Breeding Earthworms - High Protein Foods For Fish Bait Worms
Large and Small Worm farmers alike have the potential to tap into the fishing bait market.
I would be surprised to hear there was a more popular recreational fishing bait anywhere in the world.
Fish are naturally attracted to worms through both their wriggling action on the hook as well as the odour worms emit.
The 2 commercial worms best suited to the fish bait market are Reds and Blues.
Reds are approximately 3 to 4 inches (75 to 100mm) long when mature.
Blues mature at around 6 inches (150mm).
In addition to their regular diet worms bred for fishing will have a supplemented diet higher in protein to encourage faster growth and maturing.
There are several high protein supplementary food sources available.
Some breeders will purchase high protein diets while others will use whatever waste is available to them in their local area.
The following is an introduction to the types of protein based feeds to give your worms in addition to their regular diet.
Racing Horse Pellets Pellets can be purchased from local grain and farming supplies store or from a large pet supplies retailer.
Pellets usually come in 20kg bags which will cost you from AU$15 to AU$45 depending on the brand and your location.
Pellets should be scattered on top of a growing bed as a bi-weekly addition to your worms regular food supply.
Pellets should be moistened before adding to the growing bed.
Do not add more pellets than you think the worms will get to within a week or it will build up and begin to smell.
Blood and Bone I tested this myself some years ago and the result was promising.
I would occasionally sprinkle a handful of blood and bone on top of the growing bed and at the end of 3 months the bed I added the blood and bone in had worms approximately one third larger than a second bed I set at the same time.
You will want to run your own experiments and test for yourself.
Be sure to use plain blood and bone (available from a plant nursery) as some brands have other ingredients that may not be suitable to your worms diet.
Cardboard Cardboard (the corrugated type) is an ideal high carbon meal replacement which can be added to a worm farm after soaking in water for a week or so.
Worms will consume the paper and any organic glues included with it.
I have heard of breeders using cardboard as the sole feed supply for worms but my advice is to avoid this due to the potential for toxic build up from synthetics which may be present in the cardboard.
Tip: Choose one or two days per week (Friday is usually best) to pick your bait worms out ready for weekend sales.
Advertise in your local paper and advise the days your customers can visit you to purchase supplies.
Worms can not be packed for sale on the expectation they will sell.
It is best to pack to your customers orders and enquiries.
I would be surprised to hear there was a more popular recreational fishing bait anywhere in the world.
Fish are naturally attracted to worms through both their wriggling action on the hook as well as the odour worms emit.
The 2 commercial worms best suited to the fish bait market are Reds and Blues.
Reds are approximately 3 to 4 inches (75 to 100mm) long when mature.
Blues mature at around 6 inches (150mm).
In addition to their regular diet worms bred for fishing will have a supplemented diet higher in protein to encourage faster growth and maturing.
There are several high protein supplementary food sources available.
Some breeders will purchase high protein diets while others will use whatever waste is available to them in their local area.
The following is an introduction to the types of protein based feeds to give your worms in addition to their regular diet.
Racing Horse Pellets Pellets can be purchased from local grain and farming supplies store or from a large pet supplies retailer.
Pellets usually come in 20kg bags which will cost you from AU$15 to AU$45 depending on the brand and your location.
Pellets should be scattered on top of a growing bed as a bi-weekly addition to your worms regular food supply.
Pellets should be moistened before adding to the growing bed.
Do not add more pellets than you think the worms will get to within a week or it will build up and begin to smell.
Blood and Bone I tested this myself some years ago and the result was promising.
I would occasionally sprinkle a handful of blood and bone on top of the growing bed and at the end of 3 months the bed I added the blood and bone in had worms approximately one third larger than a second bed I set at the same time.
You will want to run your own experiments and test for yourself.
Be sure to use plain blood and bone (available from a plant nursery) as some brands have other ingredients that may not be suitable to your worms diet.
Cardboard Cardboard (the corrugated type) is an ideal high carbon meal replacement which can be added to a worm farm after soaking in water for a week or so.
Worms will consume the paper and any organic glues included with it.
I have heard of breeders using cardboard as the sole feed supply for worms but my advice is to avoid this due to the potential for toxic build up from synthetics which may be present in the cardboard.
Tip: Choose one or two days per week (Friday is usually best) to pick your bait worms out ready for weekend sales.
Advertise in your local paper and advise the days your customers can visit you to purchase supplies.
Worms can not be packed for sale on the expectation they will sell.
It is best to pack to your customers orders and enquiries.
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