I bought some mealy worms to feed the BB today. How many should I put out. I don't have a clue how many blue birds are around. I just know I saw some earlier this week. Another really dumb question, will the mealy worms crawl out of the al. pan I put them in?
Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31
(Select Login sarahbn) Feathered Friends Moderator
Re: I Need Information about Blue Birds
October 18 2008, 8:56 PM
Dave and Kenn are the bluebird experts here. I started helping out on an old established bluebird trail. But we don't feed them we just take care of their housing keeping it as safe as we can from foxes raccoons snakes and that riff raff known as house sparrows.
I bought a blue bird feeder at WBU and my bluebirds would never eat the mealworms. I don't think they ever even looked at them even when I tried placing the mealworms in other types of containers. My friend uses a tuna fish can sitting on top of a stump and the bluebirds eat from it. Good luck!
We currently feed our Blues mealworms 2 or 3 times daily... about 50 worms each feeding. We have 2 parents and 13 fledglings from 3 nestings this season, but they don't all come every time and rarely all at once. In fact they've tended to take turns these days, with just one at the bowl at a time while others perch nearby waiting patiently.
Their eating habits change a bit thruout the year and right now they're eating more berries and are not so ravenous at the worm bowl.
During the nesting season however, the parents take all they can carry back to the nestlings and make trips back to bowl almost continuously...
...and once the babies fledge they also come and pigout at the bowl...
So we have to put more out in Spring and Summer than we are right now.
Having said all this, you may find yours behave somewhat differently.
Anyway, I hope this helps you, and best of luck with your Bluebirds.
Dianne, I am new here and I really appreciate your posting this question. In fact you answered a question I had asked on another forum that went unanswered. I had no idea that you can purchase mealworms from a pet store.
Kenn with his always wonderful pictures and advice on how and when to feed has helped also.
On yet another form I found Southeastern Insectaries in Perry,GA as a good source for mealworms. I hope I copied the phone number correctly...479)988-9412.
I hesitate to buy a large amount of mealworms since I sadly haven't seen Bluebirds for weeks.
Jean glad my question helped you. Thanks for the name of a supplier. I did look on e-bay last night and saw some offered. Like you I don't want to buy a large quanity until I know they will be used. Of course I could use them to fish with. Fish love them too.
I put out a few meal worms yesterday afternoon and checked this morning and they are still there. And alive. This brings up another question. Will the blue brids eat dead worms. I read on another forum that some people were feeding dried meal worms. I understand the blue birds did eat them.
I can't see my pan where I put the meal worms so I think I will try to put up a post closer to my back window so I can see it better. I did read that if the blue birds started eating the mw's they would follow the food source if it was moved.
I did see a pair last week and I know they nest in the woods around our fields. Right now there is plenty of food in the hayfields, peanut fields and many different types of wild berries so I don't know if they will bother with what I have to offer. The other birds don't at this time of year. The birds don't start using my feeders until late December or early January. I have some seed in my feeders to get them used to it being there.
Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31
(Select Login sarahbn) Feathered Friends Moderator
Re: I Need Information about Blue Birds
October 19 2008, 1:32 PM
Hi Jean I hope you don't mind I deleted your double post. I would love to feed bluebirds but It's not done where I help out I guess there are plenty of worms and grubs around for them to find.
Kenn your photos are super as usual! What berry is that that they are eating?
Hi Sarah, we're always glad to contribute here when we can.
Those are Dogwood berries. We have a row of these small Dogwood trees (about 10ft tall) which many of our birds enjoy this time of year.
Brown Thrashers
Mockingbirds
Robins
And especially our Bluebirds who often perch and pluck...
...and also grab the berries in flight... which is great fun to watch!
Sarah, I checked out the website on dogwoods. I have never heard of or seen any of those beautiful dogwoods trees here in the south. I am not sure if they would grow well here.
My native dogwood that I planted 3 years ago has struggled due to our ongoing drought here, in spite of my regular watering.
Hi Dianne - At Dave's (Uncle Dave here on the forum and the bluebird expert along with Kenn) suggestion, I ordered 5,000 mealworms from Southeastern Insectaries, Inc. last Monday. I believe someone has already mentioned this company. They arrived on Wednesday in excellent condition. They were $27.55 including shipping. I needed a new source for mealworms and this is the place he orders from. I put out around 250 worms throughout the day yesterday and they were gobbled up by my bluebirds (4) a couple of chickadees, a mockingbird and a loggerhead shrike. Haven't seen my Carolina Wrens yet this fall, but last year they ate them too. So while you are waiting for your bluebirds to find them, other birds will enjoy them and perhaps your bluebirds will take notice! I put them in a shallow ceramic cup & they can't climb out. A good bluebird book is: The bluebird Monitor's Guide by Cynthia Berger, Keith Krindler & Jack Griggs. Got it on ebay a couple of years ago. Are you in Wicksburg, AL?
Debby Clark
Hi Debbie! Yes I am in the wonderful communtiy of Wicksburg.
I had my little glass bowl of meal worms next to the blue bird box and the ants found them and my dish of peanut butter. I just smeared the peanut butter on the tree trunk and put the glass dish back in the birdbath. Those little suckers(ants) will have to swim to find those meal worms.
You are saying that other birds will enjoy the meal worms too. Not just the blue birds. If that is the case I will order some. How long will the meal worms live if they are kept cool? It will be several weeks before I start have lots of birds feeding but I think if I keep out a few worms until then they will be found.
Right now the birds are not paying attention to my feeders because of all the natural food around here in the country. There is a hay field behind my house and with the pastures there are plenty of insects. Also with the peanuts being harvested now there is a feast for the birds in the fields. There are also so many different berries out there too. Pokeberries are very plentiful.
Dianne
Southeast Alabama
Heat Zone 8
Sunset Zone 31
Meal worms will keep several months if you keep them refrigerated. Some people feed them and put various types of cereal in with them but I don't bother. I run through 10 thousand every 2 to 3 weeks and haven't seen many, if any, die from starvation.
In addition to bluebirds, I have song sparrows, titmice, Carolina wrens, chickadees, downy woodpeckers and of course, the dreaded house sparrows, that are all small enough to get into my cage feeder. If I put meal worms out in an open dish, the bigger birds, including the mockers, starlings, robins and red-bellied woodpeckers swoop in, chase the smaller birds away and gobble up all the worms.
And I guess you already know, bluebirds love poke berries.
Dave Kinneer
Fredericksburg, Virginia
Canon EOS 1D Mark III and two EOS 40D's
www.pbase.com/uncledave
This message has been edited by uncle-dave on Oct 23, 2008 2:43 PM
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