MEALWORM: can mealworm frass be used as feed?

[lana3k]

I am new here, I am sorry if there answer somewhere here but I can't see it.

I got medium mealworms about month ago. I am doing my first cleaning.
My question is, can I use mealworm frass/poop as a feed to baby chicks or baby quail?
Every mealworm has poop inside of them, so if quail or chicken eats those they don't get sick from them...
say baby quails can't eat those yet, since worms are to big for them. I wonder if sifted through oats and poop will harm baby quails if I add say 1/10 part to feed?
I read a lot that it is good for the garden, I also would like to find out what other uses out of it???

I hope those are not a dumb questions

 

[ChookieG]

I am new here, I am sorry if there answer somewhere here but I can't see it.

I got medium mealworms about month ago. I am doing my first cleaning.
My question is, can I use mealworm frass/poop as a feed to baby chicks or baby quail?
Every mealworm has poop inside of them, so if quail or chicken eats those they don't get sick from them...
say baby quails can't eat those yet, since worms are to big for them. I wonder if sifted through oats and poop will harm baby quails if I add say 1/10 part to feed?
I read a lot that it is good for the garden, I also would like to find out what other uses out of it???

I hope those are not a dumb questions

Have you continued to feed your chooks the frass? I'm also curious as I've got about 5 lbs of grain mite contaminated scratch mix I used for my mealworms. As I preblended the mix, I can't separate the mix from the frass and was wondering whether it's ok to give it to my chooks. I'll hate to waste whatever is remaining of the mix.

Anyone interested in resurrecting this 7+ year-old thread?

 

[ChookieG]

Have you continued to feed your chooks the frass? I'm also curious as I've got about 5 lbs of grain mite contaminated scratch mix I used for my mealworms. As I preblended the mix, I can't separate the mix from the frass and was wondering whether it's ok to give it to my chooks. I'll hate to waste whatever is remaining of the mix.

Anyone interested in resurrecting this 7+ year-old thread?

I think I just answered my own question. I gave some of the mealworm food (mixed with frass) to my chooks and they all had the runs. So don't do it! I'll use the contaminated mix for my garden.

 

[CovidtimeQuail]

If it doesn't have mealworm eggs, throw out the mix and/or frass, in the garden or put it in your worm composting bin if you have one.

If it has mealworm eggs (i.e. frass from worms AND beetles), you can rescue it. Put the frass in a separate container and add a couple of pieces of vegetable/fruit scraps on top. The grain mites will congregate on the moist pieces ( I use carrot or banana peel). Add new pieces daily and throw out the day-old grain-mite-infested pieces. Eventually, the grain mites will subside.

I've also found that putting vaseline around the inside also helps. The mites get stuck on it if they try to climb in or out of the container.

When adding new mealworm food, be sure to put grains in the oven for 30 minutes at 190 degrees, or microwave for a 90 seconds and cool before using. Sometimes grains ship with the mites already in them.