Very nice set up! I started my mealworm farm 5 years ago with 100 darkling beetles. Grew the mealworm farm so I could give live mealworms to the chickens I was getting. It took almost 2 years to grow the mealworm farm to the point where I ordered my chicks. 2 years later the mealworms grew to 25 bins. And now we are up to 40 bins. So glad we did it, this way. I am not worried about not having enough to feed my chickens. I don't sell the frass or the mealworms. The frass goes into our gardens. We also have a deep freezer for the organic bran and I also give them organic rolled oats (the beetles get the rolled oats and bran). Each bin gets an organic whole carrot peels and a half of a cucumber in peels. I use a circular Peeler. Almost no waste in the bins when we are sifting. We sift weekly and separate mealworms by size. We remove the pupa as well, and as the pupa changes to beetles, we remove the beetles. Our chickens are happy and healthy. We are getting quail so the smaller mealworms will be fed to the quail. They all eat organic, so I know what the chickens are being fed and I know what's in their eggs. If we ever go into lockdown or shipping supply crisis, our animals will be fed. We grow alot of veggies, and we can and freeze dry them for the winter and spring.
@@MidwestMealworms No issues. Just an opinion that the majority would prefer horizontal (wide) recorded Videos.(unless this is being used for TikTok then no worries)
Thank you. The front part is now a dirty disorganized disaster, but I'm working on getting it cleaned so I can do an updated tour video. Check out the recent "Getting organized" series to see what I mean 😁
nice video nice work. im just proud that u can do all of those test and wish to live in place that i can do that test too. but nice work we rarely see some good video about this new jobs and mealworms farm.
I put the pupae in a tray on their own, about 1-2 pupae thick, no substrate. I place a paper towel over them. The beetles cling to it, I shake them off. I posted a vid recently of me collecting beetles that shows this.
Do those beetles fly at all??? I guess not if they stay in those shallow trays! Lol. I found that surprising. I'm considering trying a small operation. Will they get exponentially bigger in numbers quickly??
They mostly just fall with grace, they aren't active flyers. Fast is relative. They take months to go through their life cycle. A single female is capable of laying up to 500 eggs, so they can produce a lot. But I wouldn't say it's quick....
@@MidwestMealworms ok thanks 👍! I bought two 36 count containers of mealworms from Walmart today. I doubt that there's actually that many! And some quick oats! I lightly ground some oats up and put the mealworms in. All had on hand was some orange slices. I would've rather put something else in, like potato or carrots. The worms seem very dark and big-ish. I wonder if they are either dying or getting ready to turn into the pupa things that become beetles??..
@@jasonscreativeadventures3900 they may turn into pupae, they may also just be growing. Sometimes store mealworms will have a chemical on them to stop pupation, if yours don't pupate it may be nothing you're doing wrong. If they do, all good!
@@MidwestMealworms if I get into raising mealworms I need to figure out a way to get rid of The Beatles I'm not sure if chickens would eat them but it would be worth a try worst case scenario would just be to humanely get rid of The Beatles by smashing them and then composting them. I can imagine raising African giant snails that would eat them or possibly have like a terrarium that has loaded with ants and different things inside it.
Thank you for sharing! Two questions: How much frass do you produce per month? You spray water directly into your bins of newly hatched worms and you don't end up with mold issues? Please explain that process!
Frass production is directly correlated to substrate consumption....generally speaking, every pound of substrate consumed will be half a pound of frass. We're making about 500-750 lbs of frass a month.
I thought I had a video of the spraying, but I can't find it. I'll get one made and posted here.....and, I'll be live at 3 central today if you want to join and I can do it live with you :)
Started for chickens we had back in 2015ish. Officially started the business in Jan of 2017, did it as a side business until 2 years ago when I left my corporate job and did this full time.
weight will vary based on what you're producing/harvesting. I dont have recent data for the expansion, but I was producing 1 million 3/4" average larvae per month in 1000 sq ft. I've expanded and should be able to double that, ideally triple it, with the added space.
You could consider getting a package AC unit. They come preloaded with Freon so you could install yourself if you can do the electric. The whole unit sits outside and is ducted inside.
That is very likely what I'm going to have to do, but that is pricey. I'm hoping to make it through the winter and as spring comes, invest in a permanent, less manual heating and cooling system.
I'm pretty sure he is referring to a mini split they start at about 1500 dollars Very cost effective sit outside and use a 1inch hole to pipe inside They also have a heat pump so they do heat and ac
@@michaelanderson1947 I've looked at them a while back, not too bad of a price compared to the large window unit AC i bought, but then I need to pay for installation. It's definitely on the list once the funds are available though 😊
Even though they have wings and can 'deploy' them, they don't actively fly up. They do more of a 'fall with grace', so they aren't able to escape via flight.
