You are braver than I, and have WAY more time, to raise mealworms. So I will have to keep buying them, LOL.
Try various different sizes of strainers. The smaller mealworms will sift through and remain to grow more.
Then the larger ones can be stored in a refrigerator in containers with air holes (with or without some bran).
Even if you can't sort the larger mealworms from some of the bran, if the bluebirds know that there are mealworms among the bran in the feeder, they will poke around and get them. Just keep the bran dry.
When mealworms are feeding on apples, etc., they are easily knocked off and into containers (I usually apologize first).
Keep newspaper on top of the bins to darken the environment, and the mealworms will more likely come to the top. A piece of coarse cloth laid on top, which they will climb on, can be used to collect them out of the bins.
When I purchase them, they come in cloth or net bags among crumpled newspaper (not the shiny ads), which they also eat.
Hope this gives you some ideas to try. Have fun farming!
Bluebars

I am currently attempting to raise mealworms myself. They are pupating like crazy right now, and I have quite a few beetles at this point. From what I understand, they are not picky about what kind of food they eat, so I keep mine in a mixture of cornmeal and wheat flour. It is very easy to strain them out of this using any standard strainer.

Kendra,

I love the idea of a finer substrate so I ground the bran in the blender, and some oatmeal too. But now the worms are covered in the dust---is that OK? Are yours dusty and still thriving?

I agree that there's no reason to obsess about what exactly you're feeding them. They are meal bugs, after all. And I'm sure good for the blues regardless of whether you use wheat bran, cornmeal, flour, etc.

I am having a lot of trouble getting the blues to eat them, though! They completely ignored the worms in a bird bath 6-8 feet in front of the box, so I hooked a bowl onto the entrance of the house! I have seen the male eat a couple of worms, and/or give them to the babies, but most of them have been sitting in the bowl til they die and I replace them. Any ideas anyone? There are plenty of bugs in my yard---could it be they prefer the wild bugs? Based on what everyone writes, I thought they'd eat every last worm I gave them!

Maybe they just need to warm up to the concept of food in a bowl?

Any suggestions?

Ann

You say they are not picky about what they eat, but you want to nourish them to make them better meals for your bluebirds.

You have to seed the food.

Yams are better than apples, also less moldy. Kale is good too. We used to keep them in corn meal, which sifts easily.

I mean you want to nourish the worms, and you have to feed the food.

Ignore me.

Elly, what do you mean by "seed the food?"

Am I providing fresh fruit/veg for them to ingest moisture or to humidify their environment? Somewhere I read to put a moistened sponge in there. Then they're only eating dry stuff. So I was leaning toward moister food like apple, but yes, more chance of mold.

It shouldn't be so complicated to raise bugs!!

Ann

I meant feed the food to make it healthier for the animals you are feeding, in this case bluebirds. (Sorry I was confusing.) A live food source (mealworms) are only as nourishing for the predators (birds) as what you feed them.

Yams are moist. So is Kale. Replace it as needed. The mold is not good, and if you keep separate trays of mealworms, you can be sure to keep the newer ones and older ones separate.

ok so where and how do you keep these worms and beetles?
I am getting interested in this topic. I might want to try my hand at raising these.
What do you do with the beetles?
Do you keep them and they reproduce I guess?
I have a LOT of questions LOL

Debbie, check out Exotic Nutrition's web site, and also Sialis.org. There's a TON of info out there---a bit overwhelming. I'm trying to simplify it for my own needs but it's still a fair bit of effort. I'm hoping that in less than a couple of minutes a day, my bluebirds will be swimming in mealworms!

Elly, I got some sweet potatoes too! do you always keep some moist food in there...or just a couple of times a week put in something fresh? Have you been doing this a long time?

Anyway, I'm THRILLED to report that they're now *eating* the mealworms---I've only seen the male do it but I'm hoping it'll be smooth sailing from here.

The (5?) babies are 7 days old today...I'm so HAPPY!

