Roach Chow or Growth Booster

Roach Chow

Roach chow or insect growth booster contain a lot of ingredients in a pre-made, retail roach chow. To invest in bulk quantities of many ingredients is not economical or practical for a person like me, a smaller scale breeder/seller. I chose 3 ingredients, which work well as chow or bedding food for my feeder species, with the least cost per 50# pound: wheat bran, soybean meal, oatmeal.

May, 2021:  The current cost of my  "3+ Roach Chow" is $1.29 per pound, not including electricity if sterilized or stored in a deep freezer, or time spent to purchase, grind and mix, or the price of gallon freezer bags, which can be reused, and hold approximately two pounds.  

Recipe:  4 cups wheat bran, 1 cup soybean meal, 1 cup coarse ground oatmeal

Bug Room

The Bug Room

August, 2017:  Having moved mealworms to the basement from the laundry room, this walk-in closet became known as The Bug Room.  The floor is 2.5'x10'.

The concrete offset in view on the right (below) have storage shelves, hidden by a curtain.

A table/shelf (above) was installed at a comfortable height and the stud wall was covered with a piece of remnant carpet.  Use what you have!  On the opposite end of the closet, (below) are more shelves and drawer units.  The louvered panel door to the left is "the closet inside the closet", which is a great place for Christmas trees and delicate decorations.

  

October, 2017 - February, 2018:

Expanding the worm farm with superworms,   [See the blog page, Superworm Farm.] 

More drawers and changes to the work shelf, taking advantage of vertical space (below):

  

2019: 

With the next expansion (below) of my insect farm to include dubia roaches, I have stacked large, drawer units to the right of the main closet door.  I sourced these drawers locally for a great discount through yard sales.  Rolling drawer units make use of the floor space for mealworms and superworms (not pictured below).

ALL
Drawers
Are
Full


What next?
Where to next?

2021 - HOW ABOUT A LITTLE MORE REMODEL AND AN EXPANSION!

The louvered doors and stud walls were covered with thin wood panel board. 

To expand the roach business further, large Sterilite drawers were placed on the concrete offset wall.

May, 2022:

The entire basement floor, including the Bug Room, was covered with luxury vinyl plank (LVP), but, no pictures of this project.  The walls were finally painted, too. 

Join my Facebook group, Mealworm, Superworm and Dubia Roach Farming

https://www.facebook.com/groups/chickadoodlestn/

Farm Page and Group

Chick-a-Doodles J&D Farm

Facebook page: 

https://www.facebook.com/chickadoodlestn

Find information on mealworm, superworm and dubia roach sales, price list, delivery and shipping, and other farm-related news and garden item sales as they happen. 

Facebook group page:  
Mealworm, Superworm, and Dubia Roach Farming 
https://www.facebook.com/groups/chickadoodlestn

No matter your experience in insect farming, you are invited to join this group for help or to be a help to others.  You must answer the 3 questions before approval.

Sift and Sort the Worm Farms

For this page's purpose, when I refer to sifting, I mean sifting larvae from frass and other waste.  I use the same tools to separate (sort) the larvae by sizes.  Sorting is not an exact science in my farm, nor does it need to be for my purposes.  

The tool I use most often in the mealworm or superworm farm is a plastic colander with narrow slits I purchased from Dollar Tree.

(Dollar General has a similar colander.) 

However, other tools work for sifting and sorting.  I have found them useful, though I have modified them to fit my needs better.  (Example:  I made a DIY sifter from a grease splatter screen, fitted into a round cake carrier lid, and adhered with caulk.)

                                             Fine Mesh Kitchen Strainer:
I have two strainers I use for separating very small larvae from frass.  These are common household strainers.  One has slightly bigger holes than the other, so, I use it for separation of small and tiny larvae from frass.



Plastic colander with narrow slits:
To sift and sort mealworm (tenebrio molitor) beetles, dead and alive, I use this slotted colander.  It is also good to sift superworms or large mealworms, exceeding 1" or fat.  I sift the entire drawer of molitor beetles with substrate and put the dead and living beetles in a separate container (a kitty litter pan).  Then pouring the beetles on and off egg crate; the living beetles will hold on to the egg crate and can be shaken off into a new drawer of bran. [Pupae are removed to their own container.]  Once separated, the dead beetles are composted or thrown into the pasture.

