In my on-going effort to disprove worm feeding myths, I decided to try my all animal protein experiment a second time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you follow this blog, you will know that my last animal protein experiment<\/a> was a dubious success. Everything went well for 8 months. The worms were happy and healthy. Then suddenly the entire bin died. I don’t know why.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So, I decided to try again, and had similar results. Everything went well for 6 months, at which time the entire bin suddenly died. Why? I don’t know. My best guess is that the problem was heat related. We were having temperatures around 100F (38C). My garage was probably even hotter. I have 2 other bins that experienced a similar die off in the heat. (hopefully, I can repopulate my herd from the one remaining bin with live worms still in it.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n As in the original experiment, the bedding was entirely shredded cardboard. The food was mostly chicken liver, but included yogurt and cooked eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Here are my notes, in case there is anything that can be learned from them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jan 19, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Bedding started in a new bin. Just cardboard, water, and some residual castings from the previous experiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jan 31, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Something less than 1 pound of worms (3\/4?) added to the bin. Fed 2 hard poached eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feb 13, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Added some more worms to the bin. Most of the egg has been eaten. About a week ago, the egg stunk. No noticeable smell today. Most of the worms are down near the eggs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Feb 15, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fed \u00bc pound of chopped chicken liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mar 3, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fed \u00bc pound of chopped chicken liver. I should have waited. There was still a lot of the last feeding in the bin. The bin smells pretty bad.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mar 11, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n No feeding. Turned the bedding. Worms are going bonkers over the liver. The smell is mostly gone. The bedding is starting to break down.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mar 16, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fed \u00bc pound of chopped liver. The previous feedings are mostly gone. The worms seem to be gathering near what is left of the previous feedings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Mar 30 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the previous feeding is gone. Worms are mostly massed around what is left of the previous feeding. Worms look healthy. Fed \u00bc pound of chopped up chicken liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n April 25 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most of the previous feeding is gone. Bedding looks good. Worms are fat and healthy. Fed \u00bd pound of chicken liver. Added some bedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May 19, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything is breaking down fine. Lots of castings. No smell. No sign of previous feedings. Worms look healthy. Fed 10 oz chopped up liver. Added bedding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n May 28, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n All of the previous feeding is gone. There is a very subtle smell. Added bedding and water. Worms look healthy. Fed 8 \u00bd ounces of chopped chicken liver.<\/p>\n\n\n\n June 10, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Very little of the liver is left. There is no smell, but a week or so ago, there was a faint smell. There are worms gathered around what is left of the liver. Worms are more numerous, but smaller than before. They look healthy. Fed 1 pound of yogurt. Added some bedding. There are mushrooms growing in the bin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n June 23, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n No sign of previous feeding. No smells. Worms look healthy. Fed 1 pound of yogurt. Added bedding. There are still mushrooms growing in the bin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 3, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Fed 1 pound of chicken liver. The bin smells earthy. Almost no sign of the previous feeding. No mushrooms. Worms look healthy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 8, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Poked around in the bin. There are a lot of worms in this bin, and they look healthy. A lot of the liver is already gone, but I wouldn\u2019t feed yet. There is a slight ammonia and rotting meat smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n July 15, 2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire bin has died. I don\u2019t know why. Possibly heat related? The worms in my other bins don\u2019t look healthy, but they are surviving.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" In my on-going effort to disprove worm feeding myths, I decided to try my all animal protein experiment a second time. If you follow this blog, you will know that my last animal protein experiment was a dubious success. Everything went well for 8 months. The worms were happy and healthy. Then suddenly the entire… Continue reading Animal Protein Experiment Take 2<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-185","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=185"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":186,"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/185\/revisions\/186"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=185"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=185"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/scottbryce.com\/vermi-adventure\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=185"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\n\n\n