You are not nuts; I just went through this a month ago!! The holes in the one I bought (1.5") were a tiny smidge too small for my blues to fit in... not sure why... but I enlarged them by a hair and put many worms inside - not in a bowl, just loose so they could see them - and once one went in, the others caught on. It did take them a few days to figure it out. What I did was I would remove one side of the feeder first thing so they could have breakfast easily, but for the bulk of the day I left the plexi on. Then at the end of the day I would remove the plexi again on it so they could eat dinner easily. I, too, didn't want them to starve in the cold weather here in NH. My starlings seem to be fewer. I had about a dozen but now, only a couple remain.

Also, the blues had a hard time figuring out where the holes were, so Bluebars suggested I put some tape on the plexi (in a crisscross plaid pattern) and they were able to find the holes with this tape on. Bad thing is the starlings have long necks and sometimes if they really stretch, they can reach the worms on the floor of the feeder. Once they start going in, a dish can be used again. I have so many blues, there is no dish big enough for the 250 worms I feed every day, so I just dump them on the floor of the feeder, loose.

Then, I bought the bluebird nut caged-feeder and they won't even go near that. I had to keep the plexiglass feeder out. I figured I would reintroduce the bluebird nut feeder during summer when they are not in a life or death food situation.

I hope this helps!
Jenn in NH

About the bluebird nut caged feeder, here's how it worked for me. The blues and others were eating the worms out of one of my clear bowls. When the feeder arrived, (suggestion from the forum), I just used the blue dish from the feeder for several days, then I placed it in the feeder with the top OFF, so they would get used to the feeder. At that point, it obviously didn't keep the larger birds out, a greedy mocker included, but when I thought they were comfortable with the feeder, I then put the top on and it worked! I never had any other feeder, so guess it does take awhile for them to get accustomed to a new one.

It's really surprising that none of my other backyard birds discovered the feeder, except the mocker and in the beginning, a crow who was feeding babies before the mealworm feeder arrived. That crow would devour all the the mealies at once!

And Jenn...I'm so jealous of your "so many blues"! I have one little couple, but of course, I'm grateful they're here.

Ha Donna... nothing to be jealous about here... the nine blues that I have through the winter eat me out of house and home... I order 20,000 mealworms every 2 weeks. So it is more than the 250 I said above per day... It's not cheap! I'd be ok with only a couple that didn't eat so much, LOL. But it is nice to see them surviving the cold weather, here. Sometimes, I think, its amazing that anything can survive outside in the frigid temps.

I gave up today and opened up one side of the feeder (the 4th day). I did mark the plexi sides with big X's in a white paint. They found the holes to enter but refused to do so. I still think they are too fat. I guess I could try to enlarge the entrance holes a little bit. But for now the blues are happy and so am I. When I have food out, they are here constantly during the day. After hearing good things about the bluebird nut caged feeder, I ordered one of those today. I hope they will get used to it. I will try the method donna recommends. I'm already feeding in a blue dish so they should be used to that. Thanks to all for the help.

Hi --
I've been using the mealworm feeder you described for several years, but the plexiglass on mine is divided into two horizontal pieces on each side, not one. Each piece slides up and out so I've been using the feeder with only the two lower pieces installed. My blues like to hop through the open space on each side where the upper piece would normally fit but none of the larger birds can fit through the opening. Could you figure out a way to cut out the top part of your plexiglass sides in a similar fashion?
Also, I feed my blues dried mealworms whenever I have trouble locating fresh ones -- they love them.
-- Nina

Hi Nina,

I have the same type box as you, with the 2 slats on each side. I tried what you are suggesting...leaving the top slat off on each side. But they still wouldn't enter the box. I could try it again. They seemed like they couldn't quite figure out how to get in. My guys love the dried mealworms also. If it's freezing or below, I put out the dried worms along with my homemade suet. My blues seem pretty chubby and I think maybe that's why they won't fit through the holes in the box...LOL!