4 Factors for Breeder Bin Success
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- Опубліковано 22 січ 2024
- Hello!
There’s many tips and tricks when managing breeder bins. I cover a lot of these in my red wiggler breeder bin playlist :
Red Wiggler Breeder Bins
• Red Wiggler Breeder Bins
But sometimes it’s nice to strip it down to a few key elements that drive the vast majority of success. That’s what I do in this video 👍.
FYI, I believe that using pre-compaot as bedding or as a component of bedding is a huge benefit to worm bins in so many ways. Here’s a link to my playlist on how to make pre-compost easily and cheaply, even indoors!
Indoor Table Top Pre-Composting Bin
• Indoor Table Top Pre-C...
Come along and see how you can make your worm breeder bins even better!
If your looking to start red wiggler worm vermicomposting I have the worms and cocoons to start you off on the best path possible 🪱👍 My website is:
rockinworms.com
Thanks for watching! ❤️😎🪱
Yours in the dirt,
Jayne
Look at those cocoons!
Hi Katie! Welcome! It’s a crazy amount! After I pulled out the almost 1,400 cocoons for the 2 orders I hadn’t even touched one corner section of this bin so I knew there were lots more cocoons. But when we did the this video and turned over the entire bin again, wow! Even I was surprised at how many were still scattered all through the bedding 🤩. And those fat clitellums tell me more are being cast off every day!! ❤️❤️
Looks like a lot of healthy worms doing all they can to support the cause. I must say the cameraman is also doing a good job with the close-ups in the videos. Good video!
Hi VermiCast! Yes the worms are doing their job! Good worms! 🪱
Cameraman says thanks for recognizing his brilliance. 🙄.
Seriously he does a fantastic job and I think it really adds value to the content. 👍🪱
Wow! Look at all those cocoons. I am super excited that some of those are coming my way! I hope my bins will look that good one day. 😊
Hi Marva! You confused me for a minute as you’ve changed your name and profile picture. I didn’t realize it was you in those other posts 😎.
Yes your cocoons are on their way already! You should get them Thursday per USPS 👍.
You’re working in pre-compost and that I think is the base for all my successes. My failures are totally on me 😳🙄🤣.
The great thing about worm keeping is it really is something anyone and everyone can do and do well with just a bit of time and effort 👍🪱❤️
Hi Jayne, very interesting and informative video. So many cocoons in that breeder bin. It all looks very healthy in there too.
Thanks for the content and sharing. Have fun, Mark : )
Hey Mark! Thanks for stopping by 😊. This is probably my best breeder bin result so far. So many cocoons!
I hope I get some more cocoon orders so I can spread the golden joy! 😍
@@RockinWorms
I'm sure you will get more orders for your cocoons when people see the quality and quantity of that breeder bin : )
@@madhat127 🤞🤞🤞
Hi Jayne. Hope your well.
Worms are looking healthy indeed. Great video very interesting and great tips. You know I’m gonna copy your footsteps as I know it’s always works. ❤
Hi Bev! How are you? Mimicry is the sincerest form of flattery so thank you! 🤗
Started a breeder bin (for the 1st time) in my cold basement about a month ago. Worms are doing fine but are in slow motion due to the 50F temps. Another issue, I used a very course mixture of shredded leaves and compost, really hard to separate the cocoons.
Think I will pick out the breeder worms out and start over with some sifted leaf mold and compost as bedding. Another thing I will do is bring this new bin up into my warm grow room.
I have been feeding them pulverized chicken crumble for worm food, really bulked them up.
Thanks for the info, another great teaching video. Oh btw, I could not get back into my channel so I will be starting a new one soon.
Stay Well!!!!
Hey Brian! This is very good experiential information and I hope you’ll make a video sharing it when you are back up and running 👍👍. Good tip on using fine ground up chicken feed as a fattener (😆) food 🤩.
