From measly beginnings to commercial sized mealworm farm...
When I first planned to order mealworms I only wanted to save money. I was tired of buying the freeze-dried kind for my chickens and began watching Youtube videos to learn how to raise my own. In February 2017 I purchased 5,000 worms from a huge distributor in California. I had researched the life cycles and best practices for rearing these worms, and I had devised a master plan - I was going to order 5,000 mealworms for three months in a row, thereby staggering the cycles of my worms. This way I would always have worms in various stages of life, and would never be without feeders to offer my chickens. So I ordered 5,000 in February, March, and April. I found these rainbow drawer towers at Sam's Club for about $25, and decided they would be perfect to use for this system (which I also designed).
As the weeks and months went by, I joined more and more Facebook mealworm farming groups and had networked with several farmers across the country. The idea of going big was growing, which meant my farm needed to grow as well. I used my birthday money to build new towers for my worms. This new tower quadrupled my storage space by having larger and taller bins. The bins are basic $6 cement-mixing tubs from Home Depot, and the wood and screws cost about 40 bucks.
At this point I collect a new tray of eggs and produce 3000-5000 worms each week. Every worm I don't sell is simply left to pupate and turn into a beetle, which will be used to lay more eggs and grow my farm even larger. The ultimate goal is to sell enough to pay for a shed or a small rental space where I can expand even larger. The only thing I need is time!
I'm setting up to feed my chickens. Do you sift any of the life stages or wait until the pupae separate and do it then? Otherwise I'd love to know how you sift grass between stages and where you got the screen in graduates sizes.
ReplyDeleteHere is the link where I got the bucket sifters. Definitely worth the price! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00C7YCQIQ/ref=twister_B01LY1MYZ3?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1
ReplyDeleteI sift them whenever they eat all the bran, but that's only every couple weeks or so. Here's a (long) video of what I do to sift my farm. I actually don't use the bins or sifters in the video anymore, but the idea is the same:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BWjdV8A80qE&t=2398s
and feel free to check out my other videos for my more updated sifting methods!
Do you move stock every week or two up one. Do you use the screen for the beetles or do you sift them out from the eggs? If you sift them out, how often do you sift out beetles from eggs?
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