Mealworm farming

[Lacy Blues]

Will chickens eat Earwigs. I have them all over and could catch some when they come out.

ABSOLUTELY! My chickens LOVE earwigs!

It's actually very easy to catch them. Just leave a board on the ground in your chicken pen and every morning you can lift it up and let your girls go to town!

 

[bnewns]

Newb here and wanting to get into raising mealworms, how many mealworms do you feed at a time per bird or how do you ration out the worms. Iv got some pretty aggressive ladies that might not share

I usually try to feed 5-10 to each or I throw them around them so they call all get (don't put in a pile. ) amazing how fast they can move.

 

[bbsnooks]

Can I answer that? I've had mites, well, that is, my worm tray filled with untreated substrate of wheat bran and chick starter had them.

Keep those worms and beetles segregated. Any new ones you want to raise, make sure you heat the wheat bran in the oven at 250 degrees for 20 minutes at least. I had success fishing every larva and beetle and pupae out of the invested substrate and rinsing under warm water and replacing in cooled heat-treated new wheat bran. But it was labor intensive.

So, more information that you bargained for, I'm sure, but that's my story.

azygous.. that is exactly.. what i needed to hear..
and thankfully .. i dont believe this is my problem..

I think my problem .. is similar to Dipstick's..
I was having a bit of die off.. maybe not as much..
but i think i was killing them with kindness / food.

Thanks Dipstick.. for posting all that .. and the photo's.. and data.

luckily.. i have 60 or so new pupae.. to start .. so.. I think they'll make up for my error's in the future.

I was wondering if anyone had tried anything other than plastic totes to keep their meal worms in. I plan to try this asap but plastic totes are not a readily available commodity around my place. Does anything else work?

I put mine in Turkey tin's.. but I dont have to worry about any one knocking them over..
This is a temporary .. thing but it seems to work well .. I leave the bran 1-2" below the lip of the pan.. and they cannot crawl up .. I was stacking them.. but now.. they all fit in the oven.

there are 3 tins.. and a beetle box are in the oven.. in the kitchen.
< I dont bake much, sorry for some of you who's mate may not tolerate this >
but it works good.. for me.. and I can check on them regularly.. since i'm new to this.
I too am having fun.. watching the growth..
Mine seem to like the cardboard food box to crawl into ( the worms.. )
and the beetles like the news paper.. folded under a cardboard packing .. protector.

Mine.. are "collecting" at one end.. any clue's as to what that means..?

thanks..

 

[bbsnooks]

Hypertay
what a relief .. I hope this is so.. in that case.. I'm not doing any thing wrong..
I figured.. that some die off was.. Ok.. not that its.? normal? but ok.. enough that .. Im not going to have a colony collapse.
I've got 60 pupae in 10 day's.. so .. i'll be able to re build.. in the
'baked" bran..

I've also been using the bran as a bedding of sorts.
.. in another turkey roaster i put bran in for the chicks.. to dust in..
also.. to put the food bowl in this pan.. ( dont have proper chick feeder)
to put the feed in..
so.. now when.. they scratch out the feed.. into the bran.. I'll just add that .. to the worms for bedding.

I think that if you started with 5000 worms in the one container and those are the dead out of it, that doesn't look horribly bad. Out of 100 pet shop worms, about 30 died before pupating. And out of 1000 from Amy, about 25-30% died but so many lived to adulthood that I have 8 bins going, worms everywhere. I think you should stop with the humidifier though. I had mold and mites in my aquarium when I kept a wet napkin in a plastic baggie along with carrots potatoes and apples. Way too much moisture. I put a 60watt bulb on the outside and took away the napkin, and only gave them 1 carrot at a time. They bounced back quick and I've been feeding out those worms and some of the bugs. Also, your potato slices are moldy. Potatoes go moldy so fast, and you shouldn't have any moldy food in there. I had to replace potatoes every 2 or 3 days until I totally switched to carrots. Don't worry, once you stop using potatoes they will eat the carrots.

