Making a Worm bed... kids and my project today

[Jane308]

So with living in between two lakes, the local country store runs out of crawlers alot.

So we came up with another at home business for the kids, besides our campfire wood and eggs.

Thought i share what I learned online and what we did.

Found a few sites with some ideas, and used what we had around the farm to make it.
Living in the woods had plenty of leaves, egg shells, and chicken pooh...

Took the concrete blocks and made a 2 block high square near our compost piles of barn cleanings.
Dug it out, and put in some old grain sacks, they don't hold water but let is pass through, then we put a used tarp in it and started laying in the dirt, shredded news paper, pooh, grass clippings, egg shells, and leftovers we don't feed the chickens.

My thought with the tarp it will be easier to pull up the sides and ends to shift dirt around and get worms.





had some left over fencing so we put that on top and put a brick or two on it to hold it down and keep my nosey, worm eating chickens out of it.

[The Hermit]

I seem to remember my grandfather adding in left over coffee grounds to his worm bed, which he kept all summer in the cellar. Gosh, that brings back a lot of memories.   Good luck with your project. I'm sure your kids will remember this the rest of their lives.


   The Hermit

[Graybeard]

If you get as much rain as we do here and if that tarp holds water you will drown all your worms the first time it rains. They like moist but will drown if the water is standing.

We used to have a worm bed and yeah coffee grounds was one thing I always added to it. These days there are so many fire ants I really can't have a worm bed anymore as the ants will take it over in no time.

Other than the concern about too much water it looks good to go assuming you are where fireants aren't a problem like here.

[Jane308]

Yeah the 4 years old tarp may hold some water in, it is an old tarp the threadings are loose so there is small gaps in it, was going to use landscaping fabric but none on hand. It's covered, or mostly covered the wood pile the last 3 years. We'll see when it rains again, which looks like all next week. may put some pylwood over it and just water it as needed through the week.

Kids already invaded my coffee pot and got the grounds the last few days, so they are on it!

Don't have fire ants here, mostly in the dessert part of our land there are mounds, but not so much in the woods.

[Dee]

I keep the ground damp under an old sheet of 1/2" plywood behind my shop. When ever I want worms, I lift up the plywood, pick up what worms I want, and lay the plywood back down. No diggin, no nuthin. I do occasionally throw raw oatmeal and old coffee grounds under the plywood, but not often. Just raise it up and soak the ground every so often keeps the worms comin. Friend of my showed me that years and years ago.

[Jane308]

yup that's where we find half of them during the day, stays moist in the woods here. and in leaf piles. Chickens follow us when we grab the rack and shovels, they ain't stupid :-) (well with the worms anyway)

[zoner]

when i was a kid i was always diggin worms to fish with. My grandfather built a box in the cellar....2x12's about 3' square. A wire screen on top. It got egg shells, raw potato peelings and coffee grounds. When i got done fishin the worms i had left went in the box......before long i could get my bait there instead of digging. Course, back then a good rain during the day meant i could go out in the lawn about ten at night with a flashlight and pick up a coffe can full of nightcrawlers in about half an hour. Then i figured out i could make my own "rain" with the lawn sprinkler ...sorry,i'm ramblin...too much coffee

[zoner]

BTW...Dee's right,poke some holes in the tarp so excess water will drain away

[Cornbelt]

Had worms when we were kids. Mom had some medicine for it.
  (The ones outside liked raw milk and hog crap.)

[blind ear]

Cornbelt;

For a secound there I had to consider, "is he talking about fishin worms or intestinal worms." eddiegjr

[Spector]

Back in the 70's I seem to recall a friend telling me they made a worm bed using an old refrigerator, or maybe it was a an old chest type freezer.  Most of it was buried in the ground.  Don't know what the drainage arrangement was, but I do recall he said that it had the insulated steel lid on top and all they had to do was open the lid and dig  worms out of the compost or whatever they filled it with.  Maybe someone with more knowledge of worm habitat can say for sure if this idea has any merit.........Mike