Mealworm farming

[wolftracks]

I've got a container full of beetles and the worms that haven't turned yet are huge!

 

[frostbite]

Oh and last question....what do you do with the beetles?

thanks!!!

You play beetle tag with your new chicks!

after a week or two, I gave my chicks a beetle. They scramble for it, one of them comes up with it, and goes racing around the brooder with the rest of them in hot pursuit. Then when they stop to try to peck at it enough to swallow it, another chick will steal it away and run off with it, charging around the brooder with the rest of them in hot pursuit again, peeping like crazy. It's a riot. Great entertainment, and a good cure for the blues! Eventually the beetle is used up enough that someone manages to swallow it. Then they all take a nap.

 

[DMRippy]

Quote:

That is what they do! even with a feather

 

[Kassaundra]

Oh my you people who move your mealies from one bin to the other that is some dedication to raising mealies I gotta say!!!!! I am having a ventilation issue, my drilled ventilation holes are not big enough so my colonies have gone toxic w/ ammonia so I am having a massive move today and this hand picking is for the birds seriously that is not going to work, standing over the ammonia filled bins, I then tried sifting w/ a metal small holed colander that was no better at all. I tried a piece of bread to attract them and am only getting a couple at a time (literally less then 5) I have no idea how I am going to do this today!!!!

 

[Emily1220]

Oh my you people who move your mealies from one bin to the other that is some dedication to raising mealies I gotta say!!!!! I am having a ventilation issue, my drilled ventilation holes are not big enough so my colonies have gone toxic w/ ammonia so I am having a massive move today and this hand picking is for the birds seriously that is not going to work, standing over the ammonia filled bins, I then tried sifting w/ a metal small holed colander that was no better at all. I tried a piece of bread to attract them and am only getting a couple at a time (literally less then 5) I have no idea how I am going to do this today!!!!

Ugh........sorry about your troubles!!! I have taken mine outside in the fresh air to pick thru. Find a shady area and set up a chair. Worked for me.

 

[ChickenWifey]

Have you ever ran out of worms?

I started with 500 and 50 beetles. Day before yesterday I bought 100 more because all the worms turned into pupa or all the way to beetles.

My set up has thousands of baby worms but part of the fun for me is checking on them everyday to see how many new pupa I find. Then I move the pupa to a "holding" box then I pick out the beetles and put them in the beetle box. I enjoy the heck out of it.

I was just wondering if anyone else came to a point where all they had were beetles and babies?

 

[destin0709]

I'm out of worms too. I have beetles but no baby worms yet, but I thought I read it would take a month before I see anything. I'm only on week 1 so going to have to order more worms, my chicks are probably getting mad when I don't come out with the "worm" container. LOL.

 

[mychookschick]

Yup, I ran out of wormies too. Just beetles and they are so boring!!

 

[Kassaundra]

The larger your colony gets and the more generations you are in will mix up the "ages" better. When you first start the worms are all about the same age and on the "same clock" but each generation adds the early and late individuals that will start to mix things up, you can speed this process up by adding new worms when you are at this all beetle stage, the new ones will then be a diff age and on a diff schedule, like two people offsetting singing Row, Row, Row your boat.

 

[DMRippy]

The larger your colony gets and the more generations you are in will mix up the "ages" better. When you first start the worms are all about the same age and on the "same clock" but each generation adds the early and late individuals that will start to mix things up, you can speed this process up by adding new worms when you are at this all beetle stage, the new ones will then be a diff age and on a diff schedule, like two people offsetting singing Row, Row, Row your boat.

She is right. I had that happen maybe for 2 gens... but now they are full of all different stages and ages. I kinda thought that would happen, that is one reason I didn't feed any out. My first beetles lived for about 4 months too.... a very long time, so if they were laying that whole time I got lots of different age worms and now the empire begins ..... muuuuuuhaaaaaa