MEALWORMS - Raising Them the Easy Way

[Hiedi]

Quote:
OK...that's pretty much what I wanted to know, if it would be OK to feed those to my chickens.


By the way, thanks to Joe for the interesting and useful information about raising mealworms.

 

[Richard E. Nixon]

Hiedi: They may be soldier fly larvae. I researched those buggers a couple years ago when I discovered them in my compost piles. They are *fantastic* for quickly breaking down organic stuff into humus; soldier fly larvae are great to have.

Chickens love them too, but for an entirely different reason than me. You'll have to decide whether to feed them to your birds, or let them continue to go at your compost. I chose the latter, as my chickens have plenty of alternatives here (I'm raising mealworms just for them).

Jay

 

[thepetpaw]

how do you use chicken manpoop for compost....what do you do?

 

[Skyrider]

Quote:
Hi Joe,

A serious question: why kill the mealy bugs? Wouldn't the girls like them just as well? Lemme know.

Thanks,

Sky~

 

[WoodlandWoman]

I think he means the mealy bugs that infest all the grain based food in your kitchen. They turn into moths and really get around. You really don't want those in your house! I have gone through that before! There are traps you can buy and I keep things sealed up as much as I can normally, anyway, but it was a real pain. I even found them in my books and other places, that they had crawled off to pupate.

 

[Skyrider]

Quote:
Ah HA! Now I know what you mean, but still, if one was careful with only a few to be harvested at any one time, would they not be good for the girls?

I do nuke what you call "Cream of Wheat," because I buy it in bulk and it's cheap. I love it whether made with milk or just water. But if I were to dampen some of that just for the worms that crawl out of it and keep it under a lid watching carefully for the worms, isn't that good for chickens?

Thanks!

Sky~

 

[bulldog-girl]

Have a couple of ?? regarding the raising of the meal worms.

1) Can chickens have too many meal worms? I don't want to get into trying to sell them off. Can I just feed my flock of 12 all the meal worms they can eat?

2) What kind of luck would I have keeping the meal worms in an uheated garage? I really don't want a bin of worms in my home. Would they still produce but at a slower rate?

 

[Jessika]

I am not so sure I would like them in my house...

I know I do not want to raise fruit flies again (did it for fish project) but the micro worms weren't so bad...but they too stunk. Garage ok guys?

 

[Loop]

Quick question: how economical is this? Really?

See, I am thinking: chicken feed, fishing bait occasionally and soil amendment.

 

[Cuban Longtails]

Quote:
Dude... economical?

You're talking about something you can toss a cut up potato or carrot in on the occassion and forget about them til you need them. How easy is that? Hardly any effort and you (& your chickens) get a lot of benefit.