Newsflash
Sign up for a free account to take advantage of all the new features and to be able to post in the forums. There have been over 33,000 logged entries in the forums since 1998.  Check out the Fun and Magazine Stores.
 
Welcome, 1 kB
WormDigest Forum  


Boardwalk :: Forum List Six (6) New Worm Digest Forums 1) General Earthworm Discussion Forum
timnbama
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
graphgraph
 
 Worms - 2009/03/12 20:33 I finally got a pic of the inside of the small barn that I have the worm beds in. It still needs 1 more set of 8' beds and then it will be full.

Post edited by: timnbama, at: 2009/03/12 20:35
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
timnbama
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/03/12 20:38 Here's a shot down the other side of the barn.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Larry C
User

A Mature Breeder Earthworm
Posts: 96
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/03/13 01:02 Looks good Tim. How many beds total are going to be in there and what size is the barn?

Larry
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
timnbama
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/03/13 21:13 The barn is 12'x25' and there is going to be 45 beds in there, if not more. I've still got to get the beds put in my 70' barn tht I built this past year. The hours that I've been working the past few weeks and I guess until mid-April has messed things up a little. Then with my blood sugar running low all the time here lately which the doctor says is from the hours partly don't help a lot either.
The best breeders still are the Africans by far. The Europeans are doing pretty good but it was Oct. before I could get any of those this past year. I've got to build a couple of new beds as there are 5,000 of those on order now. The biggest thing is trying to keep them seperated out now for fattening for bait sales. My red worms are doing OK and they are some big fat ones and then some will be short ones. I want to seperate some of the longer ones out to themselves and see if they will breed a bed of those as a seperate start.
It don't take long to go thru 20 pounds of feed with this many beds now. The main thing that I feed is plain flour and finely ground corn flour along with just a little cottonseed meal along. I don't want to do like one guy I know, made up a big bed and then dumped a whole week's or more of feed and stirred it in with a rake then watered the bed. BYE, BYE worms, lol.
It's a good all day job now to turn all of the beds and add shredded paper. Usually all weekend for me as my back can't stand too much at one time. The other barn is soon going to have several new 3'x7' beds in it that will mainly be for fattening the worms as I've learned to really fatten Africans and some of the others you don't want very many per square foot.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
timnbama
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/03/14 06:01 Here's the 70' barn that I'm starting to put beds in. I don't know just how many beds I'll finally decide is enough. It sure don't take long for you to have need of another one and then another one. The main expense for bedding is the peat moss and I guess the shredded paper, lol. Right now I get several bags a month from the courthouse with some of them being as big as the extra large lawn and leaf bags so that means less time for me sitting over a shredder.
The barn in this photo is open and I've got to close it in before next winter so it can be heated somehow. I'm still thinking about a hot water system of some type probaly with wood as the heat source as electricity eats up a lot of profit.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Larry C
User

A Mature Breeder Earthworm
Posts: 96
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/03/14 13:59 Tim,

Wow! that building should hold a lot of bins. the old chicken barn I'm using is 50x100, but I'm only using a 10' strip down one side for the actual bins. By end of the month I should be dividing my four bins into eight. I hope to stop dividing and start selling after that. Gotta go pick up more lumber today.

Larry

Post edited by: Larry C, at: 2009/03/14 22:37
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
nuismom
User

A Hatchling Earthworm
Posts: 10
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/04/03 21:20 Surely, someone here could come up with a great "green" solar solution for heating your 70' barn using that metal roof. That would be dandy.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
timnbama
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/04/05 20:35 I'm starting to look at info on solar water heaters and trying to decide how best to work it in. I'll have to sell more worms than I am now to pay for my winter's heating bill but at least with this being the first winter that I've had them I kept the bed temps up enough for them to breed like crazy all winter.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
mikel
User

A Juvenile Earthworm
Posts: 74
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/04/05 21:21 So how much are these heating systems going to cost? Did you have a heating system for this past winter?
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
wellsworms
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 624
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/04/06 07:55 check with your local school system for shredded paper my neighbor is janitor at the local k-8 school and brings me several bags of heavy weight paper shred every week FEED IT TO THE WORMS
WELLS,vermont
jerry walker 2008
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
wellsworms
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 624
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/04/06 07:58 this looks great . could you comment on what the hanging bucket is for centered in the far end roof leak? FEED IT TO THE WORMS
WELLS,vermont
jerry walker 2008
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
timnbama
User

A Protected Species Earthworm
Posts: 167
graphgraph
 
 Re:Worms - 2009/04/06 16:26 When I had all of the rabbit cages in that barn the water went into the bucket and when it filled up a commode float valve cut the water off then it was just gravity pressure down to the 44 cage nipples. The bucket is actually sitting on a shelf. I'm going to replace it with a larger container to allow the chlorine to evaporate out of the water then I can use it in the worm beds.
For heat this past winter I just used an electric space heater. I think that a solar water heater will soon be in the works and back it up with a small electric water heater. Hopefully by this upcoming winter I'll be pumping heated water thru the beds.
  | | The administrator has disabled public write access.
Boardwalk :: Forum List Six (6) New Worm Digest Forums 1) General Earthworm Discussion Forum

Joomlaboard Forum Component 1.1.2 Stable
Two Shoes M-Factory
Site and contents are © 2008 EarthWormDigest.org. All Rights Reserved.
Earth Worm Digest is a Public Non-Profit 501(c)3 Organization.
1455 East 185th Street, Cleveland, OH 44110
Office telephone and fax 216-531-5374