Mealworm farming

[Smiles-N-Sunshine]

Howdy, Y'all!!!

So glad I found this thread! I've been raising mealworms almost as long as poultry (four years). I thought I'd share my methods, and solicit feedback:

I use Sterilite drawers (one seven-drawer stack and two three-drawer stacks) for housing; poultry feed (Purina Flock Raiser [20%] crumbles), and mostly banana peels for moisture. I grind some of the feed into meal for tiny mouths. I add half a paper towel on top of the feed as an egglaying surface.

I start each drawer with about 20 adult beetles. When larvae have grown large enough to be visible (about every 30-60 days; more in summer, less in winter) I remove the dead adults, redistribute the live adults into fresh drawers, and combine all the drawer contents into a single grow-out bin. The soonest I start harvesting is when I see the first pupa, but it depends if I need replacement breeders at the time.

Harvesting is done by running the bin material through a kitchen strainer to separate large larvae and feed crumbles from small larvae, frass, and small bits of feed. The small larvae are attracted to banana peels once a week or so, and are easy to wrangle up. After a few weeks, it's just frass left, which goes into the compost tumbler.

Personally, I'm mildly fascinated with the cycle of life thing, and of course my birds absolutely love them.

Any thoughts? Thanks!!!

Bryan

 

[onafixedincome]

Welcome to the nuthouse...

*snicker*

No embellishments, but a lot of questions!

I'm still a newbie at this, so pardon my density, as the rock said to the water....

Why only 20 per drawer to start? How big/deep are the drawers?
How many larva do you get from each drawer, how often, this way?
How many chickens are you feeding and how many mealies per chicken per day?

Great description, by the way...!

And welcome again!

(ps...how many mealies do you have total, do you think?)

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Note to self......find a new way to sift out meal worms or at least a new spot. The kitchen table is not very good since days later I am still finding the little escapees crawling across the table or hiding in notebooks.

Interesting change from doing paperwork though! Turn a page and have a little meal worm looking up at you going, "Do you mind? That light is too bright!"

 

[hannakat]

 

[hannakat]

Bryan ~ Awesome setup! That's similar to how I've been doing it only I keep my grow out container in the oven with the light on 24/7 right now and I only keep 2 beetle containers going. I'm just about out of the frozen stash of wormies but am getting a nice group of mealies every day for my 4 girls. They get pretty vocal if they don't see the plate of goodies!

 

[hannakat]

More money for the chickens is a GOOD thing

Someone here, not long ago, wisely quoted "Patience, young grasshopper" and that is a must with mealies!

Yes, it has been as cold as 50 degrees, but with menopause I would rather have it colder than warmer.

I bundle up and heat the room I am in. The mealies look great and are getting bigger every day, so I just need more patience! Then when I am outside in 26 degree weather 55 degrees seems so warm! My electric bill is almost non-existant since I don't use my dryer either. I have more money to spend on chickens!

 

[BeccaSmith]

Here's a good laugh for everyone....I called a few local pet supply stores to price meal worms locally....to buy from temporarily and for an idea of what I would be up against of I were to start selling locally to other chicken owners. So the "bulk" pricing I was given at one pet/feed store for medium to large sized meal worms was 12 for $1.19! I think I almost choked when I heard the lady tell me that...lol....while this pet store sells chicken related supplies and feed, I don't think it has ever occurred to them to sell meal worms for chickens...just reptiles. Most stores were about the same price wise except for one big box store had a container of 500 for $6.49 so I decided to buy some to check it out...I opened the container at the store and said "wow those are small".....lol. But I am pretty much out of worms as they have all pupated and turned to beetles so I got some for a treat for the girls....and figured next time I would buy from one of our members on here as I am sure I would get better quality for the price and I would rather support our members then a big box store. I just hope the mealies hurry up and do their thing so I can stop purchasing them and save my money!

On another note, I wanted to ask a question about the beetles....I have several that appear to be missing a wing here or their...wasn't sure if these are truly a deformed beetle or if they just aren't finished developing yet....if they are deformed I will feed them to the girls!

 

[Kassaundra]

I think the consensus is the "deformed" beetles just haven't completely finished drying out and given a little time normalize. (at least mostly)

 

[CluckyJay]

I quickly step on the escapees so my husband doesn't see them.

 

[CluckyJay]

I remember one day last year, I set up one of those mini flow through breeders. Well, I didn't have the right glue to glue the screen on. One day I heard this raining and scratching sound.

I swear, it seemed like hundreds of beetles were crawling all over my hallway and washer and dryer!!! I almost died. LOL They are so strong in numbers, they just pushed the glue apart from the plastic and escaped. :O