Question for those breeding mealworms

[luvarabhorses]

Try walmart in the cereal isle. Great Value Wheat Bran, very cheap. Mine love it- just run it through a food processor or crucnch it with your hands.
best wishes, LIsa

 

[AK-Bird-brain]

I use game bird feed and my meal worms are doing great.

 

[JENx]

I use oats and cornflakes!

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Thanks for all the info. Maybe you can help me find a good way to seperate the worms from the bran. It sure is time consuming and makes a mess.
Also, how often do you change all the substrate out? I know there are eggs in there but then you also get all the skins and that fine powdery gray stuff.
I was thinking that when I do change it out it would be great mixed up as a mash for the chickens. What do you think?

 

[possumqueen]

Maybe it would be cool to have a sticky on mealworms? I've learned a TON off this thread. I've never been able to raise mealworms with any success, and I hate buying them -- they're spendy! But my chickens, my lizards, the finches -- I've never kept any critters that didn't just turn into pretzels to get a mealworm!

 

[AHappychick]

I hate bugs and thought I would have a hard time dealing with the beetles especially but have been pleasantly surprised that they don't gross me out too much.

I remembered that I had some old strainers that I would use for rinsing out rocks and such for my water plants so I dug those out of the shed. I am using a empty cat litter pail as my bucket below the strainer if I am not straining into another draw.

What I found while changing things out is that if I blow on the draw with the worms a lot of the skins will fly off the top and make it easier to deal with. you have to be outside and down wind of course.

I also am using 3 draws in a plastic file shelf thingy and the shoe box pen I got. The worms are divided into 2 shelves and I have a 3rd shelf that the beetle substrate just went into where I think the eggs are)

Anyway I figure I can strain out the substrate and replace as needed and the stuff I think is garbage I will offer to the quail in their feed just incase they want to eat some of it. By blowing most of the skins off (I hope I am not loosing anything but it seems as the skins are the lightest part) I have been able to keep them pretty clean.

I would love to hear other ways and techniques as I just started this so I am still learning.

does anyone know how big the regular ones get? or maybe how thick? like a pencil or more like the end of a Q-tip?

 

[hens & chicks]

I too am just getting into raising mealworms. I have alot at the nymph stage-getting ready to molt into a beetle. Pretty neat idea. I was in 4-H Entomology for 10 years so insects and etc. do not freak me out.

What I was wondering is if it is advisable to seperate the worms from the larvae to the beetle stage in seperate containers?

I have 3000 in different stages now. I would think in Kansas that a flour mill could be found rather easily to get wheat bran. We have a large Amish and Mennonite community here in Indiana that has a flour mill. Cornmeal also will work. I have pieces of bannana peel on the surface for moisture and they devour it.

 

[Germaine_11.20]

Happy Chick you have some great ideas! I have been blowing on the skins outside too but I was getting light headed!

My adult worms are about the size of the stick of a q-tip. There are "super meal worms" too, but I am not growing those. I heard from the pet store that they bite!

I bought a mesh garbage can (small) and I am going to try that too. Also a few strainers with different size holes.

Good idea about giving the substrate to the quail.

 

[ChickenEllis]

i started a homemade mealworm farm and am almost through a complete cycle. i started with only 100 worms. i use oatmeal as substrate with an occasional apple slice. i toss in a damp folded paper towel or napkin ever few days for water. it is extremely easy to maintain. i would suggest starting with more worms. 200 at the least. keep them in a place that gets a good amount of light. they will grow and reproduce faster that way.

as far as cleaning the 'farm' i don't think you need to do it that often. there is little to no smell and you can always add more substrate if they need it. lets not forget that these are bugs.

a fun and easy project.

 

[chesapeakechick]

When I started raising mealworms I found a lot of good information at these sites www.sialis.org/raisingmealworms.htm and mealwormstore.com/raising_mealworms.php
My husband made me a "sifter" out of an old window screen - cut the frame down to about 12 X 8 and I can spoon the old bedding (bran, worms, frass) onto the screen and shake it over a "waste" container, leaving just worms (or pupa or beetles) on the screen and then flip it over and tap and they fall into the "new" container with fresh bran. Works great to separate out worms for feeding, too.
Make sure and save the "waste" container for a while with damp newspaper on it - there may be more worms in there and they will get on the damp newspaper!
I started growing mealworms because my mom and mother in law were spending a fortune on them at the pet store to feed bluebirds. So their "gift" last year was that I would grow worms and supply them all summer! Worked great and saved everyone money! The bluebirds came and sat right at my mom's window waiting for mealworms in their dish. Now that I have chickens, they love them, too and are a great bribe to get them to go back into their pens. We also pick them up every day and hand feed some mealworms so they are used to being handled. (they are terribly spoiled!)