If you have a small flock of chickens, 6-10, you could do the shoebox (also used aquariums work fine, 5- gallon buckets, ...) bin method, adding a shoebox every once in a while as you get comfortable with the procedure (or not, no big investment if you decide it's not for you). And you could keep it under the vanity in your bathroom or under the kitchen sink. They don't need light and the beetles don't fly. I started with one bin on top of the refrigerator in the garage. Now I have a 3-drawer storage thing and keep it next to the fridge in the garage. Since we get cold winters it does get below freezing in the garage in the winter. Last winter I figured I had killed them all from the freezing and would have to start with new stock in the Spring, kind of a bummer because they take a few months to get going. But as I procrastinated with other more important projects as the weather warmed, one day I noticed movement in the wheat bran when I opened a drawer. The beetles died, but something (eggs?) made it through the winter.
As long as you add something for moisture once in a while (I like baby carrots) they seem to do just fine without any attention. If you are going to keep more than one bin I've found it advantageous to move the full grown beetles to a new, no worms in it, bin about once every 4 weeks to keep the process going. Then you will have a good supply of worms to feed about once every 10 days or so.
The only tip I have is to use something very fine for bedding, like wheat bran. If you use chicken crumble, oats, etc you will want to run it through a food processor to make it very fine. By using something fine for bedding it is easier to sift the worms out because the bedding will tend to fall through the sifter better. If you use chunky bedding (my bad at the outset) you will have to pick the worms out of the bin by hand as the bedding will not go through a sifter. And if you get a bigger sifter then the worms fall through with the bedding.
As long as you add something for moisture once in a while (I like baby carrots) they seem to do just fine without any attention. If you are going to keep more than one bin I've found it advantageous to move the full grown beetles to a new, no worms in it, bin about once every 4 weeks to keep the process going. Then you will have a good supply of worms to feed about once every 10 days or so.
The only tip I have is to use something very fine for bedding, like wheat bran. If you use chicken crumble, oats, etc you will want to run it through a food processor to make it very fine. By using something fine for bedding it is easier to sift the worms out because the bedding will tend to fall through the sifter better. If you use chunky bedding (my bad at the outset) you will have to pick the worms out of the bin by hand as the bedding will not go through a sifter. And if you get a bigger sifter then the worms fall through with the bedding.
