I'm LOL, WonderWhiskers, at "turning up their little worm noses at Red Delicious." And to think I thought we were bad by being trained by the bluebirds to ONLY feed live mealworms. ... I'm new here. Just came to post a question about helping BB's get calcium. Now .. uh-oh ... I may never get to FaceBook to catch up with folks. I'll be reading here all I can. ... So ... Q: Oats? Wheat bran? Does it matter? (Oats sounds nice, since they can easily be sifted through it. Same with wheat bran, though?) We want to start feeding ours to keep them alive longer when needed, get them bigger if that is still as nutritious for the birds, and maybe raise our own, eventually. We want to feed the birds more than we can afford to. ;) 'Currently buying our mealworms locally at $15+tax per 1000 worms. While we can, I want to support local business. Our bluebirds raised one brood and have 5 more eggs laid now. [New male in training. 1st male disappeared. Neighborhood cat or ?? Who knows. I just know that Mama-Bluebird is busy training the new young male. He won't yet feed the fledglings, but is feeding the mom, and is dutifully taking a worm to the house - again, in training? :) Love, love these little birds.] BYW, this set of bluebirds is also willing to eat the dehydrated mealworms. !! Never before! Is it okay to feed more of them than the live ones, with plenty of clean water available, of course? Please see my post asking about calcium if you have time. Thanks. Lori

I'm so jealous! I think part of the problem is that I put mealworms out at night very often so they don't have to wait for me to get out of bed the next morning, so they only heard the whistle once in a while. But it'd be worth it (to me) to make them wait 1/2 hour and have them understand the whistle! I'm starting today! My blues fledged a few days ago, and the parents are all over their preferred house. I haven't looked to see if they started building yet....but I hope for more action soon. The last nest was in a spot that I can't see easily, so I felt deprived! I blame the sparrows for that! Ann

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

Mealworms are a common bird feeder item. I've never heard of them bothering anything but stored grain, feed, flours, etc.