Running a Hive

When a new hive is started off the worms are placed in one of the trays, which sits directly on top of the tank, with the two empty trays and roof above. There are, initially, 1000 worms in the tray in a safe bedding. This bedding is their initial home and is a mixture of cardboard dust, coir and vegetable waste,   and occupies the bottom two inches of the tray. There is a cardboard cover over the worms to keep in the moisture.

• When you have some waste all you have to do is lift off the roof, the empty trays and the cardboard cover and lay the waste on the surface and then replace the cardboard cover and the top empty trays. Once they have settled in the worms will leave the bedding and spend all the time in the waste food. 

• When the bottom tray is full you can start putting food into the second tray. First remove the cardboard cover and place on top of the waste in the second tray. The trays have holes in the bottom - the worms, sensing there is food in the tray above, will migrate to the new food using these holes.  They will not all do this straight away but will do it gradually.  When the second tray is full of waste you can place food in the top tray and repeat the process all over again. When the top tray is full you lift off the top two trays and you can then harvest your castings by emptying the tray. You now have a tray that can be re-used and is placed back on the top of the two working trays ready to receive waste again..

Siting the Hive

Worms have no way of controlling their body temperature. Worms are very active when the temperature is between 10C (50F) and 23C (73F). Below 10C they slow down and above 25C they get stressed and will die. So it is important to site the hive in the garden where it is:-

 

• Convenient to the kitchen
• Not exposed to full sun from 10 – 4 in summer
• Not exposed to freezing wind in winter

 

If you have space in the garage or car port that is convenient this is a good place to put it. If the Worm Hive is outside and the weather is freezing hard the worms become totally inactive. Stop feeding them and wait until the weather warms up before feeding.

 The Worms

The worms in the hive are the ones that love to eat waste. They are not the worm that you see when you dig over a patch in your garden. The worms in the hive like darkness, damp conditions and the right food. The cardboard mat that sits on top of the food keeps the moisture in and also helps in the mating game. The worms become sexually mature at about 14 weeks and lay eggs in the compost. The 1000 worms that are in the hive when purchased will soon increase to about 4000 given the right food