Raise your own mealworms?

[fernandez0067]

I am thinking of raising my own mealworms for my flock. Ive done all the "research" haha (google search) and it seems pretty easy once you get going?

Does anyone here have experience with this? Is it worth doing?

 

[artsyrobin]

I have found them very easy to raise- started doing it during the mealworm shortage last summer- i have a long tupperware container, i fill it will a variety of things- bran, ground up dry dog food(makes them higher in protein for the birds), oatmeal, cornmeal, i slice up potato or apple and lay it face down, also toss some paper towels in it, they like occassional damp papertowels- its best if you start with a minimum of 100, more if possible- thats about all i do.... hope that helps some

 

[TammyTX]

I accidently raised some last year. We were using that "gormet" rabbit food...can't remember the name but it has bits/pieces of this and that, not the usual alfalfa pellets. Anyway, the rabbit would kick out what he didn't like and he had a slow drip from his water bottle and a couple few weeks later...mealworms. Big fat ugly mealworms that made me gag when I saw them! ugh!! There must have been larva in the rabbit food. Too bad we didn't have chickens at the time so I fed the fire ants.

As gross as the were I can certainly see why people call them "chicken crack".

 

[desertgirl]

Quote:
What a cool idea! I don't think we have mealworms "running wild" here in the desert, so I was wondering where I was going to score y "chicken crack".

I guess I'll grow my own!

Can you get some starter worms on the internet?

 

[hikerchick]

Yes you can get them online. I ordered them from Duncraft last night/

 

[artsyrobin]

here are a couple sources- people buy them to feed to wild birds too-

http://www.exoticnutrition.com/LIVE-INSECT.htm
http://www.songbirdgarden.com
http://mealwormstore.com/

 

[desertgirl]

Excellent! I will start researching this right away.

(I can't get over this site...so much cool stuff..Thanks!!!!!!!

).

 

[jaybme]

I too started a "culture" if you will, of the mealworms, last year during the crisis. I bought a tub of 50 for 2.50 or so, put them in an old container with bran and a piece of scratch paper to cover, and managed to remember to add a rotten apple slice, apple core or green potato half every so often ( every two weeks?). Pretty quickly I had two beetles in there, and dead worms. Nothing much visible for months, but now I have thousands of worms !

They have begun the process of changing to beetles again, so I have quite a few larvae now. If I had known they were so temperature dependent (much warmer now of course) I might have hung a light nearby to speed the process, but if you start now instead of October like me, you should have a quicker time of it.

I finally added the rest of the bag of bran I bought last year. Amazing how little care these require!

 

[Giddyup]

Can you feed them to 3 week old chicks safely? or how old to wait?

someone told my hubby that you couldn't feed them to bearded dragons for the risk they could eat their way out (no grinding on the way down).
Not sure if that applies to young birds?

 

[fernandez0067]

I am definitely going to start doing this!