Kudos to you for picking up handfuls of them! I don't mind if they crawl on me for a moment, but I would never just pick up handfuls lol. Very brave.

Thanks! One of the best, most informative videos I've found on this subject. You're doing such a great job and I hope my setup will be as productive as yours. Lots of great tips and ideas which I will definitely be using.xxx.

When you grabbed all those beetles I almost jumped out of my seat

Wow, I am blown away by your setup and how many beetles you have! Great job. I’ve just recently started with a small colony and can’t wait to be at your scale!

Wow. This video is, by far, the most informative out of the 20 or so other videos I have watched on breeding mealworms. Your progress is very impressive. Thank you so much.

Are you aware of how many girls/woman would puke... even men, at the sight of this? You are awesome! I am facinated by your "Not Freaking Out" ! AWESOME!

honestly it's so nice to be able to see a woman that will just pick up the bugs like I'm a 13 year old boy and I won't do that so great job

You are my new meal worm goddess...hahaha...I have just started and your vid was very informative. I too have a vision of organically raised chickens. And I can't wait to use the frass on my very heavy clay soil...yay! im excited now! and it was cute to hear your animals in the background too!

Nice system for fishing bait. This is what I'm looking into.

one of the best farms I have seen on youtube.

I am deffinatly going to start my own mealworm farm. Love the way u set yours up

@cateReaper

8 жыл бұрын

thank you

Great set up !

thanks soo much for this video i have chickens and feed cost in the winter is so high when you also have to pay for fuel oil i also use the meal worms for my venus flytraps and pitcher plants so this was a great video for gettin me started on an better alternative feed source for my chickens!!

I like the info that you presented here, I found what I wanted to know. Your practical cavalier attitude towards touching hordes of beetles and insect poop was impressive and a bit unsettling. Thanks

i never was weirded out by this either, its a good source of protien for alot of different animals..great video,thank you.

One of the best vids on this subject I've found. I'd love to see an update if you worked out an auto-mesh sorting system, what kind of populations are you running now, and how the did the frass fertilizer project turn out.

@gotdamnjimi9758

7 жыл бұрын

Yes give us an update please

THANK YOU!!!!!!! I leaned how to make the farm all the other videos were crap

This is quite insightful!

Yeah really I am happy to get your information about breeding mealworm thanks

respect.. by far most informative video

How do you discover such a clever way to take your beetles from the substrate? That was the main reason for me to even watch your video, but as I continued to watch, I'm glad I did! You're very clever! I can't tell you how appreciative I am that you are sharing your knowledge! Thanks again!

This is the best video on this subject! I wish I could see an update. About how long after you started your colony (with the original 2,000 meal worms) did you make this video?

Thanks! Really helpful.

Well done Caitlin,ignore the smart ass remarks, you're getting results here.

Caitlin, I had a similar problem on one of my projects. I could not fine a strainer screen with big enough holes. I found this stuff called, "Plastic canvas, 7 mesh". It's for arts and craft type stuff. I laid the flat mesh over a bowl and heated it up with a heat gun until it took the shape of the bowl. It worked great for straining cactus pear seeds.

This is the best video I have seen on mealworms, thank you! I have a fine substrate ( oats ran through a nutri bullet per another video I saw) I worry the substrate may be too fine, do you think this is a problem? Now that I see how fine the fras is I won't grind the oats anymore so it's easier to filter out the fras but should I change it out now? Thank you again for making this video, I can't wait to see your updated video of your more efficient system that you mentioned.

A.Aziz. yeah very thanks for your discareption really you are sure about what you are saying the correct for the way to get more and more breading mealworm. thanks

great video caitlin. I cant believe how many beetles you have. Lots of maintenance! :) Cant wait to see your ideas on the self-sorting

@kaitlinbiermann2395

6 жыл бұрын

torpa15 how do you know when the beetles lay eggs? Do they lay eggs on the food or in the substraight?

Respect to you mam, not too many ladies like entomology

Crazy never seen a women pick up a handful of beetles XP good vid

hey sorry my tablet cut off my message. I started with 2000 and basically just let them do their thing. I focused on seperating the beetles to make sure they didn't eat eggs. That is the surefire way to grow numbers fast.

