I had a recent inquiry as to my thoughts on dried meal worms for feeding birds. My thoughts are that my bluebirds won’t touch them, therefore I don’t buy them.
But it’s possible I have not been doing it correctly.
Meal worms are the larvae of a black beetle. Most birds relish a live mealie – full of protein. Dried mealworms are simply the result of freeze-drying or heat-drying real worms. In mealworm farms, the critters are fed a natural diet of grain, cereals and different vegetables – so they are nutritious if your birds will eat them.
On a side note, chickens eat dried meal worms like M& M s, as do fish in a pond. Turtles, too.
The secret to getting birds to eat dried meal worms – or so they say – is to soak them in water for 45 minutes. At that point, they are closer to the real thing.
Before next week’s CvilleBuzz I will experiment with soaking the worms, and then see if my blues will eat them.
I’ll keep you posted.