Mealworm farming

[Kusanar]

Hello, I am new to the BYC site. I have been raising mealworms for about two years. My sister is the one with chickens, so I raise them for her and for the wild birds during nesting season. I have read most of this thread and have learned a ton. I live in Michigan, so my challenges are trying to keep my worms warm and provide enough moisture during our dry winter. I use wheat bran as my substrate. When I first started, I did try some infant rice cereal and oatmeal that I further ground in a food processor. I found that container took literally twice as long to mature, and the rice cereal got clumped up. I have not had any trouble with mold or mites in my substrate, but I do find that mold develops quickly on potatoes. Carrots dry out quickly in the winter, so I have a hard time finding a reliable vegetable to provide moisture. So, I use a spray bottle and mist the surface of the substrate daily, unless it still feels at all moist. I also have newspaper or part of a brown paper grocery bag laying on the surface, and I spray each layer of those. My containers are open trays and plastic drawers that came from typical Sterilite sets. I keep them in the basement in some lower kitchen cupboards that were left over from a remodel from before we bought this house. I use seedling germination heating pads and strings of xmas lights for warmth.

I wanted to comment on an observation I made recently. I had been keeping my pupae separate from the larvae and beetles, because I have observed the beetles chewing on the heads of the pupae. After reading here that cannabalism should be minimal, I put them back together, and made sure there were apple slices for the beetles to chew on. I noticed an immediate increase in the number of misshapen newly eclosed beetles. So, I took the pupae out again. When they were in their own container with no supplemented moisture, there was 100% perfect eclosures. So, I suspect that there is either cannabalism, or the eclosure process occurs more smoothly under dry conditions. The percentage of malformations, when they occur, is between 10 and 15%, which doesn't seem too bad, except this is at the end of the process. We've finally gotten to the point where we hope to see the population explode, and 1/7 is malformed.

It is time consuming, but I am going to stick with keeping the stages separate.

To increase efficiency, I recommend keeping a folded piece of brown grocery bag on top of the substrate. The mature larvae converge there while they prepare to pupate. So, if you want to collect some to feed the chickens, just pick up the paper and dump them into a container. No sifting or separating sizes. Same goes for taking beetles out of a container to separate them from the eggs they've laid. Put fresh carrots or apple slices or a fresh heel of bread on top and they will swarm to it. Scoop out the pile of beetles and repeat as many times as needed. And, you don't need to get every single beetle out. If you continue to provide moisture, which you should anyway, the few beetles left behind won't eat a significant number of the eggs, and they'll die a natural death soon enough.

Thanks to all who have contributed to this thread. It really is the best source of information out there, since it has experiences from people in different climates and different household situations, with observations over long periods of time as well as common newbie downfalls. Best of luck to all with both their mealworms and all their other critters.

I saw a design that you might be able to work with, they put a upside down plastic tub in the container with the beetles and put the pupa on top of the plastic container as they found them, then when the pupa "hatch" into beetles, the new beetles fall off the side of the tub into the container with the rest of them.

 

[Docmom1471]

Kusanar,
That's a great idea! I've seen a picture of a container with a spiral ramp leading up to the opening to another container which the beetles were supposed to climb up. Your idea seems much more straight forward and user friendly. Thanks.

 

[Kusanar]

Kusanar,
That's a great idea! I've seen a picture of a container with a spiral ramp leading up to the opening to another container which the beetles were supposed to climb up. Your idea seems much more straight forward and user friendly. Thanks.

I can't take credit for the idea, I haven't tried it, I started with 5 beetles and when they died I've just had worms ever since... but I saw that somewhere (on here maybe), to keep the new beetle from eating the pupa like they might if they "hatch" and there is nothing to eat but their brothers and sisters...

 

[babul]

@latestarter, dear sir I never meant you are mean or disrespectful, on the contrary you are quite a civil gentleman.
I meant I was mistaken in the sense that I overlooked what raising large animals meant in your country, Ofcourse now you explained how difficult it is for most of the people out there.
My poor English is also causing some problems. Babul

 

[napdognewfie]

babul, your English is excellent!

