APRIL FOOLS!
Just kidding..
I am not sure what is going on, but I started this thread 3 times yesterday and lost it. So today I will start it with no information, make sure it loads, and I will be back in a little while with instructions and pictures.
Lets all hold our breath...
PS.. NO I DID NOT CALL THE CHICKEN FAIRY (I did ,however, call the goat fairy, she (baby girl) arrives this weekend)
HOW to grow your own mealworms
woot you will love her. thanks for this thread, I am watching.
It loaded this time......
sniff... guess i will find another home for our nubian kids....
can't blame you for getting one ASAP!!! i am wishing for another milking la mancha!
hey... you dont have to.. what about next year maybe we trade so we can keep assorted lines???
ok you guys ready.. want a funny story first???
I came in from building a new garden a little while ago.. its getting hot and I knew I promised to get this taken care of.. so I came in... I was getting a drink of water and my teen comes in to say something to me and starts screeming... staring at the side of the fridge pointing... WHAAATSS THHHAAATTTT!!
I look at the side and there is this odd dust all down the side of the fridge... hmmm, I say.. I do not know???
Do you???
sure funny story.... snacks on top of fridge? LOL
ummmm, worm tracks? you ahve escap-ees?
Hmmmmmmmmmmm what is it?????????
well, My eyes do go to my guests... anyone see tracks here... now how do itty bitty worms escape??
maybe they can chew through plastic?
so I pull the box down... of course it has to have a screen top.. you know for air..
hole in the screen! this is why DH said no LOL
I open it... please note.. the paper bags appear to be undisturbed... ??? it's a mystery to me??
so have you found them yet? where would they go? under the fridge?
fran, did you forget to feed the dear htings last night????
Oh no that is to funny
silly, no hole in the screen... anyway.. I remove the bags.. and see a lot of nice docile buggy moms wondering around... happy little gossipy women... nope, none of them will tell me...
They won't even tell me the names of the dead worms that used to live in those worm casings laying about... then just dive for cover...
That really ugly looking dark edge thing is a rotten apple edge...
hmmm, so this IS a mystery... i love stories.... please keep telling....
so hubby decides to stir things up a little a remove the apple...
I wish we could post video..
It was SOOOO grossssssss .. like a mini volcano... my feed started to gurgle... like these little bubbling blurbs.. little tiny baby worms came alive from everywhere.. how cool is that!!! I made baby worms...
I AM A FARMER!!! hahahahahahah from jersey...
the blurry (x-fine feed) section of this pic on the lower left side is blurry because the meal worms are moving so fast. I tried to take better pics of them but they really are too small.
and finally we have added some fresh apple for our babies..
what a nic efeast! isn't everyone glad my camera cable is broken so i don't post pics to my bucket thread LOL
so, sitll no idea how all that dust got out? was it from them stirring around?
tf
Now.. we are back to the mess on the fridge???
Where did it come from??
Nobody worn nor human can or did escape from the box.. just dust..
dh says maybe babies.. volcanio-ed and dust erupted.. ok, why no dust on bags or any part of lid except that one edge?
My opinion...
Dh (your gonna love this) stores his lunch container right next to my bugs.. I think he brought this yukky dusty dirt gunk home with him on his luch tote and flung it up there and it dusted everything in it's wake.. my bugs, the fridge.. leaving us with no recourse but to blame the bugs... he laughed and said nah-uh... Yes his close look like that... BUT.. he has been off for 3 days.. please tell me as a family we would have noticed we have been eating out of a fithy fridge for 3 days???
OK.. now we have pictures.. so here are my borrowed instructions..
I am assumming as soon as these guys are big enough to see I should repackage them ad refrigerate them for fall feed.
Raising Your Own Mealworms
1. Find a clear plastic container with approximately six-inch high sides. It may be the size of one to three square feet. For ventilation, drill about forty 1/4 inch holes in the lid. If condensation occurs, drill even more holes, or cover the container with a screen.
