Hi there MHERRON2213! It normally takes between 3-6 months for the worms to migrate and really should be a min of 3 months to allow as many of the eggs to hatch for the babies to move up. (assuming you are wanting to increase worm population) Ensure any larger or un-composted materials in the 1st bin are transferred to the 2nd bin along with a handful of the compost from the first bin. ( I've found this helps get the second bin started.) Also remember that it would take at least a week or 2 for the bin to inoculate before the worms would move up and then they will retreat after a feast for a bit until their new home is the way they like it, No matter how long you wait though, you will never have 100% migrate up. If waiting on cocoons to hatch is not a priority and you just want to transfer them to the next bin.. place the 1st bin on top of the 2nd bin and then shine a light over the top of it. Every 10 or so mins.. scrape away about an inch of the compost with your hands and the worms will keep going deeper and eventually into the new bin at the bottom.. This will only work if you have holes in the bottom of the 1st bin. If you don't have holes in the 1st bin.. place a garbage bag over the 2nd bin (just a single sheet of it) with several holes in it and then place several handfuls of compost on the bag at a time. Simply use the light method until you have scraped away all the compost.. the worms will then go through the holes in the bag and into the new bin. Takes approx 1 -2 hours depending on how long between scraping off of the compost. Hope this helps :)

I never lose worms out of the Worm Factory composter, unless I drop them off of the lid. But, some do crawl down into the tray below the bottom bin, especially when they are hungry. The only other time I had marauding worms was during my first castings harvest. The worms were in piles on a plastic bag on the cellar floor, when my husband inadvertantly turned off the cellar light. That night there were baseball sized mounds of worms about a foot away from the plastic bag. A few stragglers were dehydrated like canned onion rings. But, the live mounds of worms behaved like a school of fish does when avoiding a predator, sharing the exposure to an unfriendly environment by moving away from it. In any case, back to escapee problems. Besides an unfriendly environment such as too dry or too wet, I have seen migrations when worms are hungry. I look at the behavior as a possible time-to feed cue and assess whether all of the garbage has been eaten, prior to adding more . Today, I saw a video produced at the University of Maine. It was very informative and provides a good example of a homemade composting bin and it looks like the worms would probably fall or crawl into the tray rather than the floor. Here is a link that might be useful: University of Maine Cooperative Extension

Your food was too old and had gone anaerobic. You want food that is fresh just starting to decompose but not rotten. If it stinks it has gone anaerobic and is toxic to the worms and the microbes that the worms eat. Both the worms and the microbes need oxygen the live. Think of it this way. With aerobic decomposition ( in the presence of oxygen ) the food should still smell like food. But just starting to spoil/decompose, starting to look and smell 'OFF'. You want the worms to eat it before it starts to rot. Rotting is anaerobic decomposition ( without the presence of oxygen ). The Stinky smell is a dead giveaway. You should feed or store the food in a freezer before it reaches this stage. Don't let it sit out for over a week in any case. Try cutting a large hole in the lid of a container putting a paper towel on top and putting the lid on over the towel. That should give you enough air.

Thank you for the guidance. The bait cup simply said "red worms" on the label, so who knows what kind of worms I really have. But it sounds like I may have gotten the European nightcrawlers. They seem to be about 3 inches long. This is something akin to a science experiement for me. Don't want to invest a lot of money until I am sure it is going to be workable. I made my bin from two old kitty litter tubs, the kind with a hindged lid. On the bottom one (for catching the drainage) I removed the lid and drilled several holes in the sides (about 3 inches from the bootom). On the other tub, I drilled lots of holes in the lid, along the upper sides and smaller holes in the bottom (for drainage). From what I have read, surface area seems to be an important thing, and since the kitty litter tub is deeper than it is wide, I am only using less than half of the depth. I put damp newspapers, some soil with a bit of sand, the worms (only about 60 so far), a small amount of food, and more damp shredded newspaper on top. So it is a very small set up. I was pleased to find this morning that no worms seemed to have been able to escape (none were even trying - probably too deep) but they had eaten much of the overly ripe 1/2 banana and the centers (seeds) out of a few cucumber slices. So they seem to be happy enough so far. If I can keep these guys alive and producing those wonderful castings for at least a few weeks, then I think I will order some Eisenia foetida and get a bigger tub. Thanks again for the advice. I do hope this works.