Mealworms... my story. Almost impossible not to raise them!

[werecatrising]

My first tub I used chicken feed. My second set of tubs have oatmeal. My plan(who knows if I will follow through) is to keep 2 big bins for bettles through baby worms. I then plan to transfer the adults to grow out in the shoebox sized bins I have now. I think I'll put bran in those. Then once I have a large enough supply of decent sized adults I will start storing them in the fridge for winter.

 

[usschicago1]

I loved your story! Good Luck on Your New Venture !

Ive always wanted to try those

 

[lamelde]

Does anyone have advice on how many worms per square inch size container - like - I don't want too many worms in a too small size container.

I ordered 500 - how big should my container be?

Same question as to how many chickens can you keep in a 4X8 coop - if they can free range during the day.

 

[Matt A NC]

I keep 5 bins going most of the time. I use the large sweater boxes made by sterilite. They are about 24"x16" and 6" deep. With the slick plastic sides the beetles don't get out. The bins are clearish. I don't keep them in the dark and they do well. I have drilled holes all around the edge of the lid to allow plenty of ventilation. Then I stack them. That keeps them out of the way. I rotate the bins so that the one(s) with treat size mealworms are/is on top.

For easy catching I put in plastic lids from mayonnaise/peanut butter jars. The 1/2"-3/4" lip is perfect for the larger worms. They seem to climb out of the bedding to pupate, so the larger of the worms go into the lids. With 3 lids in a bin I can dump a couple hundred in a container quickly to go out and see who wants to be friends.

Matt

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

When I was first getting the worms and contemplating raising them I did a ton of research and watched a million Youtube videos (I tend to jump head first and neck deep into stuff).

I had all these experiments in my head about self harvesting, self cleaning, etc. using different sizes of screen that would allow waste to pass through the lowest level, catch worms in the second level, and leave all the dead beetles, etc. in the top. Or, ways to allow the babies to burrow down and exit through screen right when they are born, leaving everything else up top.

Now I'm just going with the lazy method... leave them in a big tub with tons of food and an occasional carrot... we'll see how that goes.

 

[our 5 chickie babies]

Hello All !! We were buying our mealworms from BAM and spending about 15.00 a month on them.Then I met a super nice lady on here and she told me that they were very easy to raise.

So she told me what to do and I had two containers of pupa and beetles going.Well I kept looking and never saw any worms.I would look a couple times a week.Finally I just about gave up and I waited about 3 weeks to look again.Now mind you I would open the containers once a week and put in a new carrot but would'nt look for worms.

The other day I decided to look again.Low and behold in one container I had worms about 1/2"long and in the other container I have a ton of itty bitty maybe 1/4" worms.
So with her help I have two nice colonys going now.I think I will just combine the two into one larger container.I have them in two plastic shoe box containers now.

I just have to figure out how to sift out the little worms so I can move them into their own tub.
Good luck to those that try.It really is very easy.
JIM&LINDY

 

[gryeyes]

Y'all are intrepid as heck. I think I'll stick to buying mine - haven't quite been sold on the allure of mealworm wrangling yet.

 

[ShannonS79]

I never thought I would be wondering where I could hide a bin of worms in the house from the husband so that I can raise them. But you guys have me hooked! I want to try it too. I'm pretty sure he would freak out at the idea, so I would need a good place to store them. Do they smell at all?

It's just so rewarding when your girls know you are the treat giver and they come running to you.

 

[MakNugget]

You guys are tempting me. I'm not inclined to take on additional projects but if it's as easy as it sounds, I may have to do it. I've bought them in bulk twice now (1000 ea) and it won't take long before they'll all be consumed so it would be nice to be able to get them to be somewhat self sustaining.

Aggghhhhhhhhghhghghghh (sound of me breaking down...)

 

[annie3001]

what a great story.

i def will have to try growing some meal worms!