That's great maryra! It is so exiting to see them. I don't know if "mine" will stay, but I've had bluebirds coming every day for mealworms. Soon I will include homemade suet. I usually have a flock of them all winter. I help them out by feeding them and keeping a heated bird bath for them. Believe it or not, they will bathe during a snowstorm.

I didn't know they had a heated birdbath. I saw a pair of blues this morning checking out the bird boxes. Still not eating the mealworms yet.

Me too! Haven't seen anything since August, then today I saw the female sitting on top of the bird house and then the male flew out from inside the box! I only have dried mealworms. Should I start getting live worms? Will they stay? (I am in southeast Pa) So excited!

Saw 4 bluebirds checking out the 2 houses in the backyard. Couldn't tell if they were juveniles with parents possibly. Such a beautiful sight on a cold, windy day!

That's wonderful. You should have no trouble hosting nesting Blues in the spring. They're probably just checking out the houses now so they'll know what's available.

My blues are still checking out my nesting boxes, but so is a house sparrow. What can I do to try to keep him away? I have seen 3 blues around my birdbath drinking and dipping. I put out dried mealworms in a feeder near one of the boxes and the tree where i think they are roosting, but the blues aren't interested.

That's a tough one Sagrinin. If the Blues and the HOSP are both going in and out of the same box, it would be hard to trap the HOSP and not the Blues using an in-box trap. Do you have a ground trap you could use to try to capture the HOSP? I use bread crumbs and white millet to attract the HOSP. Blues don't eat those things, so it usually works pretty well.

Thanks Kendra. I do not have any type of trap. I guess I could take the boxes Down for the winter or leave them open. Both the sparrow and the blues are looking at two of the boxes. I still do not see any blues going for the dried mealworms or the soft butter pellets. How do you train them?

Sagrinin, I've never used dried mealworms or soft butter pellets. I have never heard of soft butter pellets. What are they? I use live mealworms and homemade suet. I sort of trained them by accident. I was growing mealworms over the winter so I'd have them available in the spring for the Blues. I had a mealworm feeder on my deck at the time, and I started putting in mealworms to see if any other birds would like them. A few other birds started using the feeder and one day the Bluebirds showed up. They simply followed the other birds into the feeder, and have known how to get to the mealworms ever since. I don't know where you live, but if the Blues can still get live insects on their own, they will continue to hunt for food. If everything freezes and they can't get insects in the winter, they may start taking your offering of dried mealworms. You may want to think about taking care of the HOSP before spring. If the Blues chose the box and the HOSP also want it, there could be trouble for your Blues come spring. If you can't trap, perhaps you could close up the boxes for now and hope the HOSP go away.

Sagrinin, I usually don't have blues in the winter I live around St. Louis Mo. but for the last several weeks they have been around and I have fed my blues dried mealworms for the last 4yrs and they love them also they feed the babies during the nesting and teach them to come up on my patio and eat. As of this morning I had 5 males and 1 female waiting for me to put food out so I'm curious to see how long they stay because in the past they are gone after the last nesting and I don't see them till spring so this is a thrill. Good luck with your blues!!!

Dee Dee, I live in Central North Carolina. No takers on my dried mealworms except for a cardinal. and a titmouse. Any suggestions to get the blues to the feeder..

Kendra, Saw three blues today, but have not seen the sparrow for a couple of days, which is good. The food I bought was from Wild Bird Unlimited. They told me blues liked it. It is called Bark Butter Bits w/calcium. Has corn, roasted peanuts, peanut oil, beef suet and oats. I must say I have not seen any blues going to it. I also put some dried mealworms in the feeder with it. Other birds, like cardinals and titmouse have been to it. I keep looking. Any other suggestions. Would love to train them, but really don't know how to go about it.

Sagrinin, The Blues love homemade suet in the winter. I use a recipe I found on Sialis.org, except I add ground up, raw sunflower seeds to the mix. If you put out a suet they like, they would find that. You could try putting a bowl of the mealworms near the suet to see if that would attract them. Here's a winter picture of the blues going after my homemade suet.
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Kendra, I love this picture I'll have to try making this I haven't seen the blues or heard them singing for the last couple of days, I don't know of any suggestions I just put a 1/4 cup of dryed mealworms on the column on my patio and they've always just come and eat them although I started 5yrs ago with live and then switched to dried maybe thats why they continued because I attracted them with live worms first. I've never seen blues here in the snow time so I'm anxious to see how this winter turns out :)

Kendra, I am like Dee Dee. The picture is great. I will try the homemade suet. Do you remember which one you used? Thanks for all the info Kendra and everyone. I am still new at this.

I will certainly be happy to try to share my recipe. Ever since I've used this, they just flock to it. I use two packages of lard (1 pound each),and cook it until it becomes liquid. Take it off the heat and add two cups of chunky peanut butter. Stir until the peanut butter is completely melted. Then I stir in 1/3 cup of sugar, and two or three cups of ground up, shelled sunflower seeds. I then stir in two cups of whole wheat flour. Once that is mixed in, I add approximately four cups of corn meal. You can add more or less depending on the consistency. You want it to be fairly firm when cool, but not overly crumbly. I put a small blob in the refrigerator to see what the firmness will be when cool. In spring, I will also add some bonemeal to increase the calcium content before egg laying. Then I pack it into containers and keep some in my refrigerator for use now, and pack the rest away in the freezer to keep it fresh until its needed. Hope this helps.

Kendra, that sounds like an awesome recipe I'll try because I have 4 males and a female which I guess three of the males are probably the last nesting. I've never had them here past Sept. its been fun watching them if any bird lands on their nest box they come diving out of the woods and chase them off....I guess they're staking their claim. Have a happy holiday!

Kendra, thanks for the recipe. I really appreciate it. I will try it. I had several blues around my birdbath and a chickadee and titmouse. The birds seem to be everywhere, even in this really cool weather. I did cover the vent holes on the bird boxes. Blues are still checking them out. Love to watch them. They run off other birds checking them out. Will keep you posted about the suet. Thanks again.

As an added bonus, if you put the suet where the larger birds can reach it, the woodpeckers just love it. I don't have mine in that setup in the above picture anymore as the squirrels and chipmunks kept stealing it all. I have it on a baffled post. But I love seeing the Downy, Hairy and Red-Bellied woodpeckers up close.