Mealworm farming

[sillybirds]

Oats didn't work well when I once tried them. Wheat bran flakes (not to be confused with breakfast cereal) works best for me.

As far as fruits/vegetables, many things will work. You can be creative... Last couple years I've successfully used zucchini (those whales that get hugh before you find them), and watermelon rinds, to name a couple. A key point with the fruits/veggies is to give thin slices that can be eaten in a day or so so they don't have a chance to mold. And don't add fruit/veggie too often -- once or twice a week, depending on season/heat/dryness -- so substrate doesn't get moldy.

 

[feathersaloft]

My mealworms arrived on Wednesday. I'm going with the 3 file drawers for the worms and a container with a lid for the beetles.
Still waiting on my first pupae.

 

[azygous]

I just discovered a nifty, easy way to quickly gather up a couple hundred full-size meal worms at once. Most of us already lay a sheet of newspaper over the substrate for the worms to gather under and also to eat.

If you fold the newspaper in half, the full grown worms will crawl inside the fold.

And all you have to do is use the folded paper with the ever-so-cooperative meal worms as a funnel and pour them into your feed-out carton.

Slick, huh?

 

[pinkmartin73]

We do that too. We call the ones that gather in the paper "volunteers"

 

[pinkmartin73]

We set up our farm a couple months ago. Just found the 1st micro babies tonight. Yay!

 

[gaitngirl]

It only takes me about 5 mins a day and 10 mins every 2 weeks. After you get the system down its a breeze. If you only put enough bran for the worms to consume in the month and some it takes for the worms to grow. It takes out the sifting, so its only a 4 step process. Unlike mealworms where you have to wait for them to pupate. Although I support supers and think they are totally awesome. They aren't always for everyone.
Good point Eve lol
Crawlies don't bother me though. breed dubias, supers, mealies and BSF. My favs are supers and dubias though.

Wish I could do BSF up here - it's just too cold during the winter and the summers are too short. I kept a tiny colony going for about 2 years by setting up a system outside for the summer and in my basement during the winter but it finally fizzled out. Great little composters and my red wigglers loved the 'fras' they produced. I had just read somewhere that worms love mealie fras, too. I'm going to clean my mealie bins (haven't done it in over a year) and dump a bit of it in one of the worm bins to see how they do.

 

[sweetlife]

Really anxious to start growing some!

 

[aart]

Hoping someone can help here!

I moved my 18 month old mealworm colony outside and covered it with chicken wire. It's been out there for about two months now. Recently I'm seeing some rogue invaders... Small fuzzy caterpillar type things. They are about the size of a mealworm. They are brown and have two longer hairs that look like a tail. I can't yet tell if they are a detriment to the colony or not. I still see beetles and mealworms. Anyone know what they might be? I will try to get some pictures of them tomorrow.

Been involuntarily offline for a week+.
Can you post pic of invaders?
Might want to put window screen around mealworm farm?

 

[BriardChickens]

So, I started my mealworm farm last summer, it did really well until winter hit. Just nothing happened and I figured everything was dead, maybe it got too cold. Discouraged I put the lid on tight and forgot about it in the cold hall.

So, last thursday I was just about to dump the remaining shells, bran, etc into the chicken run when I noticed movement. The colony is alive!!!

Yes, I did top them up on bran, hopefully they'll thrive again!

 

[pinkmartin73]

Sweet! Have they been breeding? Can you tell? Would be awesome if they were just multiplying the whole time.