I hope you didn’t mean you plan on tossing out the first chunky material bin😳. All those cocoons in there will hatch when your basement warms up and you’ll have a surprise bonus bin of great worms! 🪱🪱
My comment has little to do with "breeder bins" but you mentioned their natural habitat. I did a leaf mold experiment. The only bedding that bin has is fall leaves. It is not doing nearly as well as my managed bins with pre-composted coffee grounds and shredded paper. The leaves tend to dry out and so the worms eat the food scraps I give them but not the bedding. Population growth is minimal.
Hi Linda! That’s interesting! I do think, as you said, the lack of or inconsistent moisture level is having a negative impact 😬. Without good moisture the biota doesn’t work as well/fast in breaking those leaves down into particles the worms can eat. Leaves aren’t particularly good at moisture retention themselves either. Maybe if the leaves were soaked first and then drained so they’re not dripping wet? Lightly packed in as well? Food for thought!
The leaf mulch I added to the nursery bin was damp from the pressure cooking but not soppy wet at all. I ended up roughly layering the mulch with the pre-compost and ended with pre-compost vs a true mixing of them. It’ll be interesting to see what happens!
Thanks for sharing what you did and saw. It’s really nice to get these data from each other! 👍🪱🪱
I’ve struggled with more leafy bedding drying out more quickly as well. However, if you mulch and pre-compost them before using them as bedding, they do great with moisture retention and the worms love it!
@@RosWigglers Hi Ro! I agree that mulching the leaves first helps tremendously. I ran mine thru a sunjoe mulcher machine (a Xmas gift to myself this year off of marketplace - super good price!) before I cooked the leaf mulch. Composting the leaves or mixing them in with pre-compost will help a lot to retain moisture in the leaf mixture. Thanks for pointing that out! 👍🪱
@@RockinWorms Like I said, it was just an experiment. Now that I know the outcome, I'll mix leaves in with my precompost from here on out.
@@lindap9079 Sounds like a good plan 👍❤️. Thanks again for sharing your experience 🤗
Beautiful! Thanks for sharing ❤
Thank you for watching! I hope you find the other videos helpful and interesting too 👍🪱❤️
Hi Jayne. Very interesting video. Well, i haven't reached this stage yet because I am only 2 months into this but I'm making notes and listening Very carefully to everything you are saying. Hopefully within a couple of months from now i will be trying all this out. Thanks once again for sharing such valuable information. ❤
Hi Bobby! You’ll get there when it’s the right time for you and your worms 🥰. Just remember it’s always about what works for you, as there’s many ways to get to the same end 🪱🪱👍
I hope to see that many cocoons in my breeder bins some day! I still have more like 150-200 worms per bin, so over time as I’m able to add more, I’m excited to see how that increases my cocoon numbers :)
You could use smaller bins in the meantime to up your density…? As an idea to come at it from the opposite direction. Food for thought! 👍🤩
And I should mention again that this is the best breeder bin I’ve ever had. I hope to see this result happen more often but I’m really thinking that it’s more of a one off right now. 😊
@@RockinWorms makes sense! Thank you!
@@RosWigglers You are very welcome 🤗. I do combine breeder bins occasionally to keep my density in my desired range. Also, don’t be afraid to temporarily decrease the number of bins you’re running if it makes sense for achieving a goal. You can always split them back out later! 👍❤️😎
@@RockinWorms that is definite helpful, and would also mean less bins for me to check on!
@@RosWigglers Amen to that sister! I’m combining bins that hold younger worms to lessen the number of bins I’m managing right now. I know it’ll probably slow down size growth a bit but it’s a trade off I need to make as I’ve got a lot going on at the moment. Once things quiet down a bit (🤣🤣🤣🙄) I’ll split out some worms into smaller bins and size them up for sale. 👍🪱
Worm cocoons
Right on!
Great coverage of 4 main factors to achieve successful cocoon production.
I have one question for clarification. Once you release the worms into the bedding do you leave the worms undisturbed for the breed time? Or do you top feed with chow. while the worms are breeding?
About the mythical cocoon numbers, I get it reliably once a year, sometimes for two breeding cycles in a row.
