Mealworm farming

[Bugseye]

Sounds cozy, and enterprising too. Tiny houses are the vogue. Mine's too big! Anyway, if you want to raise mealworms, give it some thought (you already have) and just know there's no smell, really. If you keep it to a small container and clean out the frass now and then, you should be fine. I haven't had any problem with the old casings blowing around--depends on your situation, I guess. The worms and beetles themselves don't have an odor. It's either that or my nose is worn out.

 

[Latestarter]

Pardon me

wasn't trying to be a snob at all... More power to you. If it works for you, that's all that really matters. As an aside, when you add the army tent (kitchen) and the yurt (bedroom), and whatever else you haven't mentioned, that all adds up to a bit more than 180 square feet, and makes a lot more (comparative) sense.

I have watched the show tiny house a couple of times and those I've seen on the show were quite a bit larger than 200 square feet. There were a few that had enough room for a bed and could be towed by a motorcycle, but I'm afraid that does not constitute a house or a home. Live how you choose.

 

[aart]

Pardon me

wasn't trying to be a snob at all... More power to you. If it works for you, that's all that really matters. As an aside, when you add the army tent (kitchen) and the yurt (bedroom), and whatever else you haven't mentioned, that all adds up to a bit more than 180 square feet, and makes a lot more (comparative) sense.

I have watched the show tiny house a couple of times and those I've seen on the show were quite a bit larger than 200 square feet. There were a few that had enough room for a bed and could be towed by a motorcycle, but I'm afraid that does not constitute a house or a home. Live how you choose.

The Mobile Tiny Houses are smaller....and yes, often ancillary spaces are employed.
My girl has what I call 'the closet'... a 4x8 enclosed trailer for storage.
Not sure I'd share any of that space with a mealworm farm.

 

[UrbanEnthusiast]

The thing is, I am obsessed with egg flavor. I love nothing more than having eggs to eat and give away that are the absolute best quality. It's hobby, almost like a fetish. That means feeding mealworms, at least in winter. Hence, in the house.

 

[KernH]

180 square feet? That's about the size of my walk in closet. my camping tent has more room than that. Sounds more like a prison cell than a house...How do you find room for food/clothes/bed/chair/table/cooking apparatus/refrigeration/etc. ? Wow... I couldn't do that myself... Anyway, over time, as the frass (worm poop) builds up, it will develop a smell. and the shed casings are lighter than air, so the slightest breeze will have them blowing all over the place.

I didn't read what you said as snobby. Just a statement. The printed work can sometimes be taken differently than it was intended. Kern

 

[KernH]

I bought 500 worms about 4 0r 5 months ago, and put them into one container. I now have 14 totes and at least 100,000 worms. They are thriving. The containers are in a computer room that stays pretty warm all the time and I think that has been great for them. I cut up potatoes three times a week to give to them in their wheat bran. They like apples a lot better than the potatoes, but potatoes are so inexpensive. Kern

 

[Lynn Manes]

Does a mealworm farm smell? I want to start one, and I was thinking about keeping it in the house so it will stay warmer and therefore produce more, right? But I live in a tiny house, only 180 square feet.

Not at all if everything is going right. I keep mine in my house too. Last year ours was going very well. Then I did a stupid thing and put carrot shavings in it. It made it too damp and killed all my worms and beetles. It certainly smelled then. Big lesson learned by my mistake. We are going to start a new farm but have been so busy with our wedding planning, we still haven't had a chance to do so yet. Good luck with your farm.

 

[ccrow]

I notice when I give apple to mine(and they definitely like it!) it makes everything smell 'apple-y' rather than 'mealworm-y', lol. They really don't seem to care for potato; they never eat all of it as they do with other foods. Besides apples, I give them slices of carrot, broccoli stems, and cabbage. The cabbage also seems to be a favorite. I'm pretty small-scale- four shallow bins in my basement. I cut the center out of the lids and glued window screen on. Then after mice tried to get at them, I added hardware cloth on top of the (repaired) window screen. Right now they are coming in very handy as I have an injured hen; she's not eating super well, but she can't resist those.

 

[ladyearth]

KernH
wow 500 to 100,000 what am I doing wrong? got mine in 5 drawers....Heck I bought over 1000. Do you keep the beetles seperate? the beetles are prob eating the millworms....
I give them pumpkin, carrot,cabbage or whatever I have.. .. I think mostly its rice bran. which I had a big bag of.
some may have chicken feed in their drawer. I got some oat bran but cant remember which of the 5 drawers I put it in.

 

[azygous]

Ladyearth - temperature may be one your problems. I'm only guessing since you haven't given us much detail about your setup. Beetles are most active and lay maximum eggs when kept between 80 and 85F. They're sluggish at room temperature of 70 and under.

Many of us do keep beetles separate from the eggs they lay since beetles may munch on them, decreasing the amount that will ultimately hatch into larvae. You do that by cutting a hole in the beetle trays and gluing metal screening over it so the eggs filter through to a tray underneath so the eggs accumulate there and not in the beetle tray.

Larvae also tend to grow faster and larger when kept under these warmer temperatures. It's also important to make sure the bedding isn't getting too damp. I leave the lids off my trays when the bedding starts smelling damp.

Lastly, beetles need surfaces to mate and to lay their eggs on. If they're very crowded and haven't got enough surface area, they tend die off, too. You can increase surface area by adding layers of newspaper sheets and spent toilet paper rolls. Simply having a bin filled with deep substrate doesn't add much surface area.

Surface area and temperature are keys to maximum larvae.