1:52 Wheat bran (can also use wheat flour) 3:55 Powdered Rolled Oats 5:12 Powdered Beetroot pellets 6:25 Powdered Chicken food (layer pellets, and meatbird crumbles) 8:58 Vegetable powder 11:26 Powdered Scratch grains (can also use bird seed) 12:00 Mystery flour (unknown gluten-free flour) 12:28 Powdered pumpkin seeds 13:50 Powdered Cheerios (can use crackers, biscuits, etc)

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

Hi Jeff! Welcome aboard! Thanks so much for doing this! It’s incredibly helpful 👍. As a reminder to everyone, this is a general long list of possible ingredients. It’s simultaneously way more variety than needed and not exhaustive of options. It’s more to give ideas on ingredients that work well for chow. Use what you’ve got, keep an eye out for bargains, and try new ingredients. I recently picked up open bags of sow (mama pig) and active senior horse feed (active means it has molasses in it which worms love!) for a discount price. Not a super bargain but less than what I pay for my chicken feed. The worms will get great benefit from these feeds instead of the layer feed, as a substitution. Any feed marked for female animals (laying hens, sows, nanny goats, milking cows, etc) will have boosted nutritional content. All good for the worms too! 👍😎❤️🪱

@judylocy3610

4 ай бұрын

Thank you!! Way too much talking in video

@SparklyPixieDust1

4 ай бұрын

🏆 You Rock! Thank you 😊

You have the BEST!! I mean, hands down, no questions asked, THE. BEST. Camera guy!!! Always showing what I want/need to see!! Most camera people just show the speaker, and not the item/board/ visual, etc… no matter how wonderful the words are, I really thrive on actually SEEING what is being talked about! The camera always goes to where my wyes are looking to see, like it’s organic!!

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

OMG. Now I’ll have to give him a raise! Luckily a 50% raise on top of a zero base pay is still… nothing! 🤣🤣. He takes his compensation in food anyway 😆. Seriously, I do agree that it’s really helpful to actually be able to see what’s going on. The close up shots are invaluable 🤩.

Once again here comes Jayne with a plethora of awesome information. Probably the best worm chow video I have seen. I love how you help us establish the best base to work from and how diverse the other filler ingredients can be. It’s called RockinWorms because you Rock Jayne! 😊

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

Thanks Leo! You really can make it as complex or as simple as you want 👍. It’s a great way to clean out lots of bits and bobs in the pantry taking up space that you know you’ll never really use yourself as food. Keep an eye out for super markdowns when shopping - you never know what’ll pop up. I have several bags and jars of popcorn from my daughter’s college days taking up cupboard space. All I need is time to pop it and boom! Worm chow ingredient! Or I do have a new grain mill, I can run it thru there! Ha! Thanks for making me think of that Leo!! 🪱❤️🪱

@leobaltz2057

10 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms I like to hit the discount grocery stores that sell the dented/damaged/out of date items. I can always find cheap cereal and odd flour mixes that don’t sell well.

@leobaltz2057

10 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms I also scored some beet pulp from TSC that was bust open for cheap! 🙌🏻

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

@@leobaltz2057 that’s a great tip! Thanks for suggesting that as a source for cheap chow ingredients 🪱❤️❤️

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

@@leobaltz2057 Excellent!! That’s where I got mine for 80% off!

I started dehydrating acorns ( white oak) last year and grinding them , cornmeal ,and my layer mash I get for my hens from the amish ..... In my area crawlers are now $6.50 a dozen . I can get 1000s in my yard after a good rain . I REFUSE TO PAY THAT MUCH FOR NIGHTCRAWLERS! IN 2020 they were $2.50 . I also collect leeches as they are now $8.50 a dozen . So with fuel for my boat and bait it would cost me a $100 buck to take my grand kids fishing . Trout fishing we go thru ALOT of crawlers and leaves worms .... Its not like i couldnt afford it but ,there is just no way I'm paying those prices . Plus i get to teach my grand kids how to dig leaf worms and pick crawlers !!!! Win win and WIN 😊

@RockinWorms

Ай бұрын

Hi Bryan! Good for you! I’m all about saving some money and doing the earth good at the same time ❤️. My husband fishes so I know the prices 😳. Being self sufficient and teach that to the grand kids is indeed a super win 🤩. How do you dehydrate the acorns? Dot they have to be soaked - or is that only if we are eating them? It’s been a loooong time since that was covered in a grade school lesson 😂. Your work chow recipe is simple but effect. Good on you! 🪱🪱

@bryanjones14

Ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms soaking them Leaches out the tanning if your going to eat them or use them for human consumption ( otherwise they are bitter) . I just split them in half with a knife , put them in the dehydrator over night 5 /6 hrs at 160 deg .... Then I use the wife's old coffee grinder lol I also like to use soybean meal or flour ( I get it free from the Amish feed mill off the mill floor ) one shovel full last about a 6 months

Love your channel, always so informative!

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

Hi Ken! Welcome! Glad to have you here ❤️🪱🪱

Grandma teaching me how to grow worms. Thank you Mrs.

