Mealworms To Raise

[Molpet]

Styrofoam? That's really interesting.
Has anyone studied chickens eating strofoam directly? I've seen plenty of anecdotes of chickens that did eat it, but never heard that it might have nutritional value.

There was a study on sea turtles eating it. Hormone disruption and cancer... but turtles live a long time and accumulated a lot more than chickens

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Styrofoam? That's really interesting.
Has anyone studied chickens eating strofoam directly? I've seen plenty of anecdotes of chickens that did eat it, but never heard that it might have nutritional value.

I'm not aware of any studies with chickens, but this article mentions two with mealworms:
https://www.popsci.com/mealworms-can-safely-devour-plastics/

 

[ColoradoPip]

Found this to be an interesting article, I believe it made local news in Denver even:
https://news.stanford.edu/2019/12/19/mealworms-provide-plastic-solution/
I'm on the organic thing so my mealworms have special diets, no styrofoam or plastic, but even then it's still very easy to raise them. They breed better than rabbits!!

I find these studies, and the fact they can live off of things like styrofoam, intriguing and can't wait for more studies to be done on the health, long term impact, etc. to the colony.

 

[NatJ]

Thank you all for those links and information. This is really neat stuff!
I've never had any interest in personally raising mealworms, but that's starting to change really fast...

 

[daviechik]

We started mealworms too, quietly in the garage the squeamish family members have no idea

 

[DobieLover]

I'm thinking maybe I will do this!

I did it for about 6 months. I was into the third or fourth generation by then. They stink. I don't care what people say. They just stink. I fed all the worms and larvae to the chickens and bagged it.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

Thank you all for those links and information. This is really neat stuff!
I've never had any interest in personally raising mealworms, but that's starting to change really fast...

They're super duper easy to raise. I mean seriously. I have been the quintessential absentee landlord, so to speak, with regards to raising them. Ignore them for weeks and feed them styrofoam and a carrot now and then, and they keep on surviving. It's going to be really neat when I get some things settled and can pay more attention to them.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

I did it for about 6 months. I was into the third or fourth generation by then. They stink. I don't care what people say. They just stink. I fed all the worms and larvae to the chickens and bagged it.

Mine have never stunk. I guess it depends on what you feed them.

 

[DiYMama540]

Very interesting stuff...I'm considering letting my 8 yr old son take a crack at mealworms farming. He's into anything creepy and crawly...not to mention my birds would appreciate it as well!

 

[Ladies-Eight]

QUOTE="NatJ, post: 22138934, member: 466333"]
There are plenty of other sources of protein for chickens, if you don't want to deal with mealworms. They just happen to be convenient for some people to raise, and they're readily available for sale, so it's easy to get the first ones to start the colony.
[/QUOTE]

The dried mealworms are so expensive, a big bag will cost more than 4,000 live mealworms. That is why I raise them.