fresh will heat up initially. After it heats and returns to a cooler state it should be fine. I wouldn't consider it as bedding though but I have no experience with manure as I have indoor bins.

I have read about some people keeping bins in cold garages and using fresh manure (and the associated microbial heating) to keep the bin warm during the winter months.

no. horse manure will heat up and kill your worms. age it a bit and then use as bedding. they will also eat the manure so it will act as both bedding+food.

Our family has had a horse for a few years now. we just traded a LARGE harse for a small horse. My worms are not happy at all, as their daily food supply went from about 70lbs to 40 lbs. I expect a dieback soon.

We have had 4 different horses and not all horse manure is the same. It depends on the horse and its diet. Also, pure manure is quite different than manure that is mixed with stall bedding, pellets, straw, and hay. Pure manure produces little heat, but mix it with high carbon stall beddings and it will get real hot. Maybe a plus in cold outdoor wormbeds.

I have 2 big outdoor windrow-type worm beds, with about 220 sq. ft. of surface space. They are covered by old carpets. Contrary to what is often written, I feed only fresh manure (less than 24 hours old). By using it fresh before it dries out, I don't need to wet it. Dried out horse manure is hard to re-wet. I have been rotating feeding areas so they get a fresh layer of food every 10 days. By that time it is black and not recognizable. No smell and no flies. My worms LOVE it!

I must warn you I live about 2 miles from the ocean and rarely gets over 80F.

He says it has rice hulls and wood shavings in it. I live near the ocean and it normally stays between 50 and 80. I guess I'll have to age ut myself. Do I just wait until it cools down?

For a small wormbin you can use it without pre-composting in small amounts. Try a few handfuls on top in a corner and observe. It usually takes some mass to cause heating.A little heat on top is ok anyway.

To compost it, wet it if needed and put it into a large pile, at least 3'x3'. It should heat up quick and then cool down in a few weeks. You can then use all you want.

You will need to add nothing else unless you wish to. Both bedding and food, horse manure is the perfect worm habitat that those guys selling worms use! Having an ample supply of horse manure will make you a successful worm farmer.

If I were a machinist, I would build a wonderful flow-through with a harvest bar/knife! All stainless. :)

Ha, came across this old thread via the gods of google.

Pete, if all goes well we will start hauling HM in two weeks. Going by the average of 50lbs a day and the number of horses kept by the folks we are getting it from they have about 500 tons a year so pretty much all we want.

The 40 mile round trip is going to be tough on the fuel bill but it is what it is when you live in the sticks. I will be getting composted rather than fresh which will help us in terms of the hauling since it has already reduced considerably.

Was just watering the one comfrey bed which is about 20' squared and thought this would be a great wormin bed. The worms love the comfrey by the numbers I see in there, last fall I put in about 3" of home depot steer compost with about the same in woodchips on top. Last month it was pulled for making garden beds and was full of worms.

Think I will put in 6" or so of the HM since comfrey loves heavy feeding and the worms are already there, then I can just cycle out the VC as needed. Will also be spreading the comfrey a lot this year so maybe we will have 10 or more beds this size by the end of the growing season. From the two plants I divided so far I planted out 4 crowns that are doing great and have at least a dozen large roots in a plastic bag that are now sprouting.

Just seems like a great match as the comfrey will spread its leaves for cover to hold moisture and keep the worms cool in the heat of summer then when it turns cold we can just double up on the HM to bed down both the worms and comfrey for the winter.

I'm a brand new worm farmer. Starting with 2000 reds and a bin. I have access to a whole lot of horse manure on a continous basis.

If I understand I can spread out in pasture (no animals) and 7 acres of pasture. I have access to 14 additional acres of pasture. My questions: 1. Could you explain windrows of horse manure and how many worms per sq. Yard of manure. 2. What about animals like moles getting in my worms and eating them?

3. Can I just like the manure high in winter months to keep my worms warm.

4. Do I need a ground cover and do I cover the top?

Just looking for answers. This seems like the best and easiest way to vermicompost but I really want to do this right. I plan to have a few large gardens next year and I have about 2 acres of yard I would love to put my castings on.

"Starting with 2000 reds......I plan to have a few large gardens next year and I have about 2 acres of yard I would love to put my castings on"

Don't want to be a wet blanket but seriously doubt it will happen, even under the best of conditions they just don't multiply that fast. You are going from one extreme in scale to the other. I'll let others more knowledgeable about outside large scale vermicomposting and the construction and use of windrows answer your other questions. Oh, and it would help if you tell them where you are or at least what zone you live in.

I started something similar to what you proposed, but ultimately abandoned because I just got bored with the novelty. Here's what I did:

In fall, I bought 5# of red wigglers. I kept them in indoor bins over the winter to grow the population.

Meanwhile, I stockpiled horse manure at my farm

In spring, I dug a trench roughly 6×20 by 2 feet deep, with drainage in mind. It was near a big oak that provided shade in summer, but dropped leaves to provide sun in winter.

To start,on one end of the trench I piled roughly 3×6×2 feet deep of HM that is now fully composted. I dumped contents of worm bins there on top.

Each week, I would add fresh HM to the 3×6×2, alongside in a wedge fashion. I continued the until I reached the end of the trench. the worm eventually spread throughout.

Thereafter, I would add couple inches deep across 2×6 foot strips, leaving areas that would remain cool even after applying fresh, hot HM.

I always kept covered with cardboard and / or old carpet. I wouId insulate on top with black bags of leaves to keep from freezing in winter.

mice, snakes, racoons are opossums were ever present, but never did much harm.

It did very well and was full of worms, until I plowed and disced it into the garden.

So you plowed worms and all into the garden? Poor worms! I envy you having so much space. Is the start of your trench still full of worms? I suppose that's where you got the VC for your garden first. If you stop "feeding" that end for a while, I imagine worms would move to "greener pasture". So how many feet of the trench of VC do you need for your garden at one time? I guess once one is talking over 10' of worm habitat, he/she can't be bothered about cocoons and worms left in the harvested VC. I am just a small time worm farmer and take every precaution to prevent rodents to get to my worms, in my case mice and rats (I think).

IMHO, for a large non commercial (meaning not selling worms or VC) worm farmer the trench/wedge system is most ideal. Being below ground level, it also keeps the worms from freezing in winter and cooler in summer. One could hose the entire trench for cooling w/o the risk of drowning them. No fear of negative effects (to the worms) of overfeeding either.

Yeah, I plowed them and then ran the disc harrow. Vermi Carnage!

They are still all over the place. Some of the black bags of leaves had a couple holes, so they are in there. Im sure there are survivors after the discing. As far as how much of the trench I used, I hadn't really used much at all. I spread a little here and there, put some in a potting mix. I didn't screen or anything--scraped away some unprocessed stuff and used it as is.

I definitely liked my sunken wedge idea. It worked very well. I gave some thought of trying to earn a little income, but never followed through.