Worm Farming Predators
It may seem ironic that the very animals you may produce your worms for would also be the predators you have to protect your worm farm from. If you just give the worms away to the predators, there isn't much point in trying to raise them for profit by selling them to the people or businesses that use them to feed the very same types of predators!
You must keep other things from harming your worm farm, of course. One of those things is the medication residue that is left in the manure you may get from livestock farms to feed your worms. Allowing children unsupervised access to your worm farm could be hazardous for your worms.
Improper drainage is not a good thing for your worm bins. Using contaminated water to keep your beds moist is harmful. Using paper or cardboard shreds that have come in contact with pesticides is another bad idea.
But the predators can be fierce source of competition for any farm, including your worm farm. Many types of birds enjoy worms. Moles, hedgehogs, foxes, toads, snakes, beetles, leeches, slugs, and parasites all feed on worms. Parasites are another reason you have to be careful with the manure you feed your worms. Mites and cluster flies can be hazardous predators to your worms.
Anything that is a threat to eating the food you feed your worms can be a danger as well. Worms are voracious eaters, so if they aren't fed enough, they'll suffer or try to leave your worm beds. If another predator is eating up the food they need, you could suffer a great loss even if they aren't interested in eating the worms. If you have raccoons in your area, this may present a problem since raccoons are known to be great at getting into containers and figuring out latches!
There's nothing wrong with feeding birds even when you won't be making a profit from it. But you may want to encourage the birds to eat in other areas of your yard to distract them away from your worm beds.
If you have to worry about the neighborhood in which you live or if you live close to a public area, you may want to protect your worms from another type of predator. Thieves who want free fishing worms could present a problem. Sometimes even living in the country isn't a guarantee that you won't have trespassers. So, make sure your access to the worm bins doesn't make it too easy for unwanted visitors of any kind!
One way to protect your worm farm from predators is to invest in a shed that can be locked and is constructed to make unwanted access more of a challenge. Small birds can get into small places. If you can keep the floor clean, it helps guard against invasion as well. A concrete floor could be hosed off easily. You'll have more success at protecting your investment if you keep the container they are in off the floor by using something to provide legs of some sort that can also be set in a bowl of water.
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