It happens in the springtime, when the heat/furnace turns off and the windows are opened. Sometimes again when the air conditioners are installed and sometimes when the air conditioners come out of the windows in the fall, before the furnace turns on. The sometimes are just that, and not reliable like a working clock.
The way I look at it, the worms produce so many cocoons on a regular basis the outrageous number that are produced reliably once a year are a bonus. The trick is, learning how many cocoon bins to run to keep the wormery at capacity and have worms at all stages of growth and size.
Enjoy worms and have a great Day!
Hi! How are you enjoying your winter down time? When do you start ramp up for the coming season?
I leave my breeders alone, untouched for the full cycle. Sometimes (too often) they go longer and they still remain untouched.
I have tried top feeding in addition to my standard mix in of foods and amendments a few times for both breeder bins and grow out bins. The worms ignore the top feeding! It gets dry and crusty. I end up breaking it up with my hands and mixing it in after it sitting there for a few weeks. As we’ve discussed before, it’s probably due to several factors. My worms are not used to top feeding and don’t go there looking for food. They also have plenty of food (biota as well as chow, veggie powder) mixed into their basic bedding that they don’t need the ‘extra’ food on top. Oh and they have the cow manure as food too! I forgot that 🙄. Even though they turn the bedding and food into so.much.castings. in 3 weeks there’s still good food amounts left to take them for a longer cycle if needed AND there’s food for the cocoon hatchlings when the breeder bin turns into a nursery bin.
I’m glad to hear someone is getting the nirvana goal of 3 cocoons/week/worm! Gives me a goal to aim for 🤩. I appreciate your sharing that it’s not a an all the time occurrence but more of a nice surprise bonus ❤️. We’ve had a cooler, wetter winter so far and it definitely has impacted the in house environment the worms live in. You’re making me wonder how much that has played into this super bin. Maybe I’m not the root cause for this fantastic outcome 🤣🤣. Even if I’m not, I still maintain and I’m sure you agree, that having the basics down is absolutely a necessity first. 🪱
Thanks again for your valuable input!! 👍❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms Well. it is just about over, the relax time. Everything is starting back up this week. Two more weeks after this week catching up, then full-bore.
I do the same with my breeder bins. I have had basically the same experience with the worms not coming up for chow.
I mix chow in with the bedding and inoculate the bedding with casting tea for breeder bins and growing to desired sizes bins. I used to do the same with the worms coming out of the nursery and into grow out bins and the top feed would sit on top of the bedding for 2 weeks and sometimes up to 3 weeks before the worms would start feeding off the top. Now I just use bedding and casting tea and top feeding with chow for the grow out bins.
The cow manure I am sure gives an extra boost at cocoon production. My favorite is horse manure, it is just that I have to travel an hour NW or an hour NE to pick up a yard at a time, so it only happens once every 3 or 4 years. It only takes 1/2 cup mixed in with a gallon of bedding for amazing cocoon production. When I used to use paper-based bedding I would sift out the breeders, collect castings and the cocoons and undigested bedding was used for nursery bins.
Now that I use finely ground and sifted peat as bedding, I have to add fresh bedding for the nursery bins as I only have 2. 75 to 3.5 cups of undigested or overly wet bedding per 2.5 gal. I use worm casting tea for inoculating all bedding, unless something happens out of my control then I use pond enzymes.
I surely would like to see more people on this platform doing more breeding in this way or variations of these methods where the worms are left undisturbed. I truly believe from experience, that cocoon production is more prolific and consistent when the chow (in you case also vegetable powder) is mixed in and the worms are left undisturbed for the breed time.
I top feed my nursery, grow out and bed-run bins. The bed-run bins produce cocoons, but it is a hit and miss on the consistently of cocoon production. Then again when left for too long they self-populate and have worms of all sizes.
Your video is very educational,
I hope some take the tips you have outlined and put them to practice. 👍👍
@@wormsforlife7352 Thank you for all that information! I take what you say very seriously as a wealth of knowledge and experience. I hope that others are taking the time to read and digest your wisdom.
