I've never used them, but if birds won't eat them, they are a waste of money anyhow. Maybe when it gets colder the birds will be less picky?

No, I haven't tried it. Dry meal worms are fed to pets all the time, but I am guessing that wild birds are not used to it. Why the extra virgin olive oil by the way? Do we have gourmet or Italian birds in the area :-)?

Like Rachel said, as the temperature drops, they may get less picky.

If you want to feed them worms, a better way may be to start a compost pile in a part of the yard. This will generate a good supply of worms on its own. Birds can pick at it.

In addition, keep your lawn pesticide free and there'll be a million earthworms.

Of course, none of this helps in the winter.

Paul

I've never had any luck with dried mealworms myself. Really though, live ones aren't that gross, once you get used to them. I've had chickadees eat them out of my hand. Also the really bring in the orioles like nothing else I've tried. While composting and avoiding pesticides in your yard are good ideas in general, I'm not sure about whether they will bring in birds for earthworms (not all compost uses worms anyway.)

--
Liz in Bloomington, MN
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They are a waste offered by themselves. But since you already bought them if you mix them into a home-made suet mix they will get consumed.

I like compost_hugger_nancy's idea. Mixing them into home-made suet sounds like it would work so you don't waste them. I also agree with gymell that once you get used to them, they don't seem so gross. I was pretty grossed out when I first started raising mealworms for the Blues. But I'd do anything for the Bluebirds, so I raised them anyway. At this point it doesn't bother me in the least to stick my bare hand right into the mealworm bin. Over time I've come to find them a fascinating hobby, and it sure is cheaper than buying them every few weeks.

So glad you asked! :-D

I've ordered live meal worms on line and purchased them at wild bird stores for 7 years. I even went so far as to "farm" my own for three (miserable) years. Due to the economy, I decided I had to cut out the mealworms. I am in the south and the birds in my area really do fine in the winter but I liked putting them out to draw the bluebirds (other species, too) closer so that I could enjoy watching them.

A few weeks ago someone on the bluebird forum said that she was having great success with DRIED mealworms but the reason the birds were finally eating them was because she soaked them in very HOT water and left them in water over-night. That makes them soft and apparently that matters to the birds. I ordered some on-line and soaked them several times in hot water and YES, the bluebirds are eating them every time I put them out. I forgot to soak them a few days ago but saw several bluebirds in my yard so I poured boiling water on them and within minutes they were soft enough to serve. I drain them and pat them dry before taking them out to my meal worm feeder.

Hope this helps.

I ordered a container of mealworms for the orioles and I'm going to use janie_may's hot water idea. I thought I would put them out with the jam and see what happens. I have a feeling they'll be disappearing just like the jam does. I hope so anyway.

I have great success with rehydrated dried mealworms in the Fall. I do want to try this Summer but just haven't yet. I may have been the person Janie May was talking about, I put very hot water on them and soak them overnight but then during the day just soak them about 20 min or so until they are soft and put them out. I fed Bluebirds these for the entire month of October last year. My sister gives them some in the Summer months too. My Blues this year are a little persnickity so I am not sure if they will go for them or not. I will try after fledging though to offer them along with the live ones and see how it goes. I can get the tub of 5,000 dried mealworms here in town for $7. I went through at least eight of these last Fall!

I never knew Orioles liked mealworms, maybe I should add some to their jelly!

Donna

the only time they worked for me was a couple springs ago.
there was snow and ice way up into may. and when the storms moved out temps dropped and everything froze or frosted way up to june. all the fruit trees bloomed out and froze the blooms and most early flowers did not make it. there were few blooms or necter for the birds in the wild and the necter feeders here would frost or freeze at night. and live mealworms turned to ice if the birds did not get to them right away.
i would bring the necter feeders in at night and put out
the dried mealworms during the day. and with hardly any natural foods the robins especially ate the dried ones. and i would also shred litle pieces of leftover roast or pork and put out too.

Well, I soaked them in hot water and put them out in the tray of a hummingbird feeder without the top, and they were all gone this morning. I don't know who ate them though. I also put some in the jelly and they were gone too. I bought a tub of them, but I didn't get such a good deal. $33! Can you imagine? But I'm an empty nester now, so the birds are taking the place of my kids.