2. Put about three inches of one part chick starter (or laying mash) and one part wheat bran (optional) in the container. Mix well and level it. This is food for your newly hatched mealworms.
3. Cut an apple in half. Turn the round side down and push it down into the feed until flush with the feed and bran mixture. This is to give them moisture. If the skin of the apple is removed, the moisture in it will get into your feed and will spoil it. For this reason, do not peel your apples. Check your cultures every week to make sure they aren't out of apples.
4. Add thirty to forty mealworms per square foot of container. Get them from your friends, or you can find them in a farmer's feed building, usually under his feed bags. They can also be bought. Add four layers of unprinted paper such as the regular brown grocery bags. Put paper on top of the feed mixture, apple halves, and mealworms. Mealworms love to hide between the layers of paper. I record the date I start each culture on the top layer of paper.
5. Store such a started culture at room temperature, or warmer. These mealworms will each turn into a pupa, then the pupa will turn into a beetle. These beetles will mate, then lay their eggs between the paper and feed. After this, the beetles die. This is their complete life cycle. Soon, you'll see many tiny mealworms when you run your fingers through the top of the feed. They will produce up to 3,000 worms per square foot of container. This complete cycle will take only two to three months, if your culture is stored at, or slightly above, room temperature. Temperature plays a big role in the length of the beetle's life cycle. I start a new culture every month. This strategy keeps me in plenty of worms.
6. Replace the apples whenever they are completely eaten or half spoiled. After the young mealworms are seen, keep two halves, rather than only one half apple, per square foot of container. Keeping plenty of moisture (apples) available keeps the worms growing faster. Potatoes also work, but apples work better because they supply more moisture for the worms.
7. Put fully grown worms into another well-vented container with only some feed and a bit of apple. Store these in a cool place, or even in the refrigerator. This delays them from turning into pupae for up to six months. Set container out to room temperature for one day every week to allow the worms to feed.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmm I can do that. My front bedroom (spare) is the warmest (has the west sun) spot in my house, would that work?
I did it on my fridge.. I started with a small package of mealworms from petsmart, paid $3. something of 35. went from there.. I think I posted on another thread it cost me right around $15. and my first run should net me about 5000 mealworms.. which is a lot of winter protien for my girls.
That $15 included my box, the weatgerm, feed and worms.
I would have to clean off the top of my fridge. HMMMMMMM I think I need to do this.
Now I have to try that. The duck would love it. Lots of mealworms to eat makes a happy duck.
Thanks for the instructions Fran. I bet I could talk my DH into this one. I seen where you posted something about it before and told him about it and he said, really, how? I think he would do this for sure!
Any idea how many boxes I would have to start and do before I got enough to keep 34 hens, 18 pullets, and so many more in all different stages and ages in a ton of mealworms? (now that could be quite the undertaking)
Christy
Christy,
this is my first go at it, and today is the first I have seen babies... If I am seeing what I think I am seeing.. all those wigglies... the box is totally crowded.. so If I figure to take some and seperate them.. then date and stage...
ie age them at different weeks/months by refrigerating them for different time periods and allowing them to continue in thier cycle of life.. these original 35 should get me through forever..
I just remebered.. I did not use all 35.. I shared.. the birds ate half, I "planted" the other half.
wow awesome there frnas. I will def. work this in as Tam is MAKING me buy more chicks. I will need free food for them.
huh?
check that out..huh...
omgosh.. how can she say huh????
huh???
I am at a loss of words here... huh???? LOL
HuH??????????? how dare you. LOL she did it.
why do I sense the words " I know you are but what am I?" are coming any minute now...LOL
Has anyone worked out the economics of meal worms? I mean road kill is free!
frans is having baby mealworms as satisfying as having baby chicks
now come on! you didn't have to answer the phone!!! i warned you she was calling!!!
tamara got another victim i am sfe cause i live in australia
HEAR THAT TAMARA U CANT GET ME
plugging ears.... lalalalalalalalalalallalalalalalala!
YOOOOOOOOOOOOOU CAAAAAANT GEEEET MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE
nanananananananana you cant get me