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

Hello! Welcome! I’m happy you’ve joined us 🤗. 🪱🤩

Good morning, Dirty Jayne ❤ I'm drinking my coffee and prepping breakfast ❤ watching and listening to you. As always, great advice. Close enough is good enough 👍💪👍 Take care ❤Peggy❤

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

Hi Peggy! It’s true isn’t it? We don’t need to be perfect. We can give ourselves a break and more fully enjoy what we’re doing. The worms will be fine! Thanks for watching! 🪱🪱❤️

Fantastic information, thank you!👍🙏🌞

@RockinWorms

5 ай бұрын

Hello! Welcome to the Castings Crew! I hope you find more of my content helpful! ❤️👍🪱

Just found your channel around 4 this morning when sleeping wasn’t going to happen!!! Very informative and enjoyable to listen to. Will be starting a “worm farm” this yr. Thanks!! Colene

@RockinWorms

5 ай бұрын

Hi Colene! Welcome! I feel you on the sleep thing 😳🙄😩. Glad you found me and am looking forward to you sharing your wormie fun when you get your bin started 🤗🪱

@colene77

5 ай бұрын

I’m raising mealworms now but are proving very dusty ,, I’m 73 and don’t want respiratory problems so will slowly phase out of them. I have 1,000s!!! 🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻

@RockinWorms

5 ай бұрын

@@colene77 Hi again! Mealworms are dusty! Wear a mask. I didn’t in the beginning and I’d have a sore throat the next day or 2 😡. When I wear a mask I don’t have that issue. I was up to 10 bins of mealworms but I could keep up with them as much as I needed to with all the red wiggler bins too. So I slowly fed more mealworms to the chickens. I’m down to 2 bins now and will maintain that level for now. I have gallons and gallons and gallons of frass stored in empty dry water jugs so have plenty for the garden. When that starts getting low or I need food for the chickens I can ramp up mealworm production. I’ve learned so much about raising them thru trial and error. At some point I’d like to have a channel for raising them. I started this channel thinking I’d video both red wigglers and mealworms but again, couldn’t keep that pace up either. 🙄. I do plan on an experiment soon with mealworm shed being added to the worm bin. 😎. Thanks for sharing what’s going on with you! 👍🪱🪱

Hi Jayne, good idea to sleuth some cheap items. I have another suggestion for those who live in farming communities. When I had a horse as a teenager, my mom and I used to go down to the grain elevators and pick up buckets full of oats that are just spilled off the trucks onto the ground surrounding the loading area. There are snow drifts of grains just sitting there! I never bought oats for my horse because we could pick up buckets of them when the weather was nice and dry. ~ Sandra

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

Hi Sandra! That’s a great idea for those lucky enough to be able to do that 👍. I pick up corn on the cob, beans, and a few other veggies off the roads coming from the farms in my neighborhood. Good stuff! Thanks for stopping by ❤️🪱

Jayne love your videos.

@RockinWorms

Ай бұрын

Thanks Larry! How is the worm business going? 🪱🪱🪱

Hi Jayne! It’s been a while but I finally am able to catch up on your videos. You seem to have a great worm chow recipe! Mine is almost the same. I use wheat flower in stead of wheat bran. Here’s mine. Perhaps you see some ingredient you have also available. 2 parts oatmeal 1 part alfalfa meal ½ part chicken feed granules ½ part wild birdseed (for example fruit/nut mix) ½ part corn ½ part chicken grit, eggshells or oyster shells ¼ part rye flour or other whole wheat flour ¼ part chicken grain mix ¼ part legumes (lentils, peas, beans) ¼ part lava meal ¼ part dried mealworms If have some dried herbs laying around I toss those in as well It seems to do the job. Happy worming from the Dutchie!

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

Hi Milly! Its so nice to hear from you again. You have a great worm chow recipe too! Yes, there's many similarities to mine. Is the chicken grain scratch? Is it very similar to the wild bird seed? Can you interchange them depending on which has the best price at the time? I'll swap out the feed components (chicken, horse, pig, etc) depending on what I can get off the open bag rack, checking the ingredient list of course. My chickens would stage a revolt if I gave the worm dried mealworm instead of them! I'm setting up several experiment bins during the holiday season and adding in mealworm shed into the red wiggler bins will be one. Thanks for sharing your recipe with the Crew!

Thankyou for such wonderful information. I will be watching a lot more of your videos over the next few days. I am a new worm farmer (previously just breeding meal worms for our chickens) and purchased here in Australia a Tumbleweed system, but his videos aren’t truly informative and Ive pretty much just been winging the raising and caring of my red worms. I want them to be healthy and happy and I have chicken feed, scratch and layer pellets, oats and bran and have a food dehydrator so I am going to pick some vegetables tomorrow and dehydrate and blend as per your advice. I am located in Australia so I am so happy that the products you have spoken about are exactly what I will need to use without having to google the Australian conversion of your ingredients which has really been exciting for me. I’m looking forward to learning from you. Thankyou. :)

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

Hi! Welcome! If you haven’t hit the subscribe button yet and become a Castings Crew please do! I raise mealworms for my chickens too! It’s great a lot of the dry foods can be used to feed all 3 animals (with preparation differences). Now you need a few cows! 😆. We’re all learning and doing what we can with what we have in hand or can get free or cheaply. Fortunately that’s well within the red wiggler worm happy zone! I recommend you check out my pre-composting videos so you can make awesome worm bedding AND worm food for free or nearly free. I hope you’ll ask plenty of questions as well as share what you’re doing too 👍❤️🪱

