Post by woodyz on Jun 20, 2016 18:42:33 GMT -7
So I think we all know that Meal Worms, the larval stage of the darkling beetle, make good chicken feed.
No argument from me.
And we know that some people even cultivate Meal Worms on purpose.
There might not be a better or easier way to feed chickens a high protein meal then giving them a supply of Meal Worms.
Still no argument from me.
www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/82580/raising-mealworms-chicken-food
However, has anyone considered what would happen if those cultivated beetle larval got out of hand and multiplied faster than the chickens on hand could eat them?
Well let me give you a "possible" situation.
Lets say you had a ground based bed (in the ground in the chicken run where the feed spilled by the chickens can be consumed by the earthworms)of red wiggler and other earthworms. Lets say about 5000 at a minimum to 10000 at a maximum.
The thing I have discovered (but never considered) is that a worm bed has to have a specific mix of water and dry to thrive. Too much water and the worms will drowned, to little water and they will die. So we had a drought during May and the worms in this bed started dying off and became stressed and distressed. Since I have several other 5k to 10k beds I didn't worry too much about it.
Until the June rains came and flooded the area, killing most of the others. The biggest problem with that was the smell. All of a sudden the chicken run smelled like a hog pen. At first I couldn't figure out why, but a little searching of the pen revealed the dead bodies of thousands of wet and rotting earthworms.
My first fix was to turn the soil over and redistribute it so they could dry out and rot. Dry rotting worms don't smell nearly as bad as wet ones.
Now we get to the Meal Worms.
The meal worm bed is inside the chicken house in a big wood box. They get a conditioned bed in that temps, wet/dry and food are somewhat controlled. A gallon or so of the larval are thrown to the chickens for feed two or three times a week.
The problem now is the Weal Worm Larval not consumed by the chickens found the earthworm bodies and created a new "in the ground" bed. Not a real big or even recognized problem until our last big rain.
Some of the Meal Worms drowned too. However, where the earthworms don't eat their dead, the same can't be said for the Meal Worms. Plus the Meal Worms smell even worse than a pig pen.
Now I have an "out of control" Meal Worm problem. A simple hoe ran through the bed will reveal about a million of them, feeding off of each other.
NOW TO THE POINT
Does anyone have any idea how to kill the suckers off?
I started with a big bag of cat litter to dry the spot up and it worked to a certain degree but they overcame the population decline.
I tried to use the scorched earth policy and added 10# of salt to the bed and while I could see the salt killing the ones it got on, new ones are just eating them too.
I don't want to use any kind of poison (yet) in the chicken run as the chickens would eat the poisoned Meal Worms and die too.
As I said the original worm bed was at the feeding place so they ate the spilled/scratched feed. I have moved the feeding point but they are just eating each other and the size of the bed is growing.
I thought about a fire, but its close to the chicken coop, maybe a charcoal fire where I can keep the flame down but apply heat.
Anyone have any ideas.
If I don't kill and render inedible the bodies, the beetles from the inside Meal Worm bed will just repopulate the outside bed.
Maybe my only choice is to kill off both beds and start over.
No argument from me.
And we know that some people even cultivate Meal Worms on purpose.
There might not be a better or easier way to feed chickens a high protein meal then giving them a supply of Meal Worms.
Still no argument from me.
www.peakprosperity.com/wsidblog/82580/raising-mealworms-chicken-food
However, has anyone considered what would happen if those cultivated beetle larval got out of hand and multiplied faster than the chickens on hand could eat them?
Well let me give you a "possible" situation.
Lets say you had a ground based bed (in the ground in the chicken run where the feed spilled by the chickens can be consumed by the earthworms)of red wiggler and other earthworms. Lets say about 5000 at a minimum to 10000 at a maximum.
The thing I have discovered (but never considered) is that a worm bed has to have a specific mix of water and dry to thrive. Too much water and the worms will drowned, to little water and they will die. So we had a drought during May and the worms in this bed started dying off and became stressed and distressed. Since I have several other 5k to 10k beds I didn't worry too much about it.
Until the June rains came and flooded the area, killing most of the others. The biggest problem with that was the smell. All of a sudden the chicken run smelled like a hog pen. At first I couldn't figure out why, but a little searching of the pen revealed the dead bodies of thousands of wet and rotting earthworms.
My first fix was to turn the soil over and redistribute it so they could dry out and rot. Dry rotting worms don't smell nearly as bad as wet ones.
Now we get to the Meal Worms.
The meal worm bed is inside the chicken house in a big wood box. They get a conditioned bed in that temps, wet/dry and food are somewhat controlled. A gallon or so of the larval are thrown to the chickens for feed two or three times a week.
The problem now is the Weal Worm Larval not consumed by the chickens found the earthworm bodies and created a new "in the ground" bed. Not a real big or even recognized problem until our last big rain.
Some of the Meal Worms drowned too. However, where the earthworms don't eat their dead, the same can't be said for the Meal Worms. Plus the Meal Worms smell even worse than a pig pen.
Now I have an "out of control" Meal Worm problem. A simple hoe ran through the bed will reveal about a million of them, feeding off of each other.
NOW TO THE POINT
Does anyone have any idea how to kill the suckers off?
I started with a big bag of cat litter to dry the spot up and it worked to a certain degree but they overcame the population decline.
I tried to use the scorched earth policy and added 10# of salt to the bed and while I could see the salt killing the ones it got on, new ones are just eating them too.
I don't want to use any kind of poison (yet) in the chicken run as the chickens would eat the poisoned Meal Worms and die too.
As I said the original worm bed was at the feeding place so they ate the spilled/scratched feed. I have moved the feeding point but they are just eating each other and the size of the bed is growing.
I thought about a fire, but its close to the chicken coop, maybe a charcoal fire where I can keep the flame down but apply heat.
Anyone have any ideas.
If I don't kill and render inedible the bodies, the beetles from the inside Meal Worm bed will just repopulate the outside bed.
Maybe my only choice is to kill off both beds and start over.