For anybody that has problems with mealworm pupa, I have very recently had a problem where 100% of my mealworm pupa is dying. All I did was switch to organic food and I was so relieved it worked!!

Nice video, i now understand it better, i also have a farm and i give them appels. I also found out that becouse of the heatwave here the worms evolve much faster to pupa stage, today i had 9 pupa while i first had 5 a day if i was lucky

Good video thank you.

Awesome video. How do you measure/determine quantity to feed to your flock as a grain replacement/supplement? I know my chickens would eat a whole drawer full if left to their own devices!

Interesting! I started with about 50 mealworms from a pet store and a tiny three-drawer chest. That was a little more than a year ago. I've got lots of beetles now, but, because my goal is to raise mealworms for human consumption, I need LOTS MORE!! I made bigger facilities for the beetles--two tiered with a screen bottom in each. I had to not only hot glue in the screen, but also hot glue down the duct tape I put around the top. It seemed like the beetles were eating the glue!! I'm ready to try making a bed of bran and quick oats that fills about a third of the sterilite box and just loading it up with beetles that go through the whole life cycle. His video shows a box with lots of beetles on top and LOTS of mealworms of all sizes on the bottom. Lots less labor with his method. Look for his video. He raises a number of insects and worms. From his video I learned how valuable the frass is! It has chitin and plants fed it develop resistance to insect pests. I feed only organic stuff to my mealworms. Late one night I checked one of my set ups I have and found that a big piece of cucumber had gone bad and got mushy, moldy. I wasn't ready to clean it right then, so, after cleaning out a big sterilite box the next day, went to transfer the beetles to it and found NO evidence that anything had molded in the box at all!! I was very surprised. And, I can only surmise that the beetles cleaned it up. I usually check the moisture sources I use daily and remove them at the earliest sign of spoilage. My beetles and mealworms LOVE apple slices! I liked it that they like cucumber, as I had a bumper crop this summer.

@miat789

4 жыл бұрын

Wait who is “he”? I would love to watch those videos.

Great video! I think its funny how you say this is a "small" operation when you have 2 inches of beetles! I though less than a 1000 was small !

I can imagine you are very busy on that homestead, but I hope you will be able to provide the update on your set-up. I have subscribed to your channel and will be checking for more videos. I would love to see a video of your homestead, also. I recently moved to my family's pecan farm in Texas and would love to get some backyard chickens and bobwhite quail. But for now, I jgot 1000 mealworms (from Uncle Jim's) last week to raise and feed the 50-75 bluebirds surrounding the house. Thx again!

Are you still growing your own? I love your video and was wondering if you have found a better way.

Really helpful video... I actually have some baby mealworms now and they are living in shallow layer of oats but what else do they need? I`ve tried putting carrot pieces in, but they don't seem to get touched... there are a number of babies, but they are hiding in the oat bedding and hate the light!

Thanks! now my lizards can finally have enough food! its way to expensive at the shops

@jimmyrichardson2235

4 жыл бұрын

It's exciting to do. I breed mealworms, Mario worms, and Dubai roaches. I only have 4 leopard geckos lol. But it keeps me busy.

The holes are to stop any moisture building up, helps air circulate.sieve the beetles then you will also sift out baby mealworms. Cool

Aanraku Frit Sifter you can get it on amazon. this thing is amazing! saves so much time.

Uncle Jim's worm farm is FAST! >TWO DAYS,

Like the video, informative. How do you separate the beetles from the eggs? How do you know when eggs are being laid? I bought 500 today because I wanted to do some macro photography with some but the least quantity was 500, if the owner had been there, I probably could have gotten a half dozen. Interesting that upscale restaurants are now starting to serve them...maybe a good sideline.

nice video, very informative, and good ideas, but i have one question: how long does it take the pupa to turn into the beetles?

Very nice video. Have you changed your methods since making the video? Did you work out a self sorting setup? It looks like you're inside. What temperature do you keep the room? Do you need to wear a mask every time you deal with the mealworms/beatles?

