My latest venture will be raising crickets. Why?
Right now my dog Jack is obsessed with catching and eating the crickets in the yard. I don’t think this is a good idea, but Jack is stubborn. I am thinking back to when my younger daughter had a pet Mediterranean House Gecko. They are very small and need tiny food. So each week I trudged to the store to buy the smallest crickets. There is no price break just because the crickets are itty bitty. Then we learned about flightless fruit flies. Hmmm. Daughter is creative and figured out how to raise her own flightless fruit flies. Success!! So maybe I can raise crickets to keep Jack happy with some left over to feed the chickens.
Since I don’t personally know anyone who raised crickets I turned to the internet. Several days later I am confident that I can do this. Here is a short list of the videos that I found helpful. Each video has some good methods; some a bit better than others. I gleaned the best methods and ideas from each source and will begin the venture.
This video is factual if a bit boring and has good information for anyone wanting to grow crickets on a small scale.
This is a very good video with plenty of information and a few laughs along the way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YSL4BVG8JSQ
This is an entire series of videos showing step-by-step how to farm crickets. There are at least 8 videos; tons of good information plus some stuff you may not have thought you needed to know. I think James looks like a Disney character but he certainly knows his crickets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ertha9zlcv8
From this video, by Beth (myboysanme3) I learned something very important. Use mesh to cover the egg-laying material so the larger crickets will not dig up and eat the eggs before they have a chance to hatch. Thanks, Beth!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvmYtgHvw4I
Here is one of my favorites. I didn’t learn much except that crickets love to climb so when it’s time to clean the containers I won’t have to become a cricket wrangler. Ghann’s Cricket Farm was featured on Diry Jobs; how cool is that?!
Here is one place to find the Dirty Jobs episode:
https://www.tvguide.com/tvshows/dirty-jobs/episode-25-season-5/cricket-farmer/279523/
My goal is to grow crickets to feed my chickens and to keep my dog amused. Some people have taken cricket farming to a whole new level. Check this out…and not just crickets!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wB1GMwqcpR4
Okay, that’s part one of the tutorial. Take some time to look at a few of the videos and you’ll be ready to start farming crickets by the time I post Part 2.