Mealworm farming

[onafixedincome]

Also.. umm.... I have mine on wheat germ. Not wheat bran, wheat germ. They seem to be doing just fine.

Well, I'll be dipped.

Okay, you can have fun in wheat germ, too....*scratches head and groans*...do you have ANY IDEA how messed up I'm going to be when asking for substrate from now on????? Thanks a LOT!

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
Hey hey

I've missed you all as well. Last year was a really though year for me physically but this year should be a bit better so I do hope to catch up.

My colony has grown significantly. I did buy 2000 more last spring and spent the summer letting every single one morph to beetle stage. I had soooooo many beetle bins which then turned into wormie bins. I kept the worms in the oven with the light on 24/7 and that made a huge difference in rate of development. I started using my coolerbator (incubator hubby made from cooler) to keep the beetles in and boy did they like that. I almost ran into trouble using it at first and discarded the idea because of too much moisture and concerns about mites but then I found if I propped the lid a bit, it stayed hot and dry.

Now the worms are in the coolerbator since I'm feeding them out to the chickens regularly and I still freeze them when there's an over abundance at the same time. I'm keeping the beetles going but not as many. When the bugs return to Pennsylvania, I'll let 'em all go to beetles again and start for next winter.

Anything new discovered since I've been gone?

tell me tell me!


p.s. I'm looking for Olive egg layer to hatch if anyone knows of someone......

 

[UrbanMamaHen]

  I keep the beetles in rolled oats, too azygous, for the same reason 




   It'll take a few weeks to see wormie babies UrbanMamaHen....be patient.  With a starting base of 1500 worms, I'd wait a year before giving anyway  
   unless it's like 25 worms     I know from experience how long that size colony will take before it's harvestable and you'd be better off letting all of
   them morph into beetles.  With all of them in beetle form, you'll be able to give some away from the first generation but it will take a few months to
   reach that stage.  Patience grasshopper!!!  LOL!

Hannakat, I was on the floor laughing! No one has called me grasshopper before. Waiting for one year? I don't think I have the patience. I thought a beetle lays several hundred eggs so I would be up to my ears with worms in several months. If i want to harvest several hundred worms a week, how big should my colony be to start? I can wait several months, but a year is too long.

 

[hannakat]

Okay UrbanMamaHen ... some information please. What's the air temperature where you keep the colony? Do you live in an area that stays warm all year? How many chickens do you have?

The warmer the temp the faster they develop. I cut mine from 6 months (time it takes to go a whole cycle .. egg to beetle) to 3 months by raising the temp.

I only have 9 chickens total and it took almost all of what I had to be able to get through this winter (which is still going). There are approximately 250 worms in 1/4 cup: 1000 worms in 1 cup. You always have to have some developing in all stages to keep the colony going. I really can't say how many you need to keep it going but it takes a lot. Right now I'm feeding the girls a lot of the pupa since I have a batch that has reached that stage and I don't need any more beetles at the moment but they are pupating at that rate so I have no choice. I've even put the developing worms in a cooler location trying to slow 'em down a bit.

Wish I had a better answer for you, dear Grasshopper....but yes, patience is what you'll need for a while. Remember, every mealie you feed to the girls now will cost a possible 200-400 mealies in a few months.

 

[UrbanMamaHen]

Lol! I live in San Diego so it is warm most of the year. The room where I keep the worms is in the low 60's at night and 70's during the day. I would expect daytime temperatures to get in the low 80's in the summer. I only have a small flock, probably 8 LFs by Spring time. But I have two friends who I have promised to share my mealworm bounties in a few months. One friend has nine birds, and the other has several dozens. If it is going to take six months, I may have to buy each of them their own stash of worms now, as I can't wait that long. and I want to treat my girls this delectable treat as often as I can.

 

[azygous]

I can vouch for "warmer the better" to really get the action going with worm development.

I keep most of my farm in the water heater/boiler closet. It's a constant warm temperature and is dark the way the critters prefer it. However, I bought a couple extra containers because the population is growing, and I put one of the new trays up on a shelf next to the wood stove. It gets up to 85 degrees there, and boy, are the worms growing fast!

This thread is so gonzo-long that most people simply don't have the time to read the entire thing, so I want to keep harping on grain mites. Trust me, you do not ever want to find these creepy things in your worm farm.

