Mealworm farming

[aart]

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.

I'd just feed the dead beetles to the chickens......I'm assuming you're feeding them to chickens since this is a chicken forum.
Might be noxious in a ferment, maybe try a small batch and see?

There's a huge and active fermented feed thread here on BYC, do a search.

 

[balloonflower]

Thanks! Thus far they haven't been interested in dead bugs much. I do small batches daily for my ferment--thus the carcasses would cycle thru quick and not get stinky. (Just personal preference--I didn't much care for one large batch continually added too). Or, I might try adding and just mixing in just before feeding--they generally pick out all the boss first, so I figure they'll grad the beetles thinking them such. I have read many of the ferment threads, but hadn't seen this addressed.

 

[Jensownzoo]

I thought I'd report back on the dermestid beetles since I did my first major colony maintenance since I added them. And the verdict is: they are busy little beetles! Very few carcasses left in the beetle bins and none in the worm bins. All I had to do was sift the frass and shed skins out and top off the substrate. 12 bins took me less than an hour (this is the every 1-2 month maintenance) and daily maintenance simply consists of adding cabbage leaves to the bins. Very pleased.

 

[aart]

I thought I'd report back on the dermestid beetles since I did my first major colony maintenance since I added them. And the verdict is: they are busy little beetles! Very few carcasses left in the beetle bins and none in the worm bins. All I had to do was sift the frass and shed skins out and top off the substrate. 12 bins took me less than an hour (this is the every 1-2 month maintenance) and daily maintenance simply consists of adding cabbage leaves to the bins. Very pleased.

So what happens when the dermestid beetles run out of carcasses to eat?
Will they reproduce in the bins?

 

[Latestarter]

You may want to NOT put them in your FF. Adding animal protein to a ferment will cause a pretty nasty fragrance that you may be sorry you created. You can always just sift the dead beetles and top dress the ff with them when you feed. Or, I just feed them out as a treat the same as the worms

The chooks don't care... to them it's probably like dehydrated meat flavored BOSS... I guess it would be like beetle jerky huh? All I know is they scarf them up.

Edit to say I didn't realize the post I responded to was the last post on the page with posts after it. Gettin' old...

 

[Shamo123]

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.

Catching them shouldn't be too difficult as they are pretty much all over the carrot slices, they look and move just like in your video so it's probably safe to say they are grain mites and not tiny mealworms

 

[Shamo123]

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.

So should i even bother trying to get rid of them? I know they are going to eat the bran but as long as it's not too much and they don't hurt the mealworms and beetles then i probably won't bother trying to get rid of them. I thought maybe it was the mites that killed the beetles but i guess not since i also saw plenty in tray number 2 and the beetles in there appear to be OK.

Only other thing i can think of is the carrot slice had been mostly eaten so maybe they died of dehydration? Although there was a small amount of carrot left.

 

[Latestarter]

That's really "your call" The mites are going to continue to breed and multiply over time, and since that's not what you're intending to breed, at some point they are going to overwhelm the colony. The problem is a small infestation doesn't stay small. And since you can't poison them without killing the bugs you are trying to raise, at SOME point you'll have to deal with them. I haven't actually had to deal with them, so the advise I'm providing is based on my research/study of the issue, and what has been posted previously here by others.

 

[aart]

Quote: Catching one and being able to keep it under the scope to see it.
They squish easy, they are pretty fragile.
But a magnifying glass and my pics and vid should help with ID.

That's really "your call" The mites are going to continue to breed and multiply over time, and since that's not what you're intending to breed, at some point they are going to overwhelm the colony. The problem is a small infestation doesn't stay small. And since you can't poison them without killing the bugs you are trying to raise, at SOME point you'll have to deal with them. I haven't actually had to deal with them, so the advise I'm providing is based on my research/study of the issue, and what has been posted previously here by others.

Agrees. ..and you certainly don't want them to spread, especially if bins are in house......they can get into your grain foodstuffs.

 

[evemfoster]

So should i even bother trying to get rid of them? I know they are going to eat the bran but as long as it's not too much and they don't hurt the mealworms and beetles then i probably won't bother trying to get rid of them. I thought maybe it was the mites that killed the beetles but i guess not since i also saw plenty in tray number 2 and the beetles in there appear to be OK.

Only other thing i can think of is the carrot slice had been mostly eaten so maybe they died of dehydration? Although there was a small amount of carrot left.

You want to toss out any concertrations of mites and any veggies that have mites on them. Be careful to not shake the mites off while moving the veggies. Mites get worce quickly. They like moisture and will concentrate around moist spots in the bedding and around the veggies.
The mites will cover the veggies so thickly that the meal worms wont be able to get into eat. When you get a large infestation the mites will crall up the walls of the bin and crall all over the shelve the bin is sitting on. If that happens the first thing you will notice is a gray "dust" on the shelves. Then you will notice that the "dust" is moving.