Mealworm farming

[jessivogel]

I don't see no picture.

Your picture isn't showing.

Sorry guys, I don't know why the picture didn't add. Here it is.

 

[Kusanar]

Well all of my beetles are dead and I have little bitty worms running around again... will be interesting to see how many I get this time around. I started with 5 beetles, all of their eggs became worms, all of those worms became beetles, and now we are looking at the 2nd generation worms.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Sorry guys, I don't know why the picture didn't add. Here it is.

That's the larva of a dermestid beetle. They're often included in mealworm colonies because they eat the dead beetles and worms. You can feed them to your chickens too if you like.

 

[Shamo123]

I purchased 500g of live mealworms a a while back, weather wasn't too good so it took a while until they turned to beetles but they finally got there a few weeks ago.

Last night i checked on the beetles and they seemed quite active, i had another look today and they are all dead. Does anyone have any idea what happened to them? Weather was 32C today which doesn't seem too hot for mealworms. I did however notice very small moving things on the carrot they have for moisture, they are too small for me to identify them.

 

[Kusanar]

I purchased 500g of live mealworms a a while back, weather wasn't too good so it took a while until they turned to beetles but they finally got there a few weeks ago.

Last night i checked on the beetles and they seemed quite active, i had another look today and they are all dead. Does anyone have any idea what happened to them? Weather was 32C today which doesn't seem too hot for mealworms. I did however notice very small moving things on the carrot they have for moisture, they are too small for me to identify them.

Sounds like they died of old age, mine did the same, mass die off over a short period of time, I have very small baby worms in my bin so I know it's not a big problem killing them

 

[Shamo123]

Sounds like they died of old age, mine did the same, mass die off over a short period of time, I have very small baby worms in my bin so I know it's not a big problem killing them

Ah ok that's good to know then, i thought they had a lifepsan of more than a few weeks. I had a look again when it went dark and there still appears to be a few in there, maybe 10 out of a few hundred left.


I have another drawer and the beetles in there appear to be OK for now. I done a little more research and i think the little moving bugs i saw were grain mites? I've got a microscope so will check them out under it when i get time.

 

[aart]

Quote: Good luck catching one to view under scope.....I used a well slide with another over the top to keep it from escaping....then chased it around it view, good thing I have a mechanical stage on my scope. https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/981212/grain-mites

Hopefully the movement you are seeing is little tiny, tiny mealworm larvae just hatched, grain mites in a mealworm farm are pretty darn hard to get rid of without starting over...not sure it can be done.

 

[Latestarter]

Grain mites are a PITA, but they only eat the grain, so cause no real harm to your mealies. As for getting rid of them, I've heard that you can sift out your worms and rinse them briefly under the faucet with cool/warm water then place them in clean substrate. The old infested substrate can then go to the chickens (along with any baby worms that went through the sifter). As for the dying beetles... dependent on temp, they should live up to several months, not weeks, so I don 't know the deal there... in addition, since they should have hatched from the pupae over a staggered amount of time, hence being different ages, they shouldn't have "all died overnight"... Something doesn't sound right.

 

[Jensownzoo]

Yeah, I agree with Latestarter...I've still got beetles crawling around from my first batch of worms and the offspring from that original batch are now large enough to start feeding out!

 

[balloonflower]

Hi All, I apologize if this has been asked (I haven't read all 800 pages). I have a small mealworms operation where I have cycled all my initial worms into beetles and am seeing good growth of baby worms. It is now at the point of beetle die off--I'm guessing mostly old age, though occasionally possibly some dehydration too, though I try to keep up with fresh potatoes or carrots in my hot dry weather. Is there any reason the dead beetles cannot be added into the ferment batches? I'm trying to build up the larvae population to use as feed supplement in winter when they don't have the outdoor forage they currently get, but hate to just toss all the carcasses if there's a bit of nutrition there.