Charlie I have to agree there are many variables. In the beginning even if you start out with 1000 or so worms they have to become happy with their environment. I would just put a little dab in corner with food as it is just sitting there letting time work and boy is that every slow. Then you learn that food needs to be as small as can be , in other words if you have a food processor , juicer or similar asset will help. Early on you may only need to put down 1/2 lb of food but once the worm machine gets going you can put down more, its a learn as go process by how fast the herd is eating the food. Before the worms tear into the food if you look closely you will see the top surface covered with bacteria/microbes which will start the breakdown process thus the term "teaming with microbes' comes into play. So to make a long story less long how often do I feed once a week. I do not put new bedding down everytime I feed. I always keep hand shredded newsprint on top to cover food and help keep any smells down and fruit flies away. Keep in mind bedding is also food and when the food supply is low they will be eating the paper so I try to keep a good supply of newsprint which I will long strip by hand. This covering is much easier to maneuver than machine shredded. This cover is kept moist. I will add that when I ordered my factory 360 and I got an extra tray free and in this tray I keep dry shredded paper which is to keep unwanted fruit flies from getting to the food to lay eggs. This tray is on top of the actual feeding tray. Keep in mind my systems are inside if yours are outside its a different ballgame.

Okay, so here's the whole procedure... I carry the totes out into the sunshine and let it sit for an hour or so (allowing the surface to heat up and dry out enough that the majority of the worms are inclined to go deeper) then I begin by scraping about a 1-2" layer off the top of each bin and putting that into the screened frame I have sitting on top of the wheel barrow. I then shift the castings around back and forth until most of what's going to pass through the 1/4" screen has done so... by then maybe 20-30 minutes has elapsed and I'm back to the first bin and I simply repeat the process perhaps another 7, 8, or 9 times to the point where I begin to run into much larger populations of escaping worms. Whenever the wheel barrow gets near filled I go dump it in the garden... this happens like three times for 90 gallons. Then I stop... put the bins back in the shade and add 4-6" of coco coir and top it with shredded paper and put the lids back on. Then I go inside and collapse for a few. That's the whole process... it takes up a goodly part of my day. I'll estimate I "lose" maybe 5-10% or so of the worm bin population to the garden in the process... a win-win for those worms and the garden plants wouldn't you think? Its only a broad guesstimate mind you but I likely have 4-5 lbs of worms in each bin to start with so whatever is lost is going to be good for the remaining population in their reduced post-harvest bedding volume and I assume they are to be quickly replaced... Think about this... I'll grab out a gob on occasion just to feed to my koi (if you dig around in a bin you can usually find a ball of pure worms without getting all the castings in-between, those are the ones I scoop up to feed to the fish... I limit it to usually no more than a hundred or so per feeding). I don't sweat the losses since each bin is so large and densely populated that their numbers are easily buffered by littler ones to absorb those losses. Remember because population growth is exponential its only the percentage of loss that one should focus on and not the actual count of individual worms lost in the process.

Looks to me like there might be a small market for it, but many would be happier to have good instructions to build their own as they look simple enough, but it's always good to have someone work out the bugs first. Maybe you could think about working out any issues you find with your model and then selling your plans on how to build one & see how that goes. Ebay's always a good place to start & you could do it all electronically. You could also set up a website if you wanted and link your ebay auctions to your website like many do to try and promote your website. This might be especially good if you market other worm or environmental products. Just an idea.

With a worm factory you can sit the finished bin on top of the stack without a lid. Let the compost dry a little on the top and take a half inch or so off the top at a time. It will take a few days. The worms will travel down into the lower bin if there is damp paper touching the finished bin. Or you can put the compost into another container and add a mesh bag of food. Let the worms move into the food and remove them food and all into the WF. Then add another bag of food. This can take weeks as you have to wait for all the eggs to hatch. You have to keep it up or the larger worms will start laying eggs and the cycle will go on and on.