Worms and Rabbit Droppings

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Star and Stone Rabbitry

Star and Stone Rabbitry

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Well, I was reading Bob Bennet's "Storey's Guide to Raising Rabbits" and he talks about how there are worms under his hutches that turn the droppings into rich black potting soil. But my rabbits live inside my barn, and I don't have worms under them! I was thinking, do you think I could buy a box of worms and let them go under my cages? Would they stay there and do their job with the dirt?

-Tiffany
 
I've got that book too. My husband and I are also looking into installing worm boxes to control the smell in our new barn.

I think you'll have to take into consideration what breed of worms you put down. Nightcrawlers have a bad habit of comitting suicide in the winter months because they'll come to the surface to eat only to freeze to death.

Right now we're looking into red worms which are much hardier. I just did a google search and there are a couple suppliers.

Also if you're an ARBA member they have a chapter on worm keeping in the "ARBA Guide to Raising better Rabbits and Cavies"

Good luck!
 
Are you going to sell the worms? Are you willing to "harvest" them? It's really a bit more work. What do you do with the droppings now? Shovel them out and put them in a compost pile? You can do the same thing in a compost pile and the worms will come naturally.

In order for the worms to work, the pile has to remain undisturbed for months at a time. I don't know too many people today that let the manure build up that long.
 
ah, but the worms actually cut down on the smell too. So you can leave that bin of manure for about six months while the worms turn it into potting soil. I think the only maitanance you need to do in that time is to stir the soil a bit so the worm food isn't all on the top.

Have you tried it or known someone who has? I've read a lot reccomending the method, but I've yet to talk to anyone who has actually used worms, so I'm interested.
 
The only person I knew that tried it gave it up, mainlybecause she felt it attracted rats. And the rats ate a lot of her worms. She did try it for almost2 years. She had to restart (add new worms) every spring because of the cold winters we have. She built boxes under the coops about 2 feet deep. The other problem she ran into was when she had to treat the herd for coccidiosis, it killed almostall ofthe worms. She also had a bad problem with flies.

She sold most of the worms to a local bait shop for fishing. (She sold them by the pound, but hated sorting them!) I've certainly read about a lot of people that made a go of it. And it might be worth a try. (Don't expect to get rich on them!!!!) There are a number of books out there about it. Doesn't take a major financial investment.

Do let us know if you try!
 
Okay... I really don't want to allow it to build up :/

But there is one more thing. I do have a compost pile behind the barn, and it is a huge mound. My problem is that worms never inhabit it... instead, flies, maggots, and other disgusting bugs get into it. I know that is disgusting! I don't know why it happens. At least they are away from the rabbits.

By the way, this problem doesn't happen under my hutches, where their droppings fall. Even if I let it go for like, 6 months. It still doesn't happen in there. This has always confused me...
 
For flys around a compost pile, you can use Fly Predators. (http://www.spalding-labs.com/) . They are teeny, tiny little flies that kill big flies! You seed the compost pile with their larve and they lay eggs that feed off flies. How cool is that? It's used as an ecologically sound, non-pesticidal method of pest control around horses and goats. (I have a few friends that use them around their milk goats). They do tend to be a little more money, but they work.
 
Compost is broken down by heat, bacteria and bugs, generally not worms. If you are getting flies and maggots you have too much food and waste products in it and not enough dry matter. The compost pile should also be walled in and covered over.

You can make a worm farm, you need a special type of worm though, and I'm not sure they'd eat rabbit poo or not. At least here in NZ you need these small red worms, not your normal garden variety. They eat kitchen scraps and produce worm pee and poo which is excellent for the garden.

Rabbit poo is safe to put in soil without needing to be broken down further by composting, and is really good for lemon trees I hear.
 
Works really great on my evergreens and roses too! And you should see my neighbors tomato plants!

I have3 organic farmers that come by and pick the stuff up by the drums full. They love it.
 
This has been a useful discussion. I'll have to take measures to prevent rats and fly infestations.:)

My husband and I have decided we will try the worm box method for waste managment in our new barn.

I've taken a few books out of the library on the subject. Apparently it is so odorless somepeople keep worm compost bins in their own kitchens.

I don't plan on seeing much money from the selling of said worms, I'm mostly in this for the sanitation of my rabbitry. However since our new place is down the road from an area called "Fishermen's Paridise" I don't see any harm on trying to sell said worms. They don't gross me out too much either, so I figure why not give it a try.:D

I'll post back in a few months and let you all know how it goes!



 
I've got a small worm farm and it took about a year for me to see any significant growth in my worm population, so sometimes can take a while. Not sure if that's normal or I wasn't treating my worms right :p.

Good luck, it's so rewarding recycling things!
 
Me and my sister collect the manure daily and weekly from our rabbits' litterboxes, potty-corners and trays, and we dump it in a bucket. We sell the manure regular...it's not broken down into soil by worms or anything.

We've had several people interested and they planned on coming out, but they were no-shows. We usually just give it away for free, but with the prices of things raising, we need some income to buy food for the rabbits, etc. Not saying we don't have enough money to do that, as we do, but income from selling manure would help as well.

I've been thinking of starting a worm farm, but I'm not sure how much time I could devote into it. It sounds like a lot of fun, though. I may read that chapter and consider starting one later this month.

Emily
 
A local high school recently started picking up my rabbit waste to use in their compost for the gardening club. I think it's awesome, and I love being able to help out my local school. I'm hoping for some bunny veggy trade offs once their garden gets going.

I can't wait till I can start a compost of my own to take care of my bunny waste, but that will probably have to wait until I buy a house of my own.

--Dawn
 
Question - do you give away the rabbit manure with the urine in it and the hay/pellet pieces? Or do you have to filter out the hay etc for using in the garden? I was concerned that the hay pieces would cause a garden to have weeds and the urine in it would be too acidic.
 
A thread from the past, lol! Every once in a while someone contacts us wanting our manure. One guy brought his pickup and a shovel and took off the top layer of manure from under our cages, which included pellets, hay and anything else that fell through the cage. I asked him to only take the top layer because we have worms in the soil doing a pretty good job of keeping the smell down and poop broken up. He even took what we'd emptied from the drop pans.
 
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