38 replies to this topic

[Chaseman]

I tried every day for two weeks to get my birds to eat meal worms. The guy at the bird store assured me every body eats meal worms. I have mostly Cardinals, Blue Jays, Titmouse, Finches, Nuthatches, Chickadees, Mourning Doves, Towhees (not on the feeder!), Chipping and Field Sparrows, Carolina Wrens and a few others. I have had one Grackle come by around noon every day and eat the meal worms, no one else has even shown an interest. I did have Bluebirds, but once the babies got older, they seem to have disappeared.

Any advice on feeding meal worms, is it worth it, and how to get the birds attracted to them? I have tried a meal worm feeder on the pole, a bowl on the ground and a bowl on my patio table, with no takers. I also tried mixing in some Black Oil Sunflower Seeds, to no avail.

The guy at the store told me he goes through 10,000 meal worms a week! Thanks for any and all advice.

[JimBob]

I had the same problem as you. . . but after about a month, the birds discovered them. Grackles, and Blue Jays were the most interested. I just had them on a platform feeder.

[Chaseman]

I had the same problem as you. . . but after about a month, the birds discovered them. Grackles, and Blue Jays were the most interested. I just had them on a platform feeder.

Don't know if I can hang in there for a month, but I will give it another go. Glad to know I'm not in this alone!

[cwj2323]

I am assuming you are talking about the live ones. Personally, I only used the live meal worms when we had nesting Robins struggling to find food for them and their young. Because it was in the extreme heat, I could not get any more, so switched to earthworms that I readily found at bait shops. Oh, the Robins ate their fill. The Robins already were coming to our feeding area for berries, so it was easy enough for them to find the worms in that area.

With the meal worms, I placed them on an ice cream bucket lid and set it on the ground. The earth worms I would wait until I saw a Robin near by and flung it out the window. The Robins would come running.

I had to smile at your comment above the salesman made... Yeah, he's going to say something like that to make a sale. Also, what he experiences, what other members here experience are not going to be what you or I experience. Birds have different habits. I've now got a bunch of House Finches that have figured out how to eat peanuts from the mesh feeder. They are going through them faster than the House sparrows.

Personally, I wouldn't bother with live worms unless I have a known mealworm eater nesting on my property. Such as I did for the Robins. Live worms are too much of a bother otherwise. I sure wouldn't do it to feed grackles, but some folk like them.

If you want a protein, maybe give suet a try. You can put it in the cage, or with homemade that you can crumble, put it on a platform. It can last a little longer and is possibly cheaper for the amount you have.

[hbvol]

I only feed live meal worms when the bluebirds have nestlings. Otherwise, I feed dried worms. The E. bluebirds found my pole-mounted feeder after about 2 weeks ( actually the Carolina wrens found it first in about 3 days) and have never looked back. The mockingbirds join in but usually only in the early spring. Jays have not been interested nor have any other birds except an occasional titmouse or brown thrasher.

http://www.flickr.co...N05/7803385818/

[spyonabird]

I feed live mealworms, but like hbvol, I only have them out when I have nesting bluebirds. The wrens find them first and if I am not careful, the mockingbirds clean me out.

[Chaseman]

Thanks for all of your input and advice. I think I will wait and try again in the spring for the bluebirds.

[threeofhardts]

I haven't tried live meal worms but I bought a bag of the dried ones earlier this summer when I feared my male bluebird had been killed. I was hoping they would help mom feed her babies. Thankfully, the male was fine and very attentive to his young family. Unfortunately, I wasted $9.00 on a bag of dried meal worms that no one likes. The sales woman told me the birds LOVE them. Not my birds.

[MockMock]

I actually started using live mealworms about 6 years ago for a northern mockingbird that I fell in love with. To this day, he comes to the feeder when I call him. He also comes to the window and patiently, or sometime impatiently and asks for "his" worms. When he is finished I have Carolina Wrens, Robins, Cardinals, Tufted Titmouse, House Finches, House Sparrows, Starlings, Chickadees and probably others that I am not remembering. They especially like them for their young. I have also noticed that during droughts, the insect eating birds come to the feeder and stock up.
The funny thing is that I have them in a hanging domed feeder, meant for the smaller birds, but the bigger birds have found a way to enjoy them too!

Try again next year. It is worth watching each waiting for their turn to get on the feeder.

[cwj2323]

The sales woman told me the birds LOVE them. Not my birds.

Sigh... those salespeople. I wonder how big your bag of them is, because I've gotten good sized containers on sale for about $5.

Someone in another forum told me the dried mealworms are just the shells. I don't know if this is true or not, but in the winter I've mixed the dried worms with the seed I throw out for the ground feeding birds. Juncos, Robins and others have taken them. If anything, it gives the birds a little protein. If you still have the dried, maybe try that so at least they won't go to waste.

And I am glad your male was still around. We worry about our birds, don't we...

[dklucius]

i tried the dry ones and the live ones too. the magpies and scrub jays and starlings and red wing blackbirds would take over the feeder or tray or platform and fight over them till theie bellys were full then carry off what few were left. I built a cage feeder that the bigger birds could not squeeze into. but the big birds would hang on and reach in far enough to get them anyway.

[hbvol]

RE dried meal worms: My bluebirds can't get enough. They literally are in the feeder by the time I get back in the house after filling.
I did once buy a mixture of meal worms and a larger insect of some type called "bird candy". No one ate the larger insects.

[threeofhardts]

cwj2323 ~ The bag is only 7ozs. It's the Kaytee brand. I have continued to put them out in the hanging feeder shown in the image below. I also put peanuts in this feeder. The birds eat the peanuts but the dried meal worms remain. After it rains they get rather soggy so, I toss them out.

[sailormom64]

I put out dried mealworms...but the only way anyone "liked" them was when I smeared peanut butter on one side of my suet cake, and smashed the dried mealworms into the peanut butter. My bluebirds did not partake, but everyone else did until the mocking bird took over the suet feeder. I tried soaking them overnight but nobody liked those at all. Then just to finish off the container, I mixed them in with some songbird seed, and birds were fighting to get at that feeder! I am going to try live ones later when the weather gets cold.

[JimBob]

did until the mocking bird took over the suet feeder.

Does that happen to everyone?!?! LOL!

[spookyjimjams]

The earth worms I would wait until I saw a Robin near by and flung it out the window.

Now this mental picture made me laugh. What dedication you have!

[sailormom64]

Does that happen to everyone?!?! LOL!

I had never even seen a mockingbird around our neighborhood until I put out my suet feeder! I am out at my sons house right now and have not seen a single mockingbird since I have been here... I have no idea what their "range" is but I bet if I put out a suet feeder there would be some around LOL

[cwj2323]

Does that happen to everyone?!?! LOL!

Right now, I'll say No, but it may happen some time. The Mockingbird is rare enough that it got put up on the bird listserv. We drove more than thirty miles to see it.

[cwj2323]

Now this mental picture made me laugh. What dedication you have!

I guess I hadn't thought about that. It probably does look funny. The Robins did become so accustomed to us in that portion of our yard, so it was relatively easy to do.

[sailormom64]

I can't imagine anyone driving to see a mockingbird... lol They are handsome birds, but so pushy! I enjoyed mine until they chased all the other birds off and started attacking everyone....