends to feed them and I do the poultry before I go to work).
Will report on progress! Have also just added alfalfa pellets to the FF not sure if they will go down well. The chicken and turkeys turn up their beaks at the pellets in their normal dry form....

I found that the boys want a little of both FF and dry, but they sure gobble the FF! They are precious, i am so glad i was able to get them

Beanie has started to nibble the gate as soon as i come outside. He can't wait to see what mommy brought out today, the stinker. Comets so quiet and gentle. Have the turkeys taken to the mealies? I bet you already said, but my old brain forgets LOL

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

yes I can report that they scoffed it all down this morning. It actually smelled good in the FF, not like it does in its dry form -go figure

That's great news about your pigs, I would like to get 1 or 2 next spring for fattening up. So far my DH is stopping me!

Yes, I am also on my 2nd tray of sprouting wheat and barley. In fact I think I made too much, the first tray is almost gone but it is about 3 to 4 inches long and I am out there with scissors

chopping them in half before feeding the hens so they don't get impacted crops (the turkeys just gobble it straight away - they mug me at the door of the enclosure "Give me your sprouts and no one gets hurt!")


This one is a Narragansett and I call him my Turkeywolf. He is very pleased with himself for figuring out a system for sneaking up past the hawk proofing at dusk and perches on top of everything,

much to the chagrin of the other turkeys who haven't figured out how to do that yet.

Awesome to hear they like it! Hehe Turkeywolf you get em!!! I was dead set NO on pigs. But i was going off my Moms tales of granpa having trouble keeping them in. Soooo i finally said, lets try it.... I liked Bacon so much, we got Roxy too! They act like a dog almost, pretty smart. I never hand feed even for treats, they don't seem to get your hands aren't food too LOL.I used concrete stakes with cattle fence. works good so far. They are very easy to care for, and love to get backrubs, bellyrubs and ear scratches. Get them small..I touch my pigs a lot, and talk to them, want to be able to examine for any problems. Bacon's well over 200 lbs and is just huge! I dread to see him go

. But knowing how good this is for my family, it is for the best. I won't be going with to the processor, can't face it. Tell DH this is a very easy animal to care for, its Just very hard not to love them.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well, it's official, I'm a crazy wormy girl now,.

got 30 going right now, just starting out small, cause I have a few bantams and don't need much.

I also have a batch of crickets going. I think I like them more than the wormies so far. The chooks just go crazy chasing them around!

Awesome!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

No they are not dark or black as yet, but having said that after today's inspection I can see that some have now changed to a light brown and their legs have suddenly popped out although they are still laying on their backs and not doing much. I have carefully placed them right side up but I don't think I'll be doing that for too long, does it really matter? I have them laying on top of the wheatmeal, should they be covered or they will burrow when they are able to?

My mealies all seem to be pupating quite frantically at the moment and it seems I probably picked out another 150 or so today, maybe the warm weathers influence.

Thanks for the reply........

Cheers,
John

They are fine, once they come out of the pupae you will find these guys on thier backs a lot LOL! i put bathroom tissue spent rolls in, newspaper so they have things to climb on. oatmeal seems to help too. Sounds like your colony is changing quickly, good job!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I started the sorted drawer method weeks ago. I leave the beetles in a drawer for a week then move them to a new drawer and leave the eggs in the drawer to hatch. I have each drawer marked with the dates and I have heat pads under each drawer controlled with a thermostat at 72 degrees. My first egg drawer had the beetles removed on 10-15. I still have not seen a baby worm as of yet. I didnt have many beetles in there then but at least 50. I think I should be seeing something by now. I tried putting a slice of apple on top of the bran to see if anything would come up to feed on it but nothing. Is this normal to go 38 days without seeing anything?

They are so very tiny in the beginning... My eyesight is pretty poor, it was almost 2 months before i realized how many worms I had in there! About the time you are ready to give up, they appear! If you dont see anything in another few weeks, you may have to give them more time to leave the eggs in the drawer. Best of luck!

 

[Tikkajazz94]

I feel really terrible. I gave my neighbour some mealworms..... and how, she has Beetles, and wormies and pupa.....

 

[Turkeytruff]

I found that the boys want a little of both FF and dry, but they sure gobble the FF! They are precious, i am so glad i was able to get them

Beanie has started to nibble the gate as soon as i come outside. He can't wait to see what mommy brought out today, the stinker. Comets so quiet and gentle. Have the turkeys taken to the mealies? I bet you already said, but my old brain forgets LOL

Well the first day of offering the alpacas FF went strangely. They got excited because it was in the usual feed bucket, and would put their noses in, then jerk away in disbelief. We ended up putting the FF in the trough, and then their usual pellets on top and went away. This morning they were all gone. Will try more FF this weekend.
As I only have a few mealies, I haven't given any to the turkeys yet. It's funny, they learned to get excited about earthworms from watching one of my rescue BCM hens following me up and down the wall where I was planting iris bulbs - she was so excited, snapping up the worms, practically jumping into the holes to gobble them up. Well the boys figure, this must be worth something, so they started edging her out of the way. But only 1 of the 4 actually goes for the worms, although all 4 stand there loudly chirruping to me that I must give them MORE FOOD!

