Mealworm farming

[MNickoloff]

Started keeping chickens in March, just informed my husband that we will now be raising mealworms as well. Pretty sure he hates me now.

 

[Lacy Blues]

 

[sanmar4chickens]

I'm wanting to make a sifter and to cut out the bottom of one of my drawers because I have a four drawer system but I need to figure out what the measurements for the screening mesh are. Does anyone have the measurements? I found a lot of them that have 1/4 inch holes.

I used ultra stiff plastic canvas found at walmart. 12 IN x 18 IN worked pretty good for my small 3 drawer container.

 

[gardentlc]

If you started with all of them at the same age, you could put as many as you'd like in the fridge to slow them down, and then they would not all turn into pupae at the same time!

 

[gardentlc]

Would it be ok to have the mealworms, and the newly hatched eggs (very small) but I can see them now, and the beetles all in the same bin? I do not want to put the pupae in there until they turn into beetles.

 

[gaitngirl]

Would it be ok to have the mealworms, and the newly hatched eggs (very small) but I can see them now, and the beetles all in the same bin? I do not want to put the pupae in there until they turn into beetles.

That's what I'm doing right now. I bought a large 3-drawer Sterilite bin to separate the different stages but I haven't actually set it up yet

. So I'm doing everything except the pupa in one large bin. I just check the pupa bowl in the morning and again in the evening and move any that have morphed into beetles to the big bin . . . it seems to work just fine for now.

 

[kwol]

Started keeping chickens in March, just informed my husband that we will now be raising mealworms as well. Pretty sure he hates me now.

When I started it was Jan. and cold so I set up my three drawer system on the counter next to the stove. My DH was thrilled too!

 

[MalMom]

Cywiar, sorry to be so long getting back with you, I've been on holiday. I just used a drill to drill holes in the plastic. It was super easy. Did your worms come in yet?

 

[MNickoloff]

When I started it was Jan. and cold so I set up my three drawer system on the counter next to the stove.  My DH was thrilled too!

I am way too lazy for the three draw method, i dont want to have to keep that good of an eye on the worms. My husband was not thrilled at all. His questions were "Bugs?! Like in the house?, How much does it cost?, Where are you putting them?, Is it going to stink?" You can tell his priorities. I'm going to have to get a dark colored Rubbermaid container and put it under my desk, so he can't see them. He'll come around sooner or later. He didn't want chickens at first, now he enjoys telling people about them and asks about what "we" need to do with them. It will probably take a little longer for "we" to be used when talking about mealworms.

 

[LaBella]

Well... oops.
I forgot that the new container was air tight.. and I didn't check on the worms in like a week... And... well, I opened it, and got a nice whiff of slowly fermenting wheat bran scent, and all along the top were plenty of dead worms and beetles, lol.
The good news is there were still plenty of worms in the molded over container, so I put some of those in the wheat germ, to get the drunk, because why not, I have a buzz just smelling it, lol. And I left the rest where they are, since the mold doesn't seem to be bothering them.

We'll see what I have, in the meanwhile, tomorrow I shall have to put some holes in the air tight container, like I should have in the first place, lol.