I always knew he was my favorite character

Sounds like you're on the right track. Worms do their best work at around 72 degrees F. When the temperatures drop to the 40's, the worms aren't nearly as active and don't eat much. The COW is designed to fill one tray completely before adding the next tray. You should continue to add food stuff and bedding to that one tray until the compost is up to the ribs on the inside of the tray. The foodstuff and bedding settles/decomposes fairly quickly, allowing one bin to be used for quite a while--depending on how many worms you have. When the worm compost is up to the ribs of that tray, it is time to add the next tray. Worms cannot jump--they need to be able to climb up into that next tray. By the time you have filled the third/top tray, the bottom tray should be ready to harvest. When you've harvested/emptied that bottom tray, place it on the top and begin the process again. When you add food to the bin, always cover it with a couple of inches of shredded newspaper. It will not make it too hot--it will actually help moderate the temperature. I run my newspaper through a shredder, but you can just tear it into strips if you want bigger strips. The white angelhair-like worms could either be pot worms (which are good for your bin) or baby earthworms. Everything I read on these forums say they are pot worms, but I don't know....When I got my first earthworms, I got almost all babies. They looked like little white pieces of thread. It took 2-3 months before they looked like earthworms. If your lowest tray looks pretty-much finished, I would call it good and harvest it. I harvest my bins by hand. I pick out all the worms I can and put them back in the bin, along with any unprocessed food scraps or bedding. I put the finished compost (which is also usually wet) in a 5 gallon bucket. Every now and then I rummage around in the bucket for the worms and hatchlings I missed before. Using this method, and after the bucket sat in my garage for about 4 months, I have the most beautiful worm compost I have ever had. It has dried out enough to be easily siftable, but is not too dry. It is perfect. This is what works for me. Others no doubt have different ideas and suggestions. I am really surprised that no one else has posted here yet. Good luck, and happy worming!

I like my Can-O-Worms very much. I keep it indoor. Use coconut coir for the bedding. Feed veggie kitchen scraps. No meat or cooked food. It is a low maintenance bin. The worms do migrate up to the next level for food. They don't all go up. They do have preferences where they're the most comfortable. The trays have different functions. Some come with two trays and some with three. You start with one tray, feed until the tray looks like it has more compost then bedding, then you start the next tray on top. You then only feed the top tray and the older tray finish up. The worms will then move up to the new tray for food and then you can harvest the old tray and start a new feeding tray on top. If you have three trays then you can compost more food with more worms and get more compost. I have the two tray system. It's easy to harvest. I bring the trays outside in bright light. Put the finished tray on top of the working tray. Fluff up the compost. The worms remaining in this tray will move down to join the rest of their family in the working tray. Scoop out layers of worm-free compost until done. The compost is light, fluffy like chocolate cake crumbs. There are cocoons in this compost. I pick out the cocoons I see and throw them back in the working tray. I start a new working tray with coir, sand, and pulverized egg shells. I feed only in this new tray and let the worms finish eating through the old tray and migrate up. I harvest when the old tray looks like chocolate cake crumbs, sometimes every six weeks if I've been feeding regularly. Sometimes I go six months between harvests. I like the drain spigot. I do leave it open all the time with a container underneath to catch drips. There is always extra liquid when i feed watermelon rinds. I don' t add extra water or bedding. I dig a hole in the coir, dump in scraps and cover. No fruit flies. No mites. Occasional potworms. The legs are spindly and can tip the bin over if you klutzy and bump it too hard. The aeration screens at the leg housing can let liquid through. I cover the five leg aeraration screens with plastic because I didn't like the puddles of dark worm leachate on my laundry room floor. The trays can get heavy to carry around for harvesting. Wheels on the COW would be a big improvement. I prefer the COW over the Rubbermaid bins. I started with those based on "Worms Eat My Garbage". They were relatively cheap and easy to make. Those were a pain to manage. Sticky gooey like compost. Smelly bottom leachate bin. A lot more work to harvest. If you want a lazy no maintenance vermicomposting system dig a pit outdoors and throw in your scraps. Vermicompost on, however you want to. There is no wrong way, just find the method that works for you. Vermicomposter for over 10 years, Wormsical.

I am purchasing a used COW and wondered what size block of coir to start with? The owner did not know the original size amount of coir, he just used what came with it. Or alternatively, has anyone used torn up newspaper and cardboard instead of coir to start up there COW?