Hello, awesome and very useful video, thank you! Do you possibly have any update on your mealworm farm? Were you able to solve your transferring issues? Thanks!

dear caitlin thank u very much for your wonderful ytube...can u let me know how u sift the tiny worms and eggs before u sell the cast...thank u, have u changed ur system..god bless

Hi... Thanks for the great vid... New to mealworm farming... My darkling beetles are flipping over on their backs and dying... Temp is 66-67, the humidity is 24 (which I know is low), . Could it be the low humidity? I have a cup with water in it, in their bin, bran oats & im always adding fresh carrorts (non organic):/

hi ! great video =) have you tried switching to organic? what did you use?

Wowwwww, super cool 🤫🤫🤫

Awesome video. I have a few questions as I contemplate starting a three drawer system like yours. 1) Are these in your house? 2) Do any ever crawl out? 3) How do you separate them? 4) What temperature do you keep them at in winter. I am going to have to put them into my home and I'm a little scared....

Yay. Another women doing this. My friends think I'm weird & gross. lol. Thank you for the info. 😊

Caitlin, I have been watching tons of youtube material about mealworms, and I think that yours is probably the most comprehensive and friendly. I am raising mealworms myself for my own consumption, and now my numbers are getting really high and having to use a lot of time in maintenance. First, where do you find oatmeal at 10 dollars for 50 Lbs? Then, do you keep pupae separate, and how do you address cannibalism from larvae to pupae? I am having some incidence of larvae eating their sibling pupae while they cannot move. I would like to leave them together, and just wait for them to turn into beetles and take them out, but again time is a limitant. thanks for your video!

@benbrooks566

5 жыл бұрын

Percy Peralta you eat mealworms?

@dontdeadopeninside2935

5 жыл бұрын

Yo mate, i know thats a old comment but what happenedwith the mealworms, did it go good?

@dontdeadopeninside2935

5 жыл бұрын

@@benbrooks566 yes mealworms are great for human consumption, we're just so occustumed to bad stigma about bugs we avoid the subject, mealworms are a complete protein (they contain more protein than eggs in the right circumstances), they're easy to grow, low maintenance, and i've heard their taste resembles peanuts and is often used as a substitute

Great vid Caitlin, thank you. I just have one question. Will my chickens eat the beetles as well as the worms? Thanks.

@haziqalihuddin8610

5 жыл бұрын

Yes

Oh, what's your substrate? And when do you decide to take the carrots out, just until they are nearly gone or until you can see they're totally (or for the most part) dehydrated? I admire your use of organics!

I do feed the beetles as well. I make sure the chickens have access to plenty of grit. Generally I give about 2 dozen chickens and ducks a large yogurt container once a week. I rotate the mealworms with the black soldier fly larvae and feeder fish.

I would have like to seen a little bit more such as you actually harvesting your meal worms, like what kind of weight do you harvest and how often, and then feeding the chickens. What price does beetle poo go for when packaged? Loved your video and thank you for sharing what you have learned.

Hi Caitlin, Do you plan on producing an updated video on your mealworm farm status? I would be really interested in seeing how it is now and what changes you made since Sept last year. I've watched this video so many times and started my farm for my chickens. Currently I have about 10k beetles so it's growing fast.... Thanks for all the tips you provided. Sally

Here in Mèxico people have eaten insects for millenia, Grubs, worms, crickets, grasshoppers, beetles, etc. Personally I had the (wrong) idea that they were disgusting, until one day when I was stoned (!) I ate some at a friends bbq... Since then I 've been raising mealworms for myself hahaha... quality protein with a delicious taste. One question though... would you eat mealworms if youre a vegetarian or vegan??? not strictly meat and yes full of nutrition from veggies! Namastè! Congratulations Cate!

Superb, how long it takes to harvest meal worms and superworm. Which is the best meal worms or superworm.

Your farm is awesome. I have about 1200 beetles and 2800 mealworms now. but I started with about 2000 worms in the begining. How long did it take you to get as many as you have now and how many beetles/mealworms do you have?

Nice .. now i can produce a lot for my turtles and myself

very nice! what if you put the pupa in the same drawers as the beatles but on a small container so the beatles cant climb up. and once the the pupa hatch, they can climb down. One less sorting step

Have you fed adult beetles to your birds? I wander if the frass would be good red worm food?

So Im just starting and researching, I buy the mealworms and out them in a bed of oats and bran and let them sit until they hatch out to beetles?

