Mealworm farming

[LibertyChick]

Quote:
Wow, they sure are tiny! I was looking in my bin and saw that I have at least a few pupae. Not sure where they came from, whether it was from the petstore or exotic.

 

[sassifrassi]

In an effort to upgrade my farm from a one bin system to a three bin system, I wanted to ask....How did everybody cut the bottoms out of their bins? I tried it with a "Gracious Living" plastic drawer and ended up getting stitches as the plastic basically shattered. Any tips?

 

[LibertyChick]

It never seems to fail, just when I'm looking for something I can't find it. I don't know how to search within the thread for certain words...not the whole forum.

I'm now looking for the timeframe for each stage of the wormies lifecycle. I know I've seen it on here before, but whenever I'm looking for it I can't find it.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Stitches? You were going all Ninja on that plastic tub, eh?

Sorry! Didn't mean to make light of your hurt.

It is on the thread here in several places about the life cycle but I read so many different reports on the Net and I think it often has to do with environment and care. What works for one doesn't always work for others.
That is true in many of the discussions we have had on here so keep in mind it has to do with worms, beetles, substrate, food, location of bins, humidity etc.

 

[Klwright1122]

Some how I grabbed the wrong post when I quoted...sorry...

For Liberty Chick:

It is somewhere within the last 20 pages... But i found it in this document on the net...go to the bottom of the page...

http://lhsfoss.org/fossweb/teachers/materials/plantanimal/tenebriobeetles.html


This info will vary a bit depending on where u research..but it gives u a place to start and something to work with...

 

[Klwright1122]

Ok...question...my substrate is wheat bran...and I am finding that my young beetles keep falling over on their backs... Which I would think would eventually kill them--u know the whole dead cock roach thing... Do u think I need to add something in there that they can grab onto like rolled oats or something? It just seems like the bran is so light that they can't grab anything to right themselves... Anyone else have this problem???

 

[bobbyc1970]

hannakat

im gonna try. so far so good. I think they will love me. reading from the first to the end of the thread.

 

[hannakat]

Here you go Liberty Chick ~ This is not written in stone....

Egg Incubation: 4-19 days (usually 4-7). Another source says 20-40 days
Larva: 10 weeks. Visible after about a week
Pupa: 6-18 (18-24?) days
Beetle and Egg Laying: 8-12 weeks (followed by death). Egg laying starts 4-19 days (average 12) after emergence

Along with some other basic info, I'm going to repost this on the initial first post of the thread for easy referencing.


sassifrassi ~ OHMYGOSH! Stiches?!

Thats terrible... how much do you love YOUR chickens?!!!

DH said he used a hole drill bit and drilled a hole about 1" from each corner. Then he used sheet metal shearers to cut from hole to hole. It takes some serious tools to get through it.


Klwright1122 ~ I have no idea. I've seen them on their backs like that but they are usually able to right themselves. If it's deep enough, you'd think they'd be okay. Interesting situation for sure!

 

[Klwright1122]

How horrible is it to sift thru my worm bin? I just got 5000 worms...so I was running my fingers thru the substrate and plucking put worms to give my chickens...while I was turning stuff, everyonce in awhile I was finding a pupa... I moved them to another bin...but its obvious that the pupa don't come to the surface to molt...so unless I move the stuff around I'll miss em. So how much does it disrupt the bin by running my fingers gently thru the substrate??

 

[hannakat]

It shouldn't bother them at all.