That's reassuring to hear! How long do they usually take to break it down?My worms LOVE my rabbit's poop...
To be honest I've never paid attention to the time they take because I pretty much just ignore my worms other than feeding them once a week or so. But I have seen little baby worms massed around spots of rabbit poop in the bin. This makes me think the worms may be laying their cocoons where there are these large pockets of poop.That's reassuring to hear! How long do they usually take to break it down?
What a thread! :0)large pockets of poop.
I don't think it's that scientific, in my experience redworms will flourish in most beddings, just treat it like they are in the wild. Give them a bunch of vegetative detritus and that's all you need.I was reading about how worms take time to break down paper beddings. I also add coir to soil. So I figure this and that, maybe, maybe not. I have not added anything to the bin as of yet, but I do have a freezer container filling up with refuse.
What guesstimation is your peat ratio to container size?
I came across an article that showed a guy that put a worm bin under his chicken roost. I thought that it was clever and I was going to follow his example. It just didnt cross my mind that the chicken manure would be too hot or something. I thought that it would be great to keep the coop clean and disease free, plus give me some castings. Anyways, I would like to hear some thoughts on it!I
I'm still on perlite lol. I can tell you to avoid chicken manure! I burned some poor babies up lol.
To be honest I don't know a whole lot about chicken manure, it's a cheap ingredient so I usually avoid it but I was experimenting and figured what the hell. Plus the manure I used was supposed to be composted, so it shouldn't have gotten hot. Maybe I just had too much? Your coop set up might be ok? If the worms try to crawl out then you will know.I came across an article that showed a guy that put a worm bin under his chicken roost. I thought that it was clever and I was going to follow his example. It just didnt cross my mind that the chicken manure would be too hot or something. I thought that it would be great to keep the coop clean and disease free, plus give me some castings. Anyways, I would like to hear some thoughts on it!
http://permaculturenews.org/2013/03/20/worm-bin-and-chicken-poop-compost-catch/
http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/vermicomposting-with-chicken-manure/It just didnt cross my mind that the chicken manure would be too hot or something. I thought that it would be great to keep the coop clean and disease free, plus give me some castings. Anyways, I would like to hear some thoughts on it!
I guess that I never updated my worm bin on here, I started a thread about it instead. I found a 70yr old guy that has 160 rabbits and he really cannot clean up after them anymore. So, he listed free rabbit manure on craigslist. I paid one of my in-laws to pick up a truck load for me and he said that we could fill a 16ft trailer 3-4 times. We would be doing the guy and his rabbits a favor if I do go and clean up.To be honest I don't know a whole lot about chicken manure, it's a cheap ingredient so I usually avoid it but I was experimenting and figured what the hell. Plus the manure I used was supposed to be composted, so it shouldn't have gotten hot. Maybe I just had too much? Your coop set up might be ok? If the worms try to crawl out then you will know.
They do love rabbit manure, and that doesn't get hot. So if you're boy has a rabbit Hutch, I'd throw the bin under that. I throw the bedding and everything from my friends rabbits pen in my bin. I'm still in my first month though man, they're still chomping, I don't have results yet.
I have a healthy population of reds in my yard. The worms in my compost look healthier than my indoor worm bin. I was at a loss about the bedding. I know leaf compost would probably be best, but I dont have enough ready. Coco coir is not really that expensive. I will read that link for sure!http://www.redwormcomposting.com/reader-questions/vermicomposting-with-chicken-manure/
"The key will be to soak it down, mix it with C-rich materials, and let it age for quite awhile. You sound like you are on the right track, but you might think about adding some water to help drain off excess salts."
"shouldn’t add worms as long as there is a strong odor of ammonia. It should almost get to the point of having an ‘earthy’ smell. Your best bet is to test it out on a small scale before adding the worms. "
Hope this link helps a bit. I got a bunch bookmarked and saved searches lol.
You got an pictures and plans for that?...........I think rabbits are my next projectIt's been a little over a week since I set up my multilevel rabbit manure fed worm bin. So I gave my little drainage nozzle a twist and out came about 1/4 cup of compost leachate! Now I've heard that it can go anaerobic so I figured I should use it right away. Granted 1/4 cup isn't much, so I diluted it with a gallon of water and foliar fed it to my veg plants and three of my flower plants that I just moved into the flower room (nowhere near bud development).