Earthworm Farming?

[lfreem2]

Anyone raising earthworms to feed their chickens? I've read plenty here about roach farming (I just CAN'T do it!) and mealworm farming (hate the beetles. ick!), but haven't seen a lot by way of earthworm farming.

Anyone doing it?

 

[Player Hater]

my birds don't seem to like earthworms

they pick at them, and then lose interest

maybe because they are slimy!

 

[Arielle]

I researched red wrigglers over the winter; I'm on hold right now. We have plenty of earthworms naturally so we collect them and toss in. THe first few times everyone fought tooth and nail to get her share;the last time the worms were just a curiosity to be looked at! I was a bit miffed--I spent some time collecting enough for 25 and the sticky goo is YUCKY (and I used to fish using worms as a kid, go figure). My older hen follows my DH all day hoping he will turn over a rock or board so she can gobble them all up. I'm hoping mine will like worms once again; I have plenty of garbage to feed red wrigglers. I will probably start a bin in the next month or so. Maybe this can be the start of a red wriggler thread.

I haven't found much here on BYC; I went to google and searched from that location; you can spend HOURS reading. I did.

 

[TN_BIRD]

I had a great worm bin going. I then proceeded to kill them all by wetting their bedding too much and leaving it in the sun. Kind of a sad day. I worked tirelessly (kinda fun) digging in the dirt for several weeks. Some days I'd find >200 worms.

I'm going to get out there and find some more, but this time I'll put my box under my deck and be sure to be careful with the squirt bottle.

 

[lfreem2]

Can you explain how you set up your bin?

I give 'em worms when I spot 'em as I'm planting things and digging holes and they go absolutely NUTS! I'd like to give them more without the digging part. LOL!

 

[Arielle]

FYI from what I have read elsewhere on farming worms, the common earthworm has its limitations by living in a bucket or bin. They apparently dont survive as well as other species of worms and dont reproduce to make more yummies. Hence the red wriggler, and others. The idea of red wrigglers is to create a sustainable population, using household food scraps to feed them. Kinda like free protein.

 

[airmechreed]

My grandfather when I was a kid had an earthworm farm...pretty easy to do as long as you dont mind digging a 5 ft hole and lining it with cinder blocks then putting the dirt along with potting soil mix and then plywood over it to keep unwanted birds from eating your worm crop.

 

[andalusn]

My bin preference is wood, it breaths well and can drain extra moisture. Mine has a divider they can crawl through so I can easily transfer the worms to a new side and harvest the full one. Here is a picture from last year. I have since harvested and working back on a new side so the bin has cycled once in a year. This size is supposed to be for about a family of 4. I really want a bigger bin to have night crawlers and worms. Night crawlers do a finer finish on the compost/castings.

The guy I bought my worms from as well as the bin is local to me but he ships all over and is very busy.

 

[Arielle]

Do you put your nightcrawlers in the same bin? Or use a separate one to finish the compost and add the nightcrawlers to this new one?

 

[andalusn]

Quote:
Some people will take the earthworms out and then add the night crawlers but they can both be in the bin. The earth worms will move to the new area and the night crawlers will stay behind and continue to finish the castings to a much softer/finer grit. This is a great site and newsletter you can subscribe to. RedWormComposting.com