It was part of a package deal when I bought my first set of the blue trays. A company in TX was closing down, they sold off all their mealworm rearing equipment.
@@charlottebrown3665 they don't slide. I built a tower for my previous white trays, they slid on and out. Huge waste of time and energy. When we have a tray that needs to be removed (very rare) it is quick to unstack and restack. The efficiency gained from these trays offsets the downside of having to unstack.
No issues with worms/Beatles crawling out of the blue trays? Started this project for our chickens, beardies, and koi. Always looking for ways to improve and save space.
How much varies by whether it's beetles, pupae, or larvae, and how old. Basically your goal should be to feed am amount that the tray can consume in 24 hours. Sifting happens when needed, again this varies based on density, environment, etc. Watch your tray, once the substrate is gone, time to sift.
It seems like there are so many meals worm farm out there now. Is there really a need for this many? Not being rude at all but seriously curious about the demand. My daughter just started with meal worms and I’m wondering how big this endeavour is going to get lol
There aren't that many full time small operations....less than 20 is my estimate. Demand for frass will be the biggest push from my perspective, and locally sourced feed for poultry.
Nice big place to work! Is it possible to put solar on the roof or windmail? Should be a great branding producing green mealworms x□ ,the goverment in the netherlands pushes us to generate ourself because of the Boeting thing
unfortunately the building isn't angled well for solar, I'm not sure about windmill. That would be an interesting way to try and separate from the competitors.
As a business cleaning up at the end of the day must be a mandatory task it's is a business and anything can happen and you don't want to be liable for any accidents
My direct email is Justin@midwestmealworms.com, if you'd like to talk I have some options here midwestmealworms.com/collections/consult/products/one-on-one-consultation
Have you heard of the Ebner Effect? It's fascinating science that's been buried. I did a long experiment raising mealworms under high energy field "ebner effect" and had decent results with bigger worms- no chemicals. Might be worth a look into if you like doing experiments. search "Ebner Effect Mealworms" if you want to see the vid.
"He helps us with the insect control of anything that might get out, we appreciate him".. What a brilliant greeting!
Very nice set up! I started my mealworm farm 5 years ago with 100 darkling beetles. Grew the mealworm farm so I could give live mealworms to the chickens I was getting. It took almost 2 years to grow the mealworm farm to the point where I ordered my chicks. 2 years later the mealworms grew to 25 bins. And now we are up to 40 bins. So glad we did it, this way. I am not worried about not having enough to feed my chickens. I don't sell the frass or the mealworms. The frass goes into our gardens. We also have a deep freezer for the organic bran and I also give them organic rolled oats (the beetles get the rolled oats and bran). Each bin gets an organic whole carrot peels and a half of a cucumber in peels. I use a circular Peeler. Almost no waste in the bins when we are sifting. We sift weekly and separate mealworms by size. We remove the pupa as well, and as the pupa changes to beetles, we remove the beetles. Our chickens are happy and healthy. We are getting quail so the smaller mealworms will be fed to the quail. They all eat organic, so I know what the chickens are being fed and I know what's in their eggs. If we ever go into lockdown or shipping supply crisis, our animals will be fed. We grow alot of veggies, and we can and freeze dry them for the winter and spring.
Great video. Very good information.
Human water 😂 I cracked up. Nice setup... just started looking into this for my chickens
I just re-listened to that part...😂
Please record horizontally.
Are you having issues with the video?
@@MidwestMealworms No issues. Just an opinion that the majority would prefer horizontal (wide) recorded Videos.(unless this is being used for TikTok then no worries)
Awwww the lil frog helper 🥹
You and the frog were so chill.
I like your setup a lot, your prices are pretty awesome too for such a clean operation! Just purchased some!
Thank you! Aaaahhhhh!!
Beautiful
Thank you. The front part is now a dirty disorganized disaster, but I'm working on getting it cleaned so I can do an updated tour video.
Check out the recent "Getting organized" series to see what I mean 😁
Wow. Thanks!
amazing thank you for sharing
My pleasure, thank you for stopping by!
nice video nice work. im just proud that u can do all of those test and wish to live in place that i can do that test too. but nice work we rarely see some good video about this new jobs and mealworms farm.
Iv just set up a little mealworm farm for our koi food 😁😎 still learning but alls good 👍🐟
that's awesome! How do you feed them, just throw them in live into the koi enclosure?
Hi, how did it go with the overpopulation of beetles in a single tray? Did the experiment go well?
@@luisitopro9426 no noticeable benefits.
Would you happen to still have pupae bridges?
No, too easy to make one by upcycling, didn't make sense to use more plastic to keep printing them.
May i know what kind of plastic bin or pallet di you used for mealworms?
They are made by Beekenkamp in the Netherlands.
