Mealworm farming

[DMRippy]

I have a question.... it seems in my little breeder bins that they are eating the screen and falling through. I have covered the holes with hot glue but I think they eat that too..... suggestions?

 

[Cebarmlds]

Hello! I'd leave it in the bin with everything else... it will be fine. The cooler temps will just be slower but ok.
You could always put a seed warming mat under the bin.

I also have 3 Cuckoo Marans first time this year, one has gone broody- going on 5 weeks now!

 

[lbrtyldy]

When you say dark, are they black, or just brown? pupae will change to a brown when they are ready to molt into a beetle.

They are dark brown (not black) and still soft. Not like the hard, dry, black worms I find every now and then.

 

[bobbieschicks]

I feel so badly that lately I haven't even spent any time with my mealie drawers. I peeked in a couple of days ago and the beetles & pupae were all still alive. I tossed in a few more broken up carrot pieces and left them alone. I used to move them from drawer to drawer, separating by type. Now I just peek, feed and leave alone. I guess when there are larva I might get excited about the drawers again.

 

[JoyfulPromise]

Hi everyone! I meant to post on here a while ago. I joined the ranks of mealworm farmers about two months ago after reading this thread, when I asked (and received) about 2000 healthy mealworms for my birthday from a nice e-bay seller. I installed the mealies with organic wheat bran in the top drawer of a plastic 4 drawer storage thing, the kind with two smaller drawers on top and two larger bottom drawers. A few days later I counted out 750 worms and put them in the fridge for two weeks to start a delayed batch. I then put them in the second drawer. Soon I started to see pupae, and I tried to collect them at first, putting them in smaller containers inside the drawer. When they started to hatch into beetles, I moved them to the third drawer. Eventually they got ahead of me, and so I put most of the pupae and all the currently hatched beetles in the third drawer and left the rest of the delayed worms and pupae in the second drawer.

Just a few days ago, I took a close look at a small container that had held some of the pupae and beetles for a short time, and I had kept it because I thought they might have laid eggs in it. I was right! I saw several BABY MEALWORMS!!!!

They are SO CUTE!!!! So today I painstakingly moved all of the beetles from the third drawer to fresh wheat bran in the fourth drawer, and I already saw swarms of teeny little mealies in their vacated drawer! Yay! I can't wait for them to grow up so I can feed them to our chickens! The chickies had a few handfuls from the original worms, but what is a handful between 40 chickens?

I do have a couple of questions for all you mealworm experts though...

First - When I was moving the beetles to their new drawer I found what seemed like a large amount of dead and half eaten beetles. I removed maybe 1/2 cup of dead beetles from the whole drawer. Is this normal, or could they be too crowded? There is maybe 1000-1500 beetles in the drawer, which is about 12x15 inches. They have a couple of inches of wheat bran, and I give them fresh carrot, squash, apple on a regular basis. What do all you other mealworm farmers think? Are they just fine, or should I expand?

Second - I read somewhere on this forum (sorry I can't remember where) that you should leave the dead beetles in for extra protein and calcium for the baby mealies. Is this true in your experience? Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

I look forward to hearing from all the long term mealie farmers and experts on this thread! My family thinks I am crazy, but I am so excited to be growing fresh mealies for my chickens!

~ Joy

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Hi everyone! I meant to post on here a while ago. I joined the ranks of mealworm farmers about two months ago after reading this thread, when I asked (and received) about 2000 healthy mealworms for my birthday from a nice e-bay seller. I installed the mealies with organic wheat bran in the top drawer of a plastic 4 drawer storage thing, the kind with two smaller drawers on top and two larger bottom drawers. A few days later I counted out 750 worms and put them in the fridge for two weeks to start a delayed batch. I then put them in the second drawer. Soon I started to see pupae, and I tried to collect them at first, putting them in smaller containers inside the drawer. When they started to hatch into beetles, I moved them to the third drawer. Eventually they got ahead of me, and so I put most of the pupae and all the currently hatched beetles in the third drawer and left the rest of the delayed worms and pupae in the second drawer.

Just a few days ago, I took a close look at a small container that had held some of the pupae and beetles for a short time, and I had kept it because I thought they might have laid eggs in it. I was right! I saw several BABY MEALWORMS!!!!

They are SO CUTE!!!! So today I painstakingly moved all of the beetles from the third drawer to fresh wheat bran in the fourth drawer, and I already saw swarms of teeny little mealies in their vacated drawer! Yay! I can't wait for them to grow up so I can feed them to our chickens! The chickies had a few handfuls from the original worms, but what is a handful between 40 chickens?

I do have a couple of questions for all you mealworm experts though...

First - When I was moving the beetles to their new drawer I found what seemed like a large amount of dead and half eaten beetles. I removed maybe 1/2 cup of dead beetles from the whole drawer. Is this normal, or could they be too crowded? There is maybe 1000-1500 beetles in the drawer, which is about 12x15 inches. They have a couple of inches of wheat bran, and I give them fresh carrot, squash, apple on a regular basis. What do all you other mealworm farmers think? Are they just fine, or should I expand?

Second - I read somewhere on this forum (sorry I can't remember where) that you should leave the dead beetles in for extra protein and calcium for the baby mealies. Is this true in your experience? Anyone have any thoughts on this idea?

I look forward to hearing from all the long term mealie farmers and experts on this thread! My family thinks I am crazy, but I am so excited to be growing fresh mealies for my chickens!

~ Joy

Hi, glad you joined us crazy bug people! I think its whats comfortable for you... Go by what your gut tells you. if you feel they seem crowded, you can expand. I just let my colony keep growing and use more totes. Once winter gets here, i will start feeding out more. On the dead beetles, Its not going to hurt to leave them in. the only thing that can really hurt the colony is mold, severe temps or moisture. Hopefully a few more experienced wormie famers will post as well. good luck!

 

[Moosetails]

Thank you for calming my fears, DMRippy and Erlibrd.

Today, I was looking through the bottom drawer for any more grubs, but what I found confused and concerned me. I found 11 (eleven) bodies of some other, smaller beetle. They were about a quarter of an inch, the length of the lead on a sharpened pencil. I compared those bodies to the darkling beetle and she is MUCH larger. About 3 or 4 times larger. Other than size, the dead beetles looked exactly like the darkling. I would have taken a picture, but I had to hide the evidence before hubby walked in, or he would have freaked to see me pulling out dead bug bodies. What other type of beetle could this be and will the worms damage my mealies?

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

I have a question.... it seems in my little breeder bins that they are eating the screen and falling through. I have covered the holes with hot glue but I think they eat that too..... suggestions?

is the screen a PVC material? I used the metal stuff, i was worried they might chew through it. So far they haven't or the glue either. I put the hot glue on pretty thick tho.My 3 drawer i started about the 2nd week in October, it has the screened drawer set up for eggs/worms to drop through..

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:
I think it is metal..... would the plastic be better? I will have to check the other screen I have.

 

[johnmw1]

is the screen a PVC material? I used the metal stuff, i was worried they might chew through it. So far they haven't or the glue either. I put the hot glue on pretty thick tho.My 3 drawer i started about the 2nd week in October, it has the screened drawer set up for eggs/worms to drop through..

Hi,
I still don't get this part of the setup with the screened drawer? What makes the eggs and babies fall through because when I look up at the underside of my box thinking I'm going to see all my darklings crawling around feverishly I see nothing, to me they seem to congregate on the surface and hide in the egg cartons etc that I have in there? So what makes them fall through?

Cheers,
John