I’ve thought about eliminating the cow manure in the basic bedding as being ‘unnecessary’ or adding work that wasn’t worthwhile. But you’ve talked me out of that. The manure stays! 😆😎. I do add much more than a 1/2 cup per gallon of pre-compost. For me it’s always a shifting proportion, mainly depending on what I currently have more of on hand ready to use.
Worm tea is a great inoculation source for more sterile worm beddings. I always forget to mention it as I do have the biota laden pre-compost. Thanks for mentioning worm tea as it’s a readily available option for many worm wranglers that aren’t pre-composting (yet!).
The bottom line is getting lots of biota into the worm bin without turning it into a hot composting bin.
I hope you enjoy your few weeks of relaxation left! ❤️
@@RockinWorms I have read and understood, I think that’s where I have gone wrong with the coca coir as it’s sterile, which is great for use in the house as no bugs, but then has no food in it for the worms, and maybe should of wet it with tea instead of water. That may help in future as I have a lot of it. As I have found it too be good… will be better with tea. If I can’t get on with the precompost, I only have the one box atm due to storing it, once the weathers better and can keep it in the shed/craft room then will be able to make more, have the ingredients and 3 boxes now, may even get better at making it and filming it if I do it more lol.
But to have the back up of cocoa coir is amazing as atm I have 26bricks in the space of 1 box - of the boxes that would hold precompost, so shows how they make 8L a brick, 200L in an 80L bin for precompost. When I think about it like that… but if it doesn’t feed the worms well then I need to change to tea and make it feed the worms, I always make it up a few weeks ahead of time unless I forget if running low… so it would give the tea time to work more too I guess.
Very good information to add to my knowledge. That’s to the other worm wrangler for the information. 👍
@@RockinWorms just had a thought, maybe that’s something you can do a video/short on, the tea to inoculate the bedding if using peat/coir… as you say it’s not needed in the precompost but for people not doing that, for whatever reason, this gives them away to get that information… if people are not reading comments.
I never used to until someone,you, said it was good too. I used to think that the comments to the creator, you, were ment to be more between you and the commenter, instead of for anyone to read and digest the information and chat. I didn’t like to read incase it was seen as nosy 🧐 lol but now I understand it’s more for all and for people to help each other too.
Maybe others feel the same. Don’t know.
Question: is the pre-compost you make actually food or bedding? Thank you for the videos!
Hi again! It’s a twofer! The pre-compost works as bedding and a wonderful food source for the worms. Can’t beat that! Especially for the price 😆😍.
Loads of caccons…..
I have 200 worms in each bin . Maybe I need more in each. I don’t know. And yes I’m keeping an eye more on the food situation to see if feeding them more often but just on the top is better for them. The baby bins are going through feeding in 48hrs but the breeders I was checking 2x weekly so maybe I need to check more often….
Hi again! What’s your surface area on your breeder bins?
Worms get acclimated to where the food is if we consistently feed in a certain place - top feed, zone feeds, or mixed in.
Try to not disturb your beeeders for the 21 day cycle. A top feed sprinkle is ok but any mixing or aerating can negatively impact them hooking up and will reduce cocoon production. 👍❤️🪱
@@RockinWorms yea I feed them on top with chow and maybe some veg powder as and when I have it.
I’ll go check the breeder bin tubs
@@RockinWorms 14x11x4.5 inches
@@cherylhowker1792 So that’s 2 square feet of surface area. You can, and probably should, up your worm density by at least 100% to a minimum of 400 worms total in the bin. I’d say going to even 600 would work quite well too. Using my general breeder bin density would be about 640 breeders in your sized bin 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms ok well that will save me on bedding and changes. Will do that on the next change.
Have you ever tested with raw material? It seems that they do their thing even more with grip. Jute or larger pieces of double cardboard
Hello! I have indeed on rare occasions put raw shredded cardboard into worms bins. My worms turn their noses up at it!😆. It does eventually get processed but it takes months. I’ve seen other worm wranglers put raw cardboard into their systems and it’s gone in a week or so. I sometimes think my worms are so spoiled with the basic bedding (pre-compost and cow manure) so full of biota that they don’t eat the raw stuff until it’s the last thing on their plate. 🤷♂️.
