Mealworm farming

[Chicken Chat]

I've got about 39 pupa in another drawer, waiting on beetles, which I plan on moving to another draw when they emerge. I figured with a couple different stages going with the addition of the new worm shipment from today, it would be good to have staggered breeding, that way I will always have worms available to harvest for the chickens. It will be awhile, however, last batch and this new one are for breeding only, they will have a long and happy life. I want to build up my #'s before the girls start sampling.

 

[hannakat]

Chicken Chat ~ Remind me....did you go with a 3-drawer or bins? How many worms?

If you put some worms in the fridge it will slow them down and help with staggering the colony. Just make sure you take them out once in a while so that they will eat (the oats...no veggies when in the fridge). I'm down to 2 pupa from my last fridge container. The few worms in there are for training my little chickens to come when I call.... still working on that...silly chickens!

 

[Chicken Chat]

I'm planning on doing multiple drawers. I got my first little container of them from a bait shop around here but couldn't find anymore so I had to mail order. The first little batch have all changed to pupa, I was separating them to another container as soon as I found them. I plan to move the beetles to another bin once they change, let them lay their eggs in there and that will be my new baby worm bin. I plan to do this for the new batch I got in the mail as well, but it will be awhile since they are still little. It might be a lot of work moving them around but I don't mind and I like to keep the transformations stages separate. I am also taking notes on each bin, noting the temp and r/h to calculate the # of days for each growth for future reference. (That science degree kicking in) I don't really plan on putting any in the fridge. My family isn't crazy about my having them in the first place, esp the beetle stage, they are humoring me like in most of my hobbies, and I don't think they would like to have worms in with the food, ha ha. I can't even get them to look at the pupa. What is wrong with them?

 

[hannakat]

The family will come around...just give them time. Watching the stages has been so fascinating for me. It's been really enjoyable learning about them. I will eventually switch over to just the big single colony but I'm not done watching in the 3-drawer yet!!! OH the baby wormies.... and not a single beetle in the top drawer had died yet. I have hundreds of beetles in the single bin as well...those aren't so much for observation...just growth!!! yea!!

 

[jomoncon]

Quote:
I put some celery in there 2 days ago & the beetles haven't touched it!! I've tried carrots before & they weren't crazy about those either. I guess mine are picky eaters!

 

[ForeverFree]

I looked in my colony today, and I noticed that there was a lot of dead skin from the mealies moulting, so I'm guessing that's a good thing.
But, they're all laying on top of the oats, is that a bad thing?

 

[Chicken Chat]

Beetles started emerging last night. Three last night and two so far today. I'm so proud

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Beetles, beetles and beetles. I am waiting on babies, babies and more babies!

Still fighting those tiny white bugs all over that one bin but so far no one has gotten them so i doubt it was brought in with the bedding oats and wheat bran. I still say it came from those seeds my DD brought in and put on that table. Bless her heart, the little plants didn't even live after they came up.

I so want to take everything out of that bin and dump it but then again I think of all the eggs and baby wormies that are probably in there. Or maybe not if the mites eat them up.

 

[hannakat]

Chicken Chat ~ Oh my! What lov-er-ly beetles! Congrats!

WestKnollAmy ~ I'm so sorry to hear that you are still battling the mites

I was just thinking about you yesterday.... how DO the mites find the feed? I don't think mites eat worms...do they? You're always keeping me in line, Amy, staying on top of research!!! Guess it's time to go read some more!!!

I switched out my second and third drawer. The second drawer was just absolultely moving with wee wormies. There are hundreds of shed exoskeleton! It's like a pile in one spot...gotta catch up on my pictures. I hope the wee wormies do as well in the oats as they have done in the groundup mixture of wheat products in the second drawer.....

btw... I do believe they enjoyed the 4th and all the bangs

 

[CartierChicken]

Wow, I just came across this thread. I raise my own meal worms also. I separate the beetles to hatch eggs in another bin. I also keep a mesh over the container, so the beetles can't fly off. When the beetles are done breeding, then die, I freeze them.

I compost my kitchen scraps. Then I got chickens, so half the scraps went to the chickens. Now the rest seems to go to the worms They eat everything I give them, and there is never any smell.