Mealworms

[AnnieSantiago]

I pluck out my beetles and pupae and put them in another tray for breeding. I have those plastic storage boxes w 4 pull out drawers. I keep bran, oatmeal, coarse corn meal..old bread, carrots and sweet potatoes in my boxes.ib the beetle box I leave upside down paper egg cartons.the cartons become battle hones After a month..i pick up the egg cartons full of beetles and move them to a new tray. I just keep putting cartons back into the previous container to attract then move adults. Some will die..so I pick those out for the garden compost. I keep a constant supply of trays full of beetles, eggs and worms. I always start my chicks with tiny mealworms and starter mash.gets them eating really quick to. I also use them for sick chickens..somethin about a nice wiggly mealy works wonders for a bird off thier feed. Naturally..my birds enjoy a mealy treat every evening when I Call them in for lockdown!

Thanks! Can you post photos of your setup?

 

[BluPoLorp]

I feed the BEETLES to my chickens??????

My girls LOOOVE beetles!! Anything like that that finds itself in their yard, doesn't stand a chance. Yesterday they found a HUGE Pine Borer beetle and the frenzy that ensued was pretty hilarious! (one running off with it and the others trying to catch her/it!!)

It's just all the more protein for them.

 

[abraga]

Thanks! Can you post photos of your setup?

Here's one of my systems..adult beetles in top, 4wk old hatch next tub, last two tubs have older worms with pic of pupae..i remove those and add them to a new " bed"..they will be new breeding stock

 

[abraga]

The worms like newspaper to..i cover them with that..or paper towels..they will congregate under it..easy to grab a handful. I use a small colander to separate worms/grass when I'm done with a drawer. I toss that (meal worm poop) into my garden. And new bedding and start again.i have 40 birds..so I try to keep 4 of these units going to keep up with the demand....spoiled chickens

 

[Mraya]

Exactly, so somewhere on here is set of instructions on how to do this.

Try to do a search on how to raise mealworms on BYC there is one person that uses a 10 gallon fish tank I just started and I use this method. My meal worms have just turned into beetles and I am just going to leave them until I see more meal worms of a decent size and feed some of those to my chickens and leave the rest to turn into beetle, lay egg and so on.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

What do you think about replacing Corn Gluten or/and Soybean products with mealworms in the chicken feed (especially meat chickens)....

I think that it is a losing proposition all the way around. You would be better served to feed roadkill or dairy by products.

 

[abraga]

A tank will work initially. I did that yrs ago when I fostered wild birds. It's hard to tell the eggs from the frasse(poop dust). Eventually u will have 1000s of eggs. Worms take about 8wks to reach a decent size. That's why I rotate.there is another method..using 2 buckets. U drill small holes in one bucket, put your beetles, bedding, food in it and put it in the other bucket. The eggs and Frasse will fall through the holes n2 the bottom bucket..and u can keep putting a different bucket on the bottom to get several worm hatcheries going. There is a forum on this site on raising mealys. It is really easy..when the worms hatch....they r tiny..hard to see w/The naked eye.eventually u will see casings start to show up as they shed thier skin as they grow

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Mealworms are seen by commercial poultry operations as a serious pest. Not only do mealworms and their adult form, the darkling beetle pickup pathogens from the deep litter in poultry houses were they live and reproduce below the manure cake, they also transmit those pathogens to the chickens themselves. Darkling beetles or their larva stage mealworms are also responsible for millions of dollars in damages to chicken houses every year. This is because mealworms often bore into the building or the insulation in preparation to pupating into darkling beetles. If you really want to grow mealworms an old abandoned broiler-fryer chicken house is how to do it. Mealworms or the adult form love eating spilled chicken feed.

 

[abraga]

Mealworms are seen by commercial poultry operations as a serious pest. Not only do mealworms and their adult form, the darkling beetle pickup pathogens from the deep litter in poultry houses were they live and reproduce below the manure cake, they also transmit those pathogens to the chickens themselves. Darkling beetles or their larva stage mealworms are also responsible for millions of dollars in damages to chicken houses every year. This is because mealworms often bore into the building or the insulation in preparation to pupating into darkling beetles. If you really want to grow mealworms an old abandoned broiler-fryer chicken house is how to do it. Mealworms or the adult form love eating spilled chicken feed.

Very interesting post! Never thought about the damage mealys can cause. Usually feed them the worms outside. I don't keep my containers near my coops. But..it is something to consider when I do give them to youngsters or sick birds in the coop. I will make sure my birds eat up what I give them!

 

[member 373180]

I was all excited about growing mealworms for my girls. I had one of those plastic drawer setups and it was going great, the girls love the little wigglers. Then pantry moths got in there. Then they got mites. That was the end of that enterprise. I'm still trapping the occasional pantry moth all over my house a year later. I had mesh over all the vent holes but I guess my house is just not sterile enough, though I wouldn't want moths and mites in the barn, either. Maybe there is a way to control these unwanted guests, I just gave up, but be aware of the potential for contamination.