What is your geographical area? Is your bin outdoors? Is it sitting in the sun? You really need too provide more information if you want help.

Dave Nelson

I'm in south england. I have my bin outdoors in the shadiest part of the garden, but it probably still gets some dappled sun for a few hours a day. There's not really much I can do about relocating the bin. I might try covering it with aluminium foil to keep it cooler. I was really hoping someone else had seen this behaviour from their worms and could tell me how serious is was. They have survived today, but it's probably going to get even hotter in the next few months.

What I have done in the past is fill 2 liter soda bottles with water and freeze them. I would put one in the top tier of the bin in the morning. In the evening it normally has defrosted completely, but the worms are all congregated in the cool spot in the tray below the bottle. It is a lot of trouble, but I didn't want my worms to die.

Last fall I built a homemade flow-through that is 2ftx4ft, and I am hoping the larger mass will stay cooler in the middle than my small worm factory did.

I would do what Capobeach recommends as well. You also should consider putting up a white sheet to act as a "curtain". This will reflect light and should bring the temperature down a bit. - Jim

First thing, take the lid off, that will let some heat out.

Next, place some hessian or any type of cloth that will hold moisture on top of the feed/bedding and keep it damp, the evaporation will help cool the contents.

Place a fly screen on top if you are worried about bugs and stuff getting in.

Also, with my COW, I placed some landscaping fabric over the bottom holes so that the worms couldn't get into the bottom where the liquid goes because mine were drowning and not climbing back up the middle like it says that they will.

Better to leave the tap open to drain the bottom but allow them down there if they really feel a need to get away from the heated food/bedding.

One of my friends adds a bunch of shredded paper to the catch tray, then every couple of weeks pulls the paper/worms/etc out and dumps it into the top tray.

They only seem to go down there in big numbers when the weather - and bin, is hot.

The most excellent of advice has fallen upon you. Every bit of it is good. One part caught my eye: "One of my friends adds a bunch of shredded paper to the catch tray, then every couple of weeks pulls the paper/worms/etc out and dumps it into the top tray." There is not yet a lot of material in your bin since it is only two weeks old. This method will add to the bulk and balance out the temperature. Maybe even daily move back up the material.

Thanks for all the advice. If you leave the tap open, don't all your worms crawl out of it at night? Also I'm assuming those of you that do this never get any leachate from your bins? I was hoping to use that on my veg.
I was also trying not to add anything else to the bin for a while as I read that the composting process releases heat, but I could add more paper if you think I should do.

I leave my taps open all the time. I dump the leachate into my outdoor compost heaps or into my wifes flower pots.

You will notice that the level of the catch basin is slightly lower than the tap drains which allows for some accumulation of liquid. I have considered drilling a very small drain hole at the lowest point. I might try this on one unit. If it turns out to be a bad idea I can always close it again with a dab of epoxy cement.
I have had no problem with worms exiting through the drain.

Dave Nelson

Just the information I was needing. I have added shredded paper to the bottom drip tray and a litre of frozen liquid to the worm bed itself. As well as aerating and adding some hay in an attempt to get more oxygen circulating. Unfortunately a few members of the worm community were cooked today. (Amsterdam 30+)

Hallo Tijger, hoe gaat het?
What kind of a bin do you have? IMO, adding hay may generate more heat especially once your frozen liquid melted. You might want to try the frozen bottle trick (see above: capobeach, May 22, 19 at 18.21) and wrap the bottle w. a few layers of newspaper so the worms won't freeze/stick to the bottle. Also, this way you are not adding liquid to the bin since worm bins tend to get too wet from the worm food anyway.