Aussie Finch Forum

I can't find termites so starting a mealworms colony for the worms pupae I'm using wheat bran what substrate should I use for the beetles I have wheat bran and oat bran I've read rolled oats for beetles ? Any suggestions thanks

here is a link to a good article http://www.cliftonfinchaviaries.org/cfa ... ealies.htm

I also added vitamin powder/ probiotic powder into the mealworm substrate when I had my colony. Good way for birds to receive a bit of extra vitamins and minerals

Mealworms are easy to breed. The difficulty is how many you want to breed.
If you only want a few a day/week just breed them like we did 30 years ago.
In those days we used second hand Tea Chests today black plastic rectangle lidded bins are fine
and better I add. Also they must have air holes though.
Put about 35/55mm of common wheat bran then a layer of hessian( old bag or buy it from Bunnings
followed by 35/55mm bran, then hessian bran again and repeat until you are about 100mm from the top
At the top put a double layer of hessian
You then buy or locate your Mealworms. If possible try and get a Kilo of worms because this would enable you
to feed out a few while the adult worms pupate turn to beetles and start laying. It will take around 60 days for
the cycle, but once reached the colony should produce indefinitely.
Why the double hessian, this is where you place the carrot for the worms and beetles to eat and you simply lift up
the top layer and harvest the worms. When the bran starts to disappear just add more to the top couple of layers and
gently place the layers of hessian back.
This method worked for us way back the problem was if you needed a large amount you needed many breeding boxes.
Today $50 will buy a Kilo which equates to around 8000 worms depending on size.
Personal opinion, little is gained by gut loading and bran and carrot will breed good worms

Thanks Marcus at Clifton aviaries writes some great articles

Breeding Meal Worms by the separation method is far more efficient possibly 10+ times than the old method
but there is a lot more work involved. When you only want a few then the old method does the job and is easy.
Today there is a large number of birds that will rear their young on dry seed, green food and soaked seed and will
be successful with full clutches.