They absolutely love working their way thru thick corrugated cardboard. Using it as shelter and cocoon laying and of course, eating it.
Just to be clear, raw cardboard or paper or several other common bedding materials should NEVER be the only bedding or food source for worms. They’ll die of starvation if there’s not enough ready to eat food. Once a thriving bio-ecosystem is in place then adding raw materials is fine 👍🪱❤️
@@RockinWorms Don't worry, overhere for example our own clean horse 💩. Thanks for your answer🤗
@RockinWorms hi, something is making me wonder? I notice several worm farmers on ytube seem to love seeing liquid coming from their farms into whatever they use to catch it. Before starting my worm farms I was told that there should never be any liquid leak from the farms, I was told that it means too much liquid has been added. The only time my worm farms released liquid into the tub I have to catch anything(mainly the odd worm), was in the autumn when we had a fortnight or so of solid heavy rain, the farms were in the wheelie bin shelter and got soaked. I bought the farms and set them up on the 27th June 23 and apart from the rain problem my farms have never leaked anything. I would say around 80-85% moisture level. 💕
Hi Taya! You know, that’s a great topic for me to do a video on! There’s this persistent hard to get rid of confusion/misinformation about this topic 🥲.
Bottom line: you should not have liquid coming out of your worm bin. Period.
So why are there spigots on commercially tray systems?? Because newbies in particular have a hard time managing moisture (and overfeeding). If commercial worm tray companies didn’t address this and have a way to help newbies get rid of excess moisture they’d get a bad rap with all the issues that excess moisture causes. So they added spigots and spun it into a positive when it.is.not. Then you have the CFT which also allows for excess moisture to quickly leave the system and this provided apparent support for excess moisture. But because you can doesn’t mean you should! A very popular worm wrangler in his older videos added lots of excess water because HE could given his unique CFT set up. Sadly people saw that and thought that meant they could/should do that too. However, if you look at his regular bins, no excess water! None! As it should be.
Lastly, that excess water in the bottom of a tray system or regular bin is going to cause issues if it stays there. Smells, pond scum, etc. Yuck.
To repeat: bins and tray systems should be moist. Even very moist. But NOT dripping wet. I hope this helps someone! 🪱👍
@@RockinWorms hi, yes, they sure keep batting on about it! I have seen several literally get a hose and completely soak their farm(s) until it pours out the bottom of the tubs they are using. There is a lady in Hawaii, she seems very knowledgeable but yet, she soaks her bins(tubs) at least one a week when she feeds allowing water to flood out through the bottom the difference is she doesn't collect it she says it is worm urine that she has washed off them and it's bad to use! 💕 .
@@tayag9223 I have a local worm acquaintance and he does the same thing. He’s happy with his results so after a few discussions, we just move on and each do our own thing.
I’m just thinking now…. If a worm wrangler doesn’t pretty much empty and treat his worm bin at some reasonable time frame, will there be a gradually accumulation of salts? It’s one reason to flood rinse potted plants occasionally. Now that’s link to fertilizer use but could salts and other non-good things could up in a worm bin over time? Hmmm. Something to think about. What do - and anyone else - think on this?? 🪱🪱
@@RockinWorms hi, yes, it's something to think off if you never empty the tub(bin) at harvest time. However, the lady in hawaii completely empties her bins and tells her following(pupils/students) to do the same thing to harvest castings the first time after nearly 12months(that where you have no bio as yet) there after every 6months and once all castings, worms, everything has been removed from bin clean bin thoroughly. So I think maybe the people who flood their bins fall into two camps, one camp being the lady in hawaii and the other where they never clean their containers out. Either way to do it every week or so is a little extreme don't you think and brings risk off disease and anerobic conditions . A guess it's horses for courses ☺. Then there is the folk claiming the leakage is good fertiliser and confuse it with worm castings tea and the rest who say it's bad! 💕
@@tayag9223 I guess at the end, like with most things, people are going to decide what they believe and that’s is that. I always maintain that worm wranglers need to do what works best for them and their worms and I am sticking with that 🤗. It is interesting though how different methods can be! 🪱❤️
When you have World cocoons do you take the older worms out of it and do you put any more worm food in it or do you wait till the Cocoon start baby worms
I wait until the cocoons have mostly hatched and I see a ton of baby wisps to start lightly feeding worm chow. Another sign to start feeding worm chow is when they’ve eaten most of the newspaper covering the top of their bin.