I am excited about your fish project! My husband has just started watching all those videos on youtube about aquaponics, and he really wants to do it here. Tilapia and perch with salad greens and duckweed growing on top! Please document and post links!

Newb here and wanting to get into raising mealworms, how many mealworms do you feed at a time per bird or how do you ration out the worms. Iv got some pretty aggressive ladies that might not share

I have 21 chicks.. 2 weeks old
I've been dropping a few mealworms into brooder cage.. its quite fun.. to stir up the " keep away.."
and amazing. how tough some worms are.. ?? the tug o war.. can last a while.. at this age..
i'll put 1 in at a time.. for the first 10 minutes..
then.. drop a handful.. ( and the crowd goes wild !!!!!) - you'll be saying.. Honey.. get the video camera.. ; )
its worth the shipping price right there.. to watch.. the "keep O way"
Very Entertaining... I hope you have as much fun as I do..

 

[barrabarra]

As a science teacher, I have raised mealworms and Tenebrio beetles for years so that students can observe the life cycle all in one container. Once we ground some up and added them to a corn chip recipe before we cooked up chips. It was great fun observing the reactions when people were told about the source of protein.

 

[Cebarmlds]

As a science teacher, I have raised mealworms and Tenebrio beetles for years so that students can observe the life cycle all in one container. Once we ground some up and added them to a corn chip recipe before we cooked up chips. It was great fun observing the reactions when people were told about the source of protein.

That is gross! shouldn't you tell people before you feed them something like that? I think I'd barf on you.

 

[Herp Lover]

I use to raise Mealworms as food for my geckos until I learned that they are not very healthy. Now that I have Chickens I think I will start these up again.

 

[Dipstick]

 

[Dipstick]

I think that if you started with 5000 worms in the one container and those are the dead out of it, that doesn't look horribly bad. Out of 100 pet shop worms, about 30 died before pupating. And out of 1000 from Amy, about 25-30% died but so many lived to adulthood that I have 8 bins going, worms everywhere. I think you should stop with the humidifier though. I had mold and mites in my aquarium when I kept a wet napkin in a plastic baggie along with carrots potatoes and apples. Way too much moisture. I put a 60watt bulb on the outside and took away the napkin, and only gave them 1 carrot at a time. They bounced back quick and I've been feeding out those worms and some of the bugs. Also, your potato slices are moldy. Potatoes go moldy so fast, and you shouldn't have any moldy food in there. I had to replace potatoes every 2 or 3 days until I totally switched to carrots. Don't worry, once you stop using potatoes they will eat the carrots.

I am excited about your fish project! My husband has just started watching all those videos on youtube about aquaponics, and he really wants to do it here. Tilapia and perch with salad greens and duckweed growing on top! Please document and post links!

We will be documenting most everything... but the way we are going about this is so much deeper into the concept than what is found in the videos and such, we think that we have something new to offer on the subject, so hopefully others will agree and buy the book... if I ever do write it.

There is so much conflicting information out there, that we feel that it is time for someone to actually develop a system that is balanced and truly self sustaining. This is one reason I am testing multiple ideas about the mealies. I would love to chat with your hubby if he feels like calling me... just PM me and I can give you my number, or perhaps you all can drop in for coffee or tea some time.

 

[Hypertay]

We will be documenting most everything... but the way we are going about this is so much deeper into the concept than what is found in the videos and such, we think that we have something new to offer on the subject, so hopefully others will agree and buy the book... if I ever do write it.

There is so much conflicting information out there, that we feel that it is time for someone to actually develop a system that is balanced and truly self sustaining. This is one reason I am testing multiple ideas about the mealies. I would love to chat with your hubby if he feels like calling me... just PM me and I can give you my number, or perhaps you all can drop in for coffee or tea some time.

Thanks! We think there is a lot missing in the information available, and there are so many variables it's mind boggling. At this point we are at the thinking about it stage, with me thinking about fresh fish and vegetables to eat, and my husband thinking about raising for stocking ponds for area landowners and growing the fish food. Not to mention convincing the rest of the family that lives on this property that it could be fun and profitable and delicious!