Ann

OK, I have more mealworm questions!
I was grinding wheat bran, but that's way too much work and too expensive...so I'm switching to corn meal (to be supplemented with dry cat food & calcium.) They're pupating, and some are becoming beetles. I gather that the larvae and beetles eat the pupae (and also new tiny larvae), so it's best to separate the stages. But what a ridiculous amount of work!!! I'm completely overwhelmed. If I provide plenty of food, will they leave the pupae alone? They're obviously living in food (bran, corn meal, or whatever) but if I keep plenty of fresh stuff (apple, sweet potato) will they behave themselves?

I'm only doing this because I can't justify spending a bunch of money on mealworms. If it takes up too much time, I'll have to quit altogether which would be a real shame. I was planning on feeding them year round, if all went well.

Any suggestions?

Thanks,

Ann

My pointer on raising mealworms is ..don't. Just kidding. I tried it but stopped. It's a lot of work. I took out my beetles once a month or so and put them in new wheat bran. But I just moved them all with a spoon which is time consuming. I never seemed to get enough mealworms when I needed them and too many when my bluebirds stopped eating. Be careful if you have them inside that you don't have any moths hatching inside your box with wheat bran or cornmeal. I had a small infestation of moths in my house and had to get rid of those.
Tammy

I know someone on a martin forum that does not separate his beetles from his larvae/mealies and he raises quite a lot of mealworms. ???

Tammy,
Thanks for your input!! I have them covered in screen, so I'm hoping I can avoid the whole moth thing. But we'll see!

I guess I can ask my questions on the martin forun... Actually, of the few beetles I separated so far, most of them died! I was very gentle and I'm very puzzled by this. Maybe I'm just too "hands on" and should ignore them more.

Considering that I avoided them at first because I'm just not into bugs, I've come a long way, and have started thinking the whole process is pretty cool. But maybe I need to control my enthusiasm....

I would still welcome and other voices of experience!!

Ann

Ann, If you see cotton candy looking webby stuff in your wheat bran, where your wheat bran (or whatever you are using) is sticking together...that's a sign of moths. Just be careful. I had screens on mine, but must not have been consistent about keeping the screens on.
I couldn't touch the mealworms at first, but now I can. But I still don't pick up the beetles. Yuck!!
It is a little addictive and a challenge just to see if you can do it. With this mealworm shortage I was wondering if I should start up again. But haven't convinced myself yet. :)
Tammy

Tammy, I've had moths in my house for 6+ months (just maybe one every few days) and I've been unable to figure out what they're eating (they're never in the pantry, bird seed, or cat food!) so I have traps around and I'm VERY careful with my screens!! Hopefully that'll take care of it. If I get moths in there, it's all over!

It is addictive and a challenge!! That's really it!

I started thinking I should just ignore them, but then if their waste builds up...will the larvae do OK? If I completely change their bedding every couple of weeks, what will become of the eggs and tiny larvae?

I guess I could change the bedding and set the old bedding aside for a couple of weeks (however long it takes eggs to hatch and larvae to become big enough to strain out.)

This is evolving. What do you think?

I'm surprised there isn't more interest in this---it's EXPENSIVE to feed your bluebirds!!

Ann

Some people, I have heard, develop respiratory problems and have to give up raising mealworms inside their home. Not that you will, but it is something to be aware of, just in case.
BlueBars

Some of us have already been down that route, that's why we aren't interested. :)
You just have to find a way that you are comfortable with. There's no definitely right way. I didn't change my bedding very often, because you will throw away eggs. I think I just added a scoop of wheat germ. I did change it when the mealies got bigger. I can't remember exactly what I did. I was in the same mode of confusion that you are, wishing someone just would tell me exactly how to do it.
If you started mealworms about 6+ months ago..I would say those moths are a direct result of the mealworms. You can't see them in the wheat germ. For example, I put mine in different places in my house. One time it was in a hall closet. Someone told me to look in the corner of my closet and along the ceiling and sure enough there was this white webby stuff there, which I guess was the pupae? I think Janie gave me the heads up on the moths.
Tammy

I've only been doing this for 4-5 weeks...so that's not it. Though I'm definitely on alert!

Well, if this is so frustrating that people are giving up routinely, I'm going to stay with the low effort plan, and deal with potentially low yield. I think it'll be satifying even if my quantities aren't as high as I'd like.

Thanks so much for your input!

Ann