Mealworms;who uses them and how many do you give your chooks

julie at serenity · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 5:57 pm

hello all,

I have recently started a mealworm farm,

given that these guys are such a high source of protein, does anyone have any experience in how many to feed to poultry?
I am well aware that the chooks love them, but I don't want to to over do it.

Can they be fed too many mealworms?

all comments greatly appreciated

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

Well Julie I'm keen to find out as I have a Worm farm myself , but I've got African Crawlers and Tigers , but I really can't help you on this one , Waiting for an answer , Ian

Tiger · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:21 pm

G'day Julie,

I agree they would be high in protein but with all sustainable feeds you need a balance. I read in Australasian Poultry mag a few issues ago a very good feed regime using the commercial feeds where they are nutritionally balanced. They even mentioned a problem feeding turkey starter (~22%) rather than chick starter (~20%) however I know people who swear by it. If you intend to use the meal worms as a replacement diet it would be best to measure, or obtain data from feed tables, on the nutritional breakdown of your meal worms and add the remaining requirements. If you are using it as treat or supplement maybe you could just feed them in small amounts a couple of times per week. If you hit the internet someone will have posted data on meal worms becuase they are commonly used as a food source.
There is an intensive backyard operation close to me that uses black soldier fly lavae and duck weed to sustain meat chickens and farmed fish. I had a read about it on the net and they are claiming to do this successfully. The protein levels of these black soldier fly larvae had some phenomenal percentage.

Just to clear things up Ian, I'm not named after a type of composting worm.

Tiger

Tiger · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:27 pm

Don't know how accurate this is but found it via Google.

FOOD mealworm
%PROT 20- 22.3
%FAT 12- 14.9
Ca 133ppm
Phos 3345ppm
Ca:P ratio 1:25

Tiger (not a worm...or a prawn)

greenaus · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:34 pm

Tiger wrote:

Don't know how accurate this is but found it via Google.

FOOD mealworm
%PROT 20- 22.3 [Higher than most layer mashes, about the same as chick starter, lower than cat food]

Tiger (not a worm...or a prawn) [A big cat?]

greenaus · **Posted:** Wed Jul 15, 2009 11:45 pm

Wow. Dried meal worms contain over 50% protein. US$5000 for 1000kg. Your chooks will love you long time.

http://www.ecvv.com/product_directory/Mealworm.html

bunyanuternie · **Joined:** Wed Jul 11, 2007 10:31 pm **Posts:** 2903

Good info , interesting to hear someone is actually using the larvae and duckweed , I actually used to feed duckweed to my Crawlers and Tigers (worms)
My worms are purely for my garden as they are composting worms , I think Kewpie have perfected the Pullet grower and Breeder ration , I do still add a few little secret ingredients

but not worms , The few worms I have wouldn't feed many but if I had plenty of time on my hands would love to explore using worms as feed . I think the way I'd do it was empty the worms castings and all straight into the pen and let the chooks do the rest . I used to have my worms in Bathtubs but have gone for an easier (lazier) commercial wormfarm , How do you house the Mealworms?

shona · **Posted:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:08 pm

I looked into breeding them a few years back. Not for chooks but for a treat for my alexandrine parrot. As it was a while ago, my memory could be a little rusty but I'll give it a go.

Meal worms are more like little grubs than like worms.
You get a plastic tub. Like the ones on wheels that roll under your bed are good.
Cover the bottom of the tub to 5cm or so of bran. The powdery bran, not like the 'all-bran' cerial
Then I can't remember if you put carrots in or grated carrots.
I'd think the grated carrots would be easier for the mealworms to eat but maybe try both and see what happens.
Then add the mealworms.
Then put a piece of moistened hessian (folded a couple of times) on top.
I also can't remember if you put the lid on or not.
I guess they will need air but I think it's best to keep the hessian bag moist-ish.
I think you might need to top up the carrot occasionally but I think thats about it.

I never got the chance to try all this out.
I hope whoever does, has success.

Julie I'd love to hear how you've done your mealworm farm.

greenaus · **Posted:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 12:14 pm

I read a bunch...and I do mean a BUNCH...of pages last night about meal worms and raising them.

Lid OFF. They need air.

Moist hessian bag. Not on any page I read.

Grated carrots or slices, other fruits and veges too. These are their "water" source and they are very efficient at using the water from these. IMPORTANT: Remove fruit and vege scraps BEFORE they go mouldy or yuk.

Larvae and beetles can't climb slippery walls of plastic containers.

Beetles can fly but usually can't be bothered. Cover their container anyway with something like flyscreen, allowing airflow.

Pupa don't do anything exciting.

I found the whole process interesting and reckon I could do it. It should be pretty easy.

Feed them the right stuff and you can eat the mealworms yourself. Apparently they are quite tasty.

julie at serenity · **Posted:** Thu Jul 16, 2009 6:06 pm

sorry Greenaus, mealworms certainly CAN climb plastic walls, and then they invade the kitchen (true it happened :oops:

)

another fact; mealworms eat through styrofoam boxes :shock:

and another fact; giving very young chikens even a small amount of mealworms kills them (yes, I learnt the hard way)

thanks for the research Tiger (I just don't get in the habit of googling)

I am not going to replace the commercial poultry feed (those companies employ clever people to work out a chook's requirements;much more clever than me

), I just can't help myself, I love growing such things, Bunyanut, I too have an earthworm farm ,but find a bath tub is much easier than a commercial tub.

I keep mine in a plastic conatiner, WITH A LID :roll:

, a hole cut in the lid, has flyscreen glued over it, I currently feed them millrun as I had the stuff, I give them vege anf fruit peelings, and replace every few days before it gets stinky

final fact, offer a chook a mealworm and you have a friend for life :-D

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