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Thank you Julie. This is my firs experience with feeding mealworm, like you. So I am learning this mealworm feeding myself. Be sure to listen to Carol and the others that have been feeding mealies for a long time.
Another tiny success this morning. I put the mealworms in the feeder and saw both parents sitting on the other shepherd’s hook watching as I loaded the dish with ~60 worms. Neither one went to the cage after I left. This was about 7:45 this morning. My wife said “Maybe the babies aren’t awake this early. You could have slept longer.”
I think she was right. At exactly 8:30 papa bird left the hook and took a bug or worm from the lawn to the box and then flew back to the cage. I finally got a shot of a bluebird in flight.
The female flew around the cage after he left, looked but didn’t go in.
Just after he reentered the cage the female flew around the cage again and approached it but never grabbed on or tried to enter.
So we will wait to see what happens this evening.
David
Stafford, VAThanks Judy and Carol. I thought that if they could see the mealworms in the dish in the cage without the top, it would ease the anxiety of entering a closed cage. It seem’s to have worked. Here is a shot of dad bird surveying the cage. I can imagine him saying “What’s with the closed top? We did so well without it yesterday.”
He fluttered around the cage a couple of times, then grabbed onto the wires to survey the inside with the dish
He then entered the cage and started picking up worms for the nestlings.
He loaded up on mealworms twice and waited for mom bird to come out of the nestbox. She never did go into the cage but flew around it and sat on the hook above it and beside it as dad bird did. Maybe tomorrow
David
Stafford, VAI put the dish in the cage this morning and left the top open so they could acclimate to the new location. No problem at all. Dad bird was first. He completed 2 trips to the nest box before mom showed up.
She watched while he loaded up again and then jumped right in with him.
So tonight I think that I will just close the top and see if they will use it as their own private diner.
David
Stafford, VAThanks Carol and Judy. I took the bowl out of the feeder (1) because neither bird seem interested in going into the cage to get the worms, even though I put a good amount of worms in the bowl to be visible and (2) since I took down my other bird feeders several years ago when HOWR and HOSP, Blue Jays, and others became a problem with the Bluebirds, I have not had many of them in the yard . They do fly to the trees in the woods behind the nest box but so far, have not shown an interest in the mealworms. I did see a flight of 4 tree swallows fly over and around the feeder yesterday after the Bluebirds had emptied it but have not seen them since. I do intend to put it into the cage as soon as I think both birds will go for it. I am going to give mom bird another day and then will move it inside. Carol, this is the BFF-1 advertised in the Forum compete with the feeder dish. It is sold at the WBU. When I tried to order it here, it was “Sold Out” with unknown date available.
David
Stafford, VAThis mealworm feeder is fun. I took the mealworms out this morning and put them in the feeder dish, and took the remaining worms back to the garage. When I came back out of the garage both parents were sitting on the hook, as I went up the steps to my deck I looked back and saw the female on the bowl picking up mealworms. That is the first time I have seen her take the worms. Ran to get my camera and took a couple of shots.
David
Stafford, VAThat is good to know Carol. I am headed to Walmart to pick up several storage containers. I am using a dinner tray that we got from an oriental carry-out a week ago it seems to be a good fit for the 1000 mealworms in that WBU container I just put holes in the top for air and ruined it for whatever my wife was saving it for.
David
Stafford, VAWatching the young ones come back has to be a most satisfying experience. I hope mine do the same.
btw. good work on the HOSP troublemakers.David
Stafford, VAJudy, I ordered from Grubco that Carol had recommended. Carol they did accept my 10,000 worm order. I will let you know how that turns out. My starter cup of 1000 from WBU store did not have the air holes in the cup top. I put them in when I got home. As you said, they were neatly packed and in fresh meal.
David
Stafford, VAJudy – Sorry for hijacking your thread with my blues. I will take my progress back to my thread. :(
David
Stafford, VAAll insects have 6 legs. The little growths at the front end of the larva are the beginning of those legs. They help the larva move through whatever medium it is living in (dirt, wood, grain, meal) If you notice in our mealworms those little growths are pointed to help them move. That is why they need to be immobilized before feeding to the youngsters as their throat tissue is still maturing. In some larva there is a pincer or sharp jaw at the mouth end that could bite and injure a tender throat.
Okay, enough entomology. Took this after putting the mealworms in the cage this morning to see if the parents will be okay with the feeder. The nestlings are 8 days old. Fecal sac ready for disposal.
David
Stafford, VARight Carol. The activity is to kill the live bugs or larva as they may bite or their sharp leg appendages may scratch and injure the throat passage of the young birds as the parents try to put them in their beaks. This happen in a lot of the small bird species.
David
Stafford, VADana, so sorry to hear this. Right when you are preparing for good things to happen. You must have had much cooler weather than we did ~150 miles south of you. Lets pray for a better outcome on the second sitting.
David
Stafford, VAJudy and Carol. My papa bird did a similar thing when he first found the feeder. I thought he was eating all of the worms himself but he would peck at them a couple of times and eat a couple, and then pick up 2 or 3 (like in the photo) and head to the nest Mama bird still has not gone to the feeder but she does sit there while the dad bird grabs some for the nestlings.
I did move the dish back to the hook with the cage. I am going to put it in the cage for the night feeding.David
Stafford, VAThanks for the tip Carol. I will look into that. I took this photo this morning just after I put out the mealworms. It looks like papa bird has taken the feeder seriously. He was on the other hook when I took the feeder bowl down to put the worms in. He picked up a mouth full, goes to the box and returned to the bowl twice before flying off with a fecal sac. The female perches on the hook above the feeder bowl but I have not seen her take any.
David
Stafford, VA
