Red worms. and ideas

[rittert3]

So I've looked into the red worm/ rabbit relationship a little and think that I'm going to give it a shot at some point. I
ve got a design for a 14 hole hanging whatever, lol. It's 2 racks 2 with 3 cages on eack side and the other with 4 on each side but I want to put bins under neith and rotate them every 3 months or so. I'm lucky in that I worked on a worm farm for 2 weeks a couple years back, the job wasn't quite what I needed but I'm glad to have learned what I did. the racks are 9' and 8' long by 4' wide and I was thinking about doing 2'x4' bins but that would leave an odd foot of space I will have 2',30",and 3'wide cages for various uses so I may just use those widths and make each bin catch 2 cages worth. Just brain storming but any input is welcome!

 

[ladysown]

what will you do for urine drainage?

 

[rittert3]

Drain holes in the bins with dirt floor under them, the manure has to be irrigated for the worms too so that would help wash the urine out of it. A little urine in the manure won't hurt them just a high concentration.

 

[Piper]

When you worked at the worm farm, did you add broken egg shells (calcium) to help neutralize the acid build up? Will you need to with rabbit droppings?
I add sand, paper and egg shells, to my bin. I have had it going for 15 years. This year will be the first year, adding rabbit droppings to it, chickens have been getting them before I have.

 

[rittert3]

I was going to add newspaper and egg shell and re add the coarse compost, at the farm they used leaves and horse manure (with sand) from a boarding stable, along with organic compost from their kitchen (egg shells, veggie peals, coffee grounds & filters, ect.)

 

[Piper]

I was going to add newspaper and egg shell and re add the coarse compost, at the farm they used leaves and horse manure (with sand) from a boarding stable, along with organic compost from their kitchen (egg shells, veggie peals, coffee grounds & filters, ect.)

Mine is a 3ft x 4ft covered pit type, rodents can not get in. Everything including fat, bad meat and oils have been put in. It can take longer for the microbes/worms to digest - and that area of the bin can get hot, which is good for winter, bad for summer. Now I try to keep those items to one section/corner that I have Black Solder Flys in. Now days (even with the heat) that is my most active section/corner for the BSF and worms, though. Who would have thought? That may not work for you, if your going to sell the compost. Do not know if that could make it too hot or rich.

 

[WildWolf]

How do you move the worms so that you can change the bedding or mix the compost? Don't you have to change the bedding every 6 months?

 

[rittert3]

You use a series of different sives. The farm designed some differnt drums that sit at an angle and are rotated that sorts differnt sized media. This is slipping my mind at the moment but there 1/4" and 1/8" mesh and the different materials after aging are corse compose, castings, worms, and egg capsules. The drums are over priced so I will just use homemade sives on frames. To answer your question, wildwolf, you sort the media, harvest the castings and a few worms if needed then start over.