Raising mealworms

[Sg4]

Does anyone raise meal worms? Seems easy enough, but would love some starter suggestions.

 

[KikiLeigh02]

I followed this article:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/how-to-raise-mealworms.48416/
We've actually had really good luck with them so far!

 

[Carolrich]

I am a retired science teacher and used to raise mealworms for my students to experience the stages of insect lives. I suggest you go to a pet store and get a container of meal worms. Get a container or two so you have about 50 to 100 worms. Put them in a container that is like a shoe box size. Be sure they have air circulation. Use oatmeal as the bedding. The meal worms are actually the larval stage of a beetle. The larva will become pupae and then change into beetles. The cycle will continue. Google it so you can see images of the stages. Have fun!

 

[Carolrich]

The article recommended by kikileigh is fabulous and gives much more detail than I did. Have a good time!

 

[Sg4]

Thanks for the info! My chickens will be pleased

 

[KikiLeigh02]

My worms are finally old enough I can feed them to my flock! The chickens were so excited! If you read through the comments they give suggestions were to order yours from. I think I started with 3000 of the small/medium mealworms for like $16.

 

[lazy gardener]

Don't buy the super big meal worms for your starters. They are sterile. I did a bin of worms, but stopped b/c IMO it took too long for them to grow out and they are stinky.

 

[Sg4]

Don't buy the super big meal worms for your starters. They are sterile. I did a bin of worms, but stopped b/c IMO it took too long for them to grow out and they are stinky.

Thanks for the info!

 

[Squeakles]

I started doing this a month or so ago and was starting to lose faith that they'd ever turn into pupa, but they finally did. It's quite cool to watch them grow. I agree, the article above is great. I'm super excited to see if they make it to egg laying beetle stage.

 

[Squeakles]

I ended up making the setup in the following video. I found the one tank technique got messy quickly for me ( what with all the skin shedding, pooping, and dead mealworms,) but I didn't want a three drawer system as that seemed a little too complicated for me to maintain.