They're Bigger, Badder, and Better. The best protein for chickens!

[Pet Duck Boy]

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I throw out a couple everyday now, because I need to thin out my colony.

 

[patman75]

Cool topic. I will store this nugget of info away if I start my own "protien colony".

 

[madamwlf]

If there is anyone in Maryland who wishes to give it a try, I'll more then gladly give you a few to try. It was so funny to see them play keep away with the larger roaches. The whole flock chasing after one girl.

 

[MsPony]

I have been doing mealworms, but will start a colony

One of my female tarantulas is also having issues eating and is wasting away, so it will help her too.

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

Another population explosion with the colony, so I decided to split a 1/5 of them into another bin. I'll try and make this colony for the chickens only. There's 500+ with a ton of uncountable babies. I ran out of egg flats so I had to stick with some bark and paper towel rolls - they work but it makes counting a little hard since the nymphs like hiding in the bark.

The setup - yellow container to the left is full of breeding mealworm beetles

Inside, this was before I turned the heat pad on, temp is higher now.

Lots O' nymphs, just a couple of adult pairs

Adult female dubia - pretty, for a roach. Maybe 1.8 inches.

Subadult male

 

[Judy]

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[Pet Duck Boy]

I'll need to post pictures soon, this colony has exploded and once again I have went from a few hundred to a few thousand. Luckily this colony is for the chickens only, so they've been full and satisfied the past few weeks.

 

[Jillian]

And I was just getting used to the idea of the thought of raising worms for my future chickens... I find myself intrigued.
These do seem a bit easier to take care of- especially the cleaning part. Do you ever have escapees during/after cleaning and how do you prevent that? I didn't really understand how the roach guy was cleaning on his website. Perhaps you can break it down better for me. Couldn't you just move the cartons and stuff to another bin and let the chickens have at whatever is left behind? I mean, the sifting seems a bit risky- he said most of the little ones won't fall through the holes. What about the ones that do?

Do they smell at all or produce dust?

Now, seeing as we're both familiar with the same roaches, exactly how much more slowly do these run?

Can you tell yet that I have a deep dislike of roaches in general and I really hate letting any get away where they can crawl up my leg in the shower later (not a fun day and still a source of paranoia during hair washing). Sorry if any questions were answered, I tried to pay close attention but it is late and memory is short.

Thank you!

 

[Pet Duck Boy]

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No problem.

Only 1% of all roach species are viewed as pests. All others stick to the leaf litter eating decomposing matter, like this species.

 

[NicoleRM]

I have a colony of discoids that I started up for feeding my tarantulas, but I haven't tried feeding them to the outside birds yet. My house silkie was scared of the one I offered him.

I need to get some heat on them so they'll grow and reproduce faster!

Jillian - keep in mind if you start looking for a starter colony that many roach species are prohibited in Florida, including dubia! Many roach suppliers refuse to ship ANY roaches to FL for this reason. Discoids are allowed though, since they are already established in South Florida.