Howdy, All...
Dave, you're correct, the freezer would definitely be too deep but I never filled it to the brim. And your description of the height of the bins compacting the lower levels is on the mark. When I first used the chest freezer that's exactly what it did and the bottom several inches was very fine "mush"...much wetter than the upper regions and also of a very fine (miniscule particulates) texture. I quit trying to fill it up so high. And I also had divided it into two sides, with a screen of hardware cloth as a divider. One side was the working side and when it was time to begin emptying it out I'd start filling up the other side. By not feeding the older side the worms would move through the hardware cloth to the new goodies on the new side.
But when I grow up I wanna be like ya'll and one day have a water trough worm bin, too! Those sound perfect. I assume you put a cover over the top to keep out excess rains and maybe to also keep it a bit warmer during the cold months...?
These look like photos taken when I first set it up. In the pics I see there is a light in there so it must've been taken during the winter when I was trying to add heat so the worm activity would not slow down. The shoplight had a small wattage bulb in it BUT be careful 'cause I also remember using a higher wattage bulb at some point and nearly burnt the worms up. At some point I came to the realization "benign neglect" was the better way to go and did w/out a winter heat source altogether. :>)
Shoe.
