Okay, We are all in school again and I am going to condescendingly ask you some questions. What is deposited under a chicken coop kids? What can we do with what is deposited under chicken coops?
Well, Kids, beneath chicken coops are chicken poops (Sorry). Chicken manure is great feeding to a variety of invertebrates from composting worms to Soldier Fly Larvae. The former needs for the manure to be aged and the latter will lay their eggs in the fresh stuff. The Black Solider Fly Larvae will eat the manure fresh and they will do a great job of eating it all. Those grubs, which we trademarked under the name Soldier Grubs, are great for reptiles, fish and chickens. You can make chicken food out of chicken poop. How great is that?
Anyway, in order to gather chicken poop for your worms, or for composting, you need to have the chickens pretty much confined to one area. Free range is great, but free range in a cage, where animals can’t kill your chickens, and so you can get the poop is even better.
If you’re reading this, you probably already are very aware of the benefits of owning and maintaining your own chickens. You’ve probably already known that the average chicken lays over 260 eggs a year, and that can lead to over FIVE THOUSAND eggs for your family per year.
You already know the positives. Knowing all that, maybe what has stopped you in the past was worrying about the cost of buying a chicken coop, or the complication of how to build a chicken coop, such as coop materials, insulation, lighting, ventilation, nesting boxes, perches and predators protection and perhaps the upkeep for the chickens themselves. Continue reading The Poop on Chicken Coops
If you are new to vermicomposting, composting or casting creation, then you are probably also new to gardening. The best part of worm farming is using the nutrient rich worm castings in your garden.
If you would like a nice reference ebook on gardening to go along with your worm castings, then download our free ebook filled with 142 pages of gardening information for growing vegetables, fruits and berries. There are also a few pages on composting. 🙂
Check it out and let us know what you think. Plus, it is totally free. Check out our write-up about the ebook and then get it for free.
Last week we had our first freeze here in New Jersey. We often get a first freeze that then melts and does not freeze again for a week or so. Then we get a hard freeze later in November or early December. That first freeze is our gue to tuck our red worm and European nightcrawlers in for winter. The one question that I often get is around feeding composting worms during the winter, especially if the worm bed is outside in the elements.
The questions range from the kind of food we recommend for Redworms and European night crawlers, to how to feed the food we recommend. The questions also delve into how we protect outdoor worm beds in winter, what we cover them with and when we cover them.
Winter feeding is an entirely different way of feeding composting worms than summer feeding. There are three things that we look to accomplish with winter worm bed feeding:
We look to ensure that we have enough feed on the beds so that we do not have to disturb the worms during the dead of winter. The tops of the worm beds will often freeze and the red worms and European nightcrawlers will retreat and form a protective ball by huddling beneath the frozen worm bedding. That freeze creates a frozen cap that will actually protect the worms under the freeze line. By breaking that cap, turning beds or digging into beds, you can expose your composting worms to the cold air and that will kill them. We aim to feed them before the first deep freeze and then leave them until spring.
We want to have a food that is safe, deep enough and still green enough to generate some heat, which will create a safe space for the worms to feed and even breed on the warmer days throughout the winter.
We want to have the food last to the point where, as soon as the temps rise above freezing but before the beds are warm enough to work, the worms begin breeding and depositing capsules in and under that winter food that we provide. This will ensure a nice healthy swarm of babies happily eating the leftover food when we open up the beds after that danger of the last freeze has passed, which is late April or even May in New Jersey.
We our three worm feeding goals laid out, we begin that task of preparing and adding the food to our beds.
Worm Food Preparation: During the three other seasons, we ensure that any manure fed to the worms is mixed to a specific ratio in order to ensure that it is past the heating stage before it is fed to the worms. The last thing that we want is for the bedding to heat on a hot or warm day. In Winter, our goals change. We do mix the manure with shredded paper and straw before use, and we do allow it to heat for a couple of days but then we apply it before it has completely heated to the point where it is beyond that heating stage. We do this so that the heat created by the breakdown of the bedding will provide some heat to the worm beds. We are not looking for super-warm temperatures, but enough so that the worms can still move about and eat throughout the winter. In order to do that we mix in more green material than we normally would and we add alfalfa pellets like the type sold as rabbit food.
So, we add fresh manure, straw and paper, wet it down, pile it high and let is begin to break down. Then we mix in dry alfalfa pellets and lightly water. We want it to be on the drier side because the food mix will break down more slowly that way as it appropriates water from the worm bed.
