What's wrong with my mealworms?

[BarnyardChaos]

Is anyone else growing mealworms to feed to their chickens? I think mine are dying! I've just started a mealworm farm a couple of weeks ago, with no prior experience at all - just what I've learned online, and from my son who has grown oodles of mealworms for his reptile pets. Anyway, when I received the mealworm shipment (5,000 mealworms supposedly), I found that about 1/4-1/3 of them were dead already. I didn't contact the seller, just decided to work with what I have and I'd grow plenty. But tonight I sifted through them to move the first pupae to their separate bin, and I found that maybe 3/4 of the mealworms are dead!

I have a plastic bin tower setup with 6 drawers. They are opaque (no light gets in), about 13" x 21" x 8" deep. I use wheat bran I got from our feed store in a 50-lb bag. I've been putting pieces of carrot, potato, celery, and occasionally apple slices in with them for moisture - and replacing those pieces before they get moldy. The top drawer will be for the beetles when they emerge. This bin has a screen bottom. The next drawer below is to catch the eggs and hatch new larvae. Next is the pupae bin with its first group of inhabitants on top of a plastic container inside the bin. Then three more worm drawers for growing larvae - only one of these is in use at the moment with the surviving mealworms.

For the first two weeks or so, I had the worm farm set up in my basement. I knew it was too cool down there (maybe 68-deg-F), but had read this was OK - they just wouldn't grow very fast. That was OK. I needed time to figure out a better location with proper heat and humidity. So a few days ago, I moved the farm into a shower stall in our garage. It stays 75-90 degrees out there; and here in Missouri, humidity is naturally pretty high year-round. I have a small oil-filled radiant heater in that bathroom that we use in the winter, so it should stay about 68-72 degrees even in January.

What might have gone wrong? Some of the dead worms were dried up, others were mushy-soft, and others looked alive but their heads or tails were dark and some had a dark ring around the middle. I don't know if the wheat germ has DE in it; I didn't remember to ask the feed store and there's nothing listed on the label. But wouldn't that have killed them all? While sifting, I found a few small pieces of carrot I missed that had turned moldy - but those were very small and dried up. Would that have done it? The only other thing I can think of is I may have had the wheat germ too deep - about 4", per some instructions I had read. My son said that was TOO MUCH. Maybe most of the worms couldn't find the vegetable pieces on top? So it's now been corrected, where the survivors have only about 2" of fresh, clean feed. I stocked them with plenty of veggies tonight, in case dehydration is what's killing them. I moved the dead worms and all the feed with them into bin #3, and stocked that with veggies too, in case there are survivors I missed.

I hope to be able to give my chickens fresh, live mealworms year-round. And I have about $150 invested in this project so far. I don't want to lose them! Any ideas, suggestions or advice will be appreciated!

 

[InterestingChickens]

I find my mealworms die off nearly completely here and there. They are soon replaced. When mealworms turn black it is a sign that they are not getting enough moisture. So providing fresh vegetables like you did is a good idea. I have a very laid back approach to keeping meal worms - your set-up looks rather impressive! Becuase your mealworm addition is rather recent I wouldn't worry too much and give them time to 'settle in' and do their thing. Best of luck.

 

[raingarden]

I think I'd be trying to find a new starter culture. Sometmes you can pick them up at Petco.. There aren't many in the little cups they sell, but they're active.

The wheat germ looks really coarse. Is that a normal meal to use for growing mealworms? I've only used Aunt Jemima corm meal which is much finer.

Rather than look for worms, I'd be looking for the beetles. When you see beetles then you know you're on the right track.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I find my mealworms die off nearly completely here and there. They are soon replaced. When mealworms turn black it is a sign that they are not getting enough moisture. So providing fresh vegetables like you did is a good idea. I have a very laid back approach to keeping meal worms - your set-up looks rather impressive! Becuase your mealworm addition is rather recent I wouldn't worry too much and give them time to 'settle in' and do their thing. Best of luck.

Thank you. They'll only be replaced if the pupae I have so far turn into beetles, and the beetles successfully lay eggs, and those eggs hatch into larvae. So it's not unusual for so many to die? Did not know that.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

I think I'd be trying to find a new starter culture. Sometmes you can pick them up at Petco.. There aren't many in the little cups they sell, but they're active.

The wheat germ looks really coarse. Is that a normal meal to use for growing mealworms? I've only used Aunt Jemima corm meal which is much finer.

Rather than look for worms, I'd be looking for the beetles. When you see beetles then you know you're on the right track.

Thank you for the reply. My son said the wheat germ is best, and it's recommended on several websites and by the seller for growing them. I have only worms right now, and a few pupae they've produced. No beetles yet - probably about a week or two away yet.

