Mealworm farming

[gaitngirl]

My beetles are lasting much longer than I thought originally, I guess. I need to start separating them from the rest of the bin. I scooped a bunch out and I have a lot more live beetles than I realized but they were buried in the bran. Which is good, of course. I had been taking the odd dead beetle carcass out now and again along with any dead mealies or pupa and feeding them to the chooks. Hopefully I'll start seeing little mealies soon, too.

 

[Blackoutcat]

I used to raise mealworms for my leopard geckos but stopped after awhile as the amount of chitin in the mealies was causing problems. I did love that they were so easy to grow and reproduce. I mean I started with 100 mealies, brought in 300 more during an upgrade to my setup, and had a population of several thousand when I sold them all off. Perhaps I'll have to get a farm set back up again once I'm ready to bring home some Coturnix Quails and Wyandottes. This thread is pretty convincing that mealies make your flock get very excited xD

 

[cywiar merch]

The frass ( meal worm skins) is very light and blows around easily. In my three drawer system with a screen bottom to the mealie drawer, I have frass on top daily. I have been pulling out the mealie drawer and taking it into the yard anhd letting the wind blow off the frass or doing it myself. Definately do it while standing upwind because the frass can get everywhere.

Hi, I am hoping to get chickens soon so want to get a head start on mealworm farming. Can I ask a question is frass the meal worm skins or poop?

 

[cywiar merch]

Sorry Its been a rough start with my chickens. Gracie had an ingrown toenail and I was too "chicken" to mess with it so I took her to the vet Thursday. I did trim the other ones though. I noticed how bad they were when I was checking for 5 toes. But, all better now.

By bug screen I mean I'm using a piece of metal window screening for bugs. I cut it to fit my 18" hoop. Nothing goes in the bin for bedding that won't sift through the hoop. This way when I need to pull worms and bettles out, the only thing that gets caught in the screen is stuff that needs to come out of the bin anyways.

Oh boy, do I know about lazy lol In the morning before work I've been taking the entire bin out back and letting Gracie and Liza just peck out the dead beetles on the surface. They're not fussy about touching the mealwoms and beetles like I am. Liza always wants to hop in the bin though lol

I'll get pictures of my bin and screen and add them. Its just the simplest thing ever. No muss, no fuss. I've had much better luck after I got frustrated and ditched all efforts to be fancy about it.

















Here are some photos: The bin is one I had for my regulators already. The white powder and the jar is the baking soda I keep on the shelf under the bin to keep mice and pests away. There is a small hoop inside the bin ( I forgot to mention that before: it has tulle in it. It sits flush on the bedding and I dump the veggies and greens on top of this. This way the worms crawl through the tulle to get to their moisture source but it doesn't get sunken into the bedding/food source and rot. )
I have two sheets of paper grocery bag on top right now ( just lain one on top of the other and the worms crawl between for reasons unknown. They seem to thrive on it though; eating brown paper Yuck. The beetles the chickens ate love to get in between the paper layers.
The big hoop is what I put the bug screen in to sift out the worms and beetles.
I wish I'd taken photos before I let Gracie and Liza clean it up. I had a little bit of an overpopulation problem and I wanted to smooze up to my chickens too haha.
I pulled a 1/2 cup scoop and poured it back onto the paper so you can see the worms are everywhere and come in all sizes.
I've found that the pupae tend to get munched on if I don't keep the bin filled with a plentiful water source such as the lettuce. You'll see this as hard little pupae with holes in them. This doesn't happen anymore now that I know to put a wet piece of bread in the bin if I'm going to be gone more than a week. To do the wet bread you need only poke holes in a plastic lid; such as a margarine tub lid, wet the bread, tuck it onto the lid with the lip side facing up; scoop out a shallow well in the bins bedding and cover it so its barely covered but level with the natural top of the bins bedding surface. You have to remember to take it out when you get home and put it on top of the tulle and let it dry out so all of the worms in it go back to the bedding. After its turned into a brick of dry bread and bedding I just crumble it up and sift the whole works back into the bin.
There is nothing in that bin under the tulle that won't fit through the sifter.
Anyways, there it is. Not very pretty but it works like a charm and I haven't had any problems with it for at least 5 years and I probably have 2 or 3 thousand feeder size worms in it, plus eggs. Right now there are about 40 or 50 pupae in there. Liza is beetle crazy or I'd still have new, old and dead beetles everywhere too But I've discovered I can pet Gracie and Liza both when I have something they really, really want. I want them to get so tame I can pick Gracie up and trim her toenails until they're normal again without all the growling boks. We'll get there.