 

[ladyearth]

Id sure like to see pics..... so I could better understand
thanks
OH and the beetles should be sep. cause they will eat the worms and pupa?
wow I guess that is why I seem to have less mealies...
dang I already hae them in 5 drawere ..Sterlite drawers...
Plus I just added more rice bran dint take out the old. Cause I woudnt know how to "strain" out the frass. Since the bran is so fine. and are not the EGGS fine, slso?
thanks again

 

[Latestarter]

The eggs are very, very fine... you might say basically microscopic. If you leave the colony alone, the frass will mostly settle to the bottom. If you move the surface, you'll see the color change between the frass below and the bran on top. You can just add more bran on top indefinitely if you wish, limited by how deep your container is as you don't want the bugs to be able to crawl out. Some do containers with screen glued to the bottom so the frass and eggs drop through to a container below. Some folks separate out all the various stages. I clean the containers once annually and remove the frass to a separate container, add some bran on top, add some carrots and cover with newspaper so any eggs or baby worms can grow large enough to be removed from the frass and added back into the colony. The frass then goes directly into the garden.

I basically leave everything and every stage in a single container. When I have a bunch of worms, I put some of them in a new container and let them become beetles, breed and lay eggs, then let the eggs hatch and viola' I now have 2 containers with colonies. Rinse and repeat. Some say they have cannibalism issues, I have never experienced this. I HAVE had losses due to drying out pupa and worms as well as malformed beetles, but believe that's just a natural function. As they say... $hit happens. No biggie... they're bugs... the chickens don't care and scarf them regardless of color, shape, size, etc.

I don't put excess water in... I place news papers inside and toilet paper rolls on top of the wheat bran. Every week or so I place a couple handfuls of baby carrots in there spread around more or less evenly then place the newspapers back on top of everything. I don't use "wet" fruits and veggies at any time of year, therefore I don't have mold or fruit fly issues. The worms getting ready to pupate crawl in between the sheets of newspaper and are rarely bothered unless I shake them out either to place carrots or to scoop and feed to the chickens.

I don't use heat pads, I don't use heat lamps. I don't artificially increase my already too high heating bill for worms and beetles. They sit on a folding table in the back bedroom which is the coolest room in the house in winter and warmest in summer. Right now the temp in there is in the 60's which for me is fine as it slows the stage development down. Therefore, they stay worms longer and I can use them as treats longer. In the summer they morph very quickly so it seems I generally have more pupa and beetles than worms as they grow very fast.

It's really only as difficult as you want it to be. They really do pretty much take care of themselves.

Edit to add, if you want to see pics, there are already many in this thread. look to the top right of the page and you'll see a section titled "Recent Images In This Thread" where you can click "view all" and see all of them.

 

[Cluckies]

Well, things are going better I think, I haven't seen any more worms or beetles die in a couple days, Many worms turning to pupae, many pupae turning to beetles. I've opened the door to the rest of the house, turned down the heat. we have a humidifier in the kitchen, with the door open it should intermix with the air in there. I also put a pan of warm water in there with a seedling mat under it in that room to humidify it a little more. It will take me some time to rig up a set up like yours @azygous , but if i'm going to do this long term, it will be worth it.

 

[aart]

Well, things are going better I think, I haven't seen any more worms or beetles die in a couple days, Many worms turning to pupae, many pupae turning to beetles. I've opened the door to the rest of the house, turned down the heat. we have a humidifier in the kitchen, with the door open it should intermix with the air in there. I also put a pan of warm water in there with a seedling mat under it in that room to humidify it a little more. It will take me some time to rig up a set up like yours @azygous , but if i'm going to do this long term, it will be worth it.

Seed mat in conjunction with tubs of water(ala azygous)good way to heat the colony without over heating or over drying.

 

[ladyearth]

when I added more rice bran it seems I had less worms.... I may not have kept up on making sure thickpumpkin peelings were enough... You know the little buggers dont exactly bark or meow or crow to rmind me they are there......
Someone link to an old report using various brans and grains and results noted. I prob bookmarked it but dont remmeber what was the best "feed" for wormies...prob oat bran...
Latesatrter, I dont buy baby carrots anymore cause I read they are bleached... Now if we could grow them ourselves wow....
Like I got gobs of seeds but to remember to plant them at the right time would be great. Prob BC( before Chickens) I did a lot better in the gardening dept...
Be so great to have a real greenhouse or a "walapini" or even a hoop house. I got the stuff to do so... but everything takes time,,and Hubby is only one man... and no longer vim and vigor.... He said he hates getting old...LOL esp in a house you regret buying ....ah well good luck all. cold weather is back again and I hate it ....If...