Worm composting rabbit manure

[Diamond]

Anybody ever try keeping an earthworm bed under their rabbit hutch?

I am swapping some dressed rabbits for red wriggler worms, going to try building a worm bed for composting rabbit manure. There is a bit about doing this in the ARBA 'raising better rabbits and cavies' book and I thought it would be worth experimenting with.

 

[CWD]

I made 2 worm beds, I cut a plastic 55 gal. drum in half length wise.
I drilled several holes in the bottom, and covered the holes with old window screen.
then I filled it about 1/2 way with the bunny puffs. dumped in some worms, and I keep them moist.
I have more than enough worm for fishing and my garden.

 

[MaggieJ]

There are several threads about vermicomposting in the Other Ways to Profit from Rabbits forum.

other-ways-to-profit-from-rabbits-f29.html

 

[Lizardslaps]

yes and I did for months it was great for awhile but put screen under it not a tarp or you will get a huge buildup of bunny pee and make that dirt toxic to your plants


fairly messy to though I kept having to rake hay off the top of the dirt

I also stopped tilling it after 3months cuz it massacred worms

I would suggest after 7 or 8 months when the worms get really packed you remove at least half the bed and make it fresh with new topsoil my beds were basically solid worm castings and composted bunny poop (awesome for compost tea or strait into a pot like plant crack)

this pic this bed was almost solid worm the only reason I changed it was some guy wanted to trade me a welder for for them

 

[cnichols]

I'm contemplating doing this when we get my Rabbit Barn built. I already have a bin in the house that I started last year for the castings to go into my garden. So I can split up the bin into 2-4 beds and see how it goes. Although I'll probably just use "some" for one bed so I don't kill off my entire population lol.

Here's a link I found after reading your post and doing a quick search. Good info, I think.

http://www.happydranch.com/articles/Rai ... abbits.htm

 

[caroline]

I've tried to figure out why one would bother to compost the manure. The only thing that occurs to me is that some may not like the "look" of bunny berries in their garden. It doesn't concern me though so I just haul the wheel barrow loads full of manure from the rabbitry to the orchard and garden and spread it around. When I go back some weeks later and stir around there are plenty of worms where the manure was spread. It breaks down fairly quickly, especially if kept moist.

A reason that just occurred to me for having worm beds is that it may be easier for some to harvest the worms if they are contained but I can get as many worms as I want just by digging down in to the wettest spots in the garden so I have given up bothering to compost the manure.

 

[Lizardslaps]

sounds like the ground around your house is awesome I wish I had some of that instead of the sand

 

[Frosted Rabbits]

sounds like the ground around your house is awesome I wish I had some of that instead of the sand

Start piling the rabbit waste up-- the 'sand' will develop a good amount of humus-- layer in dried grasses, leaves, a bit of sawdust-- you will develop loam-- I am pretty sure we have someone here who was on the Organic gardening forum run by the Rodale Institute-- was reclaiming an old strip mine a few square feet at a time...Not sure if it was Honorine or someone else...

 

[Diamond]

I visited the vermicomposting link and found it very useful!

I think the plan for now is to work with the rabbit poo that is in the greenhouse, where it is warm. Will use one of my raised bed frames and some landscaping cloth on the bottom. Have lots of half-composted horse barn bedding for the bottom later (I use pelleted stall bedding so it is basically half-composted sawdust) and then topdress with a later of partially broken down rabbit poo (the stage where it has all the white fungi clumping the pellets together). Once the worms get goin on that I'll hang one of the growout pens over the top for fresh worm food. In April I will set up a bed under the outside hutch, when temps are warmer and worms will be more active.

 

[AnnClaire]

I find that letting the berries and hay build up under the outdoor cages brings tons of night crawlers and when I scoop it out, I am spreading plenty of worms into the garden beds along with the partially composted bunny berries :cheesysmile: