Mealworm farming

[bobbyc1970]

Wanted to report. I have been keeping mine outside at night and moving them in during the day. Well the pupae have all hatched to beetles like overnight. Eggs? not sure gonna try and see if the heat and humidity help with development? I have been thinking about the wheat myself. wanting to experiment with it. i know the humidity and heat have helped mine tremendously

Quote:

bobbyc1970 ~ Do you live in a humid part of the country as well? I'm not sure what other folks do with outdoor colonies. Some people keep them in their coops or garage. Maybe it's a matter of using different veggies (fruit is definitely out of the question). It'll be nice to hear from anyone who is dealing with this successfully!

I have a question. The worms need the wheat based substrate. It is my understanding that this is their main food item. If that's the case, is it more important to use a mixture instead of 1 base item than to rotate their moisture choices?

 

[Fluffy2]

Hi! I am new at this. Started with my first 1000 mealworms from exoticnutrition.com. I have been happier with their quality than a few other places that I had purchased to just feed to the hens.
My first 2 "farms' (started 2 months apart) are the plastic sweater type with lock tops and glued on screens (used fine mesh tub drain screens and a 2" hole saw bit). easy. glued with Elmer's white glue. Super glue did not work and I don't own a glue gun. This seems to be plenty of ventilation.
I purchased the reptile goo moisture food and throw in a few potatoes.
After a few months, they have been moved out to the garage as they do smell. I am not one of the 3 drawer people who separate. I just won't do it.
SO, if I were to start over again, and I probably will, I am going to find an old 10 gallon aquarium at a garage sale and throw the wheat germ substrate in for a few inches, powdered milk and lots of rolled oats (oatmeal) throw in some mealworm food weekly and change out the potatoes or carrots, and let the worms, grubs, beetles, poop, etc all live happily together in a big squirming mess. Make a secure screen top of course. I think this extra ventiliation will help cut down on the smell. The smell is not horrible but not one I wanted in my home.
Then I will just scoop out what I need for the chickens and let it be.
That is all in theory. I got grubs really fast but have not seen any new worms yet, so I am not using these for feed yet.
If you order the Large worms they are pretty big and they all get bigger as they grow.
Super Worms from the store are sterile and do not turn into grubs. I did try it as I was not sure it was true. It is true!
The garage is brighter than the dark area I had them inside the house, so I think I will put one layer of newspaper, in pieces for ventilation?, to help the darkness.
also, but them on some cell foam so they are not on the cold cement garage floor where I had the space. I may use a heating pad or two in the winter but there is enough flour substrate for them to bury in.
just my experience to date.
Fluffy2

 

[OwensMom]

Fluffy2, Welcome!! That is how I do my bins and it works just fine. I got worms from exoticnutrition and have been very happy with them. They are all beetles now and what a mob. I put in some summer squash today and they seem fine with it. The less fuss for me the better although I enjoy seeing the observations that others have made.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I bought 500 from a local guy that raises them last winter.
I fed 400 to the hens and started my farm with the last 100.
It went really slow at first. I think they were too cold. I started feeding a blend of various grains and they are really picking up steam.

 

[Kassaundra]

Here are a couple of pics of the adult meal bugs in thier color changes.

I have a black one but couldn't find it in the bin. From what I've read the color is totally dependant on when it molted, the will come out of a fresh molt a very light tan and gradually darken to black over the next few days of thier life.

 

[galanie]

Absolutely! When mine first emerge as beetles, they are nearly white. It doesn't take long for them to darken up though, a day or two I think.

 

[Chickangel79]

And I was nervous about the worms .... those beetles in my container make me shiver !!!!!!!

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Please excuse my complete nerdiness, but I'd like to add to the discussion on beetle color. It's true, the color of the beetles changes from light to dark as they metamorphose and the exoskeleton hardens---usually. I say usually because under the dense conditions that we raise them, this is the usual course of color transition. The ultimate color of the beetles is largely dependent on the density at which the larvae develop. Under very low densities the beetles will usually be tan and remain that way throughout their lives. At very high densities they will be black and under intermediate densities they will be brown. The reason is that the darker color is related to chemicals that support pathogen resistance. The chemicals that make them darker are not energetically cheap to make and they only make it under conditions in which they are likely to need protection, e.g. high densities where pathogen transmission is greater (or if the colony has recently experienced an infection of some sort). I always thought this was interesting and I thought I'd share with my fellow mealworm farmers. Here's the original article if anyone is interested: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1690519/pdf/10687824.pdf

 

[OwensMom]

Thanks Gallo, that was interesting. So beetle color is not dependent on age rather density!! Who would have imagined! Makes sense that they woyld have to have a mechanism to resist infection but didn't think it would be so apparent.

 

[cpchicks]

Very interesting. Thanks to all that replied about color. I had a problem with some mold in June............do you think that could have had an effect on color? I'm going to be watching closely to see if they change with age.