Mealworm farming

[hannakat]

Hah! Would never think to give them turnips.

Thanks to Amy's suggestion about pumpkin, I've been able to put a bit of that to use since I still have some pumpkins hiding on the porch for the chickens. Now there's something else to add to the list!


Just gave the girls their plate of thawed mealies and 4-day-old sprouts with a bit of cottage cheese. Yummo!

 

[Kassaundra]

I have a huge bumper crop of turnips I am harvesting out of the garden. Trying to figure out best ways to use / store them. I've got about half harvested and will get the rest in later this week (maybe early next week)

 

[gale65]

sorry if this was mentioned. If I give them potatoes with green on the skins do I need to cut off the green?

 

[andrea98]

I have a leopard gecko question .. Is there anyone that may be able to help?

 

[OkChickens]

Hello everyone!

I just stumbled on this and I have a few questions. I have read a few pages and i kinda want to start raising these!

How many worms would I need for feed a large flock of chickens? I will have approx 70-80 chickens this next year. 40-50 RSL and 20-35 breeding birds.
If I were to order the meal worms this spring what do i need to do? Do I just put them all in a tub and give them peels and veggies?
How much maintenance do they require?
What else am i missing?

Nate

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Welcome Nate!

It really depends on how many you want to feed your chickens and how often as to how many you would need. I have 7 little d'Uccles in the house around 7 weeks old now and they were diving into one of my bins and helping themselves. They could wipe out a few 100 a night if I let them. I moved the bin and now give them only about 50 a few times a week but with that they can go through a lot more than can grow and be produced.

If you visit my website you can see some of my set up and read a bit about how I do mine (full of photos and very little writing). Everyone on the thread here has great ideas and does it a bit differently because what works for one does not always mean it will work for another. I encourage you to read as much from this thread as possible as everyone is a wealth of information.

I personally use wheat bran with mine. It is only about $12 a 50# bag and I have 9 meal worms bins now. I started out with 5000 but have grown a lot in less than a year to try and feed my birds. It doesn't take much time unless you want to give it more time. As many tubs as I have set up I still do not have to do much until I harvest them and then I just bait them up and make it as easy as possible.

I do sell meal worms but you may want to buy more than I would have to sell at this time. You can contact me if you would like and we can talk about it. Or you can always check out the other meal worm places. There are a few listed on the first page.

http://www.westknollfarm.com/Meal-Worms.html

 

[hannakat]

Welcome to the farm Nate!

Here are links to 3 very interesting and informative pages that will give you an overview of some of the different ways people raise them. Gallo del Cielo's is very clear and easy, whereas Amy and I like to embellish (Is that the right word Amy? hahaaaa!) We really enjoy our mealie farms and hope to help others start theirs. The end product is so good for the chickadees!

Gallo Del Cielo's page: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/vie … -mealworms
My page: https://www.backyardchickens.com/web/vie … xperiences
Amy's page: http://www.westknollfarm.com

If you have any questions, don't hestitate to ask!

Trish

 

[hannakat]

Wishing everyone a wonderful Christmas!

Trish

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Merry Christmas, everyone!

Cute, Trish!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

And yes, I believe embellish is correct! We go above and beyond!
I keep adding more photos and don't know why. I am visual and I figure everyone else is, too.