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May 2009 - Breeding your own mealworms

With the price of mealworms making fillet steak look like a cheap meal, it鈥檚 a good idea to breed your own. Without doubt they are the best food for attracting robins and other invertebrate eaters such as blackbirds and thrushes, in the winter they can be a lifesaver.

The mealworm is the larvae of the flour beetle, and with 40% fat and 48% crude protein, it also makes an invaluable food in the breeding season. The overworked parents of most of your garden bird nestlings will be delighted to find a ready supply of live food, in between their constant sorties among the garden vegetation.

Mealworms

Breeding them is fairly simple and with a little commitment you can have a constant supply. It is important to set up at least two cultures and to initially keep one a lot cooler than the other. This prevents them from breeding at the same rate and so they are not all at the egg hatching stage at the same time; otherwise you will have a glut of mealworms and then none at all for some weeks.

Plastic stacking-type boxes are ideal containers.

1. Line with several sheets of newspaper to absorb moisture. Put several inches of bran on top of the paper. This level will be topped up as the bran is consumed.

2. Add shavings of cuttlefish bones, to supply a source of calcium, onto the surface each time you top up the bran.

3. Slices of apple should be replenished regularly. Without moisture the beetles do not thrive and egg laying will be restricted.

4. Add the mealworms (beetles and eggs, if you have them). You will need at least a thousand per culture. Be patient. It will be a few weeks before you can start harvesting, depending on the ambient temperature. They will go dormant if they get too cold.

Mealworm beetles

5. Cover with corrugated card and sheets of newspaper. These will need replacing as they are eaten or disintegrate. The mealworms gather in the channels of the cardboard and make it easy to collect them for feeding to the birds.

6. If you are keeping your cultures in a rodent-free area you don鈥檛 need lids, as they can鈥檛 climb up the plastic surfaces. If you prefer to use lids, make sure they are lifted off for an hour or so each day, or make ventilation holes in them. If the culture gets too damp, mould will develop.

When the box is three quarters full, you will need to take off the top section containing the beetles, mealworms and larvae. Retain half of the substrate containing the tiny eggs among the waste and put the remainder out onto the compost. Replace the sheets of newspaper on the base and reconstruct the layers. If you have the space you can always keep the waste and eggs in another container add a little bran and allow the eggs to hatch out. Harvest the tiny mealworms and add them to your existing culture.

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