@Serendipity_Strawberry_Farm

6 ай бұрын

Absolutely @@RockinWorms already subscribed to your KZread I found it very helpful. I used to farm cows 20 years ago and now on just 5 acres and over half of it is a hillside that is too steep for cows. Heatwave conditions here so have a lot to do to keep everything alive, mealworms, red wrigglers and the chickens

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

@@Serendipity_Strawberry_Farm Thank you for subscribing 🤗. I really appreciate the support👍. Farming at any level, including homesteading which is more what we do, is challenging for sure. Frankly, it’s a lot of work! But it’s rewarding too 😍. Things change all the time and you’ve got to roll with it or figure out new ways to do stuff. I’m thinking about adding a few bunnies into the animal mix here! For the manure. I’d say food too but as we don’t eat the chickens I don’t think we’d end up eating any bunnies either 🙄😆😎. Are rabbits an option for you? 🪱🪱❤️

@Serendipity_Strawberry_Farm

6 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms no we have feral rabbits here and that is really hard to deal with. I used the frass from the mealworm farm and the castings from my red wrigglers and our chickens to fertilise here. With our weather chopping and changing so much this past month the gardens are suffering as we don’t usually have heavy rain with 40c days following. Ive already been out watering the chickens run, underneath our very large raised on stilts house as well to give the chickens somewhere to escape todays 40c day. Also hosed my worm farm and mist sprayed the meal worms. It’s only 11am here in Australia and we are already at 33c

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

@@Serendipity_Strawberry_Farm Jeepers! That’s 104F. We don’t get that hot…yet. With heavy rains you’re dealing with high humidity too. That’s a dangerous combination 😳. All I can say is be careful of yourself too. We have in the past put fans in the chicken house to move the air and the chickens would absolutely sit right in front of the air flow. We have a lot of wild bunnies too. I don’t know what makes them feral vs simply wild. 🤷‍♂️ I’ve heard of misting mealworms to give them drinking water so to speak and to make them grow faster but not as a cooling agent.also know of people who use ice bottles to cool their animals. I’ve done that too but frankly it was really hard to keep up with as they’d melt so fast and so many were needed to make a difference 😡. I’m so sorry you’re facing these challenges. I’m afraid it’s not going to get better any time soon. 😢🪱

80% off 👍👍 Thats what I like to hear! I am guessing you have been using your new grinding mill. For me it sure beats the oysterizer blenders and flour sieves. Worms will enjoy the chow very much. Great information and wonderful tips on storage. When it comes to price, I look at it this way good stuff in greater stuff out. Or it takes money to make money. The quality of life for the worms and quality of the castings pays for itself. My favorite thing about chows is the ability to have precise control of moisture in the worm bins. Have a great Day!

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

I got lucky that day at TSC. Scooped it all up 😆. I actually haven’t used the mill much yet. I had done a ‘big grinding in the vitamix’ day just before I bought the grain mill. I have run a few things thru it. What do you think about running oyster shell ‘rocks’ thru it? Vee says she does it but I’m scared!

@wormsforlife7352

10 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms Never been to a TSC, there is one about 25 miles from my house, I'll have to check it out sometime. I think it will work great for oyster shells. I took one look at the blade, and I was like yeah! Perfect for oyster shells. Well, it is not really a blade rather a big chunk of stainless steel with no blades to go dull. My oysterizers can't handle them for too much before a blade brakes. I have been using a small smoothie maker (plastic) for them and then a flour sifter. I think the 2mm screen should be suitable, if not the 0.6mm screen. I'll say some of the blenders out there I'd be more concerned about the 'rocks' breaking the glass before the blades.

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

@@wormsforlife7352 Hi! How have you been? Haven’t seen any commentary from you in a while. I miss that! Wanted to let you know I did use the grain mill to grind the oyster shells I had from TSC and it worked great!! I’m so excited about this! I’ve started adding the ground powdered shells to the chicken feed and can already see an improvement in the egg shell quality. When I had the oyster shell pebbles out for them they ignored them. It was a waste to put them out. Now I finally getting value for the oyster shells! Thanks so much for giving me the confidence to grind them up 👍❤️🪱

@wormsforlife7352

8 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms Yeah, I have been very busy condensing worms (the opposite of splitting). Two more weeks to go. It is time consuming getting the ducks in a row for the winter. It is time to hold the worms and keep them small. Also getting the last 1 Ton bag full. Shooting for the 2nd week in November to get the last 3 tons of castings picked up. After that I have two weeks to get the garage cleaned, the garden beds winterized and all the pepper buckets out of the way for snow blowing. Then alas time to take it easy for the winter and just breed 3 buckets a week and only have 3 buckets of large worms. I am always very busy Oct.- Nov. I always look forward to the one week in Nov. when I have no castings in storage on the property. I am glad you tried the grinding mill with the oyster shells. The oyster shells and gypsum are both to dusty for use in the house (maybe not with a 10 min. wait), the machine is such a time saver, I will start commenting more in the future. Enjoy worms and have a great Day!

