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

[Gypsi]

I don't think I can get past the roaches being roaches. And the electric bill to keep them warm. Do mealworms have to be kept warm?

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

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It helps a lot and speeds the process, but room temp is fine.

 

[b.hromada]

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Do you raise these types too?

I do currently, to add a little variety to the diet of my reptiles. My birds love 'em but the colony doesn't produce fast enough for extras.

I understand where you're coming from. My girls could, or should I say would eat all the worms that I could give them in one sitting!!

They're a bunch of stuffers!!

 

[suburbanhomesteader]

OK, I thought I was a little "off", but now I see I'm right at home!

For my chickens, I have raised:

larval blow flies (most people call them maggots; I called them chicken protein) but that STUNK and actually caused my down-wind neighbor to come over one time and ask if there was a dead animal stuck under the chicken coop! Oopsie!
http://www.themodernhomestead.us/article/Feeding-Chickens-Maggots.html

soldier flie larvae (great big ugly boogers that the girls LOVE, but the food source can get a little fermented-smelling if you don't manage it right)
http://blacksoldierflyblog.com/

red wigglers (the girls turned their beaks up at wigglers and earthworms; bummer, because I could sure grow wigglers!)

meal worms (the only time I had issues with odor was when I used the "dry litter" method with wheat bran, and the material got REALLY old with a lot of dead beetles in it. Otherwise, these are very easy to grow, but can be feast or famine as already mentioned. House wrens also like 'em. Since they don't climb, I grew them in a 10-high storage tower where each drawer was about 2" tall, with different drawers having different ages of worms (which isn't a good word for them. they're not slimy or gross; they're actually quite elegant).

Growing "tower": http://www.staples.com/Iris-10-Draw...Supplies:Totes_&_Drawer_Storage:484971:116223

I stopped because I was going through $20 of wheat bran a month and I couldn't cut back on my habit! I have no idea how many thousands of meal worms I raised.

 

[3chimama]

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Thanks for the info...I did click on your page, got the info and started up a colony today ;D

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Well, cherylcohen just dropped off a huge ziplock bag of big huge mealworms! I was only expecting her to give me like 20 or so!

Now I'm not sure what to do with them. I was originally going to just dump them in with the youngsters, but now I'm questioning if I should have two "colonies"?

I guess since I don't want this to be a huge project AND because some say that there really isn't any potential issue with the different ages / stages eating each other... I should just dump them all together???

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Dumping 'em in would be the easiest.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

When I had mealworms, I only seperated the ages if I didn't have very many. Beetles and the larvae tend to eat the pupae when there's not enough moisture, same goes for the eggs. But when you have a couple hundred beetles and a couple thousand worms it doesn't really matter.

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

Wow, after a week I just checked on the "babies" that were mentioned in the beginning of this thread and HOLY COW they grow fast when you're really feeding them!! Some are almost the same size as the ones Cheryl dropped off!

 

[Muggsmagee]

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I am glad you mentioned the red wigglers and earthworms...my chickens won't eat them either. They will play with them a bit, but they never eat them...I've tried.

I just wanted to add pictures of our colony. The ones on the left are the darkling beetles and small eggs/small worms in oats and wheat bran (the oats don't get eaten). On the right are bigger mealworms and pupa. The tubs are 26.7 x 15.8 and 6 inches deep. They have "bedding" 1 -2 inches deep...I was digging out worms on the right just before this pic was taken. I'm curious how other people keep their mealworms?