Remember that the bedding is from the breeder bin cycle that made the cocoons. There’s still some food left over from that as well as some unprocessed bedding. So the new hatches do have food already in their bin. But it won’t last long! Especially if there are literally a couple of thousand wisps hatching. When you see lots of wisps and the newspaper covering is mostly eaten, then start with a light worm chow feeding. After months or so you can add in food scraps 👍🪱
I started a very small breeder bin yesterday. I used a small dish pan I got at a dollar store. I figured I’d learn using less worms in something smaller than a mortar tray to start out. I’m not in a hurry. It’s hard to not be constantly peeking at them. Do you think it would be ok to use the powder for making hot chocolate in worm chow? I dug through my shelves yesterday looking for expired food and food I haven’t used and am not likely to use- to grind up and make worm chow. Rice, pasta, oats. I’ve been grinding up egg shells too.
Hi again! Yes I do think using the chocolate powder will be ok. It may have powdered milk in it (which is also ok for the worms) but be sure to not use a ton of it at one time and bury it in the bin, just to be safe. I have some old chocolate I plan on using for an experiment soon - it’ll be much more concentrated than what you’re doing.
Peeling is better than disturbing them by mixing the bin up. You definitely don’t want to do that as it interrupts mating activity. 🪱🪱😊
Hi again! I do think it’ll be fine to use the chocolate drink mix as worm food. It may have powdered milk in it (which is also ok for the worms) but may sour as it rehydrates so use only a small amount at a time and bury it to keep any smells down. I’d also be a little generous with the eggshells to offset any pH changes. I love that you’re clearing your cabinets for free worm food!
If you saw my rather recent video on a shoe box breeder bin and its results you know that small can be mighty!
Here’s the links in case you haven’t seen them:
Setting Up a Small/First Time Breeder Bin
ua-cam.com/video/gDh0dJzb2CU/v-deo.html
Small/First Time Breeder Shoe Box Bin, Cocoon Count Result - WOW!
ua-cam.com/video/EG2Qo9VYnu4/v-deo.html
🪱🪱🤩
I made bedding out of pin oak leaves here in FL and mixed with cardboard. After sitting it smells like oak shavings. Is this normal
Hi again. I asked some questions about this on your other comment. If not smells like oak shavings from oak leaves I’d say that is normal. If it’s not heating up, doesn’t contain pesticides, and isn’t huge hunks of material there’s no reason why your worms wouldn’t be happy with it as bedding and eventually food. 👍🪱
Also how to find your feedinf mixture..thanks
Hi again Sue! Here’s the link to my worm chow ‘recipe’. Please keep in mind it’s more of a sampler of what can be added, plus there’s lots more that also can be added. It’s a jump start on finding what you have and what you can get cheap that works great as worm chow ingredients 👍. I have to make up a new batch in the next few days and will do a video on that 😊👍🪱.
My Worm Chow Recipe for Happy Chonky Worms
ua-cam.com/video/nDIjqXjgte0/v-deo.html
Thank you so much for the video! Can you give us some tips for European night crawlers? or do you have a video about it, but I haven't found it yet? I do not know how to get them to produce more cocoons. 🥺
Hello! Welcome! European night crawlers (ENCs or Euros) are in the same species family as red wigglers - the eisenia species. They both like very similar conditions. I would give them both the same type of breeder conditions: worm chow mixed into the bedding, no obstacles on the bin, very moist conditions, and do not disturb during the 21 day breeding cycle.
