Mealworm farming

[yinepu]

well.. i went to the post office this morning and picked up my mealworms that I had ordered from Uncle Jims.. I had ordered 2000... when i counted out the live ones I had 893 that were alive.. so more than half died in transit.. So i went ahead and sent Uncle Jims an email.. hopefully I hear something back later today

 

[hannakat]

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That's perfect! Go for it.


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Geesh.... this is not good. Let us know what you hear! I plan on contacting him as well. Had a conversation with him a few weeks ago ... At this point, anyone reading this.... there are 3 good sources of worms on the first post of this thread to try to help eliminate these problems.

What a disappointment. I know it was for me when they sent the wrong worms and had to wait, again, to receive the mealies.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

I had a few dried up dead ones in with my order from Exoticnutrition but not many. I think I saw 6 out of 2000.
When I ordered from Speedy Worm back in April the box came with holes punched in it for air circulation but this one did not. I think that had a lot to do with the great shape Speedy Worms arrived in. Though the weather was a lot cooler then.

I think Uncle Jims needs to be on our black list. Too many troubles from what I am hearing.

I hope you can get them to reship or reimburse you.

 

[BuffyGRL]

Quote:
Sorry, been getting alot of mail lately, LOL. I got your message and sent the payment. Thank You so Much

Your wormies have been shipped and I also PMed you the tracking ##.
Hope your chickens will love them. They are beautiful golden large.

The wormies arrived Today in the mail. Luckily I was off work today so it seemed it was meant to be. They were alive and well and very well packaged. Only saw 1 black dried up worm and maybe 3 pupae on top of that

I was out an about this morning buying supplies for the worm farm planning on this setup.

Anke is superb in communication and packaging. She knows just how to ship....they made it cross country from California to NC in 2 days and here in NC its in the mid to upper 90's today. Way to go crazy huhn! Thanks so much I am very excited to get this started

 

[galanie]

Speaking of catching bugs, I had a container leak and wet down some quail food. I uncovered it and let it sit out since I saw tons of flies there thinking maybe I'd get some maggots to feed the girls. I know, gross, but you should have smelled it. I put it somewhere that I wouldn't have to smell it. Came back a couple weeks later and now I have black soldier fly larvae! Sooooooo now maybe I'll start cultivating them too. Maybe.

 

[homesteadinmama]

Oh no, now I am worried, I ordered my worms from uncle jims............I hope it isn't too hot next week when they ship.

 

[hannakat]

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Awesome!

 

[yinepu]

Quote:
Geesh.... this is not good. Let us know what you hear! I plan on contacting him as well. Had a conversation with him a few weeks ago ... At this point, anyone reading this.... there are 3 good sources of worms on the first post of this thread to try to help eliminate these problems.

What a disappointment. I know it was for me when they sent the wrong worms and had to wait, again, to receive the mealies.

I sent an email first.. then decided to call as well.. the guy who answered the phone was very nice and told me that they do have a live arrival guarantee so they will be shipping out replacements monday..
that works for me.. so long as I get close to the 2k that I ordered i'll be happy.. I do have to give them credit for being very nice over the phone. I know they cant control the weather or how long the worms are in transit or what the postal service subjects them to..

 

[LibertyChick]

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I'd say do it now so you have tons of mealies to feed your new chickes.

 

[LibertyChick]

An update on my < 1 month old farm.

1 had gotten 500? mealies from the pet store) and 2000 from exoticnutrition last week.

On Sunday evening, I sifted through the bin and found about 25 pupa. I put them, along with some oatmeal and piece of apple in a little bucket that I placed in the corner of the big bin.

I didn't check on the mealies from Sunday till Tuesday. On Tuesday, I looked in the bucket and saw a bunch of beetles and took them out and placed into the main bin area. I sifted again thru the big bin and found 43 more pupae and placed them in the pupae bucket.

I don't know why, but for some reason I thought to look into the pupae bucket to see what I could find. I found about 5 or 6 beetles. Wow!!! That was only a few house after putting the pupae in the bucket. There was NO beetles in the pupae bucket when I put them in there, but a few hours later there were. Now, I'm in the habbit of checking for beetles 1-2 times per day to pull any beetles out and put them in the main bin area.

I'm really surprised at the quick tranformation and the average temp in the area where they are is 80 degrees (with the exception of the few days the heat was extreme.