How to Breed and Raise Mealworms for Chicken Feed

Have you ever considered raising mealworms for chicken feed? While most people see mealworms as pesky insects that ruin food supplies like flour or grains, chicken owners know better. These little critters may be squirmy, but they are a protein-packed treat that chickens absolutely love.

From a human perspective, mealworms might not seem appealing, but for chickens, they’re a favorite snack. Plus, mealworms are easy to raise—they’re quiet, don’t smell, take up little space, and require minimal maintenance once the colony is established.

Raising mealworms is a cost-effective and sustainable way to provide your flock with nutritious food. This article explains why mealworm farming is beneficial and includes a step-by-step guide to setting up and maintaining your own mealworm colony.

Why Grow Mealworms?

You can buy mealworms at most feed stores or order them online, but chickens will eat them quickly, and keeping up with their demand can get expensive. Store-bought mealworms can add up in cost, but the good news is you can breed your own mealworms at home.

Starting a mealworm colony is simple, affordable, and even fun. After a small initial investment, maintaining a colony costs almost nothing. Mealworms don’t require much space, so you can raise them almost anywhere, even indoors. They are hardy and thrive in different environments, making them easy to care for.

If you have kids, this can be a great project for them. Raising mealworms doesn’t take much time or expertise, and it’s a good way for children to learn some biology while helping keep the mealworm supply steady for your chickens. If you’re ready to give it a try, I’ve prepared a detailed guide to help you set up and manage your own mealworm colony, covering everything you need to know.

How Long Does It Take To Raise Mealworms?

Depending on several factors, the time you’ll need to farm the mealworms that your chickens can eat will vary.

This process may take about 8 – 10 weeks on average during the summer. However, when temperatures are lower in winter, it may take up to 5 months.

The number of mealworms you begin with will also influence the growth speed of the colony. Finally, humidity and temperature levels inside the container where you keep your mealworms also play a role.

What Are The Stages Of The Mealworm Life Cycle?

To get a better idea about how fast you can raise mealworms, you should first understand their life cycle. Mealworms are actually insects called darkling beetles in the larval stage. The mealworm life cycle includes four phases – egg, mealworm or larva, pupa, and beetle.

Darkling Beetles mate, and one female beetle can produce up to 500 eggs over 1-5 months. The more humid the environment, the more eggs it will produce. The eggs are white, tiny, and shaped like a bean. The egg will hatch into a larva after 1-2 weeks (12 days on average).

The larva or mealworm is initially very small and whitish. It takes around 3 months to fully grow, but this period can vary depending on available food, humidity, and temperature. During this time, they will go through several molts or skeleton shedding.

This can happen up to 20 times. As they grow older, the mealworms slowly change colour to more yellowish or golden. It’s important to remember that this stage is when you should harvest the mealworms. After the final moult, the larva transforms into a pupa.

In the pupa stage, the mealworms are basically mummified and look like dead larvae; Pupae don’t move, drink, or eat at all. This phase will last 2-4 weeks, again depending on environmental conditions.

The final stage of the mealworm life cycle is hatching from a pupa to a beetle. At first, beetles are weak and have lighter colors, sometimes even white. As they mature, beetles will grow stronger, and their color will turn darker before finally becoming black and shiny. The maturing process lasts only a couple of days. After that, the Darkling Beetles are fully grown and live for a few months.

Setting Up Your Mealworm Farm: What Equipment and Containers Work Best

Before you go shopping, you should decide whether you want to start your farm in a single container or use a multi-tiered system. Both systems have advantages and disadvantages.

Keeping your mealworms in a single container is easier, cheaper, takes up less space, and is perfect for first-time mealworm farmers. However, with this system can yield a lower yield as adult beetles may eat eggs, larvae, and pupae. Also, keeping insects in all four stages of development together will make harvesting more difficult.

On the other hand, separating mealworms into three or more different drawers will provide more efficient production and more mealworms. They will also be easier to harvest. Nevertheless, this farming type is more expensive.

