mealworm mess

sean · Post by **sean** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 7:15 pm

So I have been trying to feed my CB mealworms daily or every two days. The problem is, I don't think that she knows how to eat them. I find 90% of the mealworms that I placed in the treat dish or food bowl on the bottom of the cage.

They appear untouched. It is as if she loves to throw them about the cage but doesn't seem interested in actually eating the things.

does anybody have any advice for presenting mealworms to our finches in a way that limits or avoids this problem? They aren't cheap either! I have the same problem with my Star Finch although not quite to the same extent.

Matt · Post by **Matt** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 9:37 pm

Have a close look at the mealworms on the bottom of the cage, you will probably find the head bitten off. Try mini mealworms or preferably termites if you have access to them.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 10:36 pm

A lot of mine just suck the juces out of the mealworms and the head,but like matt said next time you might try the mini mealworms

gomer · Post by **gomer** » Thu Dec 11, 2008 11:13 pm

Some of mine don't eat meal worms.Some will only eat them when they have young.Some took weeks before they tried them.
Try this since we all know you have a cast iron gut Sean.Cut some up into smaller pieces,scold if needed.And add a few to there favorite treat.
Some people scold them before feeding out so they cant escape and become potential hosts for worms.I don't though as I prefer to use coopex spray on floor to kill any nasty bugs.

B CAMP · Post by **B CAMP** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 12:07 am

I have a nandy conure she will eat anything she sees me eat might work with your finch's sean

sean · Post by **sean** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:10 am

uuhh. i'm a little confused with the syntax and the lingo.

does scorch mean "to cook?"

and are you telling me to eat them and allow my finches to watch in the hopes they will copy me? I MIGHT consider doing that, but my mealworms aren't labeled for human consumption. they say bugs are surprising good for you

oh, and they are already dead. they are the canned ones that fairest finches sell.

gomer wrote:Some of mine don't eat meal worms.Some will only eat them when they have young.Some took weeks before they tried them.
Try this since we all know you have a cast iron gut Sean.Cut some up into smaller pieces,scold if needed.And add a few to there favorite treat.
Some people scold them before feeding out so they cant escape and become potential hosts for worms.I don't though as I prefer to use coopex spray on floor to kill any nasty bugs.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:48 am

The word that was used was scold, not scorch.
Being quite curious, finches do imitate what they see. A few hundred dried mealworms aren't going to hurt anybody. Besides, who reads labels anymore?

gomer · Post by **gomer** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 4:35 am

Theres some good mealworm recipes on the net sean.Heres a change from the cookies you normaly eat.
Mealworm Cookies

Ingredients:
550 ml (1-1/4 cups?) all-purpose flour
5 ml (1 tsp.) baking soda
5 ml (1 tsp.) salt
250 ml (1 cup) softened butter
175 ml (3/4 cup) white sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) crumbled dried mealworms
175 ml (3/4 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
5 ml (1 tsp.) vanilla
2 eggs
360 grams (1-1/2 cups) chocolate chips

Place the cleaned and prepared insects on a cookie sheet and dry in the oven for 1 -2 hours at 100¡C (200¡F). Preheat oven to 190¡C (375¡F). In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, cream butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir in eggs. Gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and mealworms. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, and bake 8- 10 minutes.

mickp · Post by **mickp** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 5:15 am

cordons tend to eat only the heads from their mealworm. show them termites though and they eat the lot and still look for more.

Post by **Sally** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 10:25 am

sean, it may take a little while to get the birds to eat the canned mealworms. I have read other posts where people chopped them up and mixed them with a little eggfood or even seed. If you do the live mealworm route, they do eat just the head and toss the rest--little buggers! As others said, if you do live mealworms, the mini size is best, and your local petshops usually carry mealworms that are too large.

franny · Post by **franny** » Fri Dec 12, 2008 1:35 pm

My GBs wouldn't touch them at first. Michelle at Fairest Finches suggested what Sally says, to chop them up very fine and put in the eggfood, then each day make the pieces progressively bigger. After the 3rd day or so my finches suddenly figured it out. They were food! Then at first they just ate the head.. then another day they were squeezing them like tubes of toothpaste to get the insides out. The only time they ate the whole thing was when they had babies still in the nest.

sean · Post by **sean** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:42 am

if i can find mealworms grown for human consumption i will do this and post the results on youtube. i'm sure you'll get a kick out of it gomer.

gomer wrote:Theres some good mealworm recipes on the net sean.Heres a change from the cookies you normaly eat.
Mealworm Cookies

Ingredients:
550 ml (1-1/4 cups?) all-purpose flour
5 ml (1 tsp.) baking soda
5 ml (1 tsp.) salt
250 ml (1 cup) softened butter
175 ml (3/4 cup) white sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) crumbled dried mealworms
175 ml (3/4 cup) firmly packed brown sugar
5 ml (1 tsp.) vanilla
2 eggs
360 grams (1-1/2 cups) chocolate chips

Place the cleaned and prepared insects on a cookie sheet and dry in the oven for 1 -2 hours at 100¡C (200¡F). Preheat oven to 190¡C (375¡F). In a bowl, mix the flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, cream butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir in eggs. Gradually add the flour mixture. Stir in chocolate chips and mealworms. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a cookie sheet, and bake 8- 10 minutes.

atarasi · Post by **atarasi** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 12:51 pm

Sean, look no further....

This link contains Gomer's original recipe and some good information on raising mealworms.

Mealworms for human consumption

L in Ontario · Post by **L in Ontario** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 1:45 pm

Excuse me while I go be sick!

fairestfinches · Post by **fairestfinches** » Sat Dec 13, 2008 3:45 pm

All I can say is that they don't taste like chicken. . .

Sounds like she has never been exposed to them to know what they are.

Do your other birds eat them? Do you have her in with the other birds?

You may find that if other birds eat them they will learn from them that are good eats.

We find that our BC Cords will eat most of the worm and suck the guts out of the part they don't finish.

Sean