So we'll see what happens when I get enough mealies to make it worth giving it to them.

Awesome to hear they like it! Hehe Turkeywolf you get em!!! I was dead set NO on pigs. But i was going off my Moms tales of granpa having trouble keeping them in. Soooo i finally said, lets try it.... I liked Bacon so much, we got Roxy too! They act like a dog almost, pretty smart. I never hand feed even for treats, they don't seem to get your hands aren't food too LOL.I used concrete stakes with cattle fence. works good so far. They are very easy to care for, and love to get backrubs, bellyrubs and ear scratches. Get them small..I touch my pigs a lot, and talk to them, want to be able to examine for any problems. Bacon's well over 200 lbs and is just huge! I dread to see him go

. But knowing how good this is for my family, it is for the best. I won't be going with to the processor, can't face it. Tell DH this is a very easy animal to care for, its Just very hard not to love them.

Your pigs sound awesome: yes it sounds pretty important not to let them get too attached to your fingers! Do you have a specific 'pond' or mud place in your field where you have them?
And yes, I get what you mean about processing time. We do have this relationship with them; I have a couple of memories of being at my aunt and uncle's farm and they would talk about slaughtering the pig and getting everything used up bar the squeal. I feel sorry for you that you have to go through with it, but at the same time we give them as good a life as we can, then one bad day

Having said all this, I am dreading D day for 2 of my turkeys. I have a friend who will come and help me with it.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Well the first day of offering the alpacas FF went strangely. They got excited because it was in the usual feed bucket, and would put their noses in, then jerk away in disbelief. We ended up putting the FF in the trough, and then their usual pellets on top and went away. This morning they were all gone. Will try more FF this weekend.
As I only have a few mealies, I haven't given any to the turkeys yet. It's funny, they learned to get excited about earthworms from watching one of my rescue BCM hens following me up and down the wall where I was planting iris bulbs - she was so excited, snapping up the worms, practically jumping into the holes to gobble them up. Well the boys figure, this must be worth something, so they started edging her out of the way. But only 1 of the 4 actually goes for the worms, although all 4 stand there loudly chirruping to me that I must give them MORE FOOD!

So we'll see what happens when I get enough mealies to make it worth giving it to them.

Your pigs sound awesome: yes it sounds pretty important not to let them get too attached to your fingers! Do you have a specific 'pond' or mud place in your field where you have them?
And yes, I get what you mean about processing time. We do have this relationship with them; I have a couple of memories of being at my aunt and uncle's farm and they would talk about slaughtering the pig and getting everything used up bar the squeal. I feel sorry for you that you have to go through with it, but at the same time we give them as good a life as we can, then one bad day

Having said all this, I am dreading D day for 2 of my turkeys. I have a friend who will come and help me with it.

Mealies oh my, total craziness.. Did my bin cleaning tonight, and i was just amazed how many lil buggers there are. the geese aren't real interested, the ducks eat anything that fits down their throat. We usually have several chicken football tackles and fights over one worm. Its the total highlight of my day i think, they never get tired of them. The alpaca boys reacted the same as yours, sniff, jerk back, then comet nibbled....then beanie snorted comet, and nibbled too lol... they were sampling what the chickens had. the next day they wiffed the pigs FF and ran behind me, demanding a little nibble... humming at me VERY loudly! its taken off from there. Now they get a little of their own every day, but i still do some dry food also. I want to understand a lot more about their digestive system before i go full out with it. Bacon's gonna be rough, but i already told my guy i want 2 more when they come available.. we plan to keep a rotation all the time. The area i chose for them has a low side that gets damp from the creek, (total mug bog now) and a slight slope on the hill. he has more room than necessary (4X lol), but i hate confining animals. I know the grow out is slower, but its hysterical watching him when he sees me coming. He bounds from one end to the other like an excited puppy, squealing and grunting his head off! And when i throw fresh hay in, he will belly roll and jump aroud the second he hears the tractor ROFL, he will actually get out of breath.! No one seems to be selling turkeys right now, so gives me time to be better prepared anyways.. gonna jump in with both feet Once the holidays are over i will order my new set of layers, and just go from there.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I feel really terrible. I gave my neighbour some mealworms..... and how, she has Beetles, and wormies and pupa.....

But isn't that a good thing?