By the way, I use bug screen on my canning jars with the rings to create sifters for everything lol I did buy it new! I'm a huge fan of repurposing anything and everything before I'll actually buy something but used bug screen for a flour, salt, pepper, baking soda or what-have-you sifter is really creepy. lol
My spelling is actually pretty awesome after I edit my post twenty times. LOL

Hi, I am still at the point of researching setting up my meal worms. I really like your set up and its simplicity. Can you explain how to sift out all poop that accumulates? I see you add more oatmeal but not how you get rid of all the poop. Thanks for your help. Everything you have explained has been really helpful to me so far. Really appreciated.

 

[MalMom]

When it's time to clean their bin (which will take months and months), simply get a wire strainer, and sift the worms, beetles, and pupa out of their old bin and into a new one. Add new bedding for them (oatmeal, wheat bran, whatever you use) and you are ready to go again. Keep all the old stuff for a few weeks and sift through it again. That way if you lost any baby worms, or eggs, they will have time to get big enough to put back in your farm. It's pretty simple. Depending on how many you start with, it might take a year before you need to clean it out.

 

[McPhersonFarm]

I've had to clean mine out completely twice in two months I started with 1000 seperated into 3 bins shoe box size and they've went crazy. I just added new though didn't sift was scared of losing babies but guess I could keep like you suggested.

 

[cywiar merch]

When it's time to clean their bin (which will take months and months), simply get a wire strainer, and sift the worms, beetles, and pupa out of their old bin and into a new one. Add new bedding for them (oatmeal, wheat bran, whatever you use) and you are ready to go again. Keep all the old stuff for a few weeks and sift through it again. That way if you lost any baby worms, or eggs, they will have time to get big enough to put back in your farm. It's pretty simple. Depending on how many you start with, it might take a year before you need to clean it out.

Thanks. I am ordering my worms tomorrow.

 

[MalMom]

I've had to clean mine out completely twice in two months I started with 1000 seperated into 3 bins shoe box size and they've went crazy. I just added new though didn't sift was scared of losing babies but guess I could keep like you suggested.

Those are a lot of worms for small containers. If you had a bigger container (containers) you wouldn't have to clean it out so much. I started with 200 worms in a large terrarium and it will probably be a good year before I have to clean it out. Although since they are (hopefully) reproducing maybe sooner once my numbers go up. But at this time I see very little frass in there. When I ordered my 1,000 mealworms, I put them in a large plastic tub, all 1,000. I can measure it if you want me to. At first I was planning on only putting half in, but 1,000 in such a large container just didn't seam like much. Now when they start reproducing I'll probably have to get another container or something. I've had them for.... a month now (?) and I'm no where close to having to clean it out. Now it just depends on if you want a lot of frass or not. I've been told it is great fertilizer, and I wanted some for my garden, but it's just too early for me, as I'm pretty new to mealworm farming in general. But you did give me a good idea, put a bunch in a smaller container just for the frass. I might try that. So if you are wanting the frass, keep them in smaller containers, if you don't want to have to worry about clean it out so much, try bigger containers.

Thanks. I am ordering my worms tomorrow.

Congrats, cywiar! How many are you going to get? Keep up posted on your progress! I started my farm a few months ago and I have tons of beetles now and I see lots of eggs. I'm just waiting to start seeing my new worms. It's really a lot of fun.