Some research has found that bigger worms breed less than smaller worms…. And ENCs tend to be quite a bit bigger than red wigglers so I’m not surprised if they breed a bit less.
Give them the conditions I’ve suggested above for their next cycle and see what result you get 👍. Please let us know 😊😎🪱
I am very glad to hear from you! I've always worried about my queen worms (breeders? I'm sorry, I do not know how to correctly name the worms that make cocoons in English). I constantly fed them once every three days. Mixed the substrate. It must have been a big mistake. Can you please advise me how many euros are needed per square foot? My boxes are 47cm*53cm in size and I put 200-250 worms in there. The weight of one worm is about 2.5-3g. Another mistake is that I always used clean peat, I didn't even water them with worm tea for bacteria. But now I understand that the litter for breeders needs air.
@@Alexander_Gennadich Hi again! I very much like your term Queen Worms but worms are hermaphrodites so maybe Queen doesn’t quite fit 🤣. Simply calling them breeders is good enough as it only means that they are sexually mature and can mate and produce cocoons 👍.
You have good space in your bin for 200-250 euros.
I think you have identified the areas you want to work on yourself 😊. Mix in worm chow once at the cycle beginning or if you want to feed every few days then donut as a top feeding, lightly scratched into the bedding surface. You’re going to have to experiment to find the right amount of food for the worms in the bin.
If you’ve been feeding g the worms every few days and they’ve been in mostly sterile bedding you actually made the right choice! In sterile bedding without food they would have starved 😬. It’s more important right now to get a good ecosystem up and running - you can figure out breeding later.
As you continue to feed the worms / worm chow, fruits and veggies, dried plant matter, the ecosystem will build. It’ll take several months. That’s normal for a new bin. If you can get some compost or other biota laden material to add to your bin that would be helpful. You still need to be careful not to overfeed or overwhelm the bin - you don’t want it to tip over into hot composting or anaerobic sour conditions.
I know this is a lot to take in. Digest this and come back with questions - ok?👌 🪱
Do you have any other videos of you taking care of the worms cocoons
Hey. Here are some cocoon related videos I have:
How to Start a Cocoon Bin
ua-cam.com/video/7sxtK8CS9NQ/v-deo.html
Adding in a New Batch of Babies Plus Fluff and Feed.
ua-cam.com/video/D2y9NeKQOqc/v-deo.html
Analysis of Nursery Bin Plus Setting Up Horizontal Migration
ua-cam.com/video/NfP2CAgV7Co/v-deo.html
Where to Put Cocoons in a Grow Out Bin
ua-cam.com/video/9rmGZC3TNOk/v-deo.html
The How and Why of Picking Cocoons
ua-cam.com/video/z2846uE5u_M/v-deo.html
Maybe some of these videos will give you some ideas. 👍🪱😎
Thank you very much have a blessed day
How do you make precompost?
Hello! I’m so glad you asked 😍. I have a playlist of 7 videos that take you thru the steps with some problem solving as well. I also have a few stand alone pre-compost videos as well 👍. Let’s start at the beginning:
Indoor Table Top Pre-Composting Bin
ua-cam.com/play/PLUW0xTNzqrJp2nsLeHt-8OKFqP9XEZ-PE.html
Please give them a watch and come back with any and all questions! Also if you read the comments you’ll get even more information and experience reporting from people doing the pre-composting 👍🪱
Question. Why do worm people put air barriers on top of their worms when worns need air to breathe? Do worms congregate under this covering as they naturally go upwards for air, or do they want a protective surface above them ? Or both ?
Hi Tim! Thanks for asking 👍. The top covering is actually used as a moisture barrier, not an air barrier. The coverings are loose and certainly not airtight. As you point out, airtight would be a bad thing 😳. Worm wranglers that use bubble wrap often report that worm will kind of curl themselves around the bubbles. I use plastic bags (produce, meat, etc) that lay loosely over a newspaper covering. I use these bags because I have free access to them more than I do bubble wrap. Newspaper is air permeable. The plastic keeps my bins from drying out too quickly. I do find worms on top of the newspaper and ‘stuck’ to the plastic but not in any numbers that I would call congragating.