I started my mealworm and dubia roach farm today 😬 the roaches are SOOOO cute!

@india239

4 жыл бұрын

Shelbeylynn1997 Lee oh god. Roaches make me itchy just to look at

thank you.

That's a nice set up, I plan to replicate it. However I've been having problems with grain mites. Have you had any issues with mites? I know prevention is better than cure but was hoping you had developed a strategy to remove these pests?

that's some mad fertilizer!

Caitlin, what State are you in? We are in Florida...is temperature a big factor?

Hi great video. I am interested in doing this in the UK how is the automation going?

How long does it take for beetles to reproduce ? Thanks :) I find mine are taking long despite good temperature food and other stuff is there anything that helps them mate or it just takes time and they have to mature first before the can mate

Great video! I'm gonna get started! I think a cat house poop scoop would capture beatles but not the food or worms.

Caitlin, I just ordered 10,000 and can't wait to start. I was wondering if you got the self sorting idea off the ground? Would be interested in chatting about that. Thanks Eddie

Once the pupa turn into beetles, how soon do they start to lay eggs? Will they lay eggs until they die or is it a short time frame from morphing-perhaps a couple of weeks??? How long do the beetles live? I just started breeding mealworms for our 10 chickens. Thanks!

how many months did this take at what tempature in your house did it take for all the mealworms and beatles to breed because i am going to be getting 104 chickens here soon and i would love to start breeding mealworms for them so i would like to know how many months did it take for them to get to be beatles.

I am waiting for the follow up video showing your self sorting configuration! That's by far the worst part for me, picking through the bins for separation. I did start using your egg crate/carrot method for sorting live beetles out.

I caught my beetles out in my flower bushes. The beetles I have now are about 9 months old and they've been laying constantly I have roughly 4,000 of these sucker right now.

2019 anyone ???

@jedimindtrick8966

2 жыл бұрын

2024

This is great ! Have you considered selling the mealworms to/in your nearest exotic pet stores? I think it's great you're planning to sell the fras!

How many various can they eat 🍴 in a day. BTW, great vid!

do we have news on the self-sorting project? 4:00

pour drawer thru a cone shaped kitchen type strainer. beetles get stuck in strainer everything else passes thru. sorting done.

Any problem with pests in the wheat bran? I heard that some people freeze the wheat bran for a few days to kill pests.

I would like to know if there iz a particular way to breed crickets without to much of a messy cleanup process???

Caitlin, How much of the waste product did you spread around the house plants? I started my mealworm farm and I'm now at my 3rd generation. My waste is building up and would like to use it but don't want to burn the plants by using too much. Please advise, Sally

Few questions: 1). How do you prevent your beetles from devouring mealworms and pupa's? I feed my beetles carrots and lettuce but they still prever cannibalism it seems. 2). How do you tell when the beetles lay eggs? Since my beetles are eating the babies (I assume since 4 months of beetles and still no babies) I would like to separate the eggs from the beetles as much as possible. Great video! Learned a lot!

Nice video. You still farming mealworms?

Nice video. Looks like you are on your way. What would you do if you were going to sell them? Buy 20k beetles? I was wondering what would be the fastest way to begin a Mealworm Plus website for selling? Thanks!

I use the organic egg cartons

Thanks Caitlin. Whens the next video with the upgrades?

could you do an updated video please. I want to start raising meal worms how would you think I would need to buy to get up to feeding 26 birds I am really needing to raise meal worms for them as they are needing the extra fat to get threw the winter months.

Great Video.. What volume or how many worms do you feed each of your chickens and ducks a day Thanks

Gostei muito do teu video, parabéns

You said wheat bran in the video, I don't know why I didn't remember that! I still would like to know your opinion on what to do with a carrot. I don't have enough mealworms yet to know that they'll eat it quickly, so when would be a good idea to change it out? I'd like to not wait until it starts to mold, but if that's not a case, do you think it matters? As in, they'll eventually eat it all up?

Just wondering, how many worms to you feed to your chickens and is this all that you feed them?

I tried to do the screens in the drawers, but it makes a big mess when you open a drawer. It also acts as a guillotine for any that are halfway through the screen.

Hi how often do they eat veggies cuz I have five beetles now but I don’t often see them choose to come out to eat!