There should be 1 pound of worms in a pound of worms. Since worms come in different sizes, it is impossible to say how many worms that is. On average, it will be around 1000 worms for EFs if you order bed run, but fewer if you order adult worms.

Has anyone actually counted out a pound of worms? That's real devotion to the hobby. I think that so long as you feel you got a pound (more or less) it will make little difference in the big picture, if you got fewer large worms and/or more small worms. How many chickens make up 1000 lbs when you have all different sizes/ages?

Manage your bin well and in a few months I think you will have enough reproduction going on that you will care a little less about the numbers. The only thing I'd be questioning would be if I felt I got less than a pound.

Good answers! I've read in some posts that some suppliers would claim to have a certain number when customers actually received less (or thought they did). One supplier was mentioned multiple times from different people.

Moving on... :)

Sandra

It is possible that the worms weighed one pound when packaged, but lost weight in transit. Another possibility is that a supplier might weigh the worms plus whatever bedding the are packed in, instead of weighing the worms without the bedding.

In any case, you cannot determine the total weight of the worms by counting them.

Kind of like how a cooked quarter pounder probably won't weigh a quarter pound after you get it?

hehe! Good analogy. I get it, thanks guys! :)

Sandra

Yes, exactly. After you squish all the fat out of a pound of worms, don't expect them to weigh a pound,

This video gives you an idea of what a pound of worms should look like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Red Worms by the Gob

I have bought worms twice now. Once from that guy in canada at redwormcomposting.com and once from Uncle Jim's. All I can say is, the guy in canada (Bently was his actual name, I think) sent what I ordered. This is pure speculation, but I have a feeling the worm provider for redwormcomposting.com actually anticipated the weight loss and planned accordingly to ensure a happy customer while the sack of worms from uncle jim's resembled the cooked 1/4 pounder. I highly recommend the redwormcomposting.com source. And, no, I don't have any affiliation with them other than being a happy customer. Also, it's only off of one experience from each, so hardly a trend to judge by.

One other thing to mention is that I also dug around in aged horse manure to get worms. I started with less of those, but they multiplied a lot faster and ate a lot sooner than the order ones.

The "worms by the gob" video I posted earlier was done by Bentley. Below is a link to more "one-off" testimonials for different worm suppliers. My single worm buying experience was with a local worm seller. I was asked to BYOB (bring your own bin) and bought "a pound" of worms dug straight out of the worm bin along with ~5-6 gallons of the compost they were being raised in. That meant I got cocoons, babies, juveniles & mature worms - all in an environment they were clearly already thriving in.

It would have been a pain to determine if I really got a full pound of worms, but it certainly looked like a lot of worms in there. I started two 18 gal. DIY bins with the worms. Both bins are working very nicely a month later. I highly recommend finding a local seller who is willing to sell the worms along with their bedding. Probably not a common way to sell worms, but it doesn't hurt to ask.

Here is a link that might be useful: worm suppliers

I would have much preferred to go pick up my worms at a local supplier and check out the operation (just for fun). I did a search for local suppliers but the closest one was about an hour away so I just ordered on line from redwormproducts.com. They were the cheapest ($15/lb plus shipping, about 700 worms/lb) and they raise their own worms.

I have heard the comment about the 'cooked 1/4 pounder' supplier from others before and that's what prompted this post.

Thank you for the link with the testimonials. It's always nice to know about other's experiences for future reference.

Sandra

If you read around this and other vermicomposting related forums I think you'd be hard pressed to find a bad word about Bently. Didn't buy my original pound from him but I find his site is a great source of information.

He seemed like a nice guy in the video and his worms plentiful, fat and happy. :) I'm just trying to minimize the mileage for the worms though.

Sandra

Sandra, I just posted this on another discussion here, but it might be something for you to consider also. You might be able to locate someone closer than an hour away who has worms to either give or sell.

"You might want to check the link below and see if any vermicomposters near you have extra worms to share. Enter your zip code and then zoom in the map to find the pink dots nearest you. Click on them and the members will state if they have worms to sell or share."

The link shows my own location flag, but you can enter your location and find people close to you. 1,170 people are on the map, so you never know. It worked out well for me anyways, but if I'd known about this map earlier, I would probably have emailed the 3 people who were 2-3 miles away from me.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://vermicomposters.com/