I bought some dried mealworms and a feeder for my Dad in NY to feed to bluebirds. He is having great success with them, although the birds didn't take to them immediately. They are now feeding them to their young in a nest box in my Dad's yard. He is so excited!

BN

We don't have bluebirds here. I wish we did. The catbirds and the orioles are eating up the mealworms.

I soak dried mealworms in boiling water for an hour and put them in a shallow
pan. Didn't expect much. Looked out a half hour later, all gone. Who eat them? Put more out and watched. Red Winged Blackbirds and Robins.

I don't have time for all those soaking manipulations so I just filling small dish with water and have dried mealworms floating in it. Wrens and mockingbirds eating them just fine. I don't feed bluebirds, but probably they would do too if I'll let them.

I have mealworms out at this time...I have already refilled my feeders 3 times.. I have several of the birds mentioned above eating them... I will buy again..I also place a dried mealworms suet cake in a cage feeder near the worm feeder.. Draws them in nicely..

I put them in my fly thru feeder along with other bird seed, and they get eaten. That tray is totally clean at night. I've never watched who eats them, but I think the titmice like them. I put out so very little, that I don't think its a waste of money.

I've have gone to buy them several times, in all different stores, and they all come from China. Can't we grow our own meal worms in the U.S.??? I didn't buy any.

Feeding plain dried mealworms in a glass globe planter (used
as a "feeder"). Chickadees are
absolutely ravenous over them! Munching
out on 'em like potato chips! Great
source of protein and goof fat -- in a time when insects are getting sparse. Great
supplemental food!

Pardon my ignorance as this is my first year putting out bird feeders - have a couple hoppers, couple suet cages, and a nyjer sock. What kind of feeder do you put the rehydrated mealworms in? I'd love to attract some bluebirds

Just a little bit about Mealworms.... If you have to feed dried for whatever reason. they are best off season. if you are going to rehydrate them... just use Hot Water, never use any kind of Oil. If you are feeding them during nesting season, they should be live. Nestlings get their moisture from the bodies of the insects that the parents feed to them... so dried kind of defeats the purpose. Live are easy to deal with and are much more preferred by all nesting birds. Live are much more nutritious for the Nestlings... and the adults for that matter. Any kind of feeder like an open tray feeder or anything that has drainage holes or a cover for rain works best.

The first time bluebirds came to my feeders was 4 winters ago & I went crazy at their beauty! I did a lot of reading how to keep them coming back. Each winter morning I wake up seeing bluebirds in my trees & on my suet feeders. I've counted as many as 23 bluebirds at once on the tree branches right off our deck & bedroom. I make my own suet using about 3-5 ounces of dried mealworms in one batch. I fill the metal mesh mealworm dish that has an umbrella-like cover for them too. In my experience bluebirds don't come once the weather begins to get warm. This is the first spring I've seen two pairs hanging around. One pair began nesting in one of the many birdhouses I've painted & hung but the sparrows kicked them out. Next year I'll paint up some bluebird houses with only the narrow opening on the sides. Those should keep the other birds out. They return in early October.

I never had so many sparrows as in this winter & they do keep the bluebirds away. Sparrows also nest in a lot of my birdhouses & remain in them all year round. They will also lay eggs all winter which do hatch. It'll be snowing outside & the mother sparrow is feeding the fledglings. I keep the feeder the sparrows use on one side away from the bluebirds & the suet. It works pretty well. I would never remove the sparrows nests from the birdhouses. Sparrows don't eat suet & dried mealy worms. They also prefer bird seed & not sunflower or safflower seeds. But with all their nestings & babies I don't have the heart to not put some seed into the main feeder. I have 5-7 birdhouses to put outside & will hang them in another part of the yard away from the sparrows so wrens can nest. I'm getting houses with much smaller openings too to prevent sparrows from using those houses.

A few weeks ago I put some mealworms on the deck railing & bluebirds came soon after. I wanted to get another closeup shot of them. I've probably taken 300+ bluebird pics from indoors in front of my slider.

dogmom5, such a nice post. Thank you for sharing your experiences. Also like you personal page.

Not sure where the 2 photos are I posted on Tues. will do it again. Thanks Pat!

I took these bluebird pics from indoors in front of the slider. Love when a few bluebirds go on the same suet feeder.

