I hardly ever see my male bb when the female is incubating. He pops in once in awhile to feed her but usualy she comes out and goes to feeder herself. Some males are really good at feeding the females while incubating and brooding and others aren't. I have one who isn't and sounds like you do too.

thanks for your reply!
He re appeared this morning and ate mealies, I was really relieved.
I am glad to hear that it is normal for them to do that.
HE has never done it before, but I guess he needed a break LOL
Any suggestions on how to get the BB's to eat out of a hanging feeder?

Debbie, I had my male go missing right after the last egg was laid. He was gone for four days. I had seen him daily before this and anytime I was near the nestbox both the mom and dad scolded me. Then that one day nothing, the female started incubating but was very skittish during this time. For four days he was not around at all then around noon of the fifth day there was a male. I wasn't sure if it was the original male or a new one. During the time the male was gone I trained the female first to go to a dish of mealworms and then to go to the mealworm feeder. It took the male, once he returned, about four days to follow her into the feeder and figure out there was food in it. He was around daily after that while she was incubating and now is feeding the babies just like the female so I am assuming he is the original male. Good luck! I hope your male returns too!!

Donna

I have one of those plastic dome feeders and when I first got it the blues would not go near it.I took the top off of it and set it on a platform feeder for a while until they got used to eating mealies out of it.Then I gradually hung it on a shepherds hook without the dome.when I added the dome at first,I put it up real high then day by day lowered it until only the blues and their small friends[chickadees etc]could fit.now they have no problem.As a matter of fact,i can see 3 right now sitting on the shepherds hook waiting for their handout.I only put them out once a day,it's just so expensive and they need to hunt so when I am not here they are ok.

mine are such chickens when I go out there they take off, like I am the enemy!
They do come back , but will fly away if I move or go back out there.
I will try putting the dome on the ground first then move it up gradually as you said, Thanks for that info!!
Oh and do you leave it out there all day while it is on the ground or bring it in after they eat a few times?
We have ants

Glad he returned, I must have been posting about the same time you did. I got interrupted in the middle before I hit submit. I had a little problem getting my female to go into my feeder too, I have a platform one though and I had clamped it onto a small 3step stepladder. The female would go to the dish on the ground but not when I put it in the feeder. Finally I took the feeder off and just put the dish on the top of the ladder, once she was ok with that (which was immediately) I put the feeder back on top of the ladder with the dish inside and she went in then. I always take the mealworm dishes in at night. At first I was carrying the whole ladder and feeder down in the mornings and put it back in the garage at night, then I gradually brought it up to our deck. Now I leave the feeder on the deck at night but still bring in the dishes. They are normally empty anyway but I don't want anything else messing with it at night.

Donna

Donna

Thanks again Donna , I appreciate the advice.
I will put the feeder up on a brick or something I guess and see if she will eat out of that, then switch to the dome without the dome in a few days, see if that works, then gradully hang it up.
What all do you feed your Blues?
I was just feeding meal worms but this feeder has places on each side I can put little suet logs, just wondering if they will eat that, it shows a BB on the picture LOL!

Debbie, some people do get their Blues to eat suet, I have tried and never been lucky enough to get them to eat it though. When my male went missing for those four days I was giving the female mealworms,waxworms and crickets (had to de-leg them though) as I felt so bad for her on her own with the eggs. Now that the male is here I am still giving them all that stuff but only so many per day. I try to leave just mealworms out there all the time, which isn't easy now that they are feeding little ones and then I put either waxworms or crickets out 3x a day but only like 15 or so a time. They have me trained already though, when they want more them come and sit on the tree branch and stare at the house. LOL!!

Donna

awwww I wish mine would do that!
mine fly off when I go out there, maybe they will catch on soon!
I feed them every morning right now, but we have lots of other bugs available and I think that is why he doesnt hang around that much. I will offer more when the eggs hatch in a few days.
thanks again - all your help and advice is really appreciated!!!

Around about late July and August, be careful with the mealworms being left outside. We get problems with yellow jackets coming to take them.
BlueBars