It also requires more space and more effort. I wouldn’t recommend this system to beginners. If you’re going with a single container, you’ll need the following materials and supplies:

• Plastic container with smooth sides or glass aquarium
• Grain for bedding – you can use wheat bran, plain oatmeal, or cornmeal
• Slices of carrot or potato
• Mesh (if you don’t want to use the container’s lid)
• Paper towels, old newspaper, or scrapped cardboard
• Bucket sifter
• Mealworms (of course 😉 )

Also, make sure that you have the following tools handy:

• Drill (with drill bit)
• Duct tape
• Scissors

If you choose the multi-tiered option, prepare the following materials and supplies:

• Set of drawers
• Window screen or hardware cloth
• Mesh
• Grain for bedding – you can use wheat bran, plain oatmeal, or cornmeal
• Slices of carrot or potato
• Paper towels, old newspaper, or scrapped cardboard
• Bucket sifter
• Mealworms

The tools you’ll need with this system are pretty much the same as when using a single container.

What Kind Of Bedding Do You Use For Mealworms?

The bedding or substrate that the mealworms live in is also their source of food and a place to lay their eggs. There are several options for substrate food, but most people choose wheat bran or oatmeal.

If possible, try to use organic food for your mealworm farm bedding. Be aware that mealworms can’t live in flour or similar fine-milled grains. Also, they can’t survive being made of whole grains.

Wheat bran and oatmeal have the perfect structure for mealworms to feed and move freely. The amount of substrate will depend on the size of the container. In general, the bedding should be 2-3 inches thick.

Before placing the mealworms in the bedding. you’ll need to ensure it’s not infested with grain mites. They can be found in almost all grains, even those you bought in-store for your consumption.

If you skip this step, you might end up with what I had at one time: The sites may swarm your farm and provide competition for food to your mealworms. You can deal with the mites by microwaving the substrate for about a minute. Alternatively, you can freeze it for three days.

You should also add some old newspaper, scrapped cardboard, or paper towels on top of the bedding. The mealworms prefer to spend their time in dark places, so they will use these pieces of paper to hide under them.

Your colony should have a certain level of moisture. Mealworms can’t drink water. They get the necessary moisture by eating pieces of fruit or vegetables.

Adding potato or carrot slices should provide enough moisture for your farm. The amount you add will depend on the climate and humidity of your area. If you notice a piece that they’re not eating, remove it to avoid rot.

Once you set the bedding, you’ll probably be good for 3 or 4 months. After that, you’ll need to remove it and replace it with a fresh substrate. When doing this, use the bucket sifter to separate the mealworms from their waste.

The leftover frass can be a great fertilizer for your garden.

What Do Mealworms Eat?

The mealworms get all their food from the bedding or substrate. You can put several types of foods in the bedding that they will enjoy. The choice mostly comes down to personal preference, price, and availability.

Wheat bran is the most popular substrate choice. You’ll most likely find it in the nearby feed store, where it is mostly in 50-pound bags. Besides its nutritious value, wheat bran is a good choice because it doesn’t compact, thus providing larvae and beetles with enough space to move freely. It’s also very convenient when it comes to harvesting and separating mealworms.

Another common option is oatmeal. When buying oatmeal for colony bedding, make sure it’s plain. Avoid those with specific flavors. Any rolled oats will do. Feel free to use instant oats or Quick Cook oatmeal.

The only type to avoid is steel-cut oats, as mealworms won’t be able to handle them due to their thickness. The downside of oatmeal bedding is that it can be too dense, limiting the mealworm’s ability to move. Also, this makes harvesting and sifting through the substrate a bit more difficult.

How Often Do Mealworms Need To Be Fed?

There’s no particular rule on how often you need to feed your mealworms. You can feed them as much as you like. The more food they have, the more productive your colony will be. You’ll likely need to add some food and top the substrate every few weeks to keep the bedding depth at around 3 inches.

In general, keep track of how your substrate looks. When the grain particles start to look smaller and the bedding gets thinner, it’s time to add some more food.

In addition, remember to regularly add vegetable or fruit slices so your mealworms have enough moisture. Try to mix up your food offerings a little, as a varied diet for mealworms will result in more nutritious food for your chickens. Also, as the mealworm builds up over time, you must replace the complete substrate every 3 or 4 months.

What Temperature Should Mealworms Be Kept At?

The conditions in which you keep your mealworms will greatly influence their productivity. They’re ectothermic creatures, meaning their metabolism depends on the environment. When it’s cold, their metabolism slows down. Correspondingly, keeping them in a warm place will speed up their metabolism.

So, for your mealworms to thrive, they need a warm and, preferably, humid location. If they’re cold, they may die, or at least the maturing process will take much longer.

The ideal temperature for raising mealworms is 77 – 81 °F (25 – 27 °C). They will also do well if the temperature is somewhat lower, down to 72 °F (22 °C). They will reproduce at any temperature from 65 – 100 °F (18 – 38 °C), but at the bottom and top values of this range, reproduction will significantly slow down.

