Mealworm farming

[evemfoster]

They need a vented lid or a deep enough container.

 

[RoseMarie1]

I have mine in a big plastic thing with a lid on it. I drilled many many holes all in the lids of this thing and the other day I walked into my sewing room and noticed all sorts of humidity all in the box on the sides, the top and everything. It's not in the sunshine or anything and the room is very dark... It's soooooooo full of tiny worms it was making it sweat. So now I just keep the lid open with some small boxes sitting on top to where it can get air. I have about a 50 gallon aquarium outside that I paid 10 bucks for at the thrift store complete with light and cover that I plan on cleaning up for sitting up out there for them on the carport. Anyway I THOUGHT when I bought this aquarium I could clean it up but I couldn't and I was about to toss it out when I thought about using it for the meal worms. Whomever had it must have had a leak because they took the clear caulking and did a royal mess job on the seams and I do mean a mess. I THOUGHT I could get it off and clean it up but there is NO WAY! So I'll just use it for the meal worms.

 

[crazy huhn]

In response to Taly's post: edited to thank the moderators for the removal of the post I quoted below.
Wonderful
This is why this thread is several years old with almost 7,000 posts so far. We all try to feed our chickens and pets the highest quality meal worms available. Some people like myself are using all organic bran and veggies for the mealies, so no chemicals involved unlike worms bred by commercial breeders or even overseas.
We have seen the negative impact of dog and/or cat food from China here in the USA at numerous occaisions. So now chemical treated dried meal worms for our poultry, reptiles and others? No thanks. I will keep breeding my own and encourage all BYCers to do the same.

 

[Arielle]

I am with you. THe more we can reduce poor quality food the better for us our pets and our food animals. I often feed chicken to my cats. . . .don't think they will try the meal worms. lol

 

[chickenALD]

After reading the post from yesterday. I now know that all my mealworms are about to turn to pupae or pupas. They are very active and not eating much.

 

[chickenALD]

I am with you. THe more we can reduce poor quality food the better for us our pets and our food animals. I often feed chicken to my cats. . . .don't think they will try the meal worms. lol

I fed my reptiles Crickets that I get from the pet store sometimes they have domestic beetles larvae in the bag. Which can be every bad if they get into your house

 

[estamets]

This is all super awesome and informative. I've already got a red wriggler colony going for compost, and would love to add a bucket o mealworms for the girls. Can I keep it super simple, just throw some oats, sliced apple, and a tub of mealworms into a plastic bin with air holes, wait a while (with frequent feeding), then take a big scoop out every once in a while to throw to the clucky girls? Will the worms be okay with all the mixed life stages together?

 

[Arielle]

Quote: ewwwww . . . . .lol I have my limits!! lol

 

[aart]

I fed my reptiles Crickets that I get from the pet store sometimes they have domestic beetles larvae in the bag. Which can be every bad if they get into your house

What are 'domestic beetles'?

 

[Latestarter]

This is all super awesome and informative. I've already got a red wriggler colony going for compost, and would love to add a bucket o mealworms for the girls. Can I keep it super simple, just throw some oats, sliced apple, and a tub of mealworms into a plastic bin with air holes, wait a while (with frequent feeding), then take a big scoop out every once in a while to throw to the clucky girls? Will the worms be okay with all the mixed life stages together?

It SHOULD be simple! Welcome to BYC and the thread

You don't HAVE to make it complicated

You can use oats, but most would recommend wheat bran instead, for a variety of reasons. I used a mixture of both, with whole wheat flour added as well. The complete life cycle from egg, to larva, to pupa to beetle can take anywhere from 2-6 months depending on temperature (primarily) as well as other variables. Make sure your container is at least 6 inches from the top of the "food" layer to the top of the container. The sliced apple (or potato, or carrot) is simply for the worms/beetles to get moisture. Depending on how humid it is where you're located, you need to be careful about too MUCH moisture and mold developing. You want to keep the grain food mix from getting wet. Other than that, just check up on them once a week or so

and let them do what they do. Can't be much simpler than that.

Your birds will eat everything in the container including the grains, the beetles, the pupae and the larva (worms). So if you really wanted to, you could just scoop out a cup full and go make your chickens go crazy

or leave the beetles (they lay the eggs) and the pupae (they become the beetles) and just feed worms. Enjoy!