Mealworm farming

[subhanalah]

Ditto....might be out of focus but can't deny the excellence of scale provided.

for sure!

 

[Bugseye]

Things are good with my little flock. I've been gone from the thread for a while, and my tote is active with lots of beetles from my original little Petco container. Looks good. I have a question that's off this topic, though. Today while gardening I found some large slugs and put them in the run. The girls didn't seem very interested. Don't they eat them?

 

[chickensfinally]

Things are good with my little flock. I've been gone from the thread for a while, and my tote is active with lots of beetles from my original little Petco container. Looks good. I have a question that's off this topic, though. Today while gardening I found some large slugs and put them in the run. The girls didn't seem very interested. Don't they eat them?

Depends on the chickens, some love them, some not so much. Maybe it's a texture thing...too slimy. Then there is the fact that mine are always scared of any new food on the ground, but will eat anything out of my hands. Lord help me if I don't have anything, they peck hard!

 

[Bugseye]

Okay, thanks, I also found an interesting video on YouTube that shows someone cutting up a slug and the chickens playing keep away with it. Am I up for that? We'll see.

 

[Quickster]

My first drawer of meal worms have almost all either pupated by now or died, so its time to move the beetles to that drawer. What do you all do? Add more wheat germ and be done with it or can you sift out the poo (the actual name is escaping me at the moment) to use as fertilizer and then add more? It looks like the poo would be finer than the wheat germ and that would be possible.

 

[greasemonkey88]

My first drawer of meal worms have almost all either pupated by now or died, so its time to move the beetles to that drawer.  What do you all do? Add more wheat germ and be done with it or can you sift out the poo (the actual name is escaping me at the moment) to use as fertilizer and then add more?  It looks like the poo would be finer than the wheat germ and that would be possible. 

It's frass. Insect excrement, yummy. I use one ten gallon Rubbermaid tote with the the lid having two cutouts with screen mesh hot glued in. Everybody in the pool as they say and it's booming in there for being two months old. The frass is light and easily moved by breathing so be a nose breather and keep your face away from your drawers.

 

[Gingersnap722]

Has anyone had problems with small black ants getting into your meal worms? I just started my little meal worm farm and noticed a lot of small ants in there today. Is that an issue? Will they kill my meal worms?

Thanks!

 

[crazy huhn]

Things are good with my little flock. I've been gone from the thread for a while, and my tote is active with lots of beetles from my original little Petco container. Looks good. I have a question that's off this topic, though. Today while gardening I found some large slugs and put them in the run. The girls didn't seem very interested. Don't they eat them?

I used to toss compost bugs, grubs and slugs into my chicken run, but my chickens got parasites from those. I had to give them dewormer and had to toss their eggs. Today my chickens only get meal worms out of my own breeding bins (organically grown, not from China ) They still free range, but bugs are limited in my backyard.

 

[Quickster]

I'm going on vacation for almost two weeks. Are my beetles and worms going to be ok? They go through carrots like crazy now. I'm worried that those will all be gone within two days and they will have no moisture. I could get someone to watch them for me but I feel silly asking someone to baby sit worms.

 

[greasemonkey88]

I'm going on vacation for almost two weeks. Are my beetles and worms going to be ok? They go through carrots like crazy now. I'm worried that those will all be gone within two days and they will have no moisture. I could get someone to watch them for me but I feel silly asking someone to baby sit worms.

I don't know about two weeks but I give mine thicker potato slices and when I get back after a week they are all fine and dandy. Plus, I have delicious potato chips.