At colder temperatures, the larvae stage may take up to two years. Longer exposure to the extreme cold will kill them. Too high of a temperature is not good either. Keeping them in an environment that is too warm also impacts their growth.

Especially if paired with low humidity.The pupal phase will last 6 days at 91 °F (33 °C), 7 days at 80 °F (27 °C), 10 days at 75 °F (24 °C), and 13 days at 70 °F (21 °C). If you live in a colder climate, you may need to use heaters to keep your colony warm enough. If you’re doing this, add plenty of vegetable or fruit slices to keep the humidity high enough.

Temperature (°F)	Temperature (°C)	Pupal Phase Duration (Days)
91	33	6
80	27	7
75	24	10
70	21	13

How To Farm Mealworms for Free Chicken Feed

Step 1: Getting A Container

Before starting your mealworm colony, you’ll need to determine what kind of container you want to use and find it. You can use a single container or a multi-tier system with a shelf containing several drawers.

There are several suitable alternatives if you’re going for a single container. Each of them costs very little or nothing. The options include an old aquarium or any glass box, a plastic storage container, or a recycled trash bin.

Aquariums and glass containers are perhaps the most fun options, especially for kids, as they can see what’s going on inside.

The container must be solid and smooth inside (so the mealworms can’t crawl out). It should be made of a non-rotting material, such as glass or plastic. For this reason, you can’t use cardboard or plastic containers.

You will also need the lid for your container. It will keep the mealworms safe from potential accidents and keep other insects, such as spiders or moths, out. To provide enough air for your mealworms, use the drill to pierce several small holes in the lid, especially if you’re using a container made of non-porous material.

You can use the 1/8-inch drill bit. Alternatively, you can cover the container with a mesh or window screen. Ideally, the container should be 12 inches wide, 24 inches long, and 12 inches deep. Of course, if you can’t find this exact size, any container of similar proportions will do.

If you opt for the multi-tier system, you’ll need a shelf with at least three drawers. The point of this farming system is to keep your mealworms separated in different bins for each stage of their life cycle. The bottom drawer should hold pupae; the middle one is for mealworms and eggs, while the one on the top will be home to beetles.

The top bin holding beetles should look a bit different from the others. You’ll need to cut out the bottom of the drawer and replace it with a window screen or mesh. This will ensure that the freshly laid eggs won’t get eaten.

Instead, they will fall through the bottom to the middle drawer. If you want, you can add extra mealworm drawers. Doing this will enable you to rotate mealworm trays so that those in the same tray are about the same age. This container system will require more work than a single bin.

You’ll have to hand separate new pupae for the middle drawer and move them to the bottom drawer so the mealworms don’t eat them. Newly hatched beetles can also eat pupae. You’ll have to monitor the situation in the bottom tray and move the beetles to the top as soon as they hatch.

Step 2: Preparing The Container

Once you select the container you want to use, thoroughly clean and dry it. This is especially important for starting your farm in a used container like an old aquarium.

Next up, you have to choose the location for the container. Mealworms enjoy and thrive in dark, warm, and humid environments. Ensure that your farm is in the shade, away from the sun or a direct heat source. If you’re not too squeamish, you can even place them in one of the closets in your house.

Low temperatures can be an issue for those living in areas with cold winters. You can deal with this by purchasing a heat mat for keeping reptiles or similar pets. They’re very easy to install, come pre-wired, and commonly have programmable thermostats.

Step 3: Adding The Substrate

When you finish setting up the container, the next step is to provide food for your mealworm colony. You’ll need to fill the container with the substrate about three inches deep. You can use wheat bran, oatmeal, chicken mesh, or cereal crumbs for substrate or bedding.

Remember that mealworms not only feed on this bedding but also live in it. So, they’ll need some freedom to move around freely. That’s why you can’t use flour or other fine-milled grains.

Before adding substrate to the container, you must disinfect it and ensure that it doesn’t contain pests such as grain mites. To do this, you can microwave it for about a minute or freeze it for three days.

As mealworms don’t drink water, you will provide enough moisture for them by adding vegetable or fruit slices. Several slices of carrot or potato will do just fine. If you live in a dry climate, increase the number of slices you add to the bedding.

Finally, you should insert some pieces of old paper or cardboard. Mealworms enjoy dark places and will use them for hiding.

