Farming daily routine

Alexandra

What if I am away for a vacation one or even two weeks and nobody is willing to take care of my hive in the meantime. I would have to interrupt my farming... Any experiences, recommendations...? Thx

Clay

Alexandra

Mealies are super hard living. For 1-2 weeks they will be fine. For couple of months, then you can let them hibernate in the fridge.

The following would be best, but you can start at #3
1. Clean away the frass (feces) and dirt out as much as possible
2. If you have beetles or pupae in your worm tray, you can do a pupae harvesting and put the pupae and beetle in the beetle tray
3. Feed them grains and carrots (or other vegetables) right before you leave

Alexandra

Clay thanks clay, that sounds great! Farming mealworms seams to be such a feasible way to produce your own healthy food👍

carlsond87

Clay Good to know - Thanks for the info! I will also be going on vacation soon, for 10 days.

Follow-up question for you. Before I leave, would it also be helpful to unplug the hive since this way the mealworm trays won't be heated and presumable the mealworms will be less active? I understand the fans also won't be on to circulate the CO2 out, but I suppose I could just remove the carbon filters so there's more airholes for air to get in and out...

Clay

Welcome!

Don't unplug the Hive for the following 2 reasons.

Aeration
Heating (this is minimal so it's okay)

Removing the carbon filters is not enough as that's passive removal of CO2, the fan will help a lot more.

Enjoy your holiday!