Raising meal worms as feed supplement

[so lucky]

You won't see them for a while. They are teeny-tiny and stay hidden.

 

[the funny farm6]

i did see 3 pairs of the beetles breeding last night.

 

[DebFred]

So you buy some mealworns, do the bedding and newspaper, and wait for them to grow? I am confused on the calcium/phosphorus ratio. How do you know how much of each, and how do you feed calcium to a worm? Grind up the eggshells? Sorry to sound dense....seems to be happening to me a lot on this forum.... Still love it though!

 

[so lucky]

So you buy some mealworns, do the bedding and newspaper, and wait for them to grow? I am confused on the calcium/phosphorus ratio. How do you know how much of each, and how do you feed calcium to a worm? Grind up the eggshells? Sorry to sound dense....seems to be happening to me a lot on this forum.... Still love it though!

I don't think you need to worry about calcium unless you are trying to feed your chickens a diet of mealworms exclusively. If you crush up the eggshells and feed them back to the chickens, you will be providing them with calcium. I also keep oyster shells available all the time, as I have one girl who consistently has thin shells, and lays from the roost occasionally. I guess I should put a feather pillow on the coop floor under her.

 

[Marianne]

 

[the funny farm6]

i did dig around this morning and only found 2 that were still worms. there are a lot that are at that weird "ailen" stage, and a lot of bettles.

i only bought 50 to do this first trial. i may set up a bigger colony now that i (kinda) know what i am doing.

 

[the funny farm6]

does anyone know how many eggs a female bettle will lay?

 

[Marianne]

 

[so lucky]

I read that somewhere, but don't remember exactly. I'm thinking from 50 to 200 or so. There are several sites you can google and get lots of info. One even shows a pupae turning into a beetle.
These guys are really low maintenance. I have had them live in sifted-through frass, sealed in a plastic bag, after 6 months. (Don't just throw the frass away when you see no more worms in it. It is probably still loaded with eggs and tiny worms. You need to tend the frass for several months to grow the eggs and tiny worms out to adult size.)The frass is the digested growing medium, wheat bran or corn meal or what ever you use for bedding. It becomes a fine powder eventually. It's worm poop. Reportedly a good fertilizer for the garden.
Oops, sorry, I started rambling again.

 

[the funny farm6]

I SAW 2 BABIES!!!!! i did it (well they did it ) but i now have baby mealworms!

are the beatles supposed to die about this time? a lot of mine have been.

now that i know i can do it i may get a bigger colany started.