How to Construct a Worm Bin...

Mum was lucky enough to find a can o' worms style worm bin in the charity shop for £6, we used to have one of these ages ago, it was a slightly different style and all the worms dies in it :(  But we have gained much composty knowledge since that tragedy and felt ready for another try.  I was put in charge of setting up the wormery, and I decided I didn't need or want to buy any of the expensive extras off the website.  Luckily you can download the instructions from the wiggly wigglers website (link above), I didn't really have anything the instructions asked for, so I improvised, and so far it seems to be working! 

The instructions say to take the circle of cardboard from the packaging and use it to line the base, I didn't have the packaging, so I used some old cardboard, easy peasy.  Then you're meant to add a rehydrated coir block and some compost worms bought from the website.  Luckily, we already have compost worms (we took the survivors from the first can o worms tragedy and out them in our normal compost bin, where they have reproduced on an epic scale) so we dug them out, along with some of the compost and some confused woodlice, and used them instead of new worms/coir combo.  Then I added a layer of kitchen scraps and some bits of cardboard for a good greens to browns mix.  The instructions ask for a moisture mat (which costs a fiver) or says you can use newspaper as an alternative, you can guess which option I went for.  Then you put the lid on and wait for the worms to eat through the kitchen scraps, before adding more.  When the first layer is full, you add a second, then a third.  then you empty the nice compost out of the first layer, and add it to the top, where you continue adding your kitchen scraps in a lovely cycle of composting! 

It lives right next to the back door at the new house, we take our kitchen scraps with us each time we visit (we haven't moved in yet, but the worms have!).

Do you have a worm composter?  Any tips for not killing the worms would be much appreciated!