[viettaclark]

Had a smelly day today bagging up ready compost and turning over the other binful.
There were NO WORMS! When I do this job the chooks snap at my ankles because they know there are LOADS inside the lid and I let them scratch through the ready stuff before bagging it.
Have you seen a despondent chicken?
I'm sure the mix hasn't changed drastically........

[fatcat1955]

They have probably gone down into the soil , they do this when the heap get's too hot for them.

[JayG]

I find that my "finished" compost doesn't have many worms or other visible creatures in it.

My dalek which is used mainly for kitchen vegetable waste seems to have more worms in than the ones with just garden waste, although the numbers do seem to vary with the time of year and weather.

Worms are said to not like citrus peel or onion waste, so too much of either would presumably tend to make them go elsewhere.

[Trillium]

If the compost is open to the rain, then worms can't take waterlogging either and have moved to somewhere drier for the time being. When the moisture level is more to their liking (just damp), they'll be back.

[viettaclark]

Thanks! The finished stuff was pretty wet and slimy because I left the lid off so maybe that's why. The newly turned one was very dry so I watered it and put the lid on. Usually when I turn the heap it gets really hot so I won't be expecting worms in that one!
I was a bit worried.....usually worms show the health of the compost, don't they?