Mealworm farming

[spotstealer]

I too am interested in farming meal worms. Even though I have just a half dozen chicks, mealworms are great panfish bait!

 

[DickGJ]

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Absolutely!

 

[GiddyMoon]

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Hey Tucson!

I was born and raised there and always missing the warm weather now that I am in soggy Oregon

!!

Hi Sadie! I had grandparents in Oregon so I spent a lot of time there growing up..I love it there..but we came from CA last year and..I ADORE TUCSON!

 

[Bird Collector]

I am in my second summer of worm farming and the chickens love it. I loved it when one of my silkies got sick and had to come in the house for the winter her diet at first was worms. That was all I could get her to eat. Then she got better and ate everything. I like the draw system. But I was told since they would be coming into the house for the winter it must be sealed...even though thay can't get out. I will post a pic later. I used one large plastic bin...cut the top middle out and duck taped the screen in for air and so I could snap the "required" lid on.

I put bran in for the bedding and put half potatos in for food and water. Oh and strips of paper for them to hide, lay eggs and what ever else the worms do. It is so easy. I used apple once and the bin was in my shed. In three hours I had a trail of ants. So a friend told me that if you put the bin in a box or something and run a boarder of talc powder around it no bugs will breach it. Or they will try and the cycle of life will get them. It has worked. I keep all three cycles in one bin. As far as the yuk factor...they are dry worms so it is not bad to handle them at all and it does not even bother me any more. I will post a pic in the morning of my set up.

 

[sadies chicks]

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Hey Tucson!

I was born and raised there and always missing the warm weather now that I am in soggy Oregon

!!

Hi Sadie! I had grandparents in Oregon so I spent a lot of time there growing up..I love it there..but we came from CA last year and..I ADORE TUCSON!

So glad to hear it! Tucson is a fantastic place, even if it is in the middle of a drought and is overpopulated

I miss the desert EVERYDAY, so I have pictures all over my house to help me cope

Don't get me wrong, Oregon ROCKS but there is just something about the desert

The Mexican food in Tucson is the best!! Oh and there is a steak house "El Corral" that you should check out, oh and Pinnacle Peak's

We grew up on Eegees, so definitely try that.....oh man, now I am hungry

 

[GiddyMoon]

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Hi Sadie! I had grandparents in Oregon so I spent a lot of time there growing up..I love it there..but we came from CA last year and..I ADORE TUCSON!

So glad to hear it! Tucson is a fantastic place, even if it is in the middle of a drought and is overpopulated

I miss the desert EVERYDAY, so I have pictures all over my house to help me cope

Don't get me wrong, Oregon ROCKS but there is just something about the desert

The Mexican food in Tucson is the best!! Oh and there is a steak house "El Corral" that you should check out, oh and Pinnacle Peak's

We grew up on Eegees, so definitely try that.....oh man, now I am hungry

We haven't tried EL Corral yet but I DROOL over the building every time we drive by..we used to live up the street from it...Pinnacle Peaks was one of the first places we took the kids with the inlaws and we all loved it. I am a Mexican food whore..I was in CA too..I have a Hispanic aunt and cousins so I grew up on it.

Long story...the better half grew up in CT...he is a twin..about 20 years ago the twin moved here so the better half did too..then the better half moved back to CT...then met me 11 years ago...moved back here to help his brother with a business..then moved to CA to be with me. LOL Well, during that time his twin brother got married and had babies..so their mom and step dad moved out here..and their dad and step mom would come out to visit every year...about 4 yrs ago we came out with my 4 kids and it was my kids who INSISTED on moving here. Even though they would be leaving their friends, their dad and grandmother..they wanted to move here..it took us over 2 years to make it happen...drained us emotionally and financially...we were then in a vacation house for 9 mths becuase we could not find a large old place with land that we wanted to rent...so now..we ended up in Picture Rocks 4 mths ago..we didn't want to come out this far but we got a great place..and now here come the chickens!

I love Tucson more than I ever thought possible. The economy is horrid, as most places...but the monsoons, wildlife, views..just amazing...AND..I dealt with prescrip meds for asthma and allergies for 30 years...moved here, they all went away!! PLUS...the "heat" oh please..I handle the heat here better too..the lack of humidity makes a 105 degree day feel like 93...where we came from 105 was normal in the summer and 105 there is like 112 here..which it rarely gets...I really do love it here. And the breezes fill our house every morning and evening...I constantly hear birds...we have baby bunnies in our front yard...it's just awesome.....I miss the trees of northern CA...but I feel very blessed to have this opportunity and put my kids in a much better state!

 

[hannakat]

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I've seen the 'one container' set up and think it would be a lot less work. The reason I chose the 3-drawer was to be able to set the unit on my table and 'watch' the cycle up close and personal. I also am keeping them in my sewing room and it fits right in. I'm not interested in hiding it!!!! It's my indoor 'farm' and I'm loving it!

I now have more beetles than I can count in the top drawer

 

[Bird Collector]

It is wild to hear those beetles run about. When I first got to the beetle stage I was hearing this nosie and thought what the heck. Looked in and within 2 days it was like an invasion. I have since got a batch of worms and staged them by putting some in the fridge and adding worms to the bin every two weeks. Worms in the house have become better accepted.

especially when a certain someone is the main atraction during chicken treat time. I work with special needs kids and one of my little friends needed a science project so we made a worm farm and he was a hit. Who new worms good be so much fun.

 

[hannakat]

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Love what you're doing with the kids.

The worms sound perfect for that kind of job!!

I put a couple hundred in the fridge 3 weeks ago and have debated whether or not to put more....like you, stage them. Since the beetles only live for 2-3 months, I've wonder if it would be better to start staging more. I have hundreds of pupae now but I would like to have at least 200,000 in the freezer before winter sets in so I'm probably going to let them continue so that the colony can get to the next generation.

My calculation: If 50% of the original worms become female beetles, and each female lays approximately 300 eggs, and ALL of those babies hatch and grow, that's 150,000 worms. However, that's the best case scenario.

okay...now I definitely want to count the pupae!!! oh geesh

 

[goatranch]

Thanks for this thread. I will be watching it. I made one of the 3 drawer set-ups, and I am going to pick up some mealworms at Earl May. Does anyone use the big mealworms?