Mealworm farming

[LindaSmith]

Would you post a pic of how you have it installed?

Welcome Linda. How many mealworms did you buy and how many chickens do you have Linda?

BTW: 3 month is how long it takes from mealworm eggs to feeding out size with my worms. But you have to keep them warm around 80 to get them to grow that fast.

I bought 1000 worms. I have 4 hens and possible 1 roo who I hope is a hen. The room they are in is about 70 hope that is good enough for them I realize it may take a bit longer to get them to the mature state and then have new worms too.

 

[evemfoster]

Would you post a pic of how you have it installed?

Well i would but i seem to have left my camera at my brothers house.

I'll pick it up when i go over tomorrow and get you the photos.

 

[evemfoster]

I bought 1000 worms. I have 4 hens and possible 1 roo who I hope is a hen. The room they are in is about 70 hope that is good enough for them I realize it may take a bit longer to get them to the mature state and then have new worms too.

70 is not that bad just a little slower so you should be fine.
60 on the other hand can take all winter.

 

[aart]

Quote: Thanks!

I got the 6" x 8" 7 watt but there's lots of disclaimers:
-Must peel off paper backing
-Attach only to glass tank, preferably on the sidewall, and do not remove once attached
-Must have air flow underneath if on bottom of tank

I'm thinking I need a large piece of thick glass(not regular window glass) with some feet on it, then I can set my plastic drawer bins on the glass and use a tote as a cover of sorts.

 

[dclark]

I just started my meal worm operation this week, I ordered 5000 worms from Rainbow and I'm using an old 29 gallon long aquarium to house them. I saw one beetle already in the batch when they arrived so I am hoping they get into reproduction real soon!

 

[evemfoster]

Thanks!

I got the 6" x 8" 7 watt but there's lots of disclaimers:
-Must peel off paper backing
-Attach only to glass tank, preferably on the sidewall, and do not remove once attached
-Must have air flow underneath if on bottom of tank

I'm thinking I need a large piece of thick glass(not regular window glass) with some feet on it, then I can set my plastic drawer bins on the glass and use a tote as a cover of sorts.

You bought a higher wattage heating pad than i have so i don't have any idea how hot it will get. To be sure how hot it will get, I would just put a thermomiter between the heating pad and the farm. If it stays around 80 your good. But feel for hot spots.

I never took off the paper and its been 3 or 4 years without a problem. I stick them in place with clear box tape, sticking it across the black plastic side. The tape peels right off when i want to move them. The heating pads came with 4 little silicone feet to put between the container and the heater when you put it under the farm. I stuck mine right to the paper but have managed to loose the feet on all but one of the heaters. So this year i gave up searching for the feet and just stuck the heating pads right to the plastic, so far they are working fine. It didn't turn out to be necessary but I was planning to tape some popsicle sticks between the heating pad and the farm if it had been too warm.

Because i tape them in place i can remove the heating pads and use them to warm my seed trays in the spring. My farms has always been plastic i haven't ever tried glass. I had an extra heating pad this year so a couple days ago put a second heating pad on the farm with the oldest worms, just as a trial, they still look good. I wanted more worms quicker, so i could feed more to the chickens. The two 4 watt pads just warms the farm for the whole length instead of only in the middle. There still doesn't seem to any spots warmer than 80.


Sorry about this, I'm afraid the long awaited photos aren't that informative. There isn't a lot of light in the house right now. The batteries attached to the solar panels are a little bit low because of the clouds and the short days.

My farm is a Sterilite 28 Qt., under-bed tote. 23" x 16" x 6".

 

[evemfoster]

I just started my meal worm operation this week, I ordered 5000 worms from Rainbow and I'm using an old 29 gallon long aquarium to house them. I saw one beetle already in the batch when they arrived so I am hoping they get into reproduction real soon!

Welcome to mealworm farming dclark its an interesting way to feed the birds.

Did you have any "other" critters with your mealworms. I ordered from them from Rainbow just once (the mixed sizes) and got 2 superworms with the batch. Not wanting superworms in my colony i feed them to my chicks. They were way too big for the chicks but by the time the fight for them was over they each got a chunk. Eck!

 

[aart]

@evemfoster the info you supplied is priceless, thank you so much for typing it all out!!
Knowing they can be run with the paper attached is fantastic, I will test carefully but was afraid to even plug it in.
I figured alot of the warnings were just CYA, but knowing your first hand experience is fantastic.

Are you running the pads off a solar power system...are they getting a full 120vac?

 

[evemfoster]

@evemfoster the info you supplied is priceless, thank you so much for typing it all out!!
Knowing they can be run with the paper attached is fantastic, I will test carefully but was afraid to even plug it in.
I figured alot of the warnings were just CYA, but knowing your first hand experience is fantastic.

Are you running the pads off a solar power system...are they getting a full 120vac?

The pads arn't on solar So far i only have a few lights attached to the solar setup and they are LED lights. That is about all the load they can carry at the moment. Unfortionatly i dont have enough solar cells to do the whole house. But i am promised a couple more sets in the spring. I am lucky to be getting old solar sell from a gentlemen who is replacing his nearly 45 year old solar cells with new ones. He wont be climbing on his roof now that its snowing.

 

[dclark]

Did you have any "other" critters with your mealworms. I ordered from them from Rainbow just once (the mixed sizes) and got 2 superworms with the batch. Not wanting superworms in my colony i feed them to my chicks. They were way too big for the chicks but by the time the fight for them was over they each got a chunk. Eck!

I did not find any other critters or any superworms and very few dead ones, far less than the 10% they state they over package to cover for loss. The large size from Rainbow were twice as big as Petsmart's live large worms I got one time.