Worm Food Application:
After the food has been prepared and is ready to go, we apply it to the worm bed. We pile it high and deep and shape it like a triangle.
We cover that triangle food pile with a polyethylene bubble plastic like the kind used in packaging to prevent shipping damage but ours is thicker plastic. We also sometimes use polyethylene bubble insulation that is metallic looking. See the pictures below. That blanket acts as a blanket and keeps the heat in and the cold out.
We then cover the entire bed with thick industrial grade landscaping fabric, like the kind used on the ground at nurseries to keep the weeds out and to stage their potted plants on.
We weigh that fabric down with bricks or sandbags and then we do not disturb the worms again until Spring. When we do life the fabric and the blanket in spring, we find hundreds of thousands of baby worms in what used to be a large pile of food, eating what is left of it. The adults deposit their capsules at the food source where the babies will be likely to find ample food.
That is it. This is how we feed our worm beds in Winter and how we prepare our beds for the long cold disgusting winters. It is 11-16-2017, so get to work.
Now, the good news is that we also have indoor beds and we sell European Night Crawlers and Red Worms all year long. Winter composting and worm rearing is a great way to learn about worm farming and take away the winter doldrums. Check out our selection of composting worms and get gardening now. Spring will be here soon than you think.
Invariably, no matter how faithful you are at guarding your worm bin, critters will get into your worm composting bin. Those critters run from harmless and benign to downright repulsive and harmful.
There are many critters that actually help your worm bin thrive.
Isopods and springtails are a couple of compost bin invaders that actually help break down food waste into nutrient rich worm and critter castings. They are good inhabitants and should be kept, if possible.
There there are the not so great worm composting bin critters. Those are bugs and mammals that attack worms, eat their cocoons or compete with them for food.
Roach
Some of those harmful pests of your compost bin are mice, rats, roaches moles, earwigs, mites, flies, centipedes roaches and ants and millipedes.
Kill roaches where you find them and remove the bin to an outdoor area immediately if they are found in your worm bin. Call a pest control specialist if you believe that you have roaches in your house. The worm bin most likely did not bring the roaches in. They were probably attracted to your worm bin because it was moist, warm and filled with things that they like to eat.
Mice and rats will feed on food in your composting bin and not usually the Redworms themselves. They will eat the food meant for the worms, they will tunnel through the worm bedding and they will use your composting bin covers as nesting material. There are humane traps on the market that can help you get rid of mice and rats.
Moles are also a major pain and they will invade your worm beds from the bottom, tunnel through the bed and feast on the worms. You will have to poison, trap or kill moles or you will lose your worms.
EarwigsCentipede
Millipedes and centipedes will eat small worms and cocoons. Smush them when you see them. The same goes for nasty earwigs. Have gloves on hand and smash them between your thumb and forefinger when you come across them in your worm composter.
Ants will also compete for food and they will carry the food away to their ant world.
Flies will not carry your worm bedding contents away but they will lay eggs in the worm compost bedding and the larvae will hatch and eat the food and make a stinking mess of your worm bin.
Pests are drawn to food. The only way to stop them is to keep your area clean, keep the worms indoors, or have a tight fitting lid on your worm beds/bins so that nothing can get into your worm bedding.
Practice common sense composting and keep your area open and clean. Debris provides hiding places for vermin and the vermin will then be attracted to your worm bin.
One of the main questions that we get all year long is “How many worms do I need for my vermicomposting bin?”. Many people start their Red Worm composting bins using bins that they have in the house, or something that they bought inexpensively and they have no idea how many worms it takes to get their worm composter going. I have probably answered that question a thousand times over the years.
The site allows you to choose 3 different types of worms and then input your worm bin demensions by inches. The site then provides how many worms you will need for your worm bin or worm bed.
The cool thing is that it is simple and easy and accurate. Check it out and let us know your thoughts. We will be linking to it on our site too. We have been give permission to link to the calculator below. Try it out and then squirm on over and get some worms from Wormman.com. 🙂
I get at least an email per week asking me how to make bedding for breeding worms. Then I get more about how to make bedding without peat moss. We do not use peat moss because it is nonrenewable, so we opt for creating our own “Worm-Safe” bedding, which can be used for breeding Red Worms, African Night Crawlers and European Nightcrawlers, also known as “Euro Worms”. All red composting worms can use our Worm-Safe worm bedding recipe.
