How to Feed Mealworms to Bluebirds?

Do you want to attack bluebirds in your backyard? If so, then you should have a backyard feeder filled with mealworms that these birds will absolutely love. Continue reading this article will show you how to feed mealworms to bluebirds.

Most people thought that the mealworms are a type of worm, but they are actually a larval variety of the mealworm beetle. These bugs are a great source of nutrients for the birds and can help them battle through the cold winter weather. It also encourages spring reproduction for these birds.

But sometimes getting the bluebirds to feast on the mealworms in your backyard may not be easy. So here are some tips on how you can encourage these birds into eating bluebirds food.

Should You Feed Live or Dried Mealworms?

The decision on whether to feed your bluebirds with live or dried mealworms will pretty much depend upon your personal preferences. But you probably need to consider the pros and cons of each method to come up with the best decision.

If you go for the dried mealworms, you can benefit from the fact that they are convenient to feed and are cheaper. However, they are not that effective in attracting the birds, unlike the live ones.

How to Safely Store Mealworms?

If you plan on using the live mealworms, it’s important that you store these worms in a container that has a capacity of 2 to 5 gallons. Make sure you cover the container with a perforated seal or perhaps a screen, in order to allow for air to circulate.

Add some apples, bran, or oatmeal to encourage moisture. Mealworms will be just as nutritious as the food that they eat so feed them well with these treats before you offer them to the birds. You can store them in the fridge in order to slow down their growth and to make them stay in the larval forms, which is what birds actually love to munch on.

How to Encourage Birds to Eat Mealworms?

Instead of spreading the mealworms to the ground, place them in bluebird feeders instead in order to contain the food. This way, you can prevent these mischievous worms from crawling away.  The feeders must be placed close to vegetation and far from the windows.

Recommended Mealworms Serving Size to Feed to Bluebirds

How to feed mealworms to bluebirds? You can probably feed your birds for up to a hundred mealworms in a day. When they knew where to find the worms, the birds will find these foods themselves! They are rich in protein and are delicious to their taste, so it should be easy to entice them into eating these treats.

More Affordable Ways

There are many ways in which you can cut down costs and make feeding your mealworms more manageable. One way is to make your own feeder or to recycle old dishes and kitchen pans. To enjoy long-term savings, better purchase live mealworms in bulk from a local supplier. Better yet, raise the mealworms yourself!

Food for Bluebirds

When it comes to bluebirds food, you’ll surely not run out of options. Aside from mealworms, here are some other foods to feed your bird:

• Apples, pears, or other small chunks of fruits.
• Broken eggshells, which can be used to supplement calcium during the nesting period.
• Chopped peanut hearts that have no shells.
• Diced berries, such as blackberries and raspberries.
• Dried fruits that are softened, including blueberries, raisins, cranberries, etc.
• Small chips or sunflower hearts.

These foods must be fed to the birds in open feeders that have a broad opening. Dishes and trays are the best choices since bluebirds won’t really perch on narrow ledges. Winter bluebirds would also love to visit a bird feeder garland filled with cranberries and some other fruits, although they won’t find it interesting to eat cereal strings or popcorn.

Since most of the favorite foods of these birds are very rich, it is best to serve them with only a small amount, which they can consume in 1 – 2 days. This is to prevent bully birds from consuming all the foods themselves and scaring the bluebirds away!

What Bluebirds Can Not Eat

Bluebirds are not like any other birds. Thus, you cannot expect them to eat some of the most common foods that other backyard birds would eat like millet and mixed bird seeds. While the birds would prefer to eat sunflower chips over other foods, they typically do not eat seeds. Also, they won’t sip hummingbird nectar, and they tend to avoid whole peanuts. They also hate cracked corns.

How to Attract Bluebirds

It can be challenging to feed bluebirds and understanding what they would love to eat is the first step to attracting these birds into your backyard. Aside from food, consider adding a bluebird house and a birdbath in your backyard. These should entice the birds to visit and eat what you offer.

Heated birdbaths would be ideal during winter. Roosting boxes can also help to attract birds during the colder months. Sometimes it requires a bit of patient to attract bluebirds into your backyard but having more things to attract can make it easier for the bluebirds to visit your yard.

The Jail Bluebird Feeder

The Bluebird Jail Feeder is one of the best types of bluebird feeders. This feeder is designed to keep larger birds, like Starlings and Robins from eating the mealworms that are intended for the bluebirds. It’s enclosed and comes with a dish at the middle where the birds can actually get through a 1 ½-inch entrance hole or between dowel bars. Unlike the other Bluebird feeders that come with Plexiglas board instead of bars, this feeder s more open, which makes it easier for the birds to be able to get access to the food.

The key to enticing the birds to eat from the feeder is to keep the top part open or better yet, remove the bars temporarily. Once the birds have figured out that there’s actually some food for them to feast in there, they will keep on visiting regularly. Even if you will put the bars back, they would find a way to get through between the bars just so they can eat delicious bluebird’s food.