Allotment Gardening Advice Help Chat
Poultry and Pets => Chicken Chat => Topic started by: wolverine on December 11, 2010, 11:34
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Wilko sell them at £4 for two tubs that is 200g in total it seems like a good deal anyone get them cheaper?
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That's good compared to garden centres.
I buy mine loose from an animal feed supplier at £6.50 for 500g but not many people have easy access to a feed store.
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I just bought some from eBay recently - 500 g for £5.99 + £2.95 postage. That was the best deal on there...
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Why are they so expensive ?? Aren't they just dried lava? guess they must cost alot to breed hey?
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Yes, they are the larvae of a beetle which have been freeze dried.
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I get mine in Home bargains £1.49 for 100g, but they didnt have any this week :blink:
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Just with my mate who owns a pet shop and my new revised price providing I buy a kg is 1.60 per 100g so bye bye wilko :)
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That sounds a bit better! :D I omitted to say that locally, if available at all, I have to pay £3.50 for 100 g. That's why I thought in my case, the eBay price was pretty good! ;)
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I just paid £2.99 for 100gms of worms but they arent just any worms, they are - cranberry flavoured worms. M & S cant do better than that. :tongue2: :tongue2:
Jinty
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:) me too i get them from home bargains not been able to find them cheaper anywhere else :)
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I'm going into meal worm farming!!! I don't get that much money for a chicken!! :happy:
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Ha ha When you add in the punnet of grapes @ £4 (Asda), porridge and daily spring greens think I'm getting ripped of for 1 mini egg a day. Must be love. :lol: :lol:
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:lol: :lol: :lol:
I don't even get grapes at £4 a punnet!!!
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We have just started mealworm breeding, following the price of them, the quality of the dried up things and the rate our chooks go through them.
Read up on t'internet about the breeding of them (Reptile breeders are the best) We bought a box of live mealworms about £2.50, a bag of Asda bran and Weetabix, put the lot in an old fishtank about 2 weeks ago, fed them carrot shavings, lettuce etc and left them. They are just changing into the pupae stage now, in about 2 weeks they should start into beetles which will then lay between 200 - 400 eggs. Mealworm city :). And fresh live mealworms for the chooks. Some will be returned to the farm to ensure a constant supply of live ones. From what I have read it takes about 2 months for the complete lifecycle.
Until then it's back to Wilo's !
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how long do the beetles live for or do they die after they lay
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From what I have read they die after they have laid.
All you have to do is keep the various stages apart. So at the moment I am removing the pupea from the mealworms as they change. If you don't they eat the other.
As the pupea change to beetles, I will then remove the beetles into a tank with bran / weetabix to lay the eggs.
It's one big experiment at the moment.
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I used to breed meal worms only i had them in biscuit tins in the airing cupboard, it worked quite well.
Sometimes they would escape, never worked out how, but i'd be lying in the bath and one would go scuttling round the skirting board in the bathroom. :lol:
They like raw veg to get moisture from.
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I have got them in an old fish tank, in the spare bedroom. Hope they don't get out ! :ohmy:
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Are you giving them any extra heat, it helps speed up the process :)
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No special heat apart from the central heating which in this cold weather seems to be on an awful lot. Can't wait for the bill !
When you bred mealworms were you self sufficent on them or do they not last long once they have hatched into worms.
I have read that if you chill them it slows there growth. giving you longer to use them before they pupate.
What can I disguise them as in the refrigerator so that the missus doesn't notice :lol:
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Well, i wasn't very scientific about it all. They did their thing and i just took a handful of worms out when i needed them. I just have a childs book about keeping reptiles and used their method, and it worked. I finished up with about 6 tins in the airing cupboard and kept them going for ages, it was several years ago now so cant remember exactly.
If anyone was thinking of giving it a try and buying starter mealworms from a fishing tackle or pet shop who buy them in, find out when they have fresh supplies and buy them on that day so they are still alive. After a week in the shop most in the little tubs will be dead, and remember that doing it this way you are feeding live creatures to others and some people may not be too comfortable with that and are better with the freeze dried sort. :)