2000 worms is only about 1.5 pounds or so. If you were to fill the other beds with food it would not be able to be consumed before it turned into a mess. As far as filling them with bedding ... Eveer since i changed from pocket feeding to layer feeding i have kept an empty rubbermaid bin that has moist cardboard in it. I dont notice a smell from it (it is in a well aerated bin).

The only real downside to alot of bedding is that it makes it harder for the worms to find each other and mate. With a fresh system you are probably wanting your numbers to rise significantly.

Bryan

I have many different stacking systems. I only start with worms,food and bedding in the first "working" tray. All those worms would go in that tray. As they work their way through that first tray after about 2 months, perhaps, it will be time to add the second tray and only feed that tray. The worms will then migrate up to the next tray to find the food. Leave that first tray alone, except to check it once in awhile so that you are sure you have good contact betweeen trays, so the worms can travel. That is how these systems work. Add a 3rd tray and let it get to the point of adding a 4th. You then take the original 1rst tray out from the bottom dump the compost and that will then become your top working tray.