Mealworm farming

[BuffyGRL]

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Buffy GRL: their little brothers and sisters are doing well at my house, too. I am so glad you have fun with your breeding stock from me. Thank You for sharing. Seems I got you off to a great start!

You did a great job at sending me a good start, they are popping out everywhere. Can't wait for baby wormies !
They are fun and the best part is all my chickens will love me in the spring for bringing them treats. Thanks crazy huhn

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Goodness, I haven't been on here in a while. There was a lot of reading and catching up to do.

Mine are consuming massive amounts of food every day so I ran my hands through the substrate in the 2 established colony bins and found thousands of meal worms! I knew I had a lot of beetles on top but did not realize I had so many meal worms growing in the substrate.
They are not all a great size yet but the substrate was filled with them so I need to add more and give them more room and maybe start taking out the bigger mealies to let them grow enough in another bin that I can start feeding to my chicks. I only have about 30 little chicks but I have 3 other bigger brooders in my brooder room plus the cage brooders outside of youngsters. They will love it when I finally have enough and so will I! Nothing better than seeing your "kids" happy with treats!

Great reading, everyone! I love to learn more and more about everyone's set ups and adventures with meal worms!

 

[hannakat]

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Thank you for sharing HenCrazyMom!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

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Fantastic photos! I love them. And I know those chicky babies love him! He knows the way to their heart, for sure. And those photos stole our hearts, as well!

 

[hannakat]

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Glad to hear your colonies are doing well!

I now have hundreds that are full grown and I plan to start experimenting (rubbing my hands together in anticipation) with freezing them and drying them!

The Mad Wormie Scientist
Trish

 

[Urban Chaos]

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That is interesting, how long has your colony been living in the dirt? You don't put any grain / chicken feed in at all, only fruit and veggies?

I've had them in dirt since Feb - so about 6 months now +/- and no grain/feed at all - just fuit and veggies. I have so many beetles and worms I've been giving them to friends as well as to my chooks daily. We've no mold issues at all.

 

[galanie]

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That is interesting, how long has your colony been living in the dirt? You don't put any grain / chicken feed in at all, only fruit and veggies?

I've had them in dirt since Feb - so about 6 months now +/- and no grain/feed at all - just fuit and veggies. I have so many beetles and worms I've been giving them to friends as well as to my chooks daily. We've no mold issues at all.

I have been battling moths in mine for the last month... Thanks! They are going into dirt as soon as I can talk myself into getting back out into the heat to get some! It's odd to me, but only the second drawer has them. I use the top drawer with screen and that tray has regular (not 1 minute) oats. The other has 1 minute oats that I whizzed in the food processor and bran. I guess moths don't like coarse stuff.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Hey, Trish!
Glad to know you have enough to start another mad experiment!

I am not sure that I will ever have enough to put in the fridge and I don't really want to freeze them because I worry over the nutritional content after freezing. Forgive me if I missed the posts on this.
I am sure mine would still eat them but I hope and prefer to feed them live.
Those little wiggling worms get my chicks so excited that I find it very entertaining to put a handful in the brooder and watch them grab and go! Or for the very young baby chicks.....stop, stare, ponder and then grab and go!

 

[GoodLuckCharlie!]

I am so grateful for the friendly group on BYC! Thank you for giving us inspiration and ability to go do things thought not possible on my own

HenCrazyMom: Thank you for sharing about your sweet son, and I agree about the therapy it provides (although its been more therapeutic for me than anyone!) I homeschool my daughter who's 9 yrs. old and special needs. We moved to the rural area from the city to take the opportunity for our slower and more peaceful lifestyle, and I can't even say enough how fantastic it has been! I've been waiting for this lifestyle all my life

She and I are so happy having chickens and living out here.

Above are my attempts at my first farming, according to what I have learned from all of you awesome folk!

I put screening on the bottom of the top drawer (would you also do it to the middle drawer? I got a little lost there).

I added the bran the mealworm came in, brown rice flour, oats, chick starter pellets, cornmeal, apples, potatoes, celery and kale greens, egg cartons, and brown paper bags torn up. All of is organic (except the paper bag maybe) and wheat/gluten-free, dairy free (for our family). How's that to start? I was gonna buy some more bran too.

I have one beetle, and about 300 mealworms. Will there be a bug infestation in the house or garage if they're in there?

Thank you everyone so much!

 

[galanie]

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HAHAHA you should see my cockatiel do that. She looks like "OMG that is disgusting!" - sort of like people look at a car wreck. Seems mesmerized for a bit. Then, CRUNCH CRUNCH she dives in.