@wormsforlife7352

8 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms I didn't comment on you last vid, it did get me thinking about commenting on popping corn. What I do in the winter with popping corn in my bed-run bins and totes is dig a trench on one side of the bin/bed, sprinkle in the corn and cover with bedding. 7-10 days later I dig a trench on the other side of the bin, cut the microgreens and burry on the other side. 7-10 days later I dig up the roots, mangle and rebury them in the same spot. That way I get two feedings from the same seeds. I also do the same with beans from the grocery store. The reason those are the two that I use is that if they do not sprout or decompose by sifting time, they are caught during the screening process. The micro greens are also very tasty sprinkled on a salad. The beans can be eaten right out of the bin. The popping corn tastes great but without the salad they give me a stomachache. Food for thought.

Thank you very much for your video I am a new worm farmer I learned a lot from your videos I live in Okeechobee Florida

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

Hi Alton! Welcome! I responded to your comment yesterday too 😊. It’s wonderful to have another Florida person on board! Please feel free to ask all sorts of questions! We have a great community here that is happy to help out and give lots of information and suggestions 👍🪱❤️

@altonfender5168

2 ай бұрын

When you have warm cocoons you take the older ones out of it do you put any kind of food in the worm bed where the cocoons or do you wait till they start hatching before you put food in there

@altonfender5168

2 ай бұрын

When you take the older worms out of the bed

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

@@altonfender5168 I do not start adding additional food until after the hatch g is well underway. And then the food I add is worm chow. I don’t start feeding ‘real food’ aka food scraps until the babies are a decent size. This is because it’s hard to guess how much food scraps they’ll eat when they’re so small. I do not want to take any chances of over feeding the bin. Using worm chow and also pre-compost (which is loaded with biota that the baby worms eat) give the worms plenty of good food with less chance of overfeeding. 🪱🪱

Meat(broiler) feed and chick crumbs do contain calcium for bone growth, just not as high a quantity as layer feed.

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

Hi! Welcome! Yes you are right. Meat and chicken feed do contain small amounts of calcium. About 1/4 of the amount in layer feed. It’s present but at very low levels. Or even more accurately, check the calcium in the specific brand being considered - calcium content can vary widely even for brands labeled ’all flock’. Thank you for clarifying what I should have said 👍❤️🪱

I have found if I take worm appropriate food scraps and freeze them and thaw them and blend them to a paste, it make fantastic worm food.

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

Hi Glenn! Welcome! I completely agree with you on this 👍🪱. What you’re doing will break down cell walls and facilitate the decomposition process of the food allowing the worms to get in there more quickly. It’s one of many effective ways to feed the worms. I do find that grain based worm chow has the effect of making the worms gain weight and size a bit quicker than feeding only food scraps. Bigger fatter worms are desirable for many reasons but there’s nothing wrong at all with regular or even skinny worms ❤️. It depends on what a worm wrangler’s goal is. 👍 Thank you so much for watching and sharing how you feed your worms! 😍🪱

Hi Jane, Vanessa here from South Africa. Do you perhaps have a video of how you make your vegetable powder? Could you also show us how you grund everything up?

@RockinWorms

7 ай бұрын

Hi Vanessa! Welcome! I do not currently have a video on making the veggie powder 😢😡. It’s on my list to make as I’ve had several people ask for it. It takes a special coordinated effort between me and cameraman to make this video and his schedule and mine just haven’t cooperated yet. Grr. I’m afraid it’s going to be a few more weeks before we can get to it. In the meantime here’s the summary: - take fruits and veggies (nasty ones are ok!) and purée with juices or water - I shoot for a milkshake consistency but thinner is perfectly ok too - pour and then spread onto a solid dehydrator sheet to a thin layer - dehydrate until completely dry. Time length will obviously vary but count on 12-18 hours at mid range setting. - once sheets are dry, break them into pieces and powder using blender or food processor. - store on shelf in storage bags, closed jars, closed buckets, etc. - I do add at least one and often 2 moisture absorption packets. That’s it! It’s a bit time consuming but not difficult. I promise to get to making the video by year’s end!! ❤️🪱🪱

Do you have a video about making your veggie powder. Sounds like a process - how do you go about drying your wet veggie slosh?

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

Hi Levi! I don’t yet 😊. It’s on the to make list for videos 😆. I blender the mix of veggies up into a thickish slurry. Spread it out on silicone trays and then dehydrate it. Once it’s dried sheets I break it up and then powder it using the blender again. Store in storage bags or any handy container. 🪱❤️😎

8:50 When is hurricane not coming to Florida😂

@RockinWorms

7 ай бұрын

Oh Victor! That’s so true! But my southeast area has been spared the past several years. We’ve had wind and some rain but nothing we call crazy. Go back 15 years and we were getting hammered several times a year. Yikes! Thanks for watching! ❤️🪱

Jane with the happiest fattest worm's on the planet!

@RockinWorms

7 ай бұрын

Hello Jackson! Welcome! I do think my worms are pretty happy😍. For red wigglers, the little giants of the composting world, they do get some size on them 👍❤️🪱. Thanks for watching!

