Mealworm farming

[einhard]

Thanks for all of this helpful information. Seems mealworms are pretty trouble free. I picked up a big 3 drawer plastic bin today at the salvage shop and just ordered 1000 of the little guys. I think i'll do the separating for a while just for educational purposes and then switch to an aquarium setup like Gallos . That flock...herd???...is20 years old? Wow!

 

[hannakat]

Welcome einhard! The 3 drawer set up is great for learning about the meal worms and seeing how they progress through the stages. Now that my bottom drawer is empty of wormies....I've been kinda depressed

Didn't realize how much I like playing in there!!!

The second drawer is alive with mini wee wormies though and that's gonna be a blast once I can see them better!!! I still need to upload those photos.....

I love Gallo del Cielo's colony and can't wait for mine to be established like that......only have 19-1/2 years to go!!

Another trial and error tid bit I recently learned. As the worms in the 3rd drawer pupated, I put the pupa into another plastic container. My most recent discovery is that they morph into beetles A LOT faster if they're in the dark. I put a towel around it (loosly) just to see what would happen and beetles are popping out everywhere. cool.... Pretty soon I'll be out of pupa too.... what will I DO????

 

[kizanne]

Jumping on this week. Bought my oats, Monday I'll order my meal worms. right now I have black soldier fly larvae and crickets but I'd like a more stable supply for the winter, so I'll start a meal worm colony and keep it inside. Plus freeze any extra I get during this summer.

 

[hannakat]

Welcome kizanne!! Awesome ~ awesome! I'm really impressed by your current colonies....surprised you aren't doing the roaches!! I've read where they're sooo much easier than crickets. I wish I could

but I just don't have enough chickens to warrent that type of colony. There's a great thread on here about them.....

Let us know when you get your meal worms and what type of colony you're doing (3 drawer or single bin or multiple bins !!!).

Don't forget..... we LOVE pictures!!

 

[einhard]

Very exciting! One thing I'm missing...if I put the screen in the top drawer of my 3 drawer system, the eggs/larvae will drop down to the 2nd drawer. How do they get to the 3rd drawer? Do you just move them when they pupate, or do you split the worms? I guess I could swap my 2nd and 3rd drawers from time to time? Neat discovery about the darkness. I can't wait to start experimenting with mine. This is gonna be fun!

I was looking strongly at the roaches, but that idea was vetoed multiple times in no uncertain terms...

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Problem......I noticed this morning that my original bin that I started with has tons of little white crawlies all over it!
I might have mentioned that my last few meal worms were dying and now pretty much all look dead. Would this be why? Is it grain mites? I thought aphids at first since I have seen those little white crawlies on some of my outside plants but realizing that I used all oats in this bin I am wondering about mites.

Time to dump it, clean it and start over? Zap my wheat meal before I add new meal worms?

Thank you ever so much for your info!

 

[kizanne]

Quote:
LOL ok, I only have 11 chickens. The other two I have for little to no effort and little to no money. The black soldier fly larvae showed up when I started my compost pile here in florida. All I do is collect the larvae. I do throw in a sliced potato to make collection easier now and then and of course I'm still throwing in my kitchen scraps to my compost pile. Thats it.

The crickets I bought some from a bait shop for 1.25 and let some stay in a container I already had, on vermiculite I already had and using a feeder /water made from a plastic coke bottle made by my daughter. I threw in some feed that I took out of the brooder. Put some compost in a container and then forgot about didn't do anything for weeks including I didn't take out the compost and keep it from the adults or put a new one in or anything. One day I noticed tiny crickets so I rounded up the adults and through them to the chickens. Now I'm just waiting for the babies to grow. It isn't quite a colony but I'll get 1000 crickets maybe for that original 1.25 with almost no effort.

I love things that I can start and then just forget. I'll be doing my mealworms in the single container method. I bought a bag of oatmeal and my only input for the worms will be every 3rd day or so putting in a potato.

 

[hannakat]

Quote:
I plan on switching out the second drawer to the third drawer. What, the yuk factor of roaches too much for some? Really?!?!

Quote:
Eewue! I'm thinking mites Nadine but I don't know. I've read a lot about the little suckers and know they can be a problem. Dumping it sounds like a good idea..... ummm....you mean like in the microwave zapping? That might work too. Good idea. I'll do some research too.

Edited to add..... yep, zapping the feed in the microwave is the recommended course of action. According to the article, it said zapping the grains is the first line of defense after not getting them in the first place. duh..... The article also mentions lowering the humidity to 55% or lower. Mites need the higher humidity to reproduce.

Please let us know how it turns out.

Quote:
LOL ok, I only have 11 chickens. The other two I have for little to no effort and little to no money. The black soldier fly larvae showed up when I started my compost pile here in florida. All I do is collect the larvae. I do throw in a sliced potato to make collection easier now and then and of course I'm still throwing in my kitchen scraps to my compost pile. Thats it.

The crickets I bought some from a bait shop for 1.25 and let some stay in a container I already had, on vermiculite I already had and using a feeder /water made from a plastic coke bottle made by my daughter. I threw in some feed that I took out of the brooder. Put some compost in a container and then forgot about didn't do anything for weeks including I didn't take out the compost and keep it from the adults or put a new one in or anything. One day I noticed tiny crickets so I rounded up the adults and through them to the chickens. Now I'm just waiting for the babies to grow. It isn't quite a colony but I'll get 1000 crickets maybe for that original 1.25 with almost no effort.

I love things that I can start and then just forget. I'll be doing my mealworms in the single container method. I bought a bag of oatmeal and my only input for the worms will be every 3rd day or so putting in a potato.

Don'tchajustloveit when you can spend 1.25 and REALLY get your money's worth!

Sounds like you have a solid plan! Yea! Just watch the potato for a while...some of us have not had real good luck with it. Celery and carrots seem to be top of the list right now....

 

[kizanne]

thanks I'll use carrots instead of potatoes

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Quote:
Grain mites!

That is a bummer and hannakat is right about the humidity. I've had them before too, like the last time when I tried to feed them an entire half a cantaloupe. I forgot about it, they couldn't eat it all, it went bad and oozed all over the bran. I scooped out the bad stuff, removed anything moist and put the colony in a dry space. I repeatedly wiped up all the mites that climbed up the wall of the colony container too. Eventually, I was able to get them under control (I recall that it didn't take too long). I would keep that colony separate from your new colony. Good luck!