Some lady is advertising meal worm castings on Craigslist for $15 for a 35 pound bag. I had read this thread before I went to her house so asked her if she had gotten her castings from the place in Compton that I think you were hinting about, and that I read you can get it for free. She said yes her castings were from that major mealworm producer but they weren't free. I offered her $13 for the bag and she said OK. When I got home I weighed the bag and it was only 28 pounds, not 35, and the bag said hybrid wheat on it, but I figured they were just recycling the bags so didn't care about that. My question, is the supplier Rainbow farms in Compton or Long Beach, and are the castings really free if one goes direct to them, or if you have to pay how much is a bag and what size is it? The castings were very light and looked sort of like termite or furniture beetle sawdust if you ever saw that. Does one have to worry about beetle eggs in the mealworm castings hatching and flooding your house and yard with beetles? http://www.greenpeople.org/listing/Rainbow-Farms-Fertilizer-40597.cfm

I have 10 bluebirds, two Carolina wrens, three or four song sparrows, three or four tufted titmice and some chickadees. I go through 10,000 meal worms every week and a half. I see all of them first thing in the morning and then they come back two or three at a time several times throughout the afternoon. I probably put out 100 or more at a time. I order large but haven't seen any I would consider large for quite some time. I think that is one reason they eat as many as they do. Dave

I just give it a good tapping, hoping that if there are any eggs I'll knock them off. Then I throw it away.

Thanks all, Billy and all his siblings are sure precious and adorable to us too. :) The nuggets are from Lowe's, and yes ALL our bluebirds do eat them, parents and fledglings alike. They favor the mealworms of course, but we are out of worms also now. Lately, our first-nest fledglings (Billy being the first of these) have been going to the nuggets even when there were worms in the next bowl. I think Missy and Mr.B have flapped them off the worm bowl often enuf, and they are somewhat hesitant to take the mealies that Mom & Dad reserve for the second brood. Kenn