Working my way thru all your videos - so good! Question.....can we safely feed them ground up/powdered nuts? Like Walnuts and so on? I have a lot but have grown out of the flavor and don't like them anymore. So, can the worms eat these? Thanks for all you do!

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

Hi Barbara! Welcome! I’m so glad you’re finding my videos helpful and/or entertaining 😍. Nuts, ground or not, are generally good food for worms. If the nuts are salted then be sure to rinse them thoroughly first. Some salt is ok but not tons of it. Oily nut butters can be an issue because they’re messy but more importantly the oil can coat the worms, leading to suffocation. If you do powder the nuts they’ll breakdown in the worm bin faster. Leaving them whole is fine, they’ll just be more of a slow food that way. As with any food I wouldn’t feed it exclusively. Mix some nuts in with other foods and see how long it takes the worms to eat it all. Then adjust amounts from there. I’m jealous you have walnuts. Black walnut ice cream is my favorite ❤️. And I love nuts generally too. Out of curiosity where are you located, broadly speaking?

@barbararobinson3165

8 ай бұрын

Hi Jane! Thanks so so much for the speedy reply! In actuality all the nuts are raw in bulk bags, stored well, and I do intend to grind them up for my wormies. What a treat eh? Sort of like a supplement to normal feeds is the plan. I figured I should ask first tho as I know some nuts are used for anti-parasitic purposes - Like Black Walnuts! Maybe that's only for human parasites, but no harm to ask. I'm in Charlotte County area, south of Sarasota/Tampa. Thanks again - as others have said, YOU RAWK! You are hands down my favorite worm channel.

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

@@barbararobinson3165 You are very welcome! What happens with food that have antibiotic/anti parasitic properties is that it’s effective on some, not all microorganisms. And fungi may not be effected at all. So those none effected biota start breaking down the food. After it is digested/proceeded by that biota, the worms can safely eat it both the micro food particles or the biota itself. Oh cool! Another south Floridian - just on the opposite side from me 😊. I’ll be at Anna Maria island for the week of thanksgiving 👍. Do you have the walnut tees? 😍

I have a lot of wild Montana crawlers in my yard. Would these be considered a Canadian crawler, I fish a lot with these, nice plump worms.

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

Hello again! I can’t honestly say what species your wild worms are. There are many, many different worm species but only a handful that make good composting worms in a controlled/captive environment. Have you tried keeping them in a bin for an extended period of time? 🪱🪱

@BillyBob-tt7hy

2 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms Got them in a ice cream container, my “Worm farm” arrives today, worms tomorrow, I’m the 81 year old virgin (to worming). Love your videos, I’m learning a bunch, thank you.

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

@@BillyBob-tt7hy Hey. That’s awesome, being a new worm wrangler so early in your life adventures 👍❤️. What kind of worm bin did you get?? I’m looking forward to hearing how these worms do in your new set up. Please keep us updated 🪱👍❤️

Looks great but one question, does it ever clump up onto the shredded cardboard or paper?

@RockinWorms

7 ай бұрын

Hi Bev! Welcome! The only times I’ve had clumping is when I either try to top feed or if I try to trench feed just worm chow. Neither is something I do regularly as it simply doesn’t work for me due to the clumping and general lack of worm interest. Since I rarely top feed I don’t think my worms know to look there for food. Also since I use pre-composted bedding filled with biota, they’d much rather eat that then worm chow sitting on top. The one time I did a feeding trench with only worm chow and veggie powder it did clump up quite a bit and became anaerobic. I think it also became hard and dry but it’s been a long time so hard for me to remember exactly. I do remember it was not what I wanted to happen and didn’t do it again 😳🙄. Basically I use the worm chow mixed thoroughly into my breeder bin bedding so no clumping or inside it sprinkled over food scraps in a feed zone - also no clumping, or I should say no issues noticed as I don’t usually go back in for at least a week or more and it’s gone by then, even when it’s covered with more bedding. I think adding the chow as a sprinkle vs dumping a pile of it in one place also simply avoids any clumping issues where there it’s over shredded cardboard and paper or food scraps or leaves or any other type of bedding used. Have you had problems with chow clumping? If so, was it a negative in your bins? 🪱🪱🪱

CHONKY! 😂 Late to the comment party cuz I've not been feeling well. My chow got a huge bolster of stuff when I moved. I didn't want to move a lot of the grains and beans and whatnot, so the worms got a lot of whacky stuff like coconut flour and quinoa. I just chuck whatever's around that I can grind into a tub, and that's what they get. 😂 I really gotta split my bins so I can get chonky worms too. My birthday was the day before yesterday and I asked reeeeal nice for new bins or a bag or something so I could finally do some splitting. No dice. 🥲

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

Happy belated birthday Evelyn! I totally love Chonky! It’s in the dictionary too! That was a great idea to grind up a bunch of pantry items before the move, to make it easier on you. The worms will love all that food ❤️🪱 The bin splitting really does help. I’ve always observed that my grow out bin worms were skinnier but attributed it to more of them being fed mostly veggies. Sure, that plays a part but space also was more of a factor than I thought even though more experienced worm wranglers had dropped some clues on that 🙄. Well, I’m doing what I can to split when I can. You might have to get creative on worm bin/bag ideas! Any local businesses you can hit up for buckets? ❤️🪱🪱

