Mealworm farming

[WoodlandWoman]

Quote:
Hi Andrea! We have a section titled "Other Pets & Livestock" where you could post. There are other reptile owners on the forum. Go to the index page and look farther down the page. After you click on the "Other Pets & Livestock" you'll see a page of topics other people have posted. Look just above those and click on "Post New Topic." I'm sure you'll get help, when people aren't too busy with Christmas activities.

 

[oneofseven]

Quote:
Here's the loepard gecko thread: https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=567463

 

[chickens? not yet]

Amy just wanted to let you know I have baby worms!! Having fun watching them!! Made my husband go see them, I was saying AW baby worms aren't they cute!! He just turned and walked away, I thought it was funny!! Anyway thanks for the great worms!! and Hope you & yours have a very Merry Christmas & a Happy New Year!!
Connie, AZ.

Quote:

 

[onafixedincome]

Hmmmm....

D'ya think I'm too involved in this? My mealies got fresh stale wheat bread with tea and carrots for Christmas morning....?

Sad. Just sad!

That said, here's an update. Some of the small pupae have matured (what do you call it, anyway? Eclosed? Hatched? Metamorphosososososed? (I never know when to stop that one...!)) and not a deformed one as yet in the bunch, although some pupae have died. Getting more and more every day from the newer batches, so not exactly worried about running out of pupae....!

The large pupae are still maturing, and the percentage of deformity is extremely high (50% or more have serious issues and get fed to the chooks). None of them are very energetic and most cannot right themselves if they get upside down.

The small beetles don't seem to have any problems with being upside down, they just thrash around until they get hold of enough bran to act as a counterweight.

I must say that I find all of this utterly fascinating....!

The quail d'Anvers hen, Snickett, comes a-runnin' every morning for her mealies--sure didn't take long for THAT to happen (after the first day, anyone? Maybe these should be classified as an addictive substance for chickens..!). She's a riot, and I wanted to thank you all for getting me into this--it's just so much darn fun, it makes it worth getting up in the mornings.

Or afternoons, if you sleep in...

Merry Christmas to all, and may your blessings be many and very bright!

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Merry Christmas, mealie friends! May all your wishes come true and you be well blessed on this most wonderful of days!

Amy just wanted to let you know I have baby worms!!

 

[Gypsi]

Merry Christmas. And for my present, I picked up last week's carrot and quickly put it back down. underneath it were a bunch of baby mealy worms! My beetles are indeed reproducing, I'd been at all beetles for awhile.

Gypsi

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Several of my mealie bins have exploded (in a good way) in the past few days, too. I picked up the carrots and sweet potatoes just to see the swarming masses. Love it!

And all my chicks and chickens, Guineas and ducks enjoyed the Christmas treats. Warm oatmeal and meal worms. yum-yum!

In the next few weeks I will ba back to pushing sales in the meal worms. The good thing is, though, if meal worms do not sell, they never go to waste. just more for my critters to eat or i let them pupate and get more beetles to make more bins. I must say, meal worms are a win win.

 

[HenCrazyMom]

Christmas Day! My niece (8th grade) wanted to know what was in the bin on the floor in the dining room. I told her to open it up and check it out. Her reaction was priceless

naw A lot of ewwws and what is it? While I stood back and chuckled!!! WMHAAAAAAAAAAA!!! Her ewws turned to amazement when DS scooped up some mealies to take to the chickens and she got to enjoy the mealie frenzy. The DH's family thinks I have gone off the deep end but they sure love reaping the rewards of my mealie obsession!

 

[Gypsi]

I agree - meal worms are a win-win. And since my local feed store can't seem to get them in, and at least one local farm is selling eggs there, I'm betting if I get more worms than my girls can eat, I have a local outlet. How the heck do you count mealworms by the 1000 though?

 

[kizanne]

I scooped up a good amount with my sifter and weighed them. Then I counted to find my average count per gram or ounce so I can just weigh them if I ever sell them.

I don't remember now what is was but I figured even if I could you'd want to do one with your worms as they do vary in size and what you caught would also depend on your sifter size.