can anyone tell me a way to separate my worms from the compost in the wormery? i coulnt (and wouldnt!) pay £90 for a commercial one, and have my own cobbled together thing, but it doesnt have a tray for the compost to drop through and my worms certainly dont just live in the top bit of "new food".
they are breeding too, and it may sound silly but it relly upsets me to think that i am harming/killing some in the separating; so far i have gently riddled them, and tried to pick them out by hand and spoon!!
i know daylight is harmful too, and the compost is mainly for tubs where the worms wont survive the winter
so any advice is welcome, as nothing i have read tells me this
thanks

Hi Fiona.
I haven't done this myself, so I've consulted a book (Compost by Clare Foster). She says that when the compost is ready, the easiest way to separate the worms is to move the pile of worm casts to one side of the bin and add fresh bedding on the other side. Bury a handful of kitchen waste in the new bedding and after a couple of days, the worms should have migrated to the new side leaving a pile of empty casts ready to scoop out.
Alternatively, she says, you can tip the whole lot out onto a sheet of plastic. As worms are sensitive to light, they'll burrow down so you get casts on top of the heap and tangles of worms at the bottom. Remove the casts, then put the worms back in the bin with new bedding and kitchen scraps to get them going again.
Hope this helps. The book may be in your local library. The ISBN is 1844034054

ah thank you i will give it a try and see if i can get the book, then report back on the forum

Hi Fiona            What I am doing is I have I tub of soil that is very wet ,in it and I have put a basket from the veg shop .  I filled it with leaves and keep taking the worms off the top for the compost bin , that is also oblong so it holds water in the bottom inch and I have glass on the top to get it warm