@evelynknight5627

9 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms Thanks! 🤗 It certainly made things a lot easier to move, and they seem pretty tickled with the arrangement. Basically filled a 10 gallon tote with that, and we're still working through it months later. Thinking of asking people for their expired pantry items as that gets depleted to keep that system rolling! I'm sure there are plenty of places and ways I can get bins and buckets (some ideas which you have so generously shared with the community!) But the boyfriend is very particular about things looking very nice if I am to play with icky things in the house. 😂 So I'm just gonna have to be content with the way things are. Though my bins being a bit crowded probably also lends itself to my rapid-fire harvest times. I just moved 6 bins into horizontal migration, and 4 of those are only 49 days old (all cardboard bedding, mind you). The other two weren't maxed out, so they were slower. So it's not all bad!

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

@@evelynknight5627 That’s a great idea to ask people for stale pantry items. Friends, family, neighbors, whomever. Why not?! Worst is they say no. And roll their eyes 🤣. Could you make a screen of some sort to hide your bins and totes behind? So it looks clean and pretty but you have all you worm stuff together? I’ve made screens out of discarded plantation wood shutters, tall rectangle frames hinged together with pretty fabric stapled to it, etc. Maybe one of those curved shower curtain rods attached to a gram or even the wall with a pretty drape hanging from it. Just tossing out some ideas 🤗. The buckets are nice since you can put air flow holes on the buckets and with the lids or pieces of flat something in between, stack them 2-3 high. You’re clever and resourceful. I have confidence you’ll figure something out 👍❤️🪱

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

@@evelynknight5627 Also it sounds like you’re bins are doing great! If you’re looking for castings generation in a specific bin - that’s it’s job - having it a bit on the crowded side can actually be a good thing! Good job Evelyn! 👍❤️🪱

@evelynknight5627

9 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms Haha! Those are cute suggestions! I'm a sucker for dividing walls like you just described (like those folding Japanese paper walls - so cute!) We did order more buckets than we really use at any one time for the coffee grounds thing, so I might just start using those for worms. There's a hidden nook in our basement that I could easily tuck several buckets into without him ever being the wiser! It'll be like having a secret underground worm operation! 😂 I'll give him some time to greenlight the expansion... When time's up, we're gonna go the shady route! 🤣 Thanks for the inspiration!

Veg meal? How do you make this one? Also do you just sprinkle on top or do you mist it little water? Thank you I am 76 and very new to worming..

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

Hi Sue! Welcome! I just released a video on how to make the veggie powder a few days ago. Here’s the link: Making Dehydrated Veggie Powder From Start to Finish kzread.info/dash/bejne/kWSM0aaynpXdZrQ.html Give that a watch and ask any questions you have 🤗. You’re in the prime of life to start worming! Good on you! ❤️🪱👍

@user-lc1po1tq9e

6 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms thank you for the response. Cant wait to really see some nice big healthy worms😊

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

@@user-lc1po1tq9e You’ll get them! Good food and some space and they’ll be happy, happy, happy! ❤️🪱🪱

Is it best to add water to my worm chow when feeding my worms & would it be good to add ground up honey weet and okas cereal?

@RockinWorms

16 күн бұрын

Hi Larry! Welcome! Adding water to worm chow depends on a few factors. Usually I’m adding it as a top layer to other foods like food scraps that are already wet. Added moisture is not needed. For my breeder bins or other bins I’m feeding the same way, I mix the worm chow into the bedding, either all over for breeder bins or in a food zone area for grow out bins. In these bins I may need to add water as the dry chow will absorb quite a bit. If the bins happen to be overly moist to begin with, need feeding, but you’re not ready to harvest castings (perhaps because the castings are too wet) then you can add in dry worm chow to both feed the worms and soak up some excess moisture. I’m afraid there’s not one answer and you have to analyze your bin and act accordingly 👍. The honey wheat and oat type cereals are great worm chow ingredients! 👍😎🪱

@larrylarive8892

16 күн бұрын

@@RockinWorms Thank you so much

Do you shell the acorns or grind them whole?

@RockinWorms

23 күн бұрын

Hi! Welcome! Bryan says how he does it down bellow in his comment. He soaks the acronyms then splits them before dehydrating them. Then grinds them up. I haven’t tried it myself yet. 🪱🪱

Jayne are deep root pellets, and are you saying meat spurs btw i am Larry Wiley sent msg today i ment to type 1500 worms not 15k lol. What about azimite? Thanks so much for your help

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

Hi Larry! Beet root pellets are just an all around good worm food. I do powder them in a grinder but it’s not strictly necessary to do that. Beet root - and other red hued food - gives worms a more vibrant coloring. It’s a nice plus 👍. I use meat bird chicken feed if it’s on clearance/open bag sale which this bag was. Usually I buy layer feed at the 17.5% protein level. All flock is usually 20% protein which I like very much but it doesn’t have calcium added in. That used to be a problem but I now get eggshells from a neighbor and I also add azomite to the food the chickens get to boost their calcium intake. I bought a bag of azomite thru amazon. Honestly I wasn’t sure if it was a dumb purchase at first. But the more inside it for both the worms and the chickens the more I’m very happy I did buy it. It contains a lot of trace my weals that are beneficial for worms, chickens and plants - and thru those organisms we get the benefit when we consume them. I’ve started to think of azomite as giving my animals and plants a vitamin pill 🤣. They may not ‘need’ it but it sure can help ❤️🪱. Glad you didn’t think I said 15k worms in 6 months! That would be such a false claim!! Lol!

