Mealworm farm out of control

[burt4750]

I started a mealworm farm in June 2020 and have had great success. I have two 15.25 x 22 inch sterlite five drawer towers in addition to two 10 x 15 inch three drawer towers. One large tower has beetles in every drawer. The other large tower houses worms in various stages of growth. The two small towers contain eggs and baby worms. I have one more extra large drawer that houses the pupae.

Since the holidays the farm has gotten out of control and I don't know how to rein it in. I have dead beetles, worms mixed in with beetles, pupae mixed in with worms, etc.

Does anyone have any suggestions how I can start over without totally destroying all of the worms/bugs/eggs?

 

[Tonyroo]

Sift them out to organize them, I was doing that 2 days ago, I started a new tub with even more beetles and pupae. I have to say the cycle takes a long time. I used some of the baby mealies for my chicks.

Oh I piled the medium into one container and used a large spoon to scoop the bran to spread it over white paper to separate babies, large mealies, beetles, and pupae. Used a tweezer to separate them.

 

[metanetizen]

i built my own sifter out of 2x4 rectangles and some 1/4" mesh. then made another with 1/8inch, and another with .9mm mesh. cost about 20-30 bucks total, and maybe could be done for less. i used a hot glue gun and staples to assemble it, and i just put that over the top of an 18 gallon roughneck and shake it gentle while the stuff separates. some will fall through, but the bulk is removed by the 1/8. the .9mm is for separating the wheat bran from the frass which is used for fertilizer tea. if i'm feeling especially picky... i will go through with tweezers and remove the few black ones remaining after sifting.

the mealworms will tangle themselves in the mesh a bit, but if you brush them with a paintbrush or similar gentle tickling thing, they will burrow down and fall into the bucket.