In nature worms would be living under a layer of fallen leaves. So having a top covering of some sort is natural to them.
Another thing to note is that while worms do breathe air, they don’t do it in the same way or at the same amount as we humans do. We can’t compare or project what we would need for air onto them. It’s completely different. Ok? 👍🪱
Why not put the moisture barrier over the top of the bin rather than on top of the soil? I place flat dead leaves over some portions of the soil and have a moisture bin lid.
@@timmcilraith8762 If that works then it’s fine to do it that way 👍. For me, the barrier isn’t big enough to stay securely in place. It would be falling off, I’d be knocking it off moving other bins, etc. inside the bin works best for me.
Using flat (or not flat!) dead leaves as a moisture barrier is a great idea if it works! 🤩. Worm wranglers need to be creative. They should use what they have access to. And hopefully save money and resources too.
Thank you for sharing that great idea! 🪱👍
Hi Jane. Thank you very much for your replies. I love your videos. Please keep them coming. God bless, Tim.
@@timmcilraith8762 Thank you Tim for watching and for asking questions. We can all learn and get ideas from each other. I really do think your leaf idea can work for some worm wranglers. You may have sparked a new trend! 🪱👍
Great video Jane!! Do you actually count out cocoons? How long does that take? I tried doing that but it was too time co suming for me. Do you have a tip?
Hi Samantha! Thanks for swinging by 🤗. Yes I really do count them. Once I get my eye in so to speak it goes fast. And having so many cocoons everywhere helps as I don’t waste time hunting for them. I haven’t timed myself as it’s actually an enjoyable task for me 😳🙄😍.
As for tips, I find that it’s easier to pick them out of moister bedding as they gleam more and stand out more. If I can pick cocoons out of bins where the adults have been removed (aka after a breeder bin reset) it also goes faster as I’m not grabbing yellow worm tails instead of cocoons 😆.
It’s not as time efficient but depending on my other commitments I will sometimes pick out cocoons and NOT count them until later. Tonight I did this. I received a new order today and also had a zoom call for a few hours. So while on the call I picked cocoons and put them in a small holding container. Now, after dinner, I can quickly count out the 500 (plus extras) cocoons.
I’ve been told I should weigh an average cocoon and then calculate the close enough number by weight. I’m willing to try that but honestly I don’t understand how to separate out the cocoons from the bedding, especially super moist breeder bedding, enough to get mostly only cocoons that I could then weigh and feel comfortable knowing that I’m shipping the right number. If I dry down the bedding A LOT I could concentrate cocoons by sifting. But that itself takes a lot of time and effort (and dries down cocoons too) and even space. Plus right now, I need to be take advantage of shipping windows due to weather conditions. Hand counting is the best way I’ve found (so far) that meets all these parameters. If anyone can please give me directions on how to do the cocoon weighing method I sure would appreciate it!! 🤩
Would lobe to ralk some time. I can guide you on the weighing of them.
@@MemesWorms That would be fantastic! I’d so appreciate it ❤️. Shall I call your business number to get on your calendar?
Yes mam
@@MemesWorms Thanks! I’ll give you a call soon!
Your worms are looking amazing Jayne 🪱🇳🇿
Thank you! Good bedding, good food, lots of moisture and leaving them alone as much as possible works wonders 🤩. Thanks for watching 🪱❤️
Hi Jayne, You are the Cocoon Nursery Queen 🪱🪱 I've never seen so many in each handful ❤
You're doing great and I hope you have loads of sales this year 👍
Hi Peggy! I’ll take that title 🤣! As I was just posting to Katie, I was wonderfully shocked at how many cocoons were still on the bin!!
I’ve been ticking along with cocoon sales, which is great! I’d like to have some more quickly so these little lemon drops of joy can go to more worm wranglers!! 🪱😍