I've been raising mealworms for a few months now in anticipation of getting quail and chickens. They are the easiest livestock that I have ever raised. I ignore them for most of the week and throw in veggie scraps on the weekend.I raise mine in a cheap plastic aquarium with a lid and they nest in a bed of oatmeal. It has been a wonderful way to boost the protein for my quail chicks and a way of "growing" more of their feed.

I'm glad to hear positive feedback from someone who's tried it. Of course, I still want Mark to instead find a way to lure all of the Japanese beetle grubs out of the ground instead...

I don't know about going thru all of that trouble just to feed my own chickens, but I wonder if it would be a feasible way to make some extra $$ on the side. Pet owners and fisherman alike would probably love to stock up on some mealworms. I used to feed them to my lizard all the time and would buy 100 of them from PetCo a few times each month. My brother likes to fish with them when trying to catch bass from a lake near his house.

Good luck!

Selling mealworms is a good idea. We'll have to add that to our thought processes!

Why not try crickets, all you need is about ten male & ten female crickets (males have 2 tail, females have 3), a sealable container, with vents, a way to regulate temperature (light on a thermostat or reptile cage heater set to 80 F), chicken feed, a bit of sand or soil, and an occassional piece of fruit for water. No open water, and clean out fruit or potato bits before spoilage, and there you go! Don't let the breeders eat your newlay hatched babies, start by feeding those to your chickens! They will love you for it.

Good idea about the crickets! We may have to try that.

You might also want to take a look at black soldier flies. We got them going in our compost by accident last year, and the chickens loved them. Then I discovered that there is quite a bit of information on using them for composting. Google around for more info.

Soldier fly larvae...we'll have to look into that. Thanks!

How did the meal worm project go?

Would it be possible to produce 3 lbs a day?

Thanks!

Bill

After extensive research, we concluded that black soldier fly larvae made a lot more sense than mealworms. The trouble with mealworms is that you have to grow them on grain products, which means storebought ingredients. Our goal is to eventually produce our chicken feed without buying anything from the store.

That said, we didn't even get our black soldier fly bin made this year! It's been a busy summer... We did, however, start a forest pasture project to allow our chickens to forage for some of their own food.