Cut Drainage and Air holes

After lugging your supplies home, assembling the bin is very quick. The first step is to cut your drainage and air holes. We've experimented with drilling multiple drainage holes with a drill and using various coffee filters etc as top ventilation. All of these approaches work beautifully, but honestly, take a lot longer to produce. We finally settled on using a shower hair catcher in the bottom to allow excess water to drain from the bucket the worms live and work in into the second bucket. And in place of the coffee filter we are now using an SOS pad, the worms can't get past it and it will keep the fruit flies away too while allowing ample ventilation into the worm's home.

We use a regular 14 oz tin can to cut the plastic. Heat it on a gas stove (use a hot pad!) and then plunge it through the center of the bucket's lid. Repeat this, heating it again, and create a hole in the center, bottom of the bucket too. This step stinks, literally. It didn't bother us before our son was born, but this time around the 3 year old and I went into another room and we opened all of the windows. I guess it all depends on how chemically sensitive you are because it didn't really phase my husband :)