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worm feeder near the nestbox

15 years ago

I don't put the feeder near the nestbox since other birds, including house sparrows, will visit to take worms for their young. I don't think it's a good idea to have the feeder close to the box. Any opinions on this? I bring this up because in another post someone mentions having the mealworm feeder near the nestbox.

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Comments (10)

april_birdylover
15 years ago
the house sparrows were never interested in mealworms.. Right now I only have just finch food, mealworms, and suet available.. the only birds I've ever seen interested in my mealworms are chickadees, titmouse, blues, woodpeckers, and caralina wrens.. That's crazy the house sparrows are interested in the worms.. I can't stand those birds.
anita55
Original Author
15 years ago
I've used mealworms to trap House Sparrows so they do indeed take them, especially when they have young to feed. Be very careful of encouraging other birds to come near your BB nestboxes.
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12 Steps for Overfeeders Anonymous Step 1 - We admitted we were powerless over our addiction - that our lives had become unmanageable Step 2 - Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity Step 3 - Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood God Step 4 - Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves Step 5 - Admitted to God, to ourselves and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs Step 6 - Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character Step 7 - Humbly asked God to remove our shortcomings Step 8 - Made a list of all earthworms we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all Step 9 - Made direct amends to such earthworms wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others Step 10 - Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it Step 11 - Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood God, praying only for knowledge of God's will for us and the power to carry that out Step 12 - Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these steps, we tried to carry this message to other addicts, and to practice these principles in all our affairs This version of the 12 steps is an adaptation from the original 12 Steps of Alcoholics Anonymous and is intended for general use with any addictive or dysfunctional behavior, such as overfeeding your earthworms, obsessing about bin size or breeding habits, etc.
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I don't think it's an issue melrose. I have a fenced yard, and my BB box is inside that yard. I also have 2 little dogs who are often out in the yard. Additionally, between all of the neighbors who border my property, there are 13 more dogs!! The Blues just carry on as if they never notice. :o)
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Comments (19)
Linda, I've missed seeing you around. I just asked about you over at the other forum. Meal worms are very easy to raise. You need some wheat bran which you can get at health food stores or the cereal aisle in bigger supermarkets...or the feed store, if they will split a bag for you. They sell it by 50 lb. and you don't need that much. I use a plastic bucket with a lid...you could use smaller. Punch holes in the lid. Put in the meal worms and some slices of apple or peel or potato. You have to let some of them turn to beetles to reproduce, but it doesn't take long. Periodically, you need to replace the bran with fresh because it will get p*ssy smelling. I raise them for my fish, and all the wild things love them. I was trying to feed them to the armadillos I raised but too small and took too many....had to go to night crawlers for them. The new creature here is a feral pig. She is some kind of "special pig", I think. The local hog hunter went to prison and I am sure he released her. She was red with horizontal white stripes...about the size of a cat when she first showed up. Now the size of a medium sized dog and all red. She is very skittish and only comes at night with the coons. I put out special treats for her. I hope she stays because I don't want anyone killing her. I buy hen scratch for the doves, pigeons, crows and black birds...and scatter it all down my driveway, which is long and helps keep them out of the yard a little. The crows are here every morning tho, and clean up any food left over from the night before. A woman who works in the kitchen of a home for problem children brings all of her scraps to me and my friend who rehabs with me. We get tons of stuff...that we split. I had 14 pecan pies here and the raccoons had a party with them one night. Get a lot of beef, scrambled eggs, vegetables, chicken, fruit, melon, etc., which gives the possums a little more variety and bread which I give the horses for treats. It enables me to have a little extra money to buy the scratch, niger and sunflower seed.
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griffin_MD
15 years ago
You're absolutely correct, Anita. I never put any type of food source near the nestboxes for that very reason. No point in giving Mr. and Mrs. Blue the problem of having to defend their nesting territory from hungry birds. House sparrows here eat mealworms as well, so I've had to be crafty about feeding the blues--we have multiple mealworm feeders but only the blues and the Carolina wrens know about the one out front!
You know, when I took over one of the bluebird trails I currently monitor, several of the nestboxes had metal catfood cans nailed to the top--I'm sure the previous monitor used these to put mealworms in. Taking the cans off the nestbox rooves was my first renovation--definitely not a good idea because other birds also like mealworms--that was a fight waiting to happen.
Kathy
renee_2006
15 years ago
Hosp here also like mealworms I had to quit offering them here because it was attracting them.

Renee
Rural SW Indiana
organicgardener
15 years ago
One of my mealworm feeders is about 20 feet from the BB nestbox. I also put mealworms in a hanging tray on my porch for the Carolina Wrens. Mama Bluebird saw me putting worms in the tray and made a beeline for the tray. Now the bluebirds sit on a pine tree limb and look at me through the window. They have me trained.

Linda C
bluebars
15 years ago
In my humble opinion, if you have nesting birds, you should not have seed feeders, because the added activity at seed feeders can attract predators. It's not worth the risk for the parents as they shuttle food to nestlings and especially at very vulnerable fledging time.
Seed eaters don't need it in nesting season anyhoo.
We do feed our bluebirds mealworms, offered only once in AM and once in PM, and only enough that the blues will can eat them all in one visit. That way, other birds don't even know about that feeder. It is also some kept distance from the nestbox (once the bluebirds are made aware of it).
BlueBars
fairychick
15 years ago
I keep my seed feeders in the front yard and only feed meal worms in the back yard. So far th is has kept everyone but the Robins and the occasional titmouse away from the birds.

tara
organic_bassetlvr
15 years ago
Some of us have the luxury of space to do both. All my houses are in my fields or the edges of fields and the seed feeders are in my yard, where I can enjoy seeing the birds use them. I have blues in 2 houses, chickadees in 1 house, and tree swallows in 1 house. All houses are on poles, properly baffled. I don't feed mealworms but have in the past. I check the houses when I take my dogs for a walk around the fields. I don't check daily, although I walk daily. Just 2 or 3 times a week or when something seems off.
Susan
bettycbowen
15 years ago
I'm learning so much from you guys. My bluebirds appeared again this late aftenoon, I was sure they had left me for good. So I'm reading about them again...
april_birdylover
15 years ago
I'm learning so much too.. I think I'll move my finch feeder to the front of my house but keep my mealworms in the back just a distance from my boxes.... thanks for the great tips!

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