Freeze dried mealworms are well received.

[Doug Martin - PA]

In the land of supplemental feeding up here in PA it is interesting to see the preferences among Martins for food.

It has been nearly 3 weeks since my first arrival to Fombell. During this time period we had maybe 2 days where actual flying insects were available. So how well do Martins do in cold temperatures living strictly on a supplemental diet? The answer is quite surprising.

Cold temperatures in the 20s at night and 30s during day do not pose much of a problem for these birds. Below that they need to consume huge volumes of food several times a day however. I have witnessed a single Martin eating 15 large crickets a feeding as many as 4 -5 times a day in extreme cold in the teens or single digits.

For the most part however temps are usually in the 30s or 40s. Consumption is still high especially after initially arriving. Some Martins like scrambled eggs. Some prefer only tossed thawed crickets. But what I have found is that once they try everything freeze dried mealworms soaked in water for about 20 minute are extremely popular and keep the birds in great condition. They also are easy to feed, a good value and great for raining days. The female here now only seems to want mealworms. The males devour them quickly as well.

This year I have tried dried gut loaded crickets for the first time. These seem packed with nutrition and brought the first male through the initial severe cold. They are a bit smelly however and take longer to soften up. I have found that if the water is too warm to soak them that perhaps you tend to make a tea from the imbedded nutrients. The water turns heavily tinted brown. So I am using only a slightly warm or room temperature to soak them. Thus keeping the nutrition in the cricket instead of it leaching it into the water after soaking.

So if you have not tried freeze dried mealworms for your Martins. Give them a try. It will take only a short time for them to adapt to eating them. When they do you will find them very easy to feed and they keep the birds very healthy. I like to include some egg in the morning and scatter the soaked mealworms around the egg. Remember Martins need plenty of moisture in their diet. Especially if lakes and ponds are frozen over.

I have 4 birds in Fombell now. It has been very cold. But they are as healthy as they would be with temperatures in the 70s. A little egg, some crickets, and plenty of freeze dried mealworms seem to be the ticket here. But the mealworms are #1 with them.

Good thing I bought an 11 pound bag!

Doug

[CapnJack]

Quite Interesting - Thanks for Sharing

[lynnh]

Hey Doug thanks for sharing your info I was just curious as to what the difference is between dried mealworms and freeze dried mealworms

[Doug Martin - PA]

I believe freeze dried is a different process than just "dried".

Both processes remove the moisture to prevent them spoiling. Both should be reconstituted with water before feeding.

Think most all mealworms are freeze dried. The crickets seem to be just dried.

One dried in cold and one in heat? That's my guess.

[BillieJR]

Ok - so you can "flip" crickets and scrambled eggs, right? But you can't flip mealworms, or can you? I've not done any of these and was not even aware that purple martins could be trained to eat any of these things by flipping until last year - from this forum - so I am still trying to learn incase I ever get lucky enough to have purple martins and they need feeding. Do you have to put the mealworms on a platform for them to eat them? How do you train them to come to the platform to eat? And where do you get mealworms for feeding them? Sorry for all the questions. Thanks

[Doug Martin - PA]

Freeze dried mealworms are difficult to flip. I was tossing a few off my porch this morning and they were grabbing them. But.... For the most part they are best for feeding from a platform feeder or a bed and breakfast.

Up here in PA you really have a hard time keeping a colony alive unless you feed them. They are fairly easy to train to eat from a flat surface around here.

A bed and breakfast has a rope and pulley to raise and lower 4 feeding trays. Fill the trays and they come and eat it at my site. He's a video to give you an idea how it's done in the north.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=Apwb9ZRklTc



Doug

[BillieJR]

That's an awesome video, thanks!!!

Next question - do you make these eating platforms, B/B yourself or do you buy them and have to put them together? Thanks again!

[Doug Martin - PA]

https://www.purplemartin.org/shop/produ ... st-feeder/

Sell them right on PMCA

[Dave Reynolds]

Doug .... Love the video... They can be trained.... Great job and thanks for taping them for us...

Dave

[BillieJR]

Ahh, yes, thanks, Doug!

[~Ray~Gingerich]

I used to crush a handful of dried mealworms into my egg mix, let it soak a few minutes before microwaving.