Hope everything was ok after the storm.

@RockinWorms

10 ай бұрын

Hi Esmy! Yes it was, thank you for asking ❤️. We got some wind and rain but nothing big deal at all. Our daughter is in Tallahassee and she got some wind and rain too but also nothing too bad. People will complain about all the hype ‘for nothing’ but really, better to be prepared than not in these storms!! 🪱❤️❤️

Where do you get the vegetable powder???!??

@RockinWorms

3 ай бұрын

Hi! I make it! I also sell it on my website www.RockinWorms.com 🤩 I have a video on how I make it, using a blender and a food dehydrator if you want to give it a go yourself 👍. You can also make veggie powder (perhaps less finely ground) without a blender or a dehydrator if you don’t have those tool. Here’s the link to the video so you can get an idea: Making Dehydrated Veggie Powder From Start to Finish kzread.info/dash/bejne/kWSM0aaynpXdZrQ.html 😊🪱

This is off topic. I made up bedding with Pin oak leaves and cardboard. I've been letting it sit and it smells kind of funny. Is this normal

@RockinWorms

4 ай бұрын

Hi! This isn’t off topic at all 😊 I’m not familiar with pin oak. Does it have a natural smell? What’s the funny smell smell like? Is the material damp/wet? Has it gone moldy (which the worms like!)?

@mrouterrim

4 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms It's wet and not moldy yet. I was trying to get everything soaked good.

@RockinWorms

4 ай бұрын

@@mrouterrim You said in your other post that it smells like oak dust which makes sense to me since it it oak leaves and cardboard. I’m not understanding the funny smell part. But the near thing to do if you are at all worried about it is to add a small amount in one section of a worm bin and then see what the worms think. You can cover it with standard bedding to trap in any smell that bothers you. Check it often for heat up as well. Leaves are generally a favorite of worms so you should see them move in to them within several days. Leaves can take a long time to break down and be completely consumed though. When adding the leaf bedding to the bin in a test area I’d also make sure it’s not drippy wet. You don’t want pooling water. Please let us know how it goes! 👍🪱🪱

i never heard of worms have cocoons or maybe that is amirican english in Australia we call them capsules

@RockinWorms

7 ай бұрын

Hi Casey! Welcome! It could be a language difference. I’ve seen a different spelling often too - cacoons vs cocoons. Capsules would fit right in 😊. Thanks for sharing that - it’s interesting! 👍❤️🪱

@kathynix6552

Ай бұрын

I’m in Australia (Queensland) We say cocoons. I haven’t heard capsules used for worm egg sacs.

@Casey6996

Ай бұрын

@@kathynix6552 I'm on the gold coast and got worms from a worm farm and they called the worm eggs capsules.

Do you sell your worm chow?? I’m interested in buying some.. not a big quantity..I have 4 small bins.

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

Hi Deborah! Yes! I’d be happy to 👍❤️🪱. Can you email me at RockinWFamilyFarm@gmail.com and we’ll work it out. Thanks for asking! ❤️🪱

The first item you use….. I’ve struggled to get anything like it, the closest I’ve found is malted wheaties- I got in Aldi…. Also know as shredded wheat or wheat cereal… would that be ok to use? I’ve ground it up in the blender so it’s small bits not in a large square. I’m trying to get ready for next weeks bedding change. So I ha got: Hoops-cheerio’s Malted wheat Rolled oats Sunflower seeds Pumpkin seeds And some crackers Plus the lime has arrived and so has the rock dust- but it’s not dusty it’s grany but I can’t crush it any more. Everything else has been ground down in the blender and some put through the coffee grinder- hand grinder lol Any help?

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

You’ve got the bases well covered! The aroma will be able to eventually get to the larger pieces, it just may take a little longer. Keep an eye on how fast they go thru the food - be careful to not overfeed. Worm chow can compact and harden and become difficult for the worms to eat. Like I said, just keep an eye on it. ❤️🪱🪱

@cherylhowker1792

8 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms I think while I’m using coco coir I will mix in a little bit like I did this time maybe 2 tbs for 100 worms maybe less. And them keep adding a bit every week into the middle of the buckets but under an inch. That’s what I’ve done this time. And been sprinkling egg shells on the top too and they been coming up for that so that’s good. Trying to keep them both top feeders as well.

