Mealworm farming

[furbabymum]

Do the beetles escape???? I found two beetle like bugs on my floor this morning( FYI I live in the basement, so it could be something else ). They seemed a little too big and fast, but I wanted to just make sure.

Sorry the picture is crappy.

I don't think that looks like a mealworm beetle myself.

The only time I've found a loose bug is after collection. My son who is 3 likes to help and things just get messy!

 

[yyz0yyz0]

Ok, stupid question here.

where do I find wheat bran? I looked yesterday in the cereal section of the grocery store but did not see any. Is this the same things as Wheat Germ? Did see several jars of that. do I need to look somewhere else besides a grocery store?

thanks

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Ok, stupid question here.

where do I find wheat bran? I looked yesterday in the cereal section of the grocery store but did not see any. Is this the same things as Wheat Germ? Did see several jars of that. do I need to look somewhere else besides a grocery store?

thanks

You can find it at just about any store that sells flour or grains in bulk bins, like Whole Foods or any health food store. It's not the same thing as wheat germ, you should find it near other grain products. You can also find it much cheaper at your local feed store, but you usually have to buy 50 lbs of it.

 

[2jsbabyfarm]

Ok, stupid question here.

where do I find wheat bran?  I looked yesterday in the cereal section of the grocery store but did not see any.  Is this the same things as Wheat Germ?  Did see several jars of that.  do I need to look somewhere else besides a grocery store?

thanks

I haven't ever found it at Walmart but I did just find it at fareway if you have those in your area. It was $2/box that way but is much cheaper at feed stores!

 

[pdirt]

I haven't ever found it at Walmart but I did just find it at fareway if you have those in your area. It was $2/box that way but is much cheaper at feed stores!

Go for the feed store 50lbs bag. Feed the extra to your chickens, it's good for them and a decent amount of protein. If you do fermented feed, just mix some in. Or sprinkle some on their dry feed, or mix it with broth or yogurt.

 

[Tourist9394]

Some of my mealworms are eating newspaper that i put to cover them. Is that normal?

 

[2jsbabyfarm]

Go for the feed store 50lbs bag. Feed the extra to your chickens, it's good for them and a decent amount of protein. If you do fermented feed, just mix some in. Or sprinkle some on their dry feed, or mix it with broth or yogurt.

That reminds me that I've been wanting to try to ferment feed!! First chickens then mealies now fermenting feed! My husband's going to go nuts haha

 

[Debs55]

ok after reading 12 pages of this (still have to finish the rest!) I am pretty sure I want to start a meal worm farm! I think I want to go with a one bin system so I won't have to mess with it a lot but let me be sure I have everything straight

ok i need a container that I can vent for airflow..so maybe a rubbermaid container with a hole cut out of the lid and covered with wire.
Then I can put oatmeal/bran/cornmeal/flock raiser in it
I need to order 1000-2000 worms- I currently have about 50 chickens and 30 chicks. so would that be enough to start with?
Then I give them veggies every 2-3 days

ok its sad but my main concern is that I don't want to touch them..so can I just use a scoop to kinda scoop them out or would that scoop too many bettles/eggs too? does it matter if I scoop them up too or will it all even out eventually?

 

[azygous]

If you don't want to handle the critters, you'd be better off with a two-tier box system. I would get two bins that are stackable to begin with. Cut a hole into the bottom of the top bin and glue fine meshed screen over the hole.

Fill both bins with wheat bran. Make sure you heat treat the bran in your oven at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through to make sure it all gets evenly treated and doesn't scorch. If you use other grains, it will just complicate your ability to strain out the critters later without touching them. And it increases your risk of grain mites, especially using the chick starter.

When you get your 1000 worms, put them all in the top bin with small carrots. Forget the other veggies. Carrots are the least likely to mold or rot. Do this every few days. As the frass, (worm castings) builds up so it's more frass than wheat bran, it will begin to give off a slightly unpleasant odor. This is a signal you should sift out the frass and put in fresh (oven treated) bran. This is important if you are going to have healthy pupae and beetles.

Let them do their pupating and beetle growing and egg laying. The eggs will sift automatically down into the bin of wheat bran below. You will know the eggs are hatching when you start to see the wheat bran "move".

In a few months, there will be nothing but some beetles left in the upper tray. You should have a bin-full of worms in the lower tray. Take a strainer and sift them out to feed to your chickens. You won't need to touch them, but most of us find the worms ever so satisfying to handle for some weird reason.

Eventually the beetles in the top tray will mostly die off and you can feed the rest to the chickens. By this time, you will have a new bunch in the lower tray. Switch trays and begin the process all over again.

But I predict you will get over your squeamishness. And I also predict you'll figure out a way to expand your worm farm by this time.

 

[Debs55]

Thanks for the advice! from what I've seen in the thread so far it looks like the worms (uh I can't remember the "correct" name for them) kind of lay on the top of the substrate and the eggs are in the substrate right? So if I used like a large slotted spoon to scoop them out then the eggs would just fall through the cracks. right? and I can just avoid picking up the beetles and the uh pupea ( I think thats right..the things that will turn into beetles next). The only reason that I'd like to keep it all in one bucket is cause I will likely have to move it around a lot because of the weather we have

Also, if I use oatmeal could I just brown it in the oven like the bran? does that help prevent mites or something?
sorry for all of the questions