Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

Quote:
Welcome CartierChicken!! Would you list the food items you give to them please? We're still learning....

 

[CartierChicken]

Quote:
Welcome CartierChicken!! Would you list the food items you give to them please? We're still learning....

Well I have not read through quite yet, so I might be repeating some things. I basically feed them any scraps I have, as long as it does not make it too wet. They get peels from everything I peel. They get meat on the bones. And this never smells as they eat it too fast. I give them all the chicken pellet powder that my birds don't want. I even give them fish bones, which they are able to totally eat up. Anything left on plates after a meal, pasta, rice, potatoes, salad, you name it. It feels great to not be wasting anything. They even eat fat. I just separated the fat from my chicken stock. I was about to dump it when I decided to offer some to the worms. They went crazy for it.

 

[galanie]

Quote:
Not at all. Nothing to worry about there

 

[kizanne]

Ok was skimming the pages I didn't read before and someone mentioned the beetles flying. I thought their wings were fused and they don't fly. I don't have a secure lid on mine so kinda need some clarification on that.

 

[SilkieTime]

Me too.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

It's O.K., they can't fly! I've never had one escape my colony, even without a lid on it.

 

[TheSpiceGirls]

I've never had one even try to escape. I'll take the farm out to the back patio when the hens are out and flick the dead one out for them to eat. But it didn't take them long to decide to just march right up to me and my Jersey Giant is tall enough that she can just reach over the side of the container and help herself to a few before I can shoo her away.

 

[CartierChicken]

I have read that adult beetles can fly on a few sites. Here is one: http://www.efinch.com/mealworms/mealworm.htm. Toward the bottom there is a Tips window, and it is listed there. I have not witnessed my beetles flying, but I have found a few outside the container when my kids have left the lid off.

 

[hannakat]

There are many kinds of Darkling beetles. Mine are Tenebrio molitor (I believe) and they do not fly.

There was no reference in Julio Ferrer's paper that I could find regarding Tenebrio molitor.


Maybe my next experiment should be to set a few up on the buffet!!! Test it for myself! whoohooo!

 

[CartierChicken]

And here is another: http://www.herpcenter.com/feeders/20139-can-darkling-beetles-fly.html

It has been confirmed. The Darkling Beetle can fly.

In addition to creating this post, I also sent out an inquiry to Julio Ferrer. He is the senior curator for the Department of Entomology at the Swedish Museum of Natural History.

He stated that they can fly, but this is typically when they are in search of food. If they have ample food and water, they have little reason to leave and won't take flight as a result. (Which explains why many of us have never seen them take flight.)