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Boardwalk :: Forum List Six (6) New Worm Digest Forums 1) General Earthworm Discussion Forum
Steve334
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A Fertile Cocoon
Posts: 5
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 Dying Europeans - 2008/09/30 13:00 I am new at raising the Euro's. I have been experiancing some dead worms that come to the top of my bins. Most of them look like they have a small thread around there body and pulled tight. Some have multiple points with this string like tightening around them. Some look like they have been cut off with a knife. Any ideas on my problem and how to deal with it? Steve
Los Alamos, NM
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thewormguys
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A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 61
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/09/30 13:40 We have talked about this or something like it in the past and if I remember correctly it's protein poisoning. I had this problem when I first started. I cut back on the oat and corn meal. Look back within the last year of posting you should be able to find it. I will look also.
Rob
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Steve334
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A Fertile Cocoon
Posts: 5
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/09/30 17:01 I appriciate the info. I may have done it to myself. I got hold of some Game Bird grower that was 30% protein and ground it real fine for feeding the worms. My thought process was the better the protein the better they would thrive. Guess i was wrong. I will go back to a lower protein content. Anyone have an ideal protein % that I should be feeding for best growing and breeding? I have some chicken lay pellets that are 16 or 20 percent that I could grind.

Steve Steve
Los Alamos, NM
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thewormguys
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A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 61
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/10/01 09:46 It's not the protein %, it is more the amount. I put oatmeal and corn mesh on top of the bed. Then I put the veggie scraps at the end so they can eat some veggies with their protein. I guess it gets back to the rule of don't over feed.
I looked for the past posting and couldn't find it.

Rob
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Steve334
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A Fertile Cocoon
Posts: 5
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/10/01 22:03 Rob, I appriciate you looking for it. I have been top feeding my bins since I got them. I only feed when the feed I put on has been eaten.

Wanted to know if anyone has had any dealings with the UNCO company that is on the net. They have a program where you pay them for a manual and advise on raising cultured night crawlers. You also buy a starter kit which includes breeding stock, Ventilated Production Containers, hatch containers, feed, booster, and ph paper. All this for around $4,000.00. I got there video and liturature in 04. Did not do much with it up to now. They are still in buisness and raise all there worms in white 2 or 3 gallon type pails. I have seen on the video that they acually mix the feed and a so called booster into the bedding that they mix in a cement mixer. They stay in the buckets for approximately 2 weeks and they are then put through screens and the eggs are removed to other pails and incubated. The worms are waighed and put back into pails with new bedding and feed for the next two week cycle.

I am trying some buckets to raise them in. Some with mixing the feed with the bedding and some with top feeding. Trying the 2 week cycle thing.

Will see where is goes.

Steve Steve
Los Alamos, NM
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Larry C
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A Mature Breeder Earthworm
Posts: 96
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/10/02 15:29 Steve,

I also purchased the DVD & Manual from UNCO. Not sure which direction I was going to go...reds or nightcrawlers. I asked a long time grower, whom I had read a magazine article about, what she knew about UNCO. This is her reply:

"A friend bought his manual and dvd and some worms. I sold half of what he bought 2 months later. The other half went away or died. European nightcrawlers are alot cheaper to buy from someone else. Thats what the guy sells in Racine. Fisherman buy them but composters don't. His manual is a bunch of newspaper clippings telling how great the worm business can be. Nothing specific, all trash. Buy elsewhere.

There's money to be made in the euros, we'd buy and cup. Raising them didn't go well for me. I know big bait farms with 8-10 vans on the road all the time and they buy ,sell euros all the time. They might hold them for a while, but they never raise them. Fresh shipments come in every day from europe, cheap.

A another friend in Texas does real well with the euros, sells alot of cups to the stores, does as well with them cupping as he does with redworms. Raises them himself too."

Hope this helps,

Larry
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wonderwoman
User

A Hatchling Earthworm
Posts: 15
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/10/03 20:07 Hi Steve I have been raising Euros for about 8 months I do feed my worms the laying mash but the thing you want to remember is not to mix it into the bedding, also I have had several farmers to tell me that the protein cannot exceed 9-11%. The feed store mash usually will contain about 16% protein for chickens. I sift the mash to remove the larger pieces and then mix cornmeal with it 50-50. I use a cornmeal that does not contain salt, that will be the other thing to be careful of you do not want salt to build up in the bedding. I am lucky enough to find organic cornmeal which contains nothing but ground corn. Hope this helps you out. linda
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Larry C
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A Mature Breeder Earthworm
Posts: 96
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/10/04 02:27 wonderwoman wrote:
The feed store mash usually will contain about 16% protein for chickens.

Does this apply to feeding reds also? When I went out of the poultry business this summer,I stashed about 250 lbs to use on my reds...possibly as a fattener, Before the mill picked up my left over chicken feed. Not sure what percent of protein the finisher feed contains.

Larry
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wonderwoman
User

A Hatchling Earthworm
Posts: 15
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 Re:Dying Europeans - 2008/10/05 08:37 Yes, this would apply to all worms you raise. I am not sure how much protein would be in the finisher as it would be a different type of feed. You could check with the place the finisher came from, I take it this must be in bulk and not in bags. If you know who produced the food try to contact them. I do know that you are not suppose to use scratch, only the chick starter or laying mash. I will try to find out more and let you know. As someone else said you have to be careful the amount you feed at one time, if the food stays in the bin too long then it becomes sour and releases amonia. Hope this helps. linda
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Boardwalk :: Forum List Six (6) New Worm Digest Forums 1) General Earthworm Discussion Forum

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