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

@@cherylhowker1792 You find what works for you and your worms thru a bit of experimenting and that’s what you do. When you come across a new idea then you try that. If it’s better then you stick with it. If not, you go back to the tried and true way. Rinse and repeat! 👍❤️🪱

@cherylhowker1792

8 ай бұрын

@@RockinWorms quick question, about the coir, if I soak it in hot water to get it to expand again….. will the hot water gas off from it or hot- Ie the cloriene in the water, will it evaporate from the coir? Just I did use cold water I had gased off last time but took me 3 days to have enough water and coir to make the bedding- if so I need to start today lol. Thanks for the heads up

@RockinWorms

8 ай бұрын

@@cherylhowker1792 Ooooh I’m not the person to ask about coconut coir usage as I’ve never used it. But I can give you some information about off gassing. As for chlorine, it will off gas regardless of whether it’s hot or cold water in 24-48 hours. If your water has chloramine that’s a different situation. Chloramine won’t dissipate into the air. It needs to be chemically altered. Vitamin C will inactivate chloramine and is easily available. Apparently 40mg of vitamin C will instantly deactivate 1 gallon of chloramine water. You can call your water supplier (town, city, county) to find out if it’s chloramine used in the water supply. Hope this helps you! ❤️🪱🪱

What about coco powder

@RockinWorms

2 ай бұрын

Hello! Do you mean coco coir? Worm wranglers use it for bedding and worms eat their bedding. I don’t know that I’d put it in worm chow as an ingredient. It wouldn’t hurt but I don’t know that it specifically adds anything as part of worm chow. 🪱🪱

Curious have you had your blend analyzed for nutritional content? Many of your nutritional panels are redundant here in your mixture ie wasteful unnecessary items being added. Have you did statistics on your worms or competitors worms to see if your feed is gaining any edge on the growth, health and heartiness of yours over theirs? Just curious. I also think of these creatures in the wild and they are not given a diet of beet root and hibiscus and so on for many of your products. Seems overkill to me.

@RockinWorms

3 ай бұрын

Hi! Welcome! No I have not had my worm chow analyzed. It changes based on what I have on hand so any analysis wouldn’t really be accurate for the next batch. I agree with you that a lot of these ingredients overlap significantly for nutrients. The general purpose of this video was to share options for worm chow ingredients so that more worm wranglers can make their own if they wanted to. I get a lot of questions on what is ok to use and wanted to cover a lot of options in one video 😊. I absolutely find that feeding worm chow to my red wigglers makes them bigger. I went from 1300 per pound down to 839 per pound. That’s a significant difference. As I’ve often said, there’s nothing wrong at all with skinny worms! It all depends on what your goal is with them. As I have a diverse group of viewers I try to touch on a variety of informational topics and approaches. Every aspect is not going to be relevant to every individual 😊. I agree also with you that how worms act and survive in nature isn’t what I am doing in my worm bins. I try to mimic nature to the point that I am still able to meet my goals. It’s the basic trade off of having animals in any type of captivity- it simply can not 100% their natural environment. I do hope you find content here that does help you on your worm journey and that you share what you’re doing so we can learn from you too! 🪱🪱😊

@stpbeth

9 күн бұрын

@@RockinWorms you are awesome! What a wonderful response.

Your meat crumbles looks like our chick crumble. Maybe the same

@RockinWorms

9 ай бұрын

Most chicken crumbles look pretty identical. What makes them different is the ingredients. Meat bird crumble is higher protein (24% or so) and little to no calcium. Chick starter is always crumbles and is usually decent protein (20%) and also doesn’t have calcium. Layer feed and all flock feed has lower protein (16-17%) and around 3% calcium as they need it for egg shell develop. For worms, any of these feeds work well except for the medicated chick feed. The benefit of adding chicken feed into worm chow is that it’s a relatively easy and cost effective way to add lots of minerals and vitamins as well as protein into your worm’s diet. However it’s not the only way to do that. As Wormsforlife pointed out on another video comment many bird seeds will also fit the nutritional profile and may be even cheaper than chicken feed. Read the nutritional facts on packaging 👍. ❤️🪱

So unnecessary

@RockinWorms

3 ай бұрын

Hello! Welcome! Which part? 🪱

@Gcanno

3 ай бұрын

Maybe to you.

@louisethomas8074

3 ай бұрын

I’m glad that your mix is working for you and others. It’s fun to play around with mixes. It could be intimidating for a newbie. They may think you need to go out and buy all this stuff when all they need is good bedding and a scant amount of food scraps like banana peels and avocado etc. if you want to get crazy throw in some crushed oats or corn meal if you have it laying around. Have fun

@RockinWorms

3 ай бұрын

@@louisethomas8074 hi again! I hope I made it clear that I was presenting options. Lots of options but in no way were any and certainly not all of the ingredients were necessary. I completely agree with you that good bedding is important! Have you tried making pre-compost? I do find that worm chow is very helpful in sizing up worms and many worm wranglers are interested in accomplishing that. 👍🪱😊

@kathynix6552

Ай бұрын

@@louisethomas8074I am new here but think she made it clear that the chow was for fattening up worms and if you don’t sell worms or use them for fishing etc then you won’t need to bother with the high protein high carbohydrate worm chow. She also said get whatever you can get free or cheaply. I think she was more highlighting our different options.

Hey there…. I have a question…. Can the worms eat Spanish Moss? Where I live I have tons of it.🪱 Thank you 🙏

@RockinWorms

6 ай бұрын

Hi! I don’t see why not. It’s a plant after all. I’d be careful of the chiggers and other insects that inhabit Spanish moss but the moss itself should be fine. ❤️👍🪱