Dried Meal Worm

[pusskin]

Have been out today to Wilko's and bought some dried meal worm.

Will the Robins gobble it up, and thoroughly enjoy it, or would fresh meal worm have been better for them?

[snags]

From the RSPB website:

Dried Mealworms. Many species, especially robins and blackbirds, love these additive-free treats, which have all the goodness of live mealworms (beetle larvae) but not the moisture. Sprinkle as they are, or rehydrate by soaking in warm water for a few minutes.

[gingejbee]

The ones I put out get gobbled up by several garden birds. I usually soak in some water first- prevents them from blowing away, as they are very light when dry.

[pusskin]

Brilliant! Just what I wanted to hear, many thanks.

I thought they looked too dry , so I'll now soak some and put more out.
Cant wait now to see who gollops them up. Ta very much x

[lankeela]

If you work out the price its cheaper to buy steak!

[pusskin]

cheaper to buy steak? lol

[heathfield]

If you soak them, please clean off the area where you put them down fairly frequently. Otherwise it becomes a breeding ground for some nasty bacteria.

[pusskin]

nasty bacteria ---really? never thought of that

[linedancer16]

I put mine out dry and they disappear in no time! All the birds love them but I use them as a treat because they are expensive. (On offer at the RSPB on line shop at the moment!)

[pusskin]

Mine was only £1 80p in Wilks , not so bad as there are loads of them, and will only give them about 30 a day, lol

[Sir Alec]

I buy mine from Capital Gardens, under the sub-heading of a company called Chapelwood. Yes they are expensive and I buy the 3 litre tubs, several in one go to save on postage. All the birds seem to love them, but I have also attracted 5 hedgehogs too. They are voracious!

[ladybirder]

30 a day? One of my blackbirds takes 30 live ones in his bill at once! Well almost.

[pusskin]

haha 30 a day means I'm being very mean then? lol. I will make that loads more now. Also, I'd die for a hedgehog to come into our garden. We have fine wire mesh across the bottom of the garden to try and keep the cats out from next door , so that will never happen --great shame

[lankeela]

Why not contact a Hedgehog Rescue and offer a home to one of their waifs and strays? It sounds like it would be ideal if it couldn't get on to a road and get squashed.

[lankeela]

Just googled - Mealworms £2.78 for 100 gms Tesco Finest Scotch Fillet £24.99 per kilo Go figure!

[gingejbee]

...not comparing like with like - worms are dehydrated, steak isn't!

[pusskin]

ah , hedgehogs could never escape from our garden, but its mostly all all paved too. hedgehogs would like plenty of grass? Plus we'd have to cover fine mesh over our fish pond. Mind you, we've got a raised bed at bottom of garden that hedgehogs would like --got me thinking now!
p.s some starlings and sparrows have come down and wolfed the lot of meal worm now lol no other birds yet, so about to put out more mealworm --no robins --sob sob

[lankeela]

Live mealworms are £13.99 for half a kilo at the RSPB site!

[snags]

''worms are dehydrated, steak isn't!''

Have you ever been to a Harvester?

[pusskin]

ha ha all good replies. thanks for the chuckle x

[rowanwitch]

for hedgehog fans
http://www.hedgehogst.../hedgehog-street.html
a plan to link gardens everywhere so hedgehogs have more places to visit