Thank you @@MidwestMealworms
Wow! Nice work! How do you sort out all the hatched beetles?
I put the pupae in a tray on their own, about 1-2 pupae thick, no substrate. I place a paper towel over them. The beetles cling to it, I shake them off. I posted a vid recently of me collecting beetles that shows this.
Awesome facility! Do you sell those blue trays?
No, I buy them from Tricycle.eco in Canada, they originated from Beekenkamp in the Netherlands.
@@MidwestMealworms Thank you. I appreciate!
Whats your opinion of your MAX Idustries microwave freeze dryer? Does it have vacuum?
I haven't used a freeze dryer. The dehydrator I had was a microwave dehydrator, is that what you're asking about?
Yes. My mistake.
So do you leave the light on all night?
@@SRT.9908 no, they like the dark.
Do those beetles fly at all??? I guess not if they stay in those shallow trays! Lol. I found that surprising. I'm considering trying a small operation. Will they get exponentially bigger in numbers quickly??
They mostly just fall with grace, they aren't active flyers.
Fast is relative. They take months to go through their life cycle. A single female is capable of laying up to 500 eggs, so they can produce a lot. But I wouldn't say it's quick....
@@MidwestMealworms ok thanks 👍! I bought two 36 count containers of mealworms from Walmart today. I doubt that there's actually that many! And some quick oats! I lightly ground some oats up and put the mealworms in. All had on hand was some orange slices. I would've rather put something else in, like potato or carrots. The worms seem very dark and big-ish. I wonder if they are either dying or getting ready to turn into the pupa things that become beetles??..
@@jasonscreativeadventures3900 they may turn into pupae, they may also just be growing. Sometimes store mealworms will have a chemical on them to stop pupation, if yours don't pupate it may be nothing you're doing wrong. If they do, all good!
@@MidwestMealworms yeah I heard about that chemical thing.. I guess it's just a waiting thing lol. 👍 Thanks!
Are the orange slices ok? I've heard acid things can be bad for some worms...
What type of blue trays do you use,i real like the way you set them up thanks
These are Beekenkamp trays from the Netherlands. I now buy them from Tricycle.eco in Canada.
Hola, me interesaría mucho saber algo más de la graja: cúantos m2, instalaciones? Cuanto costaría poner en marcha un proyecto como el suyo?
2100 Sq ft. I don't know what it would cost starting from scratch.
Do you know if yellow trout will eat the beetals?
What about crawdads, mud crabs, and catfish?
I doubt it, they have an off-putting odor. But maybe that would attract them?
@@MidwestMealworms if I get into raising mealworms I need to figure out a way to get rid of The Beatles I'm not sure if chickens would eat them but it would be worth a try worst case scenario would just be to humanely get rid of The Beatles by smashing them and then composting them.
I can imagine raising African giant snails that would eat them or possibly have like a terrarium that has loaded with ants and different things inside it.
@@OzkAltBldgCo-bv8tt chickens will eat the beetles. Mine do.
awesome! How many lbs per week does this produce?
No clue, I don't measure in pounds. I sell them live, I measure by quantities, currently 1.25 million per month average.
Thank you for sharing! Two questions:
How much frass do you produce per month?
You spray water directly into your bins of newly hatched worms and you don't end up with mold issues? Please explain that process!
Frass production is directly correlated to substrate consumption....generally speaking, every pound of substrate consumed will be half a pound of frass. We're making about 500-750 lbs of frass a month.
I thought I had a video of the spraying, but I can't find it. I'll get one made and posted here.....and, I'll be live at 3 central today if you want to join and I can do it live with you :)
How did you start out in this and how long ago?
Started for chickens we had back in 2015ish. Officially started the business in Jan of 2017, did it as a side business until 2 years ago when I left my corporate job and did this full time.
How much weight in mealworms can you harvest per week with that set up
weight will vary based on what you're producing/harvesting. I dont have recent data for the expansion, but I was producing 1 million 3/4" average larvae per month in 1000 sq ft. I've expanded and should be able to double that, ideally triple it, with the added space.
You could consider getting a package AC unit. They come preloaded with Freon so you could install yourself if you can do the electric. The whole unit sits outside and is ducted inside.
That is very likely what I'm going to have to do, but that is pricey. I'm hoping to make it through the winter and as spring comes, invest in a permanent, less manual heating and cooling system.
I'm pretty sure he is referring to a mini split they start at about 1500 dollars
Very cost effective sit outside and use a 1inch hole to pipe inside
They also have a heat pump so they do heat and ac
@@michaelanderson1947 I've looked at them a while back, not too bad of a price compared to the large window unit AC i bought, but then I need to pay for installation. It's definitely on the list once the funds are available though 😊
@@MidwestMealwormsɖʀȶɖ𝓎𝕥
how do you contain the beetles so they dont fly?
