Hi sbryce

I think goose droppings are okay since they should be mostly processed vegetable matter. If there was only a little bit they should not heat up, remember it takes about 1 cubic foot to make hot compost (at least I seem to remember having read that somewhere). However, I would caution against picking up anything in the park, you never know what other parasites and "junk" (small plastic pieces for one) you may be taking home with you. I also have had to restrain myself on numerous occasions ;-)

Would you please keep us updated on how your worms responded?

Alex

2 days later the worms are ignoring the goose droppings. I was expecting the worms to respond to goose droppings the same way they would to horse manure, since geese eat grass primarily. Maybe it is too fresh for them.

I have recently overhauled my bin because it looked like the worms were suffering from what some call protein poisoning, so the worms were disturbed quite a bit about a week ago. The only other discernible food in the bin is ground up potato peels and onions, both foods that worms don't take to quickly. The worms, for the most part, are down in the more highly processed areas of the bin. I need a more favorable food to feed them.

A couple of days ago I was at a social function at which they were serving banana splits. I'm kicking myself for not grabbing the banana peels. I have a meat grinder I can run them through. That would have certainly gotten the worms' attention.

Hi All; sbryce STOP you are trying to kill the rest of your worms with food high in nitrogen protiens. If you must feed give them ground up egg cartons and cardboard. high in carbon cellulose. Let them brake down the bedding. Leave alone for 2-3 weeks.

lkittle,

Thank you for the advice.

I had over-fed with rice (Some sort of bug got into my rice, and I didn't want to throw it out), then noticed that the worms were avoiding the food and bedding, and many were dying. I removed the food and bedding down to the dark, mostly processed material near the bottom and re-bedded with fresh shredded cardboard. That was about a week ago. I have fed very lightly since then.

Except for the experiment with the goose droppings, I am treating the bin like a new bin and taking things slowly. The worms that I still have in the bin look healthy. I want to give them something besides their own waste to eat. I realize that there is still probably plenty of food value in the nearly-finished vermicompost.

The sad thing is that I still have more rice, and some macaroni that the same bugs have gotten into, and a loaf of bread that has gone moldy. The worms don't do well with a lot of grains in the bin all at once. I threw the bread out. I can feed the rice and macaroni gradually over time.

Hi sbryce it takes time and discipline(patience) to let the worms work through the problems we mistakenly put them into. They are very resilent if we just have patience and they will be stronger for it. The food you want them to have(what you don't have to buy just your throw away stuff)if fed in quantities they can handle will get them to the point where they will multiply very quickly and then you can feed larger quantities. If your bin is large enough try to save them a safe area where they can retreat. Never put food in that area only bedding material and let them process that as well as the food. When the bedding is processed put it in the feeding area and give new bedding. When harvest time comes feed on the bedding area and let the worms migrate to the food and you could harvest the first inch or soa week after the feeding site change. With each feeding remove some of the old food area material after having a light on for a few minuts. Within a few feedings you will have a clean bedding area. You can keep this switching going on until its worm dividing time.

It has been a week, and the worms are still ignoring the goose droppings.

My worms are ignoring just about any food I put in the bin right now, so it is hard to know whether they don't like the goose droppings, or whether there is something else in the bin that they don't like. They are still staying deep in the bin. I think they are still recovering from the overfeeding with rice.

The good news is that the bin is loaded with cocoons, so when this whole thing resolves itself, I should have a population explosion.

At this point I am considering the goose dropping experiment inconclusive, since the worms are not behaving normally toward any food in the bin. Food is disappearing, but it is disappearing slowly, and I am not seeing as many worms in the food as I would expect to.

After two weeks the worms seem to have discovered the goose droppings and are preferring them to all other food in the bin. I don't know why it took that long.

Remember - the worms primary food is the microbes that are eating the food sources you place into the bin - so it will take some time before a new food item "matures" to the point where the worms favorite food is feasting on your addition - then your worms will attack it with gusto!

Well, yes, but with most foods I place in the bin it only takes about 4 days for the microbes to break them down to the point where the worms start to take notice.

It could be that the urine/soluble salts took a while to dissolve and that is what kept the worms at bay?