well I am about on the same page My tower also heats up sometimes. I add dry bedding and a few pellet size sticks I cut with hand trimmers,it adds o2 to the mix also the first time that it happened I noticed that alot of the worms that where in the heated try seemed to migrate downwards below the heat as it cooled the worms returned upwards now I use all kinds household stuff for bedding, cardboard,paper, brown leaves,and coir, and I bury the kitchen scraps in the middle first when I start a new tray. a fan my also help to dry the top then mix it
hope you find this helpful

I have a tumbler full of happy worms. I never did use it the way it was designed and therefore worms found it to their liking. To fix the sludge issue add dry shredded paper and give the bin a few turns. The worms will turn that sludge and paper/leaves into a very stable material that is easily shoveled out and ready to be used.
As for the WF, if you just started it there should only be one tray on to start. As the food and paper become unrecognizable and the tray fills a new tray may be added.

My only thought would be that possibly since the tray is smaller than your tumbler is, heat filled the entire tray. Other than that, I don't know what could have happened. I'd remove the new top tray, salvage the worms that are still alive, and put a little bit of the food from it into one of your other trays, and leave it off completely.

Deanna

Here is a step by step tutorial, complete with photos, how to set up and maintain a stackable worm bin.

Regards,
Marshall

Here is a link that might be useful: Cow Unwrapped

Many thanks to all who responded to this posting. Overheating of the food did not seem to be the problem. My best guess at this point is that I overwatered the shredded paper and coir I originally used as bedding; that, coupled with the totally saturated sludge transfered from the tumbler, caused the material in the trays to compact, making it hard for the worms to move through, and depriving them of oxygen. I have since removed a large part of the original bedding, and mixed what was left with a combination of dry shredded paper and coarsely chopped sycamore leaves. The system now seems to be working fine -- many healthy, active worms, and lots of cocoons. Thanks again.

This page has some trouble shooting solutions, which helped me with my worm factory Worm Factory Trouble Shooting

Cow Unwrapped

Scan back for this tutorial. Someone did a lot of work on this and it is great.

Dave Nelson

Hi All; Heres a link to Red Hens photo bucket presentation a pictorial guide.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cow Unwrapped

Worms turning gray is from lack of oxygen. Either the second tray was too wet or too dry, either one will not allow the worms to breath. Or, there isn't adequate air flow around the trays.

I've had much trouble getting the worm thing right. I found the following non-commercial post useful: http://gardeningwormcomposting.com/2010/11/11/worm-factory/ The woman who posts there describes the process she is going through to figure this stuff out. The link I provided is specific to some problems she had with the worm factory, but she has other posts that address these problems. --j

Here is a link that might be useful: Link by same woman about making a worm bin.

hey folks i just started my worm bed in a old freezer i got about 10 inches of of field dirt and 300 lbs of cow stuff in and 50 lbs of peat moss i have been watering them and i have put coffee grounds in there and on the backside of it i put 5 lbs of corn meal i have had the worms about 2 weeks i'm starting to see dead worms and the red wigglers are not to active like i think they should be they don't look happy to me, i have ordered worm food for them but it hasn't come in yet, i'm raising these worms for fishing only does someone out there know what i'm doing wrong, i can squeeze the compost and a few drops of water comes out not sure what i'm doing wrong, please help. thanks cricket, tupelo miss.

Cricket, you've got way too much food in there. The corn meal especially can heat up the bin very quickly. The worms can munch on manure alone. How many pounds of worms did you start with? Stick a meat thermometer in the material and see what the bin temps are.

Andrew

cricket, if you have access to so much cow stuff (you mean manure, right?) you don't need to BUY the other stuff like peat moss, corn meal and worm food. You can collect corrugated cardboard as much as you want from stores and I'd rather spend the money on worms.
Well, maybe you can buy one 50 lb. bag of Purina Earthworm Chow (ca. $20) if that's what you mean with "worm food" as a treat.
Plumiebear is right, too much food in there.

OK...I thought I was over the killing my worms stage, but I just lost my worms because of too much moisture. The worms were climbing out the sides of my stackable compost system and ended up dying because of the high temperatures during that week. When I drained out the tea, there was about 20 oz of liquid from the spigot. It was my fault, because I neglected to check the system during a week of high temperatures and I think more moisture developed from the rotting food than I normally expect during my weekly check ups.

I was wondering, if I just left the system alone, whether the cacoons that were already there would still hatch. It has been a week since I discovered the carnage. I loosened up the entire system by tossing each tray and have not added any new food. I did notice some mold, but there has not been any flies or other things crawling around in the compost. This is worrisome because the first time I killed my worms when I was just starting out over a year ago, there were a few worms left. The remaining worms came back like a champ and I had what looked like thousands of them in my 3 bins.

I am grateful for any advice or help.