I am thinking of using 5 gallon buckets for my mealworm farm. Here is what I am thinking of doing. Please give me some feedback.
I will put 1000 mealworms in a 5 gallon bucket that is half full with bedding. The bedding will probably have non medicated chicken feed, wheat bran, whole wheat flower, and brewers yeast. I will give them a potato half or and apple half and shredded carrots on a plastic lid for moisture. I will place a few layers of torn newspaper so they will pupate there.
Once they pupate I will move the pupa to a small storage container, and when a pupae is about to become a beetle, I will move it to a bowl (inside the pupa container so as to save room) so that I can readily transfer it to a new bucket. The new bucket will have the same bedding as the first bucket. I will a few put toilet paper tubes in the bucket for them to hide in. Once all the beetles are in the second bucket, I will wait 2 or three weeks. At that point, I will transfer all the beetles to a third bucket so the continue to lay eggs, but do not eat the eggs in they have already laid. They will live the remainder of there lives in this bucket
Once the mealworms are big enough, I will take 1,000 mealworms and start the process over in a new bucket. The other mealworms will be given to our chickens.
How often should I change the food and clean the bucket?
Will the mealworms be crowded in the second and third buckets?
Will the mealworms do fine at a temperature of 55F-65F degrees?
How many mealworms can I expect with this setup?
Are there any problems with my setup? Do you have some suggestions on how to improve it?
Thanks!
I will put 1000 mealworms in a 5 gallon bucket that is half full with bedding. The bedding will probably have non medicated chicken feed, wheat bran, whole wheat flower, and brewers yeast. I will give them a potato half or and apple half and shredded carrots on a plastic lid for moisture. I will place a few layers of torn newspaper so they will pupate there.
Once they pupate I will move the pupa to a small storage container, and when a pupae is about to become a beetle, I will move it to a bowl (inside the pupa container so as to save room) so that I can readily transfer it to a new bucket. The new bucket will have the same bedding as the first bucket. I will a few put toilet paper tubes in the bucket for them to hide in. Once all the beetles are in the second bucket, I will wait 2 or three weeks. At that point, I will transfer all the beetles to a third bucket so the continue to lay eggs, but do not eat the eggs in they have already laid. They will live the remainder of there lives in this bucket
Once the mealworms are big enough, I will take 1,000 mealworms and start the process over in a new bucket. The other mealworms will be given to our chickens.
How often should I change the food and clean the bucket?
Will the mealworms be crowded in the second and third buckets?
Will the mealworms do fine at a temperature of 55F-65F degrees?
How many mealworms can I expect with this setup?
Are there any problems with my setup? Do you have some suggestions on how to improve it?
Thanks!