Do Worms Like Grain?

[peas_and_corn]

One of my friends was wondering out loud about what I do about my grain. I just throw it away, but what about putting it into a worm farm? My friend does a bit of the worm farming, and he couldn't think of a reason why not.

 

[Doc]

Not sure about grain, but they don't like hops. They come out of the ground when I put the hop debris from my kettle onto the garden.

Doc

 

[jgriffin]

I discovered that Rats certainly like grain!

 

[peas_and_corn]

yeah, so have I! Haven't found any evidence of eating yet, but I've made sure that my grain is secured!

 

[Batz]

Chooks like it.
I'll say it would go ok in the worm farm

Batz

 

[tangent]

composting is probably your best bet
i put 1/2 in the compost and 1/2 in the green waste bin - depending on how long it sits in the bin before they take it away. Doesn't take long to smell exactly like spew.
i've been looking for a local with chooks, but you'd need to feed it to them straight away. if it's left to sit for a few days, it'll ferment and birds don't have much tolerence to alcohol - they tend to kark it.

 

[Ross]

i've been looking for a local with chooks, but you'd need to feed it to them straight away. if it's left to sit for a few days, it'll ferment and birds don't have much tolerence to alcohol - they tend to kark it.

[post="125136"][/post]​

Our chickens must be alcoholics then , always leave it in the collection bucket for a few days until it's full of maggots/bugs, then into the chicken run - THEY LOVE IT...

 

[AndrewQLD]

I bury mine in the vege patch, if you dig it up inside a week it is chock full of maggots, and worms and other crawly things :blink: and really stinks, but after a couple of weeks has rotted down nicely.

Cheers
Andrew

 

[jayse]

I can't see any reason why it wouldn't work a treat in a worm farm, after all they will just about eat anything from your old natural fibre clothes to cardboard boxes and old heshion sacks. I'am not 100% sure but they would even proberly eat a old rotting leather boot. Pretty much anything that was once alive can be chucked in, i think onions are the only no no i have heard of.

I have seen plenty of worms underneath my composting grain before but i don't have a actuall worm farm.

Born to booze.
Jayse

 

[Batz]

i've been looking for a local with chooks, but you'd need to feed it to them straight away. if it's left to sit for a few days, it'll ferment and birds don't have much tolerence to alcohol - they tend to kark it.

[post="125136"][/post]​

Our chickens must be alcoholics then , always leave it in the collection bucket for a few days until it's full of maggots/bugs, then into the chicken run - THEY LOVE IT...

[post="125137"][/post]​

You could slip into life in the hinterlands real easy Ross

Batz

 

[normell]

i've been looking for a local with chooks, but you'd need to feed it to them straight away. if it's left to sit for a few days, it'll ferment and birds don't have much tolerence to alcohol - they tend to kark it.

[post="125136"][/post]​

Our chickens must be alcoholics then , always leave it in the collection bucket for a few days until it's full of maggots/bugs, then into the chicken run - THEY LOVE IT...

[post="125137"][/post]​

Hmmmmmmmmm, Alcoholic eggs, could be on a winner there Ross.
Might even be the next hangover cure

Normell

 

[doglet]

The pigeons love the spent grain I throw on the garden. The neighbours cat loves the pigeons. I like the beer I make from the grain. Everyone's a winner! :beer:

 

[Batz]

Hmmmmmmmmm, Alcoholic eggs, could be on a winner there Ross.
Might even be the next hangover cure

Normell

[post="125142"][/post]​

[/quote]

Yes worked for me at Ross's one morning !

Batz

 

[peas_and_corn]

My dog certainly likes eating the grain I 'accidentally' spill on the ground for him...

 

[wessmith]

Spent grains work fine in a worm farm. We run a couple of compost bins into which I tossed some Kangaloon Reds about 8 years ago. All our kitchen scraps INCLUDING protein material and all our citris peel go into the bin and I rarely add lime. The spent grains do need to be turned over occasionally (weekly) but break down beautifully. I also add all the kettle trub including hops and have never noticed any rejection by said worms.

BTW, have you ever noticed how the worms know when rain is coming? They congregate around the top of the bin lids in their hundreds. Beats the BOM forecast!

Wes

 

[Trent]

I actually killed all the worms in our worm farm by putting a few kilos of grain in there. I think that it got too hot in there for em, and they all dropped down into the water below and drowned. Probably the stinkiest clean out job I have ever had to do, cause it took me a few days before we could smell em. Seems like wessmith has no probs with em, so maybe it would be fine, but as for me, I wont be putting my grains in there again, I just put em in the compost.
All the best
Trent

 

[peas_and_corn]

So, should I wait a while for the grain to cool first?

 

[Trent]

Oh
My grain was cool enough, it is just the heat produced as it broke down, I guess, like it gets really hot in the centre of a compost bin, I assume the same thing happened.
T.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Ahh. Well, I was just guessing that. Anyone who has already done this with no probs maybe could sort this out...

 

[Jim - Perth]

All my grain goes straight into the compost with no problems so far.