Step 4: Adding Mealworms To Your Farm

While your ultimate goal is to create a self-sustainable farm that can reproduce itself without cost, you must purchase the initial batch of mealworms. Your starter colony should have at least 500 mealworms. Depending on your plans, this number can be bigger.

You can purchase them at specialized feed stores or online. Ask around before buying to make sure you get top-quality mealworms.

In any case, make sure that you buy them from a trusted source. If possible, try to find out what the mealworms were fed before the purchase. This can influence their health and the health of your chickens.

Many people make the mistake of buying gigantic worms, thinking that they will provide more food for the chickens. However, avoiding this would be best, as those mealworms were likely treated with growth hormonal agents. While this makes them bigger, it prolongs the pupating process and creates sterile beetles.

When you finally acquire your first batch of mealworms, pour them gently into the container and cover it with a lid.

Step 5: Maintaining Your Mealworm Colony

Once you see the colony, all left is to feed your mealworms and watch them grow. This is the easiest part of the process. You just have to add some food occasionally to maintain the 3-inch depth of the substrate and replace the bedding every three or four months.

Also, occasionally, add a couple of new bits of vegetables or fruit. In addition, keep an eye on the state of the container so you can notice potential issues such as mold.

Step 6: Harvesting The Mealworms

In 3 or 4 months, your farm will be ready for harvesting. You can harvest mealworms at any time, but it’s best to wait until they reach the full size. Still, be careful not to wait too long as they will pupate and eventually turn into beetles. Still, make sure to leave some of the larvae unharvested so you can ensure the continued reproduction cycle.

You can pick mealworms by hand when harvesting, but this is rather time-consuming. The better way is to place a carrot or similar vegetables in the container and wait a few minutes. The larvae will soon swarm and latch onto the vegetable. All you have to do now is pick it up and shake it off above another container.

Mealworm Long-Term Storage: Live and Dead

Sometimes, you’ll have plenty of full-grown mealworms you still don’t need. In this case, you can store and save them for later use.

To keep the mealworm in this life cycle stage, you’ll need to place them in the refrigerator at (45 – 50 °F ). At low temperatures, mealworms cease their metamorphosis and go dormant, meaning they don’t need food to survive.

They can stay in the refrigerator even for a couple of months. It is recommended that you take them out for a day and leave them on the prepared bedding at room temperature once a week. This will further prolong the time they can spend in the refrigerator.

Another storage option is drying your mealworms. You can dry them on a stove or use a food or clothes dryer. You can also dry them outside. This is probably the better option, as dying them inside, even on a stove or in a dryer, can stink up the place.

Frequently Asked Questions

How Do You Get Rid of Mealworms?

In some situations, you may want to kill your mealworms and eliminate them.

For example, if the colony has become infested, you can easily remove it by pouring boiling water over it or simply leaving it outside and letting the wild birds take care of it.

Do You Need to Kill Mealworms Before Feeding to Chickens?

You can freely feed live mealworms to your chickens. Even if they transform into Darkling Beetle, it’s still perfectly safe. However, this likely won’t happen as your chickens will gobble them right away.

What do mealworms drink?

Mealworms get all the moisture they need from the slices of vegetables or fruit you add to their substrate.

Do mealworms bite?

Mealworms are capable of biting, and they have mandibles. However, they’re so small that there’s no way that they can harm you.

Can you touch mealworms?

You can safely handle mealworms at all stages of their development. However, prolonged exposure may cause some people to develop allergies. So, it’s best to be safe and wear a mask and gloves while tending to your farm.

Do mealworms have feelings?

Like all animals with simple nervous systems, mealworms can’t process emotional information, so they don’t feel suffering. Still, according to some of the latest studies, they can somewhat feel the pain.

Are black mealworms dead?

Mealworm or Pupae turning black is usually a sign that they’re dead. The most likely reason is the lack of moisture at the end of the larval phase.

Why are my mealworms turning into beetles?

Mealworms turning into beetles is a normal part of their life cycle, which has four stages: egg, larva (or mealworm), pupa, and beetle.

Do mealworms eat coffee grounds?

You can add coffee grounds to the mealworm diet. However, as they’re fine-ground, you should add only small quantities and not make the substrate solely of the coffee grounds.

Do all mealworms turn into beetles?

Eventually, all healthy mealworms will turn into beetles. It’s a normal part of their maturing process.

Do mealworm beetles fly?

Darkling Beetles, who mealworms transform into, can’t fly. So there’s no danger of them flying out of the container.