Easy Bluebird Feeding
The bluebird is a very quick study. To see this for yourself, place a shallow glass or plastic dish containing some mealworms near a bluebird's favorite perch, perhaps the corner of your deck railing or the top of a bluebird house. The bluebirds will discover and investigate within minutes, and once they've found a reward in the dish, they'll keep coming back. Using mealworms, you can forge a relationship with the friendly but heretofore somewhat distant denizens of your bluebird boxes. Some people even coax bluebirds to take mealworms from their hand.
Although pet stores and bait shops usually carry mealworms, they can be prohibitively expensive when purchased in quantities of less than 100. You might start out that way, but once bluebirds are expecting a handout, you will want to economize. A number of reputable companies raise and sell mealworms by mail order (see below). To give you an idea why mail order makes sense, figure on 10 mealworms per bird per feeding. When bluebirds are nesting, I often feed them four or more times per day. That's 80 a day, just for one pair. In cold, rainy weather, when the birds have a hard time finding enough food for their young, I might double that amount. I usually order 6,000 mealworms at a time for the two pairs that nest in my yard and for incidental feedings of other broods on our property.
It's not really necessary to feed bluebirds; it's mostly fun. Given the proper habitat and decent weather, most bluebirds can find enough food for their fledglings. They run into trouble when heavy rain falls for more than a day straight, or when temperatures fall and make insects hard to find. I like to train the bluebirds that nest near my house to take mealworms from a dish so that I can quickly subsidize them in periods of nasty weather.
Mealworms are not really worms; they're the larval form of a harmless black beetle. They're easy to handle, and to raise, should you desire. They don't smell, aren't slimy, and they can't climb, so any smooth-sided glass, ceramic, or plastic container at least 1 inch deep will contain them. For feeding, I like to use a heavy earthenware dog dish that won't blow off the deck when winds sweep our ridgetop. Inside, I keep the mealworms in rectangular, plastic shoe-storage boxes, with the lids offset about 1/2-inch to give them plenty of air. For food, use old-fashioned rolled oats with the bran on; quick oats have had the bran, which mealworms eat, removed. (When you scoop up a handful of mealworms for the bluebirds, don't worry if you also get some oats. I found that our chipping and field sparrows love to eat the oats!) Put a couple of slices of apple on top of the oats in the mealworm storage container once a week to give the worms moisture. (I've found that using raw potato invites mite infestations). The worms will grow quickly to a maximum length of about 1 inch before they transform into pupae, the immobile, white transitional stage between worm and beetle. If you want to raise worms, it's very important never to throw out the old oats and frass (droppings) in the bottom of the box, for this is where the beetles lay their eggs. As you might imagine, keeping oats around for months at a time can invite infestations of Indian flour moths, those little two-toned beige moths that flutter in spirals around the kitchen ceiling.
Last winter, for this reason, I left my mealworm colonies, in three shoe-storage boxes, out in our unheated, detached garage. I was elated to find, come spring, that they had survived the winter. The oats were seething with tiny worms, and the flour moths had all died. These worms have been a good backup between orders; I'd have to have at least 10 boxes going to supply mealworms in the quantities I use.
Try offering mealworms to your bluebirds. You'll be amused at how quickly you become their best buddy!
