Mealworm farming

[1brandy tim2]

Will chickens eat the skins they shed?? just getting my farm started and not ready to feed the worms yet because i dont have enough to breed if i do.. But wondered if she girls would enjoy the skins i pick out?

 

[kwol]

Hello BYC gang,

Do the 3 drawer systems have enough ventilation the way they are set up? It's impossible to keep the tops open as they are set up as a unit from the factory so to speak. Should additional holes be added towards the top edge of the sides?

Also, I'm thinking of putting them into a spare closet I have with a heater in there. Plans are to set the heater to 85-90 degrees and attempt to control the humidity with a bowl of water perhaps. Any suggestions?

Thanks
Eddie

My drawers do not seal into the plastic frame. I have not had a ventilation issue. Initially I had them in my kitchen on the counter next to the stove. ( Gross, I know. But they are not dirty!) I would cover them with an old towel and I kept the temp at room temp which was about 72 in my Florida winter home. They didn't seem to do much and I had quite a bit of pupae drying up and deformed beetles. Then I put a heating pad under the bottom drawer which at that time was my beetles ( before the screen was added into the bottom of their drawer.) Then things satarted really moving. The beetle activity picked up and pupae death was almost nil with no further deformities.

Now that it has warmed up I put the system on my covered back deck, Even though the nightime temp gets into the 60's , the top drawer of mealies is boiling with them, the beetles are busy, eating and, well you know what they do. I have mealies of all sizes, no pupae yet. Moisture has not been an issue. I put in what ever veggies I may have on hand but mostly carrots. That is where the beetles and mealies are getting their moisture. Just had the biggest rain accumulation the locals have seen in o17 years here in the paast 24 hours, so we will see how they do.

And I am using whole chicken laying pellets in the beetle drawer for substrate. I am using the same, but ground up in the food processer in the mealie drawer. The frass is left ontop in that drawer, and I just blow it away.

 

[kwol]

Will chickens eat the skins they shed?? just getting my farm started and not ready to feed the worms yet because i dont have enough to breed if i do.. But wondered if she girls would enjoy the skins i pick out?

Yes, and the dead beetles, worms and pupae,

 

[azygous]

This might seem like a really stupid question but mealworm farming really interests me. Do you just dump them into like a trash can when you get them with oats, wheat bran or whatever and a few apple slices and let them be until you want to leave them for treats? I guess I need a detailed guide! Lol

When I heard about meal worm farming, I thought it would be great to raise my own instead of paying $8. for a measly 100 worms. So I typed "meal worm raising videos" into a search engine and watched several. It's really very simple, and seeing how it's done is way easier that reading lots of pages of information.

Warning: meal worm farming can be very addictive.

 

[BScott03]

When I heard about meal worm farming, I thought it would be great to raise my own instead of paying $8. for a measly 100 worms. So I typed "meal worm raising videos" into a search engine and watched several. It's really very simple, and seeing how it's done is way easier that reading lots of pages of information. 

Warning: meal worm farming can be very addictive.

Okay I will YouTube some videos! Thanks! I think every single thing that has anything to do with chickens is addictive! Haha thank you for the info

 

[bnewns]

Quote: no nutritional value in the skin. but the dead stuff still has lots of protein left.

 

[StephieSky]

There's a lot of information on mealworms on this board but this might help someone.

I don't do anything fancy anymore and I raise them all in the same bin with no sorting. Its an 8 inch deep bin, 24 long and 12 wide, no lid. It doesn't smell funny like the shallow bins did at times and the beetles and worms never escape.

I add bedding by this method: I use the old fashioned whole oat oatmeal from Cosco. It has no additives. Just whole oats and nothing else. I grind it in my food processor and sift it through a round embroidery hoop with bug screen on it. Anything that doesn't sift through I grind again until if sifts through. This is so when I'm getting worms and beetles out of the bin the oatmeal will easily sift out and leave just the worms and beetles so I don't have to pick them out myself. I'm not a huge fan of actually touching creepy crawlies.

I feed my mealworms thin sliced apples, carrots and greens. And damp bread if I'm going to be gone more than a week. Nothing else. I've had bad luck with other things turning moldy. Greens like spinach and leaf lettuce just dry up and turn to dust when all the water gets sucked out of them. Carrots get consumed and the bread turns into a dry brick. Thin sliced apples turn kind of leathery. This way I don't have to keep checking for spoiled anything and I can remove that when its convenient or not at all.

I cover the oatmeal and everything else in the bin with a piece of brown paper bag. They like the dark and the bag works as an insulator but also allows air to circulate. The worms make holes in the paper venting it even further after a few days. Pretty soon it will be in tatters and I just add another piece.

When I want to feed my fish I just scoop out a bunch of the bedding and toss it on top of the bug screen hoop and sift out the oatmeal. The oatmeal, micro worms and any eggs fall through easy as pie back into the bin. I'm left with grown out worms and beetles. I do return all tan colored beetles to the bin as they are young and will lay the eggs that keep the bin cycling. The dark beetles, pupae and worms in the sifter all go in the fish tank, a jar in the freezer for feeding wild birds, or now out to the chickens!

I never change the substrate. I just add to it when it starts to look like black pepper and gets more powdery. This bin has been going for about 6 years and I've never had a problem with it.

Also I keep my worms in the garage on a shelf. I'm in Zone 7 on the plant map and they don't seem to be bothered by heat or cold.
I did have a mouse problem a while ago though. I fixed it by sifting baking soda onto the shelf and just about everywhere I didn't want a mouse. Which is everywhere I could put baking soda including the carpet for a few days lol I still have baking soda in my cupboards because I'm not sharing my food with mice! The mice have moved away. And noticeably I don't have ants invading my house this year either. While my next door neighbor is already complaining about the ant invasion lol

 

[Lacy Blues]

<snip>

I did have a mouse problem a while ago though. I fixed it by sifting baking soda onto the shelf and just about everywhere I didn't want a mouse. Which is everywhere I could put baking soda including the carpet for a few days lol I still have baking soda in my cupboards because I'm not sharing my food with mice! The mice have moved away. And noticeably I don't have ants invading my house this year either. While my next door neighbor is already complaining about the ant invasion lol

This is REALLY GOOD TO KNOW! Thank you!

 

[EddieJ]

Those people using the 3 drawer system, has anyone created something to prevent the top drawer from being pulled out unless the 2nd drawer is also pulled out? If the top drawer has screen to allow baby worms to fall through, I'd hate to have my little girl open the drawer and drop 100 worms into the carpet.

It'd be REALLY great if some people could post pictures of their 3 drawer systems.

Thanks
Eddie

 

[wildriverswolf90]

Help! Quick question: my meal worms are outside, the temps have been around the mid to low 50's, they seem very slow? Should I move them inside? Or will they be okay??????