Beautiful!

I tried the dried mealworms once...and the birds would not touch them. As a matter of fact.....it seemed the birds were afraid of them. It was a waste of money to buy them. Lesson learned on my part.

Everyone seems to be talking about bluebirds. Mockingbirds love dry worms. We have some that wait every morning until we add a few to a dish on the patio. Someone was concerned that young birds would not get enough moisture from dried worms. Not to worry, birds have enough sense to provide moisture food. A good way to attract mockingbirds and start them on dry worms is to place the worms near a suet feeder. Soon the mockers will notice the worms. We don't feed a lot of worms at once. More like a morning treat. It has been working for several years.

My bluebirds love dry mealworms. I feed live ones during nesting season & dry ones in the off season. You are right about the Mockingbirds! They always wait for me to put them out. Robins love them too! Regis is right. You've got to place the dry mealworms next to other feeders to attract birds. Robins & bluebirds don't typically come to feeders, so you've got to find a way to attract them.

Dogmom- love your Bluebird pics! Really good!

I'll tell you that it will be hard for bluebirds to have a successful nesting experience if you have a lot of house sparrows & house wrens nesting with you. You know by law that you are allowed to remove HOSP nests, eggs, & young. We're even allowed to dispose of HOSP because they have caused such problems for our native cavity-nesting birds. Otherwise, they'll keep bluebirds or others from nesting or throw eggs out, kill babies & kill parents if they trap them in the box. If you're not willing to keep HOSP from nesting in your yard, the only thing you can do is put up a sparrow spooker after the bluebird (or other) lays their 1st egg. Since you have HOWR too, you should put up a wren guard after 1st egg is laid. Otherwise, the others won't have a chance to nest with you. Also, the only sized opening that will keep a HOSP out is 1 & 1/8, which is the size for Chickadees. Some birds won't nest in boxes with smaller entrances. Most of the time with Chickadees, you have to start out with the standard 1 & 1/2 & put a hole reducer on after the 1st egg is laid. Then, they'll usually accept it.

I do make the holes in the new birdhouses much smaller & wrens immediately nested. I have chickadees nesting too. I also place these birdhouses away from where the sparrows live. It's worked well doing it this way & all are "behaving". I'm well aware of the problems with sparrows. However I would never ever kill a bird or any animal.

This late spring a pair of red-bellied woodpeckers nested in one of our huge trees way back & have been seeing a juvenile come to the feeder recently.

I only feed the birds dried mealy worms beginning in the fall to spring. I add a large amount to the suet I make. I also have a small round mealy worm feeder which the bluebirds use every day. Once the weather warms up the bluebirds go elsewhere even with no sparrows.

Sure hope the wrens & chickadees coexist in close nesting quarters. Since wrens can get into the small holes, you could put up a wren guard on Chickadee box. They're super easy to make (can even do out of cardboard from cereal box top). Make sure they accept it though. Realize this is a late post though. I understand about not wanting to kill sparrows. It's a personal choice. I've just heard so many horror stories from other bluebirders! My sparrow spooker works extremely well when bluebirds nest with HOSP around. Hope it's all working out!

Nicole

I'm trying to build up numbers of live meal worms and offering dried ones as a go between but the birds throw them out of the feeder in disgust.

parkernicole01

what do you use as a "sparrow spooker"? I now glue a solid small wooden flower, heart or similar to make the birdhouse openings much smaller. I was at the Newport Flower Show in Rhode Island a week ago & was able to buy some "guards". Still I'll screw them so the entrance is made smaller. Would I like to lessen the sparrows in my birdhouses & yard? Absolutely! At the end of the summer will do some reading of any ideas or seed to try to discourage them. Will contact some birding websites for ideas too.

I have had good results with feeding the birds dried meal worms in their dry unaltered form. The bluebirds and Carolina wrens both seem to like them and I have especially enjoyed watching the bluebirds feed them to their recently fledged offspring. I have been putting a scoop of them in a tray feeder daily. Other species will eat a few now and then but the bluebirds and wrens seem to be by far the ones who like them.

I feed them to my birds here in FL. The bluebirds will call to me if they see me outside. My clue to put some out. They wait in the trees and I get about 5’ away and they fly in to eat. Have gone thru many bags!