Mealworm farming

[Dipstick]

What exactly does "self harvest" mean?

Self harvesting is the process whereby the worms will voluntarily leave the bedding/bran, and isolate themselves. You can set things up so that you do not have to try to sort them out of the bran yourself. Wasted bran and wasted time, is wasted money. The less bran that you carry out of the worm bins, the less you waste. The faster you can accomplish the goal, the more time you have to do other things which are more important... like sleep.

Our goal was to replace the commercial feed with an all natural diet of insects and grasses. But that is a LOT of worms.

If you want to feed your chicks a whole cup of worms per day, your must produce and harvest approximately, 1,000 -1,500 worms per day. 100 medium sized (1") worms equals approx. 1 gram, or about 1 1/2 TBS. Now, if you want to harvest 1,000 worms per day, how many beetles do you have to have full time? What about harvesting 5,000 worms?

I currently have about 8 bins 2" deep of large worms, and can harvest that much easily. I have enough left over to maintain my production at those levels currently. In fact, I currently have more than 200,000 large worms, at least 20,000 pupae, and at least that many active beetles. And my beetles increase by a few hundred to a thousand per day.

As you can imagine, if I try to sort large worms from small to medium, try to sort out the pupae, and beetles, and the frass, and the dead skins, and the corpses, all myself, I would be there full time. It's fun, but not that much fun. And I want to double my numbers still yet.

So automating each step, like getting them to volunteer to go bye-bye, is a HUGE solution to a HUGE problem.

Hope that helps.

 

[Dipstick]

do earth worms do as good as meal worms???

Meal worms are far more nutritious than earthworms... nearly 3 times so. IIRC meal worms are 41-46% protein, while earthworms are only 14-16%. Anyone else got input?

 

[aart]

Self harvesting is the process whereby the worms will voluntarily leave the bedding/bran, and isolate themselves. You can set things up so that you do not have to try to sort them out of the bran yourself. Wasted bran and wasted time, is wasted money. The less bran that you carry out of the worm bins, the less you waste. The faster you can accomplish the goal, the more time you have to do other things which are more important... like sleep.

Our goal was to replace the commercial feed with an all natural diet of insects and grasses. But that is a LOT of worms.

If you want to feed your chicks a whole cup of worms per day, your must produce and harvest approximately, 1,000 -1,500 worms per day. 100 medium sized (1") worms equals approx. 1 gram, or about 1 1/2 TBS. Now, if you want to harvest 1,000 worms per day, how many beetles do you have to have full time? What about harvesting 5,000 worms?

I currently have about 8 bins 2" deep of large worms, and can harvest that much easily. I have enough left over to maintain my production at those levels currently. In fact, I currently have more than 200,000 large worms, at least 20,000 pupae, and at least that many active beetles. And my beetles increase by a few hundred to a thousand per day.

As you can imagine, if I try to sort large worms from small to medium, try to sort out the pupae, and beetles, and the frass, and the dead skins, and the corpses, all myself, I would be there full time. It's fun, but not that much fun. And I want to double my numbers still yet.

So automating each step, like getting them to volunteer to go bye-bye, is a HUGE solution to a HUGE problem.

Hope that helps.

Hmmm...interesting, this is the first I've read any details of continuous harvesting. Hope you post more with pics.

 

[evemfoster]

What exactly does "self harvest" mean?

It means that the worms will all migrate to a spot easy to collect. Mealworms will head to a place they feel is safe when they are getting ready to pupate. It can be corners of the farm or objects placed into the farm like Dipsticks egg crate.

BSL Black Solder Fly larva will climb up a low grade away from the colony. People take advantage of this and put ramps onto the sides of the farms with the end of the ramp outside the farm. The grubs climb the ramp when they are getting ready to pupate and fall off the end of the ramp into a collection bucket.

 

[chickenALD]

Hi,
I was beganing to worry if I would very see baby worms. Specially since I had start working and didn't have as much time as before. As long as they have oats and something for moister they are fine. Today have baby worms they are so little I could hardly see them. When you feed the babies do you need to cut the vegtables smaller for them? Also how do I know when to set up new breeders?

 

[Latestarter]

The worms really don't care if you're working... In fact, they're probably happy about it

as you'll be making money to feed them and you're not there to "feed them..." to your birds!

You don't need to make the veggies "smaller." They never bite off more than they can chew

They latch on and suck out the moisture they need. What exactly do you mean "set up new breeders?" As you stated; "As long as they have oats and something for moisture they are fine." I have tens of thousands of baby worms, still in the exact same container that they hatched in, along with the surviving beetle parents. All my 1st gen worms morphed to beetles and only a couple hundred of them (beetles) are still alive. The rest fulfilled their life's purpose and have moved on

I prefer wheat bran over oats (& use a mix of both), but that "argument/decision" has been hashed to death... it's a matter of personal choice.

Once those babies start really growing, you're gonna start seeing piles of brown cast off exoskeletons. They are light as air and the slightest breeze (like a sneeze perhaps?) will get that stuff flying up into your face, so be careful

edited for spelling

 

[beverly evans]

Things are good with my little flock. I've been gone from the thread for a while, and my tote is active with lots of beetles from my original little Petco container. Looks good. I have a question that's off this topic, though. Today while gardening I found some large slugs and put them in the run. The girls didn't seem very interested. Don't they eat them?

My chickens don't eat slugs, snails, or worms. But it turns out to be a good thing because they all carry parasites (intestinal worms) that are very bad for our chickens.

 

[subhanalah]

My chickens don't eat slugs, snails, or worms.  But it turns out to be a good thing because they all carry parasites (intestinal worms) that are very bad for our chickens.  

mine eat all of that stuff...can't stop them.

 

[beverly evans]

The worms really don't care if you're working... In fact, they're probably happy about it

as you'll be making money to feed them and you're not there to "feed them..." to your birds!

You don't need to make the veggies "smaller." They never bite off more than they can chew

They latch on and suck out the moisture they need. What exactly do you mean "set up new breeders?" As you stated; "As long as they have oats and something for moister they are fine." I have tens of thousands of baby worms, still in the exact same container that they hatched in, along with the surviving beetle parents. All my 1st gen worms morphed to beetles and only a couple hundred of them (beetles) are still alive. The rest fulfilled their life's purpose and have moved on

I prefer wheat bran over oats (& use a mix of both), but that "argument/decision" has been hashed to death... it's a matter of personal choice.

Once those babies start really growing, you're gonna start seeing piles of brown cast off exoskeletons. They are light as air and the slightest breeze (like a sneeze perhaps?) will get that stuff flying up into your face, so be careful

Yeah, someone said to always wear a mask when handling the worm dust and byproducts as it is very allergy causing, if not immediate in the long run.

 

[beverly evans]

Quote: Hi there kiddo! How ya doing? My colony is getting off to a difficult start. It is so hot here that they dry up real easily. I keep changing their spot to cooler, shadier areas, but can't seem to keep enough moisture going. Carrots and potato peels or potato pieces just dry up imediately. I wish I could find an easier solution to the moisture problem. I have some of that green styrofoam "sponge" for holding water for flower arrangements. Would that work? : )