Mealworm farming

[mychookschick]

My beetles are still alive and presumably mating, but their number is slowly dwindling.

I don't know about other people's practice, but when my beetles begin dying (after I find 3-4), I feed them to the birds. It is easier than trying pick them out when they are dead!

 

[onafixedincome]

Just put the box in bright light. The live ones burrow; the dead ones...well, they don't burrow very well and remain on top. Easy-peasy.

 

[Chaneys Ranch]

Gosh, I haven't paid attention real well. I get it at the local Dollar General and it is a packaged dry pasta with chicken (what else?) Alfredo mix. It seems it is a common name company that makes it. It is really good, imo. Probably could get it at about any grocery. Just look on the back at the directions and it will say it has a strainer lid. Seems it is the plastic bowl wrapped with a card board sleeve. (Clear as mud?)
I am not a cook and if DD doesn't whip up something or DH isn't home to cook then I have to make for myself and sandwiches get boring. Give me a power saw and drill and I am happy but the kitchen is like another country to me.

That reminds me, I went to the Pawn Shop the other day and bought a new cordless drill. A nice big fancy one with bells and whistles. DH says he can't believe I get so excited over power tools. But it makes my life easier on the farm! And right now so many people are out of jobs the Pawn Shops are over loaded with stuff like that so you can talk them down pretty cheap on most things.
And DH has no room to talk, he has a big bookshelf in the kitchen with HIS cookbooks.

Ok, i am soooooo in, been reading this awesome thread over the last few days. So far i am on page 141!!
I can't tell you, (and I bet you guys already know) i am so supercharged on doing this i am reading every post LOL!
I loved this particular post and had to say you are much like me, i have every battery powered tool i can get.
I got fed up with extension cords and will go to the city (indianapolis) and hit the pawn shops often.
My favorite statement, "look, i can buy this new at XXX for $$$, so what kind of deal can you give me?"

My DH can outcook me sometimes, but i can clean a striped bass in 60 seconds lol!
I hunt and fish a lot, so the mealies will be a nonstop bonus, will try them for trapping a few predators too!
My girls already love them let alone Mr Red, my roo, and i am planning for winter.
Thank you all for all the great info! I am totally hooked on BYC.

 

[DurbanGirl]

Ack! I forgot to mention.......frass!

This is the best kept secret next to delicious duck eggs!

I used some on my deck plants and a little garden I have by the deck steps. OMG! First, let me say, I have a brown thumb. If I plant it, it will die.
First, my Mother's Day gift to myself, my gorgeous rose bush, was looking pitiful. I used an assortment of things to help it but nothing seemed to make it happy. Then I poured out some frass that I had had sitting in here for months and saw nothing else growing from it. I just poured a bit around the plant on the ground and walked away.
I planted a bit of spearmint next to the steps and it sat there all pitiful for a while so I added a bit of frass around it.
It rained......the plants went CRAZY! Within a week these plants had not only grown tremendously, they were flowering and chatting happily to the flutterbys! LOL Okay, I am making up that last part!

My orange mint plant was in a pot on the deck and looked exactly like it did when I brought it home the end of April so after seeing the results from these plants I poured some on the potting soil 2 weeks ago and it rained that night.
No joke, now 2 weeks later, this orange mint has grown up 3 inches and out about 4 inches. It is fantastic.
I added it to my other plants in that area and they all are happy as can be so I added some to a Lanatana that was a bit droopy and I haven't had a chance to move from the pot to a spot in the garden. It is blooming and beautiful!

I need more worms to make more frass! This stuff is great!

That is a brilliant idea - I was just going to toss the frass in the compost bin eventually.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Ok.... Question time!

I am terrible at estimating, so what do you guys think?



Can you estimate how many mealies are in this sift? I had about 7-8 of these, so I was trying to get a ROUGH estimate of how many large mealies I have... I have probably almost as many smaller ones.

Thank you!!!

In case no one has told you yet, one cup of mature mealies is about one thousand.

 

[WestKnollAmy]

Quote:
My orange mint has gone bananas! It sat for so long doing nothing and now......



Okay, blurry but you can see how happy it is as well as the lavender plant that got barely a pinch because I did not want to kill my DD's plant.

And my rose, it is so happy, as are the weeds I can't keep back from it. LOL I swear to you, the blooms were not opening and dieing but then frass.....



I have 2 bins sitting here that I hope doesn't have anything in them except frass as I am excited to put them out on more of my flowers.
Bye-bye commercial crap! Hello, meal worm frass!

 

[dangerbunny]

wow there is a ton of information here!

 

[bobbieschicks]

The coolest part about these mealies is that I can either spend bunches of time picking thru the bins and arranging them or hardly any time with them, and they still thrive. I love it! Can't wait for my baby worms to grow up. Guess I'll have to figure out how many to freeze for the winter and how many to keep cycling.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Finally got to see the moving substrate thing everyone talks about. haha. I moved a carrot in one of my bins and it was like something from the movie Tremors under there. The "earth" was moving up and down - so freaky!

 

[mychookschick]

In case no one has told you yet, one cup of mature mealies is about one thousand.

No, they hadn't told me yet... Thank you! Now I can measure my own mealies!