Detailed Explanation of the Key Techniques for Raising Earthworms with Chicken Manure

     1. Mix no more than 15% chicken manure evenly into pig and cattle manure and pile it for fermentation; this can speed up fermentation and improve the nutritional quality of the feed.  

     2. After sun-drying or oven-drying chicken manure, crush and sift it, then mix 20 kg of chicken manure with 30 kg of boiled water, put it in a plastic bag and let it sit for a full day and night to kill fly eggs, parasite eggs in the chicken manure and pathogens. Then mix in 50% earthworm castings and pile it for fermentation. Each pile should preferably be 1 cubic meter; turn the pile once every two days, and after four turnings it can be used. However, at this point it is still continuing to ferment. The added material should not be too thick, and when the temperature is high, it must be left for one or two days before adding a covering.
     3. Pulp or chop high-yield aquatic grasses such as water hyacinth, water lettuce, alligator weed and azolla, mix them with chicken manure and pile for fermentation, turning the pile once every two days, and use it after four turnings. This allows the high-carbon grass material and the high-nitrogen manure material to complement each other, which helps the earthworms absorb and utilize the nutrients.
     4. Mix 1/3 sifted chicken manure evenly into 2/3 earthworm castings, spread it directly on the earthworm bed, then sprinkle water evenly, loosening the material while sprinkling, until the dry material is completely soaked through, and finally loosen it repeatedly to aerate it; after one or two days, spray water once more, then cover it.
     5. Add water to the earthworm bed until the moisture content is about 80%, that is, to the point where water runs out when the material is squeezed. Then add 3-4 kg of sifted chicken manure per square meter of earthworm bed area; after two days, turn the material bed evenly, add material once every 10 days, and after adding material two or three times, harvest the earthworms once.
     This feeding method involves evenly sprinkling new material onto all layers of the material bed; when the earthworms swallow the chicken manure, they also swallow part of the base material, which eliminates the risk of poisoning caused by excessive protein. This chicken manure feeding method is very suitable for the culture method of raising large and small earthworms together in shallow pits and directly harvesting earthworm products from the breeding pits.