Restaurant type bus pans are the perfect size for me to use as breeder bins. The premise of breeder bins is to place a specified number of worms in each tray in a specific bedding mix and run those bins for a specific time.
Yeah, yeah I know very non-informative info. I can’t share how many worms because I don’t know exactly. My hand is small and I like to put 2 handfuls of red wigglers in each pan. So, going out on a limb here I would say roughly 3/4 a pound of adults.
If I run the trays for 3 weeks I can average 80 to 100 cocoons every 3 weeks IF (and only IF I run it wetter than a normal bin) that’s PER pan. I don’t like dealing with the stinky mess so I run them a little drier and average 150 cocoons in 3 pans combined.
NOW…for what I use in those pans:
1 scoop of mulched leaves and wood chips
1 scoop of soaked rabbit manure (2 hrs minimum)
1 scoop of wet shredded cardboard
1.5 scoops of the sifted 1/4 inch remains from previous bin minus the cocoons (just starting out? then use a couple of handfuls from n established bin)
Layer in that order, then add a 2 inch layer of dry leaves on top. Using a 1 gallon sprayer mist the top UNDER the dry leaves once per week or as needed….don’t be shy stick a finger down inside every 2 days UNTIL you know exactly when the pans need to be watered. If you run them wetter you just have a mucky mess (with extra cocoons) at the end of the 3 weeks.
**Note: your results will vary based on your inputs in your breeder bins.**