Mealworm farming

[zzGypsy]

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well we had one... sold to me as a nice brown swiss milker with her first calf just weaned. at least *I* thought she was a milker. *SHE* thought she was a fighting bull... snorting, head tossing, pawing a big pit in the center of the pen whenever she saw us, and then charging the fence...

so we figured out how to corral her in a squeeze, and snubbed her short, and we tied a back hoof, and milked her anyway. I figured with time, and grain, and gentle scratching on the good itchy spots, we'd make progress...

nope.

2 months, no progress.

apparently the delta between "milking cow" and "fighting bull" is "dinner".

just goes to show if you're tasty, you shouldn't also be mean

going to try that again some time, I'm looking for a 1/2-1/4 jersey with big soft liquidy eyes and no aspirations in the bullfighting department.

then maybe we'll breed some nice jersey angus crosses.

 

[OkChickens]

My order shipped out for 10,000 today! I have a 3 door setup and i will cut out the bottom of the top drawer to put the beetles in when I find a few!! My wife isn't sure about meal worms but I talked her into it! I am incubating about 10-12 dozen RSL Eggs hoping to have around 50-80 RSL Hens for eggs this spring/summer. I am planning on free ranging them with a free choice 16% Pellets with Meal worms to increase there protein intake! I might try to sell a few worms if and when I get them going good!


Nate

 

[gale65]

Noticed some baby worms in the bin. Finally!! I took out all but one of the old potatoes, because it was full of babies, and put new ones in. I put a cabbage core in on Friday and that has babies in it too, but it doesn't seem to be as popular as I thought it would be. How long does it take the worms to get to chicken-feed-size?

 

[hannakat]

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Congrats!

Let us know how it goes!

gale65 ~ Congrats on all the wee wormies! It'll take a few weeks before they're full sized and ready to become treats.

Oh my goodness onafixedincome!!! The warning sign is AWESOME!

bloom_ss ~ I also use the nuke method to treat the bran/chichen feed/substrate. The small mite problem I had was on bran that was frozen instead of nuked so I'm back to the zapping it! yea!

vclark321 ~ I freeze 'em in cottage cheese-type containers and tupperware. I also layer paper towel pieces in there to help prevent moisture buildup. AND... Welcome to the farm!!

 

[hannakat]

zzGypsy ~ Love the "just goes to show if you're tasty, you shouldn't also be mean "

 

[zzGypsy]

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that's one of the two rules of our farm...
the other is "everybody has to have a job"...
ok, well occasionally we keep one who's retired out of their job... and once in a great while the job is "be entertaining".

 

[OkChickens]

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I thought the fridge? Which should i do to save them up? Fridge or freeze?

Nate

 

[Gypsi]

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[Kassaundra]

Found an awesome deal on sweet potatoes, and they were a huge hit both w/ mealies and dubias.

 

[binders]

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I thought the fridge? Which should i do to save them up? Fridge or freeze?

Nate

Fridge for keeping them from pupating. You bring them out once a week to bring them up to temp and give them something to eat and then put them back into the fridge. This way they will stay as larva (womrs) longer before they pupate.
Freezer for keeping full size ones to feed to chickens when you don't have a ready supply of live ones.