I have made a long video explaining the process. I apologize for the length of the video but I wanted to get all of the information in. You can also see a cameo of my son’s pig, Spamela.
Making the worm breeder bedding is a two part process. The first part is mixing about 40% fresh horse, rabbit or cow manure, or aged fowl manure, with 60% straw or other brown material like dried grass clippings. That mixture is moistened and allowed to heat for a couple of weeks.
Then, once past the compost heating stage, we mix that with 50/50 with shredded cardboard and newspaper that has been wet down, mixed and also allowed to age about a week or so.
We mix those two parts together, 50-50 and let it age again for week to ensure that it will not heat again. We take daily temperature readings with a composting thermometer.
Then we add the bedding to our composting or bait worm breeder bins. We only use about 3 inches of that mixture and we put in our breeders. They stay in that worm bin for 21 days at around 75 degrees and then they are moved to fresh bins. The egg capsules and babies, which are now in the bin with our original mixture, are placed in an incubator, bin and all, and hatch out. We keep them in that bin until we can see them easily. At that point we put them into a growout worm bed and feed them to get them to mature size as quickly as possible.
I will be posting some diagrams and pictures of our system soon. Please ask your questions below or in our forum.
At least I think that our new Super Worm Poop Product is exciting. We are having our vinyl stickers for the shaker bottles made now. Imagine the thrill of being able to shake Super Worm Poop over your garden soil and turn it into lush green plants, vegetables and fruit. Are you imagining it? Ahh!
Check it out!
Insect Frass makes great fertilizer.
Our company produces Superworms, mealworms on 100% Human grade table grains and vegetables from our farm. We grow potatoes, carrots, cucumbers and zucchini just for our worms. We do not use chemicals, pesticides or hormones for our Superworms or Mealworms, so you can be positive that the worm poop that goes into your garden is only 100% nutrient rich worm poop.
Benefits:
Not only is our Super Worm Poop loaded with nitrogen Super Worm poop enriches your garden soil and hydroponic systems with micro-organisms which will improve root structure and give your plants the push they need to be greener and healthier than ever.
Super Worm Poop is a natural source of chitin. Chitin is in the exoskeleton of our Superworms and Mealworms. As the worms grow, they shed and those skins also grind into the worm poop. The addition of chitin to hydroponic systems and garden soil can produce phenomenal results. Chitin works by encouraging the growth of chitin eating bacteria. This bacteria attacks many forms of harmful plant fungus and nematodes. Chitin can help flowering plants produce flowers and fruits, and can also help plants produce natural oils and resins. Think aromatic botanical and medicinal plants here.
The Science:
On anti-pathogenic effects:
“A Review of the Applications of Chitin and Its Derivatives in Agriculture to Modify Plant-Microbial Interactions and Improve Crop Yields”
Russell G. Sharp 2013
“Chitin and its derivatives have been repeatedly shown to protect crops from pests, pathogens and physiological disorders. A number of modes of action have been identified for the beneficial effects of chitin-based treatment on crops, including direct antibiosis and the induction of plant defences. However, their action in stimulating beneficial microbes has proved particularly impressive, with chitin/chitosan amplifying the effect of beneficial microbes in controlling pathogens, promoting plant growth and remediating soil pollutants. Combined, these effects of chitin addition and the subsequent responses of plants and microbes have led to improvements in disease control, plant growth, and ultimately improved crop yield and quality. The effectiveness of chitin-based treatments has been found to be comparable to those achieved with current synthetic pesticides and fertilizers. This effectiveness combined with the low cost, low concentration required, ample supply (recycled waste) and health/environmental safety lead to a forecast that a range of chitin-based/augmented products will become a more common feature in agriculture in the near future.”
How to use:
As a Hydroponic additive:
Mix 1-2 tbsp. of Super Worm Poop per gallon of nutrient solution. Keep well aerated.
For Indoor Plants:
Super Worm Poop can be mixed directly into the soil. Sprinkle the poop lightly on top of the soil on indoor plants. The Super Worm Poop nutrients will soak down thru the soil each time the soil is watered.
To Start Seeds:
The size and growth rate of seedlings and transplants will be remarkably improved when mixing 1 cup of Super Worm Poop to 1 cubic foot of seed starting mix.
In Your garden:
Super Worm Poop should be mixed directly into the soil. Simply lightly sprinkle Super Worm Poop around your plants right onto the soil using the shaker bottle your Super Worm Poop is delivered in. The wonderful nutrients will soak down thru the soil each time the soil is watered.
