Boosting Mealworm Beetle Swap Efficiency: Inside Our New Process

Running a mealworm farm at scale means constantly asking one question: how do I move more beetles and larvae with less time and manual labor? In this post, we walk through a new beetle swap process we’re testing at Midwest Mealworms and share ideas you can apply in your own setup.

The video above takes you behind the scenes of our latest beetle swap upgrade. Below, we break down why beetle swaps matter so much, what we changed, and how you can think about efficiency and automation in your own mealworm farm — even if you’re just getting started.

What Is a “Beetle Swap” and Why Does It Matter?

In a Tenebrio molitor (mealworm) farm, the beetle swap is the process of moving adult darkling beetles off older substrate and into fresh trays so they can lay the next wave of eggs.

Done well, a good beetle swap process helps you:

• Keep egg production high by always giving beetles fresh, clean substrate to lay into.
• Protect larvae by separating out adults so they’re not constantly disturbing or cannibalizing newly hatched mealworms.
• Stay organized so you know how old each tray is and when it will be ready to harvest.
• Scale up without burning all your time shaking, tapping, and picking beetles out by hand.

If you’re just starting out, you can absolutely raise mealworms with simple setups or even a single container. For that, check out our free guide Raising Mealworms for Geckos . But once you move into multiple trays, the beetle swap becomes one of the most time-intensive parts of the farm.

From Manual Shaking to a More Efficient Beetle Swap

In the early days of Midwest Mealworms, beetle swaps were fully manual: pick up a tray, shake or tap it until most beetles dropped into a new tray, repeat. That works at a small scale — but not when you’re handling hundreds of trays per week.

The new process shown in the video focuses on reducing repetitive manual motions and making the beetle swap more consistent and repeatable. Instead of treating each tray as a one-off chore, we’re treating beetle swaps like a small “production line.”

Key principles behind the new setup

• Batch work instead of one-off tasks. Group trays by age and swap them in batches so you’re not constantly switching tasks.
• Let the equipment do the repetitive motion. Any shaking, sifting, or separating that can be handed off to a tool or station removes strain from your wrists and shoulders.
• Short, repeatable steps. Each part of the process is designed to be simple enough that it can be repeated the same way every time.
• Clean in, clean out. As beetles are moved, we keep an eye on dust, frass, and old substrate so we aren’t spreading mess from tray to tray.

The goal isn’t to become a fully automated industrial facility overnight. It’s to move one step closer to a system where your farm can grow without adding the same amount of labor for every new tray.

What You’ll See in the Video Walkthrough

When you watch the video, pay attention to these elements:

1. How trays are staged. Trays aren’t just randomly grabbed off shelves – they’re grouped by age and condition so swaps follow a simple, predictable pattern.
2. How beetles are separated from the substrate. You’ll see how the setup focuses on moving beetles efficiently while keeping frass and substrate manageable.
3. How long each step takes. Small time savings per tray add up fast when you’re working through dozens or hundreds.
4. Where new bottlenecks show up. Improving one step often reveals the next weakest link in the process — and that’s where the next improvement opportunity lives.

As mentioned in the video, this is not a “finished” system. It’s one iteration in a long chain of improvements. That mindset is important: you don’t need a perfect solution to improve your farm — you just need the next better solution.

How to Think About Efficiency in Your Own Mealworm Farm

Whether you run a micro-farm in a spare room or you’re dreaming about a full walk-in setup, you can borrow the same principles we’re using at Midwest Mealworms:

1. Start with your biggest time sink

Track where your time goes for one or two full maintenance cycles. Is it feeding moisture? Sifting frass? Moving beetles? Cleaning trays?

For us, beetle swaps were a major time and energy drain — which is why they became a priority.

2. Turn that task into a repeatable “mini-system”

Instead of asking, “How do I do this faster?” ask:

• “What would this look like if I did 50 of them in a row?”
• “What tools or layout changes would make this step easier?”
• “Can I standardize the order I do things in?”

Even simple changes — like staging trays in a specific order or dedicating one spot to beetle swaps — can reduce wasted motion and confusion.

3. Decide what’s worth upgrading next

After the first upgrade, new limitations always show up. Maybe:

• You can swap beetles faster than you can prep trays.
• Dust and frass management becomes the new bottleneck.
• Storage or shelving layout slows everything down.

That’s normal. Use those new constraints as a roadmap for your next improvement.

Thinking About Starting or Expanding Your Own Mealworm Farm?

If this beetle swap walkthrough has you thinking about your own setup, you’ve got a few options:

• New to mealworms and want a turnkey start? Check out our Mealworm Farm Kit , which includes live mealworms and freshly hatched beetles to jump-start your colony.
• Already have trays and just need breeding stock? Take a look at our Darkling Beetles (Tenebrio molitor), shipped less than one week old so you get strong egg production right away.
• Just need live feeders for your animals? Browse all of our live mealworms , born and raised in Missouri and shipped via USPS Priority Hold for Pickup to maximize survival.

If you’re curious about the bigger picture of sustainable protein and why we’re so obsessed with these little insects, you might also enjoy our article Unlocking the Secrets of Mealworm Farming: A Journey into Sustainable Protein Production .

Help Shape the Next Version of This Beetle Swap Setup

The system you see in the video is very much a work in progress. Each improvement reveals the next problem to solve — and that’s part of the fun.

If you have ideas for:

• Reducing labor during beetle swaps,
• Improving layout or tray flow, or
• Managing dust and frass more efficiently,

go leave a comment on the YouTube video or send us a message through our contact page. Many of the best improvements we’ve made came from questions and suggestions from other farmers, reptile keepers, and curious first-timers.

Stay Updated on New Mealworm Farming Experiments

We regularly test new ideas in our micro-sized farm — from small process tweaks to bigger layout changes — and share what works (and what doesn’t) through:

• Blog posts like this one,
• Behind-the-scenes videos on our YouTube channel, and
• Email updates about availability, experiments, and special offers.

If you’d like to follow along, use the email signup form on this page or at the bottom of the Midwest Mealworms homepage to subscribe.

Next step: Hit play on the video above, then walk through your own beetle swap process and ask, “What one thing could I improve next?” Small, consistent upgrades are how a tiny mealworm setup turns into a reliable, efficient farm.