I just counted out my colony and I have 67 adult females and about 79 males and about 1500 mixed nymphs. I returned only 23 adult males to go along with the 67 adult females. I put the other adult males in a seperate tote to use as feeders. This gives me a 3 to 1 ratio of females to males.
Would anyone have done it differently?
no you are right on with that move. i feed off some of my males and my colony exploded! i think when you have too many males it makes for too much competition for food and mating. i have about a 4/1-5/1 ratio in my colony at the moment.
Same here good move on thinning out the males. Those guys are a tasty meal going to waste if you don’t use them. Not to mention they are eating your chow up to.
We went to a 10/1 ratio a few months back in one of our colonies and have not noticed any change in birth rate. The rest of our collies are kept at a 5-6/1.
Take care Jason