Mealworm farming

[Latestarter]

I ordered my first 1000 yesterday!

I'm sure your chicks will positively LOVE you for it/them

 

[RoseMarie1]

Awesome, thanks!!! We live in a gluten-free house, so I'm hoping I can stick to oats and they'll be okay. I'll keep the whole wheat flour in mind, though, if they don't thrive.

u 2? we've been g.f for 2 years now going on our 3rd one. Wont go back since we saw what all it helps on us. hubby used to have acid reflux something horrible and had those old mouth ulcers to and hasn't had the first bout with the reflux nor the ulcers since we did this. This modified wheat is killing folks and we have no clue. And they say it's GOOD for you? Blows my mind. My daughter has been G.F. since March of last year and she doesn't have migraines anymore. Before she had one each month and sometimes 2. None since going G.F. I could go on and on and on but I wont.

 

[estamets]

We found the same thing - lost 35# and the hubby lost 70#.

I just bought some quick oats and a 6-grain blend for the mealies, which are coming next week. The 6-grain has wheat and barley in it, but I'm not gluten-sensitive to the touch - I may start them with this blend and then wean them off into all oats.

I also got a large, sturdy storage bin for $13; I'm a little worried it's going to be too big to let them have depth, but I wanted it to match the composting worms' bin, so... I suppose we'll see how it goes!

So much learning going on over here!

 

[Tourist9394]

Got a problem here, I've got lots of darkling beetles, but no larvae after more than a month...Is the life cycle slow because in door temperate is around 17C...or is there a problem?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Got a problem here, I've got lots of darkling beetles, but no larvae after more than a month...Is the life cycle slow because in door temperate is around 17C...or is there a problem?

I think that's probably about right and what you should expect. Your low temperatures will slow things down considerably. Take a couple spoonfuls of substrate off the top of the colony and spread it out on a sheet of paper and look for very tiny larvae. If you don't see them immediately, you should soon.

 

[jenneverett]

Got a problem here, I've got lots of darkling beetles, but no larvae after more than a month...Is the life cycle slow because in door temperate is around 17C...or is there a problem?

yes that is a low temperature for them they grow much better when around 27c.
good luck

 

[gwud]

I've really enjoyed reading this thread, it's made me start my farm. The chickens love the mealies and it's helped make them friendlier towards me. I'm just worried that I'll end up feeding them all the the girls before I've growth any more. I can't help but spoil them.

 

[estamets]

I've really enjoyed rating this thread, it's made me start my farm. The chickens love the mealies and it's helped make them friendlier towards me. I'm just worried that I'll end up feeding them all the the girls before I've growth any more. I can't help but spoil them.

Yes! I'm worried about the same thing: how to balance feeding the girls some worms, and maintaining the health and population of the worm farm.

 

[Latestarter]

OK. Just wanted to make a quick comment regarding the "quick" oats... that's fine, but "instant" oatmeal is NOT! The worms have a pretty small set of mandibles, so they may have problems with "whole" grains... that's why the folks who mix in chicken food crumbles often grind them up in a grinder before adding them. One other comment since depth was mentioned... you really only need a couple of inches of depth.

Quote: Originally Posted by gwud

Yes! I'm worried about the same thing: how to balance feeding the girls some worms, and maintaining the health and population of the worm farm.

Let's do some worm math Say we started with an order of 1000 worms. Most vendors will give you more than that, so you'll probably start out with 1100-1200 worms. If you fed your chicks 10 worms per day, that's enough for 3 months+! Since you're gonna start with adult worms, you'll probably find one or 2 pupae right at the start, and more will start developing very quickly after you get them. Within a couple of weeks, you'll have a LOT of pupae! If you keep your worms in a relatively warm place, you'll have your first beetles within a month. That's when the "fun" starts

As the beetles mate, they will start laying eggs.

Each beetle can/will lay 200-300 eggs over a 2-6 month period... more eggs faster if warmer, less eggs over a longer period if cooler. If 1/2 of your original order turns out to be female, and they each lay an "average" number of eggs (say 250?), that means over the next 2-6 months, your beetles will lay ~ 125,000 eggs

I guess the eggs take a week or two to hatch, so by the time you get to 6-8 weeks, your first beetles should have started laying the first eggs, and shortly thereafter, the whole process will begin anew

the eggs are almost microscopic, as are the newly hatched larva (worms), so don't be worried that you aren't seeing anything right away. The worms have to grow and molt like a dozen times before they start to become pupae themselves, and that happens over 4-6 weeks, So as long as you don't go crazy and start feeding them out by the fist fulls every day, the colony should do just fine Should you feel the need to "clean" the worm container, do NOT throw what you take out away! It is almost guaranteed to have eggs and baby worms in it! Just put it in a new container and set it aside for a couple of weeks and watch it to see if it starts moving

If that entire 2nd generation is allowed to propagate, you'll be looking at ~ 15 MILLION worms from them!

Sounds pretty great, right? Then you can feed a LOT of chickens worms!

 

[subhanalah]

OK. Just wanted to make a quick comment regarding the "quick" oats... that's fine, but "instant" oatmeal is NOT!  The worms have a pretty small set of mandibles, so they may have problems with "whole" grains... that's why the folks who mix in chicken food crumbles often grind them up in a grinder before adding them. 

I have to disagree here. The instant oats are softer and more processed than the rolled oat original oatmeal (that's why it takes less time to cook). I'm pretty sure "instant" and "quick oats" are the same thing.