Mealworm farming

[vyshtia]

Hi everyone! I'm looking to see if anyone has come up with a good way to manage the sorting. I had a very successful mealworm farm several years ago, but I remember it taking so long to sort them all. I'm OCD, so it was pretty bad. I sorted with chopsticks lol I see that some people now do it with screen on the bottom. Is this the best way so far to sort? I'm thinking about starting up a new farm and so will be building everything from scratch again and am looking for the newest/best techniques to start up this time. Thank you!

 

[velacreations]

I don't sort them, I let them sort themselves. Here is a photo of our Mealworm Tower:


Our baskets have different kinds of screens, so we let the mealworm movement screen out the frass, the beetle movement to screen out the eggs, and when they are ready to feed, we put the mealworms in the harvest tray, and they screen everything out, leaving just mealworms ready to feed.

Here's how we made it: Mealworm Farm

 

[The Hawk]

I don't sort them, I let them sort themselves. Here is a photo of our Mealworm Tower:


Our baskets have different kinds of screens, so we let the mealworm movement screen out the frass, the beetle movement to screen out the eggs, and when they are ready to feed, we put the mealworms in the harvest tray, and they screen everything out, leaving just mealworms ready to feed.

What a great setup and all the info. How long have you been using this system?

 

[velacreations]

What a great setup and all the info. How long have you been using this system?

We've been using variations of this for about a year. I started first in just a couple of trays to test the concept and the sifting, then expanded slowly.

 

[vyshtia]

I don't sort them, I let them sort themselves. Here is a photo of our Mealworm Tower:


Our baskets have different kinds of screens, so we let the mealworm movement screen out the frass, the beetle movement to screen out the eggs, and when they are ready to feed, we put the mealworms in the harvest tray, and they screen everything out, leaving just mealworms ready to feed.

Here's how we made it: Mealworm Farm

Oh, wow!! That's brilliant! Thank you! That's exactly what I was looking for!

 

[velacreations]

yes, it really makes the whole thing way easier to manage and really increases output. Now, mealworms are not hard to manage to begin with, but I didn't like all the sorting, sifting, etc.

 

[PaulRaye]

On March 5th I got 3,000 mealworms, I've been feeding and watching them for almost a month now and no pupa. And then starting yesterday I started seeing pupa everywhere! I've been sorting them out, its kind of fun like where's Waldo.


Paul

 

[misfitmorgan]

So 5,000+ worms seem to be eatting alot. i gave them zuchini, strawberries, tomato, lettuce, cucumber, and now potato and they are attacking anything i put in there. i gave them about half of a medium size zuchinni when they first arrived, three whole large strawberries, tomato scraps, the end of my cucumber, 3 whole lettuce leaves and last night 2 medium potatoes cut in half, cut side down. Is this an odd amount for them to be eatting? i checked i though maybe they are burying it, nope gone the only thing left was the dried up skin of the veggies.

 

[kubotafoot]

You need to remember they are not EATING the fruits and veggies, they are getting moisture from them. (That is why you have dried up skins)They EAT the bran/oats or whatever you are using for feed. They drink all they need, they will NOT over do it. You all will be amazed at how much they want to drink. My theory is most meal worm raisers far underwater their clan. I have seen my clan thrive with more liquids. They grow with a good amount, but thrive with much more.Try it and see if you don't believe me.

 

[misfitmorgan]

You need to remember they are not EATING the fruits and veggies, they are getting moisture from them. (That is why you have dried up skins)They EAT the bran/oats or whatever you are using for feed. They drink all they need, they will NOT over do it. You all will be amazed at how much they want to drink. My theory is most meal worm raisers far underwater their clan. I have seen my clan thrive with more liquids. They grow with a good amount, but thrive with much more.Try it and see if you don't believe me.

Well yes i know they dont "eat" it but it disappears...esp lettuce. i ment i guess they seem to be drinking alot i exspected them to not be very thirsty from what everyone was saying about potatoes and carrots lol i'm fine giving them more liquids i just have only had the for like a week so i'm new to feeding them.