Chris,
First you need to get the meal worms to stand up and do a belly dance for the blue birds. Ok seriously, there are those on this forum that talk like they've trained their blue birds over night, I suspect that it might of took a lot longer then they might want to admit or they are putting out a lot of free food all the time. Never the less if you can get into a certain time of putting out the meal worms during the day, they will more often then not take note that at a certain time of the day at a certain place they can get a free meal. You might not see them hanging out at the dinner table, but they might be looking at the table from afar or peeking around the corner at it. My biggest problem is that I haven't been putting them out at any particular time, but never the less I do try to make sure at least one or two of them see me putting them out as I wave the Tupperware container in the air at a least one of them. I also try to whistle at them, and I've also dug a party whistle out of my junk, though I wonder if they can hear either one of them. So far I've only bought a thousand worms and I've been feeding them those for about three weeks now, and probably have got a week supply left so they don't really get much from me, they are not running to the table for their meals, but they are slowly understanding that occasionally I will put them out for them. I also noticed that they will only come to the dinner table when the other birds aren't looking or around, and I also try to just show the tupperware container to just the bluebirds. Never the less their is a young juvenile mocking bird that has been trying to eat the worms to so eventually if I decide to buy any more worms I probably want to either make a feeder that only the small birds like the bluebirds can enter or buy something for that purpose.

I suspect also that many of those on this forum are gray hair/silver hair old women that look like Grandmas that will spoil their grandchildren and those Bluebirds especially the young juveniles are attracted to them.
cheers,
Keith

Keith,
That's it! I'll simply write 'Grandma's Kitchen' on the side of the container once the little ones are able to fly. What a magnet! Once scolded by Mom & Dad bluebird, the kids will say, 'Awwwwww...Grandma ALWAYS has good food at HER house!'

As for the women here, I prefer to believe that they are all hotties. :-)

Chris in NH

tips at link below

Here is a link that might be useful: training bluebirds to come to a feeder

Chris Hi and Welcome!!!! If you are new to blue birding you are really in for a treat and will be surprised at how much you will fall in love with these birds. There are many things to know about them besides feeding them including all the dangers to cavity nesting birds and how to prevent them. Please go to a great web site that we all use to learn about them and of course we are always here to help.
Lots of Luck
Cathy

Here is a link that might be useful: sialis

Hi Chris,

This is year 2 of bluebirding for our house - it is sooo much fun and rewarding. Anyway, we found a bright orange feeder dish at WBU and it worked instantly. It was amazing. We also get worms there - the live ones seem to be the ticket. Now, I don't know if the birds are trained or if we are trained, but we put a few worms in the dish, ring a bell and they come to the dish right away. It is so magical. When I have friends and family visit, and my boys teenage friends visit, they are amazed! Have fun!!

Once you get them "trained" they will then train you LOL, you will see!
But seriously, once you have them trained, you will not need to ring a bell or whistle. They will hear your door open, or see you from afar, and come flying in.
And on the more serious side, that bell or whistle may also train other birds, including hawks. And when fledglings are around, remember that they are very noisy, very slow, and totally uneducated. I had to watch in shock as a hawk took one of our bluebird fledglings; he was watching as the parents were shuttling mealworms back and forth to them from my feeder. I hate to share that event; I felt so guilty, and it still bothers me. So just don't overdo it, OK? There are dangers we might not be aware of.
BlueBars

Bet is right...you don't train them, they train you. When my blues are hungry, they simply land on my deck. I stop what ever it is I'm doing and I put worms out for them. I don't have to call anymore. They see me or hear my voice and they all come flying in. By all I mean the baby blues 5 of them, mom and dad blue, the woodpeckers all of them, the tufted titmice, chickadees, and nuthatches.

I put a suction cup feeder on my patio door. When I saw the blues in the yard, I put worms in the feeder and I would say "come on blues". Over a period of time they learned when they hear "come on blues" worms were in the feeder. It did not take long for the rest of the birds to figure that out too.

I can't even be out in the yard. If the blues hear my voice....off to the deck they go. Sure enough in I go to give them worms. So you see they do train us :)

Karen

Chris,welcome to this great group of bluebird fans.We are practically neighbors.I live in Mass on the NH border.I buy my mealies ar WBU in Nashua,just got some yesterday.I bought a dome type feeder there a few years ago and it took them a while to get used to it.when I first started feeding I put them in a bowl on a platform feeder but the robins thought they were for them so then I got the dome.It still takes them a while each year.My pair this year never started coming until the eggs hatched,but now they are very greedy.I think my little ones fledged today because Mom is at the feeder and then into the trees but Dad keeps going to the box with a worm.I am wondering if there is still a baby in there.It is getting dark now so I hope all is well.I don't dare check till tomorrow.Keep trying but do remember as long as the weather is pretty good,they will eat lots of bugs.Enjoy....Jane

Bluebars:
....They will hear your door open...

That's funny, I believe it, I was so busy today I didn't feed them anything again, I've been giving them one little batch about every other day, but it looks like they are doing pretty good with out me, every time I turn around they've got some other natural worm or bug in their mouth, generally waiting for me to move away from one of my two sheds, One of the sheds is my small work shop with a small deck right next to the box. I'm surprised they put up with me, I may have to bribe them more with some more worms so they don't move on after this next batch, 3 babies, 7 days old now, I hope when this batch leaves they move back over to the first box again 15ft away.
Keith

Chris, we ARE all HOTTIES! :) LOL! Everybody is right....the Blues train you once they know you have juicy snacks! You may need to get live mealies to get them started. Put a few in a small bowl, (butter tub) near the box where they will see them wiggling. Move the bowl a little each day untill you have it where you want it (a nice protected spot) Mine is under a high tree canopy where the Hawks would not easily spot it from the air. I swear my Popa can even tell time. He shows up right outside my kitchen window every evening at 6:00 sharp ( I think he hears the microwave)He knows I will stop what I am doing and deliver his worms before I finish preparing OUR dinner! Now who trained who? LOL

I feed mine in a little worm feeder on the ground in my yard, and watch them.
I want to elevate it , but when I did that they stopped eating out of it and the HOSP liked it.
I found the HOSP dont like it on the ground??
They seem spooked by it.
Debbie

Chris, this is my third year with Bluebirds and will be my third year training them. We never seem to get the same pair back for some reason. Bluebirds are drop feeders meaning they perch somewhere and watch below them for bugs and then drop down on them. You need to watch where you Blues normally perch for bugs. Put a dish of live wiggly worms underneath that perch. Hopefully they will perch there and see the worms, once they find that there are worms in that dish you can slowly move it little by little to wherever you want it. Today is day 2 of trying to train our new blues who now have four eggs and are incubating. They are further away from the house than previous years but hopefully we can get them to find the mealworms. Right now I am putting them under a tree near the nestbox that I see them perching on. So far no takers though, at least the Robins haven't found them either though as unfortuantely they will be trained right along with the Blues. Hopefully ours find them soon as I don't want to leave worms so near the nestbox for very long. Good luck to you!

Donna