Mealworm farming

[aart]

Lol, there's not much to mine, but hopefully someone with experience can make it worthy of the title!

Oftentimes the best things start slowly to grow strong.

 

[sueblack]

Does anyone feed mealworms to bluebirds? I want to start doing this but need advice on how to attract them. I put out a bird feeder with mixed seed and BOSS about six weeks ago. So far I have only seen a Cardinal, a Downy Woodpecker, a few Chickadees and lots of Red-Winged Blackbirds.

 

[aart]

Found this here:
Perhaps the biggest challenge is to try to attract bluebirds to your yard with mealworms. If you already have bluebirds and just want to ensure they stay, mealworms can be an effective enticement. If you have never or rarely seen a bluebird in your yard, chances are they will not show up just because you have put out mealworms. What will happen is that other birds in your yard will find them and quickly consume the entire offering. So unless you have bluebirds around, it could be a costly and unrewarding venture to offer mealworms in the hopes of attracting them. However, in cold climates, small over-wintering songbirds like chickadees, nuthatches, etc. appreciate a small hanging tin cup of mealworms as much as bird watchers enjoy watching them come.

 

[sueblack]

Thanks. I guess my first mission should be to get nesting boxes up on my property.

 

[CrunchyNana]

My pupae are dying.

Here's some background... I've had these mealies for about a year now. They were purchased, as wormies, at a petstore that kept them in a fridge. They did the 1st pupae thing fine, beetles (some are still alive), babies. The babies are the current worms. These current worms are starting to finally turn into pupae but are turning black or turning white like they are calicified... and are dying.

I'm feeling like I'm wasting worms b/c I'm letting them go to that stage but then they aren't making it. One so far has turned into a beetle but I don't think he's going to live.

This winter they were in the cold range {60s} for a bit {as worms at that point} so I put a space heater near them, monitored the temp, and that {getting them into the 70* range} }seemed to make them happy; lots of movement where before they were sluggish. The current pupae have never been in the heated environment and I started removing them to another bin, w/ cut apples & oats, when I started seeing them. {so I know the worms/beetles aren't feeding on them}

The whole shebang has been together from day one, until I recently began removing the pupae, in a lidless container w/ oats and apples or whatever I throw in there for them. Nothing else odd going on. No mites. Just dying pupae.

I've got a few doz. pupae in the new box, with the one hatched into a beetle but not moving much, and so far all are dying. We aren't really talking about a ratio of deaths here. It's mass destruction.

Help?

Do I just start over and get new wormies? Is there something I can do for sucessful hatching into beetles?

Mine have taken much longer from the very beginning to go through cycles but they are doing it... to this end anyway.

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

My pupae are dying.

Here's some background... I've had these mealies for about a year now. They were purchased, as wormies, at a petstore that kept them in a fridge. They did the 1st pupae thing fine, beetles (some are still alive), babies. The babies are the current worms. These current worms are starting to finally turn into pupae but are turning black or turning white like they are calicified... and are dying.

I'm feeling like I'm wasting worms b/c I'm letting them go to that stage but then they aren't making it. One so far has turned into a beetle but I don't think he's going to live.

This winter they were in the cold range {60s} for a bit {as worms at that point} so I put a space heater near them, monitored the temp, and that {getting them into the 70* range} }seemed to make them happy; lots of movement where before they were sluggish. The current pupae have never been in the heated environment and I started removing them to another bin, w/ cut apples & oats, when I started seeing them. {so I know the worms/beetles aren't feeding on them}

The whole shebang has been together from day one, until I recently began removing the pupae, in a lidless container w/ oats and apples or whatever I throw in there for them. Nothing else odd going on. No mites. Just dying pupae.

I've got a few doz. pupae in the new box, with the one hatched into a beetle but not moving much, and so far all are dying. We aren't really talking about a ratio of deaths here. It's mass destruction.

Help?

Do I just start over and get new wormies? Is there something I can do for sucessful hatching into beetles?

Mine have taken much longer from the very beginning to go through cycles but they are doing it... to this end anyway.

Hmmmm...that doesn't sound good. It seems like you're doing everything right too. What substrate were they raised on?

 

[sillybirds]

Does anyone feed mealworms to bluebirds? I want to start doing this but need advice on how to attract them. I put out a bird feeder with mixed seed and BOSS about six weeks ago. So far I have only seen a Cardinal, a Downy Woodpecker, a few Chickadees and lots of Red-Winged Blackbirds.

I haven't fed mealworms to bluebirds myself, but this is a nice site that has a lot of information on feeding mealworms to bluebirds (as well as general information on raising mealworms): http://www.sialis.org/feeder.htm

 

[CrunchyNana]

They are in old fashioned oats. I cant seem to find bran here.

Hmmmm...that doesn't sound good.  It seems like you're doing everything right too.  What substrate were they raised on?

 

[Maat]

Instead of potato, I put carrot to my worms.

 

[subhanalah]

So mealworms are foot and In a ten gallon, right? That's where I have mine. I used the plastic Rubbermaid containers to slide in the top of the ten gallon tanks. The rubbermaids have my superworms in them.

None of the feed stores around me carry wheat bran, all they had was rice bran. Can I use this?
Can I just mix it with other things to still use it?

Does anyone use bell peppers for moisture?