Chiggers? I do not know what they are but wikipedia says they can be baby mites. I susupect it is not the same type of mites that befriend worm bins. A steady line of? Going into? Out of? First bin I have heard of in a chicken coop. You get points for that. I would think the chickens would have a field day with an insects they have ready access to. Your USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map found at planthardiness.ars.usda.gov/ might help us with clues to identify what might be common to your area at this time of year. Maybe a cat litter box of diatiomatious earth for the chickens to wallow in and dust themselves? You do not mention the chiggers bitting people. There are red plant mites, I think. They do not eat people. I am puzzled, but glad you brought the topic to discussion on the board. I hope we can find you a person knowledgeable / experienced in the topic you are experiencing.

I am pretty sure the solution to whatever this is, is to add more bedding.

Also, have you ever fed excess worms to the hungry chickens? That would be one reason I would grow worms in the futre. Sort of solves the whole harvesting issue. The chickens probably leave only pure castings.

The chiggers are similar to ants in that they are 'marching' in a line outside the perimeter of the plastic bin. I am told they can get inside the skin (of humans) but know little else of what they do. I'm a city boy now living in the country so most of this is new to me. The chiggers don't appear to be getting inside the bin. I have the bin inside the chicken coop because (although the chicks have access to outside) the coop inside is dark most of the time. Is it ok to feed the access worms to the chickens? I bought the worms off of Amazon and used half (500) for my wife's square gardens and the other 500 for starting my worm composting bin.

Chickens LOVE worms! I have 8 chickens and allow them to free-range most of the time, and coop them at night. Also have a horse and a 12' x 17' wormbed nearby. I keep a large carpet over the pile, and the chickens act as prison guards on patrol for escapee's :) When I pull the edge of the carpet back to dump the daily wheelbarrow load of horsepoop to the worms, there is a 1-2 minute feeding frenzy!

I tried the chicken worm-separation harvesting method EQ thought about. The problem is the castings go everywhere. I even tried in my raised beds and they scratched the vc out onto the pathways! My last attempt went better when I put the VC in an old pick-up truck bedliner. Chickens got the worms and the material quickly dried so I could sift it.

You can stop a line of ants with a row of table salt where they are coming in. Maybe it will work with what you have marching along into your bin. Put a ring of salt (about 1/2-1 inch thick/wide) around you bin on the floor/ground and see what happens.