  

Gold classifiers aka Bucket sifters:

These can be purchased in a set or individually.  I individually purchased the 1/4" for larvae and pupae,  and the 1/30th for frass, which also captures any smaller mealworms. I highly recommend an electric vibrating platform for a large farm and much sifting, when using the 1/30th classifier specifically.  A set including 1/8" and 1/20" is great for further sorting by size, if desired.  

How and when I use sorting tools:  
Although I don't have a schedule for sifting or sorting; I go by perceived size.  [A] When a drawer of mealworms has deep frass build up of 1-1.25"; [B]  Mealworms reach 3/4 to 1" long and begin to pupate at a rate of ten or more per day; [C]  Superworms need sifting for sell or to relieve crowding, whereas, the largest are removed to another container.

The mealworms, once divided by size and rid of frass, are put in a new drawer or container of fresh wheat bran and hydration to grow more or are refrigerated in units without food to sell.

In Sifting, Timing is Everything  
This process is best timed when several drawers or containers need sifting at once.  I can then set up an assembly line, outside as weather permits.  A dusty job, an N95 face mask is recommended.  

Some people sift beetles every two weeks, then put them on new bran.  I tend to wait 4-5 weeks, but, in doing so, the larvae bin has mixed sizes.  Therefore, I sell mixed size lots.

It's a lovely potted plant, at least!

I dug this Mystery Plant up in the herb bed, as the garden spot was being prepared for the location of our new Chicken Coop / Hen House.

Wormwood?

Close up of the above

I put the Mystery Plant in the chicken run, and, they wouldn't touch it.
I soon decided the plant  was unappealing at best and toxic at worst!

I sent photos of the Mystery Plant to a herbalist, who identified it as Wormwood, as I suspected. Smart chickens...wormwood should only be used dried!

Self Sort and Sift Drawer

STREAM-LINED
The practical, hobby Mealworm Farm is ever stream-lining.  My system of only 9 drawers required creativity to get the most out of the limited space available; that being two, plastic canvas bottomed drawers, namely, the Beetle Drawer and the Self Sift/Sort Drawer.
BEETLE DRAWER
The Beetle Drawer contains the breeding beetles, of course.  Underneath their canvas-bottomed drawer is the solid-bottomed, Nursery Drawer, which is left in place for a period of 4 weeks and marked in numerical order or by date.  The large space of time the Nursery Drawer is left under the beetles make a noticeable size difference as the larvae mature at different rates throughout the drawer.
SELF SORT/SIFT DRAWER
As the mature larvae in the oldest dated drawer begin to pupate rapidly, I pour the entire contents of that drawer into the Self Sort/Sift Drawer.  Smaller worms, substrate and frass fall through this drawer into a Grow Out Container (or extra drawer if available), while the larger worms left on the canvas are readied for use or to sell.
GROW OUT CONTAINER OR DRAWER
Approximately four to six weeks later, to coincide with the next mature drawer ready to process, the Grow Out Container/ Drawer is again poured into the Self Sort/Sift Drawer.  Again, smaller worms fall through, larger worms are used or sold.
SIMPLE EFFORT
Shifting and sorting of drawers may sound complicated, but, for the most part it is just a matter of timing and requires minimal organizational skills.  To see the productivity of such a simple effort is rewarding, enjoyable, and profitable enough for my need.  [For more information, see the page, Mealworm Farm, on my blog!]

Plastic canvas was a sensible choice for two drawers in my system!

UPDATE:  I went to a solid bottom system of mealworm farming, which is, moving the beetles to new substrate on a regular basis.  I continued to use the mesh drawer for sifting frass or sorting large/large-medium mealworms from smalls, until it was discontinued after much use in that way.

Catered Meals for All!

Having acquired this red wagon, serving meals to the hens got a lot easier!  I pull it to the outdoor water faucet to fill up gallon milk jugs, then feed pick-up, and finally to the tractors for quick distribution.

(7/15/16) The chuck wagon has fermented feed for some and mixed dry feed for others.
That little sauce cup in the back contains dead beetles from the mealworm farm.
Think of them as croutons!