Mealworm farming

[azygous]

That article mentioning mill run was fascinating! Thanks! Learning more!

I've posted from time to time on this thread with lots of photos of my meal worm setup. If you can't find any, let me know and I'll try to find some pics.

 

[MichelleT]

I am setting up my mealworm farm (hopefully) today... I have a 3-drawer set up that I bought for my classroom and never took advantage of (so technically free!), an extra "holding bin" rubbermaid container that I found in the basement (again, technically free) LOADS of oats left over from a church retreat that my family can't eat (Celiac disease) so again, free. Now the mealworms and to set up the "holding bin" so that it is ventilated. My question is this... this holding bin, that I saw in multiple videos, what is its purpose exactly? Different videos referred to its existence or said "here's where I put the larvae/pupa/beetles" - seems like each video used it for something different but never really explained why it existed at all.

Do you use a holding bin (not part of the drawer rotation) and if so what do you use if for?

 

[Richard Pryor]

I think drawer setups work by having a screen on the bottom of the top drawer (where you put beetles) so that the eggs and baby larvae fall to the second drawer. I'm guessing the bottom drawer is used for when the worms get bigger. Then when they pupate you move them to the top drawer with the beetles (or you can wait until they hatch and move the beetles).

Some say beetles eat pupae. I can't confirm or deny this, but seems to me if they have food (substrate) and water (fruits/veggies) then they might prefer this over the pupae.

I believe many here have abandoned the drawer setup in favor of trays on shelves. But you got everything for free so honestly I would work with that.

The holding bin might be used to store animals (wether larvae/pupae/beetles) while you sift the substrate. You will need to clean trays from time to time. Larvae poop a lot and you will need to dump the trays into a strainer and remove animals little by little.

I guess when cleaning you need an empty tray or something similar to dump all the frass. You probably need 2 trays/containers plus the tray where worms are to make your life easier. Take some substrate and worms, put them in a strainer, shake the strainer into an empty tray so that the frass and remaining oats/bran fall through, then put the worms in an empty tray. Rinse and repeat until all the worms are safely in a tray/container and all the frass is in a different tray/container. Then put fresh bedding in your original tray and dump worms in there.

Pupae don't poop, but beetles do. But I guess with a tray system all the frass and eggs fall to the lower tray automatically. So you'll probably be using this to clean larvae bedding once they're big enough that the frass starts to build up.

 

[Kusanar]

I am setting up my mealworm farm (hopefully) today... I have a 3-drawer set up that I bought for my classroom and never took advantage of (so technically free!), an extra "holding bin" rubbermaid container that I found in the basement (again, technically free) LOADS of oats left over from a church retreat that my family can't eat (Celiac disease) so again, free. Now the mealworms and to set up the "holding bin" so that it is ventilated. My question is this... this holding bin, that I saw in multiple videos, what is its purpose exactly? Different videos referred to its existence or said "here's where I put the larvae/pupa/beetles" - seems like each video used it for something different but never really explained why it existed at all.

Do you use a holding bin (not part of the drawer rotation) and if so what do you use if for?

When I get it all setup, my setup will be as follows:
2 Beetle bins with mesh bottoms - will use oatmeal or something else bulky in those bins so that the bedding doesn't fall through the mesh.
5-6 (haven't decided how many I would need) containers that will either go under the beetle bins or can dump into them from the one under the beetle bin (so one bin that stays under the beetles but gets dumped into another bin and re-bedded periodically) that would hold larva. Each bin would have a different age of larva for different stages of growth.
1 bin with a smaller bin turned upside down inside it. You put the pupae on the smaller upside down bin, and then they turn into beetles they slip off the side into the bin below where they have food waiting for them.

I would start one beetle bin, then wait a few weeks and start the other, that way the beetles are staged in ages. Then, once the first beetle bin starts dying off, let some of the oldest batch of worms pupate and throw out all the beetles in the 1st bin (live and dead) and replace with new beetles that are all within a day or 2 of each other in age. Then do the same with the other, that way you always have beetles producing eggs and you also don't have to pick dead beetles out of a bin, just toss the entire contense of the bin and replace periodically.

Make sense? I wouldn't actually do a drawer system, but that's just me, I would rather have multiple smaller totes (even Tupperware from the dollar store) that you can stack and re-arrange as needed

 

[MichelleT]

I wouldn't actually do a drawer system, but that's just me, I would rather have multiple smaller totes (even Tupperware from the dollar store) that you can stack and re-arrange as needed

Actually I was figuring my drawers WERE my stack-and-rearrange containers. Since I have them already I don't have to find new materials or spend any more $$.

