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Cari, in case of confusion, “Rainbow” is just the name of the company – they ARE NOT the type of mealworm. Your comment about them “being the same as regular mealworms” made me think you might have this misconception.
There are several different good worm companies – I use Grubco and Nature’s Way, both out of Ohio just because they are closer to me and shipping is not quite so expensive. I believe almost all of them guarantee live delivery =- my last delivery of 10,000 had lots of dead worms (because of the heat I think) and they have given me a credit for when I want them delivered. That won’t be this week or probably even next week as we are in the middle of a very bad, long heat wave, with index over 100 degrees for almost 2 weeks.
Cari – sorry this happened- horse barn nearby, savagely attacked older birds equals HOSP!!! (in my humble opinion)
Wow, Tammy, sounds like you have had a lot of activity there – good for you & the blues! My 2nd nesters just hatched on July 4 (Wednesday) and they are doing great, growing a lot. I’m not sure if I will get another nest or not, as it is getting a little late, but whatever will be, will be!
I had same thought as Tammy about the box being on your deck – ditto to her suggestion. This is convenient but not very safe for the blues &/or babies.
UPDATE: Well, we only had 1 day of heat relief on Sunday and then back in the 90’s with heat index over 100 degrees the past 4 days, but MY BABIES HATCHED TODAY, JULY 4 – what a great way to celebrate this Independence Day/4th of July. Now, all they have to do is make it through the next 17 days. If I remember somewhere it was said that baby birds can make it better through the heat than can the eggs. Is that correct?
Glad that you got to see some babies and I bet that maybe the one egg is at the bottom of the cup –
it is hard to tell how many are in the nest because they are so curled up.Connie, yes, sounds like you have too many in one container and/or not enough air holes. When you feed them with carrots out of the refrigerator, you need to strain out all the frass (poop) and old bran and put in fresh and be sure all carrots are out when you put the clean box back in fridge. Sialis.org (our BB bible here) also has a good section on mealworms you might check out. I don’t believe you need to leave them out for eating more than 24 hours – I just take out any uneaten carrots at that point and put in fresh bran. Kind of a pain but it is necessary if you are going to feed worms, and well worth it when you can watch parents feeding the newly fledged.
P.S. I would think two separate boxes for 5,000 would be okay, as I usually keep my 10,000 in 4 or 5, depending on size of containers.
Ditto to what David said. She should flush if she is incubating, although she may be on a “break”.
how long ago did the others hatch? Not uncommon for 1 to be a day or 2 behind others – good sign papa is bring food to the box – that other egg may be infertile and you leave it alone unless it should break. They usually will settle to the bottom of the cup.
P.S. One year my mama blue disappeared and had 4 eggs within 3 days of hatching in the box. Do you know that those 4 eggs went on to hatch WITHOUT incubation – it was very hot during that period. I am positive she was not around, and when they did hatch papa blue of course could not brood them – he did not even go to the box at all and they all perished. They are buried in my garden. I had even contacted a rehaber closest one was 65 miles away and they told me they would not survive the trip.Connie, it is not unusual to find dead ones after a period of time. You are refrigerating them, right? I had a bad shipment this spring with LOTS of dead ones (due to heat & delayed delivery) and even after I cleaned them out well & fed them well, I still find a few new dead ones. You have proper ventilation holes? Not too deep in the box ( only about 1 1/2″ deep including the bran? Take out of fridge & give them thin slices of carrots or potatoes at least every 2 weeks, every week is better? When I buy my usual shipment of 10,000 they last me about 2 1/2 months I have pretty good luck but there will always be a few dead ones. When you say “I cleaned the whole container” sounds like you have them all in one container, how many did you get? For my 10,000 worms I usually have 4 or 5 different flat containers, like school supply boxes or pencil boxes. It is VERY important to have tiny holes for air ventilation, like the small cups you can buy of 100 or 500 – they have small holes all around the edge of the top container. About all I can think of – good luck. P.S. the worm company usually has all these instruction when you get a shipment of worms.
Nice, David, thank you. Yes, Eagles are special – we have some that nest on one of our large lakes here in Missouri. Happy 4th of July to everyone!
Judy, glad you were able to get us a photo – they still look pretty pink – I am waiting to see a picture of the BLUEBIRDS (ha, ha). Glad they are hatching.
Gin, my theory may be all wrong, but I like to keep those wrens & HOSP busy at different boxes while my blues are nesting in another one. I will trap the HOSP & NEVER, NEVER let any eggs get laid or if I miss one it doesn’t last long. Same thing on the wrens when they are around, I let them put sticks in the box, I take the sticks out, let them put more in, etc. Only one time did wrens hatch because they nested inside our boat trailer hitch or something and I didn’t know it until it was too late. Needless to say that cubby-hole got stuffed from then on.
Good to hear from you BZ – wow to have two BB nests going at the same time is really exciting and has only happened to me about 2 times in 10 years. With all the stress I prefer to have just one nest going at a time – two years I had TRES and blues nesting at the same time and that was exciting but also stressful, as one batch of TRESS all just died in the box, I believe from mites. Good luck on your nests, keep us informed.
Yes, that would be ideal except it wouldn’t last one day in the wind which we have here almost constantly. That dead-air space is critical for any kind of heat shield so the air can flow between the box & shield and not make it that much hotter, which is what it would do with styrofoam. That tree in the background of the picture is actually my neighbor’s and is probably 150 feet away so provides no shade. Our backyard is very large and all of the trees there are quite a distance from any of my boxes so predators cannot drop down onto the box.
Hi, David. Yes, I do have heat shield (styrofoam with dead-air space between box & foam as required) on this box and will try to post picture here. This is an older picture & the last 2 years I have added a much larger piece to the top of the box with 3 or 4 inches overlapping on all sides. Our midwest weather has turned into a monster this week and a heat shield is definitely needed. The foam is on the top, south & west sides of box where sun is prevalent.