I live in an extremely arid climate, and I was concerned about the worm and beetle trays lacking the proper humidity. I began adding the contents of spent tea bags, which the beetles adored, but it triggered the explosion of grain mites that had me tearing my hair out a few weeks back.

If you are in doubt as to the level of humidity in your worm trays, err in favor of dryness. Dryer is better!

Now I keep the substrate in all the trays as dry as possible. The only moisture is from baby carrots tossed in every so often as the critters suck the moisture out of them, leaving desiccated husks. If the substrate feels damp to the touch, it's an open invitation for trouble.

 

[JohnnyxRex]

Wow! I haven't checked out this thread in a while. I've got 20 BO's that are just a few days old and MAN can they eat. I have got some freeze dried mealworms from Happy Hen (10 oz) but they are to hard for them, I have to break it into pieces for them. They love them though.

How much would it cost to get started now? $30? I would love to have a colony huge enough to cut down on feed costs (along with free range) and partially feed the fish in the aquaponics system. For 20 chickens, in order to make a difference, how big of a colony would I need?

I'm in Louisiana, but it still got down to 28 (

) last night. In the summer its 100+ many days and humid. I could find a way to adjust the temp. if needed.

Thanks!

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Wow! I haven't checked out this thread in a while. I've got 20 BO's that are just a few days old and MAN can they eat. I have got some freeze dried mealworms from Happy Hen (10 oz) but they are to hard for them, I have to break it into pieces for them. They love them though.

How much would it cost to get started now? $30? I would love to have a colony huge enough to cut down on feed costs (along with free range) and partially feed the fish in the aquaponics system. For 20 chickens, in order to make a difference, how big of a colony would I need?

I'm in Louisiana, but it still got down to 28 (

) last night. In the summer its 100+ many days and humid. I could find a way to adjust the temp. if needed.

Thanks!

On the temps, keep dry, and 80-100 degrees will really make them thrive. just watch how fast the carrot/potato etc dries out and disappears, then add more veges. Reptile or grow mats are great, and don't pose the fire hazards that heat lamps etc will, and cheaper to operate.
Costs, saw some on eBay as low as $11 for 1,000, There are several members on BYC that offer them. if you have friends with reptiles, ask them too! I have also seen wild songbird fanciers raise them. My good friend that raises geckos gave me like 2,000 to get started. I gave her eggs in return

From the sounds of it, I would be thinking start out bigger, is this treats, or truly or supplementing food? I feed a 4 ounce serving to about 20 birds maybe 2x a week as treats, i have a total of 67 birds (and 80+ in the incubators). My daughter raises sugar gliders, and I treat my 2 oscars, 1 huge pleco, and featherfin catfish also. I still don't have near enough to consider it part of regular feed, and i have probably 15,000 worms, at least at various stages.

 

[LaBella]

Well, I'll be dipped.

Okay, you can have fun in wheat germ, too....*scratches head and groans*...do you have ANY IDEA how messed up I'm going to be when asking for substrate from now on????? Thanks a LOT!

Well, how about we keep the wheat germ to ourselves. Besides, wheat germ isn't very cost effective. I used it because it was what I had, and it probably cost something like 7 bucks for 2 pints, compared to 12 bucks for 50 lbs of wheat bran. When I do have to worry about costs,I'll switch to wheat bran, cause Momma ain't raised no fool as they say.
I expect they can do quite well on a number of substrates,the only one they didn't seem to do well on from what I have read is corn meal.

 

[ms4runr]

I'm also a huge fan of wheat bran. The worms just seem to have more "fun" in it. However, I prefer rolled oats in the beetle tray because while the eggs can sift down through the screen floor into the "nursery" tray beneath, the substrate of oats stays up in the beetle tray. When I used wheat bran for the beetles, they're so active that their substrate quickly ended up sifting into the lower tray and they were left with nothing.

I also wish to report that my grain mites have not returned. Drying out the substrate until there was no moisture content left really did the trick, and the worms seemed not to be harmed much, if at all. The creepy mites simply dried up and disappeared. But I will be very, very religious about microwave heat-treating all new grains before I introduce them to the worms.

You sound like you are using the 3 drawer method if there is sifting of the eggs. Is this the top of 3 drawers??
Do you think freezing the bran for several days will be the same? If not I will have to use the oven, no microwave in the house...