I have about 90-100 chickens, and would like to give them mealworms weekly at least. So I'll need a substantial mealworm farm. My first order of worms was for 5,000. I had to sift and hand-pick each one last night while sorting.... sure didn't seem like even 1,000 are alive. I expect it will take 4-6 months before I'm able to start harvesting in bulk for the chickens.

 

[Perris]

what I've learned online, and from my son who has grown oodles of mealworms for his reptile pets.

Your son should be able to advise you well then; I would tap him for more detailed guidance.

My son said the wheat germ is best

Do you mean wheat germ? I use wheat bran, and thought that was the best substrate.
I certainly don't get the sort of failure rate you're dealing with; there will always be a few black worms, and pupae, and some beetles don't seem to live long, but by far the majority in each category do live, in my experience.

A technique I've found useful to prevent veg disappearing into the substrate is to put a small plastic lid on the bran and put the veg on that. It also makes it easier to see any mouldy veg.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Your son should be able to advise you well then; I would tap him for more detailed guidance.

Do you mean wheat germ? I use wheat bran, and thought that was the best substrate.
I certainly don't get the sort of failure rate you're dealing with; there will always be a few black worms, and pupae, and some beetles don't seem to live long, but by far the majority in each category do live, in my experience.

A technique I've found useful to prevent veg disappearing into the substrate is to put a small plastic lid on the bran and put the veg on that. It also makes it easier to see any mouldy veg.

Oh, my bad! Yes, of course I meant wheat BRAN, not wheat germ. Thank you

 

[BarnyardChaos]

Got my first two beetles today!! So it seems I may be on the right track. My pupae tray is loaded after sifting just a few days ago, maybe 200 or so. I sifted and sorted the larvae again tonight - at least this time it was easier to pick out the dead larvae instead of live ones. I think I may still have about 500 or so live mealworms left. It's not enough to feed surplus to the chickens yet, but I have better hopes now for the growth of the colony.

 

[Sue and her hens]

A few observations....
What kind of ventilation do you have in your bins? Unless you have holes drilled into the sides, It doesn't look like there is much air getting in and that could mean that you'll be creating an environment for mold, especially with all the veggies you are adding.

I run veggies though a mandolin and slice them thin. This gives the worms plenty of surface area to feed on, but with good ventilation, they are dry in 48 hours or less so mold is not likely to occur.

Worms don't need to be fed every day... a couple times a week is fine. I have found worms in my frass bin (eggs sifted out when I sifted frass). Even though there was no food other than bits of bran that also sifted through, and no moisture at all, several months later there were medium and large sized worms doing just fine.

Worms will sometimes die off, but not to the extent you're describing. You mentioned 90 degrees.... Heat could do it. If you have a lot of large worms in a bin, they can also generate a substantial amount of heat. Suggest you use an instant read thermometer to monitor the bins to see what temps are running... again. better ventilation could help with this.

You can feed the dead worms, and later dead beetles to the hens. When I retire a beetle bin, those go out to the hens too and they LOVE chasing them down.

Feel free to ask for mealworm sources... some are definitely better than others.

 

[BarnyardChaos]

@Sue and her hens Thank you for the reply!

There are open handholds on each long side of the bins for ventilation, and they do not seal up when the drawers are closed - there's a gap all the way around the tops maybe 1/8" wide. The tower structure is a framework only, with no dividers between the drawers, only the bottom of the drawer above, so there's an air gap and leakage all the way around them. Only the top drawer has a top cover. One drawer has duct tape covering the handholds - and it's where I put the worms when I first received them. It was a little chillier in the basement at that time, and I thought I needed to retain heat. Pretty sure they still had enough ventilation. I'll remove that tape before that drawer goes into use next time.

Worm Tray #2 has only one - ONE - healthy mealworm left. Waiting for it to pupate. It has one potato slice nearby.

I have maybe 6 viable pupae left in the pupae bin. No food, but I do keep a few wads of damp paper towels at the edges to keep humidity up and give the new beetles some moisture. I've been moving beetles daily to the Beetle Bin.

The Beetle bin is loaded - hundreds of what appear to me to be happy, healthy, active little bugs. I had just removed their starting-to-get-moldy potato slices when I took this photo.

I'm about to rotate trays within the next week - it's time for the eggs to start hatching!

I do seem stuck on a quandary, though --- My Beetle Bin has a screen bottom, and only about 1-inch of wheat bran. The tray below, Worms #1, now has a thick layer of frass(?) or fine wheat bran on top of the substrate I prepared it with.
Do I need to sift the beetles out of their wheat bran, too, and start them fresh? Do I add that bran to another worm tray, or just leave bran and beetles alone? Do the eggs really fall through the screen, or are they mixed up in the bran with the beetles? Or should I not have any bran at all with the beetles? Sorry all the questions, but the mealworm guides I read weren't clear on this.
When should I add food to the new worm tray? Now, before they hatch, or is it no big deal and I should add food once I see live worms?