 

[cywiar merch]

Those are a lot of worms for small containers. If you had a bigger container (containers) you wouldn't have to clean it out so much. I started with 200 worms in a large terrarium and it will probably be a good year before I have to clean it out. Although since they are (hopefully) reproducing maybe sooner once my numbers go up. But at this time I see very little frass in there. When I ordered my 1,000 mealworms, I put them in a large plastic tub, all 1,000. I can measure it if you want me to. At first I was planning on only putting half in, but 1,000 in such a large container just didn't seam like much. Now when they start reproducing I'll probably have to get another container or something. I've had them for.... a month now (?) and I'm no where close to having to clean it out. Now it just depends on if you want a lot of frass or not. I've been told it is great fertilizer, and I wanted some for my garden, but it's just too early for me, as I'm pretty new to mealworm farming in general. But you did give me a good idea, put a bunch in a smaller container just for the frass. I might try that. So if you are wanting the frass, keep them in smaller containers, if you don't want to have to worry about clean it out so much, try bigger containers.

Congrats, cywiar! How many are you going to get? Keep up posted on your progress! I started my farm a few months ago and I have tons of beetles now and I see lots of eggs. I'm just waiting to start seeing my new worms. It's really a lot of fun.

I live in the Uk and they seem to sell it by weight. I am getting 100g which they say can be anywhere from 750- 1000 worms. Do you think I should get more? I haven't got my chickens yet but will be getting four. Plus, I will be gving some to wild birds. Do you use the single or 3 tier method?

 

[MalMom]

I live in the Uk and they seem to sell it by weight. I am getting 100g which they say can be anywhere from 750- 1000 worms. Do you think I should get more? I haven't got my chickens yet but will be getting four. Plus, I will be gving some to wild birds. Do you use the single or 3 tier method?

I'm still pretty new at this myself, so I can't say for sure how many you may want to start with. Also, it depends on a lot of different things. I have two chickens and plan on feeding them as treats in the summer months when there are other bugs they can get, and somewhat supplement their food in the winter when we have snow and there aren't any bugs. I also want to feed some to the wild birds, and maybe sell some locally. I am not a patient person and this whole process seams to be taking way to long for me!

I know that is a couple of cycles I will have way too many mealworms, but for now I'm trying not to feed any out so I can get them going. At first I got about 200, then I ordered 1,000 more. My bin of 200 have mostly turned into beetles (with a few worms and pupa still) and I am seeing eggs, but I haven't seen any new worms yet. I think I got that going in March, but I'd have to check to be sure. My bin of 1,000 I got more recently and they have just stated pupating. The way I look at it is this: Say half are boys, and half are girls. So if you have 1000 and half are girls you have 500 girls. Lets just say that for some odd reason you lost 200. Some die as worms, some die as pupa, etc. so let's just say 200 (which is a lot) die and don't lay eggs. That leaves you with 300. Well lets just say that out of those 300 they each lay 200 eggs (I've read everywhere from 200 to 500) but 100 of those eggs don't mature for whatever reason. That leave you with 30,000 new worms and, I believe, my numbers were very conservative. That is after just one cycle. If you don't feed any of those to your chickens, and you let all of them go through a life cycle, you'll have more than I feel like calculating.

Now if you are wanting to start feeding them to your chickens as soon as you get them, you may want more, so you can have some to feed, and some to reproduce. Or you may feel that 30,000 is just too many, and you want to start feeding them sooner. I also am not sure how many you want to give to the wild birds, but regardless, after two life cycles, you will have more worms than you know what to do with. But it will take several months to get through two life cycles. I'm not sure if that helped at all, but I hope so.
As far as my method, I use a single container. I'm way too lazy to be moving them from one container to the other, and I don't want to drop any and loose them! My beetles have eaten some of the dead beetles, and pupa, but I have not seen them eat any live ones. The way I see it, they are keeping the bin clean for me. I can take pictures of my bins if you want to see. They are pretty simple, with the bin of 1000 being much more simple than the one with 200. I wish I had done that one differently.