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Mealworms and birds
Posted: Fri Jun 16, 2023 10:47 pm
by Happy
So, I've started my own mealworm farm. Can't say I'm loving it just yet but it's not a great deal of work. My inside chicken (Gracie) is addicted and spends a great deal of time trying to break into the mealworm tower. Yes- I have a house chicken again. It started out of necessity and I'm not sure if she will return to the coop eventually or live her life out inside. It's up to her and time will tell. One big difference since having my last house chicken is that she has diapers. She's quite used to them and they work great!
Ok back to mealworms. Here is the real reason I needed an endless supply of them.
I never dreamed I'd be an old bird geek but here I am killing it
Re: Mealworms and birds
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:35 am
by Home Grown Poultry
Wow! Those are so beautiful! I don't think I've ever seen a bluebird down here in southern Ontario in my life. So cool!
Re: Mealworms and birds
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:41 am
by Home Grown Poultry
One tip I can give is to roast the oats in the oven to kill off mites that may be inside the bags. I never did that way back when I was a reptile breeder with 100 000 meal worms and never had those mites once. But we encountered that problem last year and it was very tough to overcome. The whole tower was basically just dumped into the run for the chickens. We saved about 100 meal worms to start over and now have 1000's of baby mealworms and not many full grown ones. I won't make that mistake again.
Re: Mealworms and birds
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:55 am
by Happy
thegawd wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:41 am
One tip I can give is to roast the oats in the oven to kill off mites that may be inside the bags. I never did that way back when I was a reptile breeder with 100 000 meal worms and never had those mites once. But we encountered that problem last year and it was very tough to overcome. The whole tower was basically just dumped into the run for the chickens. We saved about 100 meal worms to start over and now have 1000's of baby mealworms and not many full grown ones. I won't make that mistake again.
Yes I have been doing that. I actual purchased wheat bran for their substrate. I had read that it is easier to run through a sieve to change bedding and separate eggs. No idea-i'm winging it lol. I started with 3000 mealworms and 1000 beetles. I've had a lot of beetle die off so not sure what that's about. Been providing potato and carrot on top of their wheat bran. I don't see any baby mealworms just yet but I'm going to assume they are "cooking". Only had the beetles for about 3 weeks.
I've had indigo buntings, Robins and cedar waxwings at the feeder too but these Bluebirds check their mealworms bowl about every 30 minutes lol. I'm hoping I see them bring their babies eventually
Re: Mealworms and birds
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 10:14 am
by Home Grown Poultry
Oh yeah I did use wheat bran back then thats likely why I never got those damn mites. Well we have celiac ppl in my house, anything gluten doesn't come in the house and so we use oats instead.
The beetles don't live a very long time. I'm not sure how long but they have one mission and its to reproduce. So rest assured they have completed there mission and then died.
Those birds are really cool!
Re: Mealworms and birds
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 11:26 am
by Jaye
Happy wrote: ↑Sat Jun 17, 2023 9:55 am
Yes I have been doing that. I actual purchased wheat bran for their substrate. I had read that it is easier to run through a sieve to change bedding and separate eggs. No idea-i'm winging it lol. I started with 3000 mealworms and 1000 beetles. I've had a lot of beetle die off so not sure what that's about. Been providing potato and carrot on top of their wheat bran. I don't see any baby mealworms just yet but I'm going to assume they are "cooking". Only had the beetles for about 3 weeks.
I've had indigo buntings, Robins and cedar waxwings at the feeder too but these Bluebirds check their mealworms bowl about every 30 minutes lol. I'm hoping I see them bring their babies eventually
@Happy, don't worry too much about die-off with your initial batch - it is pretty common. My theory is that it's a result of the stress of their move to a new environment. You won't typically have much die-off in subsequent generations.
Re: Mealworms and birds
Posted: Sat Jun 17, 2023 2:33 pm
by Ontario Chick
I totally get it, I would be willing to provide gourmet food for Blue birds too
