MEALWORMS - Raising Them the Easy Way

[wvgal61]

Just wanted to say

Those are Soldier Fly maggots and are great for the compost pile. They devour everything. They are also great chicken food. There are internet sites about setting up buckets in order to raise them for chicken and fish food. Don't worry about them. I found them in my compost and searched the web and found alot of info about them. They are totally different than house fly maggots.

 

[wvgal61]

Ok what about the mites I have read about. I am going to start a mealworm farm for my chickens when DH gets out of the hospital which should be Thursday. (we have been "getting out and going home" for 2 weeks

) anyways I have been reading about mites with mealworms, will they hurt the chickens, can the chickens catch that type of mite? I hope not to get them in my mealies but I want to know what to do if it happens. If you do get them can you feed the ones with mites to the chickens or do they have to be destroyed?

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

Grain mites can be very problematic with your mealworm colony but they won't be directly harmful to your chickens. Mites that favor chickens are very different. Grain mites can be easily prevented. First, make sure you kill any grain mites in grain products prior to adding them to the colony. Most people freeze their wheat bran for a day or so, others microwave it or bake it. Second, keep the humidity in the colony at or below 65%. Grain mites need humidity levels above 75-80% to reproduce. Grain mites are all over in the environment, so keeping it dry will prevent any that find your colony from reproducing. Do these two things and you'll most likely never experience an outbreak. BTW, a mealworm colony infected with grain mites would be fine to feed to the chickens. Just be careful that you don't spread the mites to your chicken feed (or any other pet feed that contains grain). Once you get them, they can be difficult to eradicate, especially if you live in a humid environment.

 

[Debbz]

I've been raising mealworms for many years, and I have never removed dead beetles and/or shed skins/frass. They find their way down to the bottom of the bin, under the wheat bran. About once year, I screen out as many mealworms and beetles as I can, save those, dump the bin in the garden with lots of small mealworms. After scouring the bin, I put in fresh wheat bran with lots of carrots and start all over.

Now THAT'S the sort of mealworm raising I'm after! Everywhere I look (here, YouTube, Googlesearches) everyone seems to be using the same little plastic drawers and spending lots of time sifting and sorting everything by hand for a small yield for a few reptiles or very occasional chook treat. Gimme the big single bin with less work and lots of worms. Thanks for the suggestion Joe.

 

[Chicken Val]

We grew 150 meat chickens this summer (K-22). Next summer I'd like to try out alternative feeds (inspired by Harvey Ussery). So my question is: is it possible to seriously supplement chicken feed using mealworms? I'm also thinking of growing black soldier flies and I already have red worms but I didn't start early enough to increase production to make a dent in feed cost. More specifically, my question would be, how many meal worms can let's say 50 chickens eat per day? This year we did 3 batches of 50. It looks like I need to start mealworm farming in winter.

Is anyone else trying to cut back from commercial feed due to cost and phytoestrogens in soy?

 

[galanie]

You would need to cover an entire barn in mealworm farms to fully feed 50 chickens with them. Oh they can eat as much as you give them, trust me. I can't give numbers, but I'd estimate 1/4 cup per bird to be a pretty good supplement. Just glad you resurrected this thread. I'm sure someone will disagree with me, so bring it on

 

[SoftBoiled]

Hey,

If anyone is still monitoring this thread... I'm having a go at the mealworm raising, but only about 3 weeks into the project. I have a number of almost-beetles (is that the pupae?), but no beetles yet.

My question is, my carrot seems to be molding the oatmeal - I'm not sure if I should be concerned about this or not. I've replaced the carrot once already when the first one looked shriveled and dry. Everybody in the box seems to be doing mealworm things, but I have no idea if I'm on track or not.

Galanie's comment on covering a barn floor was a little alarming, but I guess I'm only aiming at producing chook treats. Mealworms are about $15 a box here (for about 200 worms I'd guess), so raising your own would be economical.

Thanks!
S'boiled

 

[galanie]

Giving treats and suppliments is one thing.. trying to fully feed one off just mealworms is a whole 'nother ball of wax. I meant, no chicken food, nothing, just mealworms. It's not a good idea anyway. Start with a plastic box full then move on. If the stuff is molding, it's too moist. More ventilation is in order. Or fewer wet things placed in there.

 

[SoftBoiled]

Thank you so much! I'll poke more holes in my mealworm bin - at least that's not beyond my skill level.

However unwise a 100% mealworm diet might be, I think my chooks would vote for it. Fortunately, they don't get a vote.

SoftB

 

[rockinro]

Soooo...I have thousands of mealworms that have been growing in my bins and would like to "freeze-dry" them or "roast" them or "bake' them...or whatever it is I need to do to get them "dried". I have spent almost an entire day reading about mealworms and nothing really explains the process of HOW people dry their worms for future use. My little chicks are only 5 days old and I have thousands of worms...so i would like to dry them. I don't want to put them in the refridgerator and I've read that you can't put them in the freezer, becuase the insides turn soggy and soapy. Does ANYONE know how to freeze dry or dry these worms for future use or even to sell??