Mealworm tier system vs one bin

[Squishychicken]

Which one is better?

So 3 tier system if I'm correct:
1st one is beetles and had wire mesh but the question I have about that is wont the eggs not fall through if there oats and stuff on top of the wire?

2nd layer and 3rd is mealworms/egg bins and are rotated every 2-3 weeks.
And Puppa are removed once there spotted and placed in a empty water bottle till they turn into a Beatle then there placed in the battle bin.
I would just feed oats and moist like materials such as potatoes for water source.

One bin is all stages are togther and only puppa are removed and placed back in when hatched

Also how many should I start with I wanna get this thing going asap. Wouldnt getting mealworms and Beatles speed things up faster? I have 50 birds but I normally have around 65-70 (I breed seramas) but I have 30 or so LF and ducks

 

[paneubert]

I do something that is neither of the options you describe. It is somewhat based on a 2 drawer system though. But no drawers. Haha.

Bin A with worms in it. Maybe an inch deep of bedding in the beginning.
Bin B with pupa waiting to hatch, and beetles. Very thin layer of food in this bin. Thin enough that some spots even show the floor of the bin. Right now I don't separate the pupa from beetles, but might section off a little portion for the pupa before they hatch. Or stick them in a little yogurt cup or something that is within the bin. Another option would be to let the pupa stay with the worms until they hatch into beetles. The worms aren't going to eat the pupa.....unless they are starving.

Once per week, take the beetles and pupa out of Bin B for a moment, dump all bedding from bin B into bin A with the worms. This will get all the eggs from bin B back into the worm bin, bin A. Then put new super thin layer of food in bin B and put pupa and beetles back in.

Slowly the level of food in the bin A will grow (since you are adding to it weekly). But you also will have new worms hatching and eating it. If the food gets super thin in bin A, you can always sift it to get rid of the frass.

 

[paneubert]

As for the question about how many to start with....I would say buy at least a few thousand to raise. Then buy either dried worms to feed your birds, or buy more live to feed them every few weeks while your first couple thousand mature untouched. It is going to slow the process down a lot if you keep feeding your birds from your initial batch of worms since you will be feeding "old" worms that are close to becoming pupa/beetles. Much more time efficient if you can feed the birds "young" worms since they are just freeloading off you for a long time before they become beetles.

 

[Squishychicken]

Can you purchase Beatles? I like your ideo too. I'm really just looking for a cheap yet effective way and your way would be cheaper.

How long after the eggs hatch till I can feed them to the chickens?

 

[Squishychicken]

@paneubert what do you feed them?

 

[paneubert]

Can you purchase Beatles?

I was going to say "no". But I remembered a YouTube video where a guy made an offhanded comment that he sells the beetles. Found it for you.

https://www.northwestredworms.com/all/mealworm-beetles-1

100 beetles for $27 bucks is a really good deal, assuming they are young and will still lay for a while. Each beetle can lay a ton of eggs.

EDIT: 300 for only $10 more. I would buy 300 beetles. That will get you a massive amount of worm babies.....once they hatch and grow a bit. In the beginning it is going to look like your bedding is moving. They are tiny.

 

[paneubert]

How long after the eggs hatch till I can feed them to the chickens?

@paneubert what do you feed them?

You can feed them to the birds as soon as they are a size you like. Couple weeks minimum.

I feed mine a mix of oatmeal, cornmeal, and fish food flakes. Usually apples for moisture. I might start using chicken feed instead for their bedding/food.

 

[Squishychicken]

I just figured starting with Beatles would get my system going faster.

 

[paneubert]

I just figured starting with Beatles would get my system going faster.

It is all about numbers. It explodes at some point. So you either decide to buy a ton of beetles and then have to wait for the babies to grow, or you buy a ton of worms and wait for the beetles to show up. Both methods are going to involve a period at the beginning when you are just sitting around waiting. Cost effective method would be to start with worms since you can buy them by the thousands. For example, the beetles are about 10 cents each if you buy 500. Random Amazon.com listing for worms says I can get 1,000 worms for $15 with free shipping. So I can buy 3,300 worms for the same price as only 500 beetles. If you can wait for those worms to turn to beetles, the explosive growth in numbers will be bigger by starting with worms. But the growth will be faster (but smaller) if starting with beetles.

If time is money to you, drop $100 on 1,000 beetles and then regret it two months later when you have something like 1 million baby mealworms. Haha.

 

[Squishychicken]

Well I'm gonna see locally if anyone has any Beatles maybe