Nightcrawlers don't do well in a bin. They need to go deep so if you have nightcrawlers in your yard then leave them there.

you can always try one and see what the worms do with it. That is what I say to most things, try it sparingly at first, if the worms avoid it, then they may not like it. Some things just take a lot longer to start to beak down, like peanuts in the shell for instance.

There really isn't any difference between the three methods you describe. Worms are very forgiving. With most foods, the amounts we usually feed should not heat up. There are exceptions, but they are just that, exceptions, especially if you are feeding food scraps. What you don't want is large pockets of just food. This could lead to conditions in the bin that can be unpleasant for you and the worms. But even with that, the worms tend to be very forgiving. The two methods used most are: 1) Dig a hole in your bedding and drop in food. Bury it. Do this in a new location every day or so. You should rotate between six or so places where you bury food. 2) Pull back some of the bedding on top of the bin and dump in a thin layer of food. (it should cover about half of the bin) cover the food with the bedding you pulled back. With either method you want to add more bedding periodically. With method 1, about once a week, or about the time you find yourself feeding back in the original spot. With method 2, every time you feed. In either case, try to keep the bedding depth between 6 to 8 inches. If you start with method 1, you will soon forget where you are burying food and switch to method 2. If you are using method 2, every now and them you will have a reason to just dig a hole in the bedding and bury food. Or just do whatever you like. The worms are very forgiving. But having a layer of bedding over the food will help keep things tidy. Any method you use will cause some mixing of the bedding and food. If you avoid feeding over the entire bin, then if it does heat up, the worms will have a place to escape to. This post was edited by sbryce on Sun, Oct 6, 13 at 2:09

Have a look at this: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg100653415954.html I have since abandoned this idea and gone for the flow through system it works much better http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg042040421641.html