On Your Roses and Perennials:
Top dress roses and perennials with Super Worm Poop or mix into the soil above the roots.
Right on Your Established lawn:
Broadcast Super Worm Poop at a rate of 5 lbs of insect frass per 100 Sq. feet of lawn.
For New lawns:
Apply 5 Lbs. of Super Worm Poop per 100 sq. ft. of lawn. Work the Super Worm Poop into the top 2″ of the soil. Apply grass seed and water well.
Planting trees and shrubs:
Dig your planting hole. Apply 1/4″ of Super Worm Poop to the center of the hole and spread the plants roots over the insect frass. Insert your plant and fill the rest of the hole with fertile soil.
Super Worm Poop Tea:
We do not recommend drinking Super Worm Poop, but if you are fan of red worm compost tea, then you will love Super Worm Poop Tea. The tea can be used to fertilize house and garden plants while watering. You can also be spray the tea on plant leaves as a foliar fertilizer.
How to Make Super Worm Poop Tea:
Method 1: Soak 1 tbsp. of Super Worm Poop in one gallon of water for 24 hours. Strain the tea solution and dilute with water as necessary before use.
Method 2: Fill a 5 gallon bucket 1″ full of Super Worm Poop and then fill the bucket with water. Use a small aquarium pump with a bubbler to add oxygen to the solution. The tea should be allowed to steep with the oxygen bubbles for at least a few hours. Strain the tea solution and dilute with water as necessary before use.
For a microbial kick to your Worm Poop Tea, add 1/4 cup of molasses when brewing.
I wanted to share quick update on our compost bin creation using a $4.46 Wal-Mart tub. To refresh your memory, we found a bin at Wal-Mart that is being sold by a worm farm on the internet for about $100. We wanted to show you that you could duplicate that bin for about $5. Here is that video.
We are 3 weeks in and the worms are breeding and eating the newspapers and cardboard bedding. They are depositing capsules all over the place and those will hatch in a couple of weeks. I will continue to do updates until all of the paper and cardboard is gone. I will not add any additional food to the bin until after we see the project through. The Red Worms will be fine because of the amount of paper and rabbit poop I used when making the bin.
In the real world, I would advise taking those breeders out of there as soon as babies are seen in the red worm composting bin. The reason is that removing them will allow the babies to have plenty of food before you need a bedding change.
Of course, moving the breeders to a new bin will also allow them to continue to breed strongly, especially if your goal is to increase your worm supply.
For our cheap worm bin project, we will keep the breeders in the bin to concentrate the number of worms we have on creating worm castings for our garden.
Three weeks later and I would call our $4.46 worm composting bin a success.
It is that time of the year here at Wormman.com. It is mid-June and it is getting hot. The African Nightcrawlers are starting to stir and they are growing quickly now that the natural heat is kicking in. This is a short video of some juvenile African nightcrawlers that will be breeders in another two weeks or so. They are beautiful worms. They also happen to be the best casting makers because of their huge appetites which are only matched by their large size.
Vermicomposting (worm composting) for Less Than $5!
I happened to be looking at some of the worm bins for sale on the internet, when I found one on a website that really looked familiar. They were selling the worm farm for $99. Granted, the worm composter also came with worms, bedding and food.
From the looks of the bedding, it is peat moss. More on that later.
Anyway, I finally remembered where I saw that same bin…Wal-Mart. I threw the kids in the car and went to Wal-Mart. Low and behold, the very same bin was there for $4.46! That is quite a markup.
I decided to make a video to show you how to make a worm composter using that bin.
The video of the newly minted worm composting unit is below.
Now back to the peat moss thing. We do not use peat moss. I am not saying that to be some edgy environmentalist wackadoodle, although I am a green kind of guy. Peat moss is a non-renewable resource. Once those peat bogs are gone, they are gone forever. Those peat bogs host all sorts of amazing creatures, many of which have not yet been discovered. My feeling is that if we can make due without peat moss in our worm bedding then we should do that.
We use shredded newspaper, straw, and cardboard, mixed with manure for our beds. When you buy our worm bedding, it will be the items mentioned above mixed together and aged a bit.
We are also using coir bedding now and that is made from coconut. That is very renewable and is a great product, but it is a little costly when we can get straw, paper, manure and cardboard for next to nothing.
Anyway, please watch the video if you want to see how we set up this worm composting bin, and how you can too, for under five dollars.