Then do the same with the other, that way you always have beetles producing eggs and you also don't have to pick dead beetles out of a bin, just toss the entire contense of the bin and replace periodically.

I'm curious, when you say "throw out" the beetles, are you composting them? Feeding them to the chickens (my chickens LOVE a beetle when they can find one!)?

I think drawer setups work by having a screen on the bottom of the top drawer (where you put beetles) so that the eggs and baby larvae fall to the second drawer. I'm guessing the bottom drawer is used for when the worms get bigger. Then when they pupate you move them to the top drawer with the beetles (or you can wait until they hatch and move the beetles).

I wasn't planning on doing the screen set up, although I had considered it. The first video that is linked on the very first page of this thread has a guy with a drawer set up that does NOT have screening in the drawers - he has a system of sifting when necessary. I'll have to watch it again but it made a lot of sense to me. I just didn't know what he was doing with the creatures in his "holding bin".

 

[Kusanar]

Actually I was figuring my drawers WERE my stack-and-rearrange containers. Since I have them already I don't have to find new materials or spend any more $$.


I'm curious, when you say "throw out" the beetles, are you composting them? Feeding them to the chickens (my chickens LOVE a beetle when they can find one!)?


I wasn't planning on doing the screen set up, although I had considered it. The first video that is linked on the very first page of this thread has a guy with a drawer set up that does NOT have screening in the drawers - he has a system of sifting when necessary. I'll have to watch it again but it made a lot of sense to me. I just didn't know what he was doing with the creatures in his "holding bin".

I don't have chickens, so I would be tossing the beetles outside, but if I had chickens, I would toss them in a kitty litter pan (something they can't climb out of, but the chickens can reach in) and let the birds catch a meal.

I prefer not to disturb my beetles. I think of it as, if they are mating at the time you decide to sift... you would think that would kill the mood REAL fast and since breeding is the only reason to have the beetles you wouldn't want to discourage that behavior. Plus, when I have seen people sift beetles, they seem to be pretty rough on them, I would think you would get the occasional leg broken off. When I move my beetles I catch them one at a time by hand and get all of the live beetles I can find out before I do any sifting. Same with the pupae, I don't want to be jarring them around a lot either, it has been speculated that the deformed beetles are a result of damaged pupae as a result of over handling, drying out too much, or being chewed on, so I try to limit those factors as much as possible with my pupae. I gather them up and put them in a separate container with high humidity and leave them alone until they turn into beetles, there is enough moisture in the container that the new beetles don't immediately start snacking on their siblings as they can just get a drink.

 

[azygous]

First of all, I will tell you that the three drawer setup is not as secure as using larger trays with lids. When my larvae got full grown, right before they were ready to pupate, they busted out. As in prison break. Over the top of the drawer sides and into the inner shell of the drawer case, then from there, into my kitchen.

You haven't lived until you see meal worms humping their way across your kitchen floor. The resulting hunt for all the fugitives who have searched out darker, cozier quarters in your water heater closet and pantry is something to tell your grandchildren about, but not something you would choose as desirable entertainment.

If this isn't something you want in your future, you might decide the free three-drawer case would be better packed off to the Salvation Army or Goodwill.

With the stacking trays with lids system, the only escapees I've had are single beetles that snuck a ride on my sleeve as I was sorting brand new beetles out of the pupae to be transferred to the beetle tray. One time one of these beetles at large in my house actually learned to fly during its brief period of freedom and ended up in bed with me one night, something they swear these meal worm would never, ever do. Always an exception. Be ready for it.

Then there's the time I snorted grain mites the first time I had an infestation trying to identify what they were under a hand lens held very close to my eye, my nose being right there in the vicinity. Good times.

You can learn from others experiences here on BYC and save yourself all this fun and high adventure.

 

[Chickassan]

Oh good lord they can get out? Don't tell me that! I've got a bunch coming in a few days to start my own since I'm going broke buying dang worms.I'm not scared but all I need is for hubby to find a mealie on the loose. At least they aren't superworms those things bite.

 

[Richard Pryor]

They can't get out if you have a lid, obviously. I use the 6 inch deep Sterilite bins, with 1.5-2" of substrate. Left a few without lids and didn't see any Richard Kimble's next morning.

 

[Chickassan]

Awesome! Im good to go then I've got lids with airholes obviously and those are the bins the clear plastic sterlites.Thanks Richard Pryor, I do not want to be groused at over mealies.