Even though they have wings and can 'deploy' them, they don't actively fly up. They do more of a 'fall with grace', so they aren't able to escape via flight.
Question where did you buy your microwave dehidrator at.
It was part of a package deal when I bought my first set of the blue trays. A company in TX was closing down, they sold off all their mealworm rearing equipment.
Awesome set up. Where ya find the blue trays?
Beekenkamp, in the Netherlands
Where can I get the blue and white trays
White, www.webstaurantstore.com/
Blue, Beekenkamp in the Netherlands.
what are them blue trays called and where you get them I could use them for another use lol?
They are from Beekenkamp in the Netherlands. I currently buy them from Tricycle.eco in Canada.
@@MidwestMealworms thank you :)
Nice video! Question, where did you find those blue containers? They look super efficient and space saving for sure.
They are made by Beekenkamp in The Netherlands.
@@MidwestMealworms do they slide in and out or do you have to unstack them Thanks
@@charlottebrown3665 they don't slide. I built a tower for my previous white trays, they slid on and out. Huge waste of time and energy.
When we have a tray that needs to be removed (very rare) it is quick to unstack and restack. The efficiency gained from these trays offsets the downside of having to unstack.
@@MidwestMealworms thanks so much for your reply.
No issues with worms/Beatles crawling out of the blue trays? Started this project for our chickens, beardies, and koi. Always looking for ways to improve and save space.
How much do you feed at a time and how long before you sift it?
How much varies by whether it's beetles, pupae, or larvae, and how old. Basically your goal should be to feed am amount that the tray can consume in 24 hours.
Sifting happens when needed, again this varies based on density, environment, etc. Watch your tray, once the substrate is gone, time to sift.
It seems like there are so many meals worm farm out there now. Is there really a need for this many? Not being rude at all but seriously curious about the demand. My daughter just started with meal worms and I’m wondering how big this endeavour is going to get lol
There aren't that many full time small operations....less than 20 is my estimate.
Demand for frass will be the biggest push from my perspective, and locally sourced feed for poultry.
cut the 4 sticks on the corners off, so you can stack more plastic boxes on each other.
it's been a year since I made this video, I'm not remembering it - what part of the video are you referring to?
When did you start breeding them?
I started over 7 years ago for personal use, we had chickens at the time. That grew, and then in 2017 I officially started the business.
Doesn't your beetle climb out or fly out
They don't fly, and they can't climb clean plastic.
What is the temperature for breeding mealworm?
I aim for 78F, they can go higher but I like a bit of wiggle room. 😉
Nice big place to work! Is it possible to put solar on the roof or windmail? Should be a great branding producing green mealworms x□ ,the goverment in the netherlands pushes us to generate ourself because of the Boeting thing
unfortunately the building isn't angled well for solar, I'm not sure about windmill.
That would be an interesting way to try and separate from the competitors.
Where can I get a bag of wheat bran?
Feed store, feed supply, MFA, some places will need to order it in for you if they don't carry it.
Hi how are you doing brother can you tell me from where I can buy those mealworms trys send me link if you don't mind?
I ship to the Continental US : midwestmealworms.com
why dont you just use big ventilators for cooling?
I have an exhaust fan that ventilates throughout the day now.
That AC should be on an exterior wall for fresh air and for the water to drip out side rather than on the floor or in a bucket.
That would be ideal, yes.
As a business cleaning up at the end of the day must be a mandatory task it's is a business and anything can happen and you don't want to be liable for any accidents
Valid point.
It looks like your beetles are eating your hatchlings before they form into beetles. That's a lot of dead loss.
@@SleepingSheep95 where do you see thst happening?
Um um um
Is it very profitable? Or make any money enough to pay your bills? My thing is to make enough to buy my toilet paper.
You can definitely sell enough mealworms to buy the tp you need.
I am wanting to start my own so what would you charge me.. would like to talk to you on phone or email somehow
My direct email is Justin@midwestmealworms.com, if you'd like to talk I have some options here midwestmealworms.com/collections/consult/products/one-on-one-consultation
Have you heard of the Ebner Effect? It's fascinating science that's been buried. I did a long experiment raising mealworms under high energy field "ebner effect" and had decent results with bigger worms- no chemicals. Might be worth a look into if you like doing experiments. search "Ebner Effect Mealworms" if you want to see the vid.
I haven't heard of that, thank you for the info!
Nice video! Question, where did you find those blue containers? They look super efficient and space saving for sure.
They are made by Beekenkamp in The Netherlands.
@@MidwestMealwormshow’d you get them here ? Is there a distributor ? They look amazing . Great video
@@robbielitt9232 I picked out with my original lot, got them from a TX company that closed. Then found a supplier in CA, Tricycle.eco