Madame WingNut’s Tips for Feeding Bluebirds
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1) Train them to use a feeder:
a. Best to start this in early spring during nesting season. If you have an
Eastern Bluebird nestbox in your yard, place live mealworms in shallow
dish on ground a few feet from their box. A shallow margin cup works
nicely (container must have shallow sides or all your mealworms will
crawl away). This will train them to eat from the dish and may entice
them to stick around and nest with you.
b. After they are eating from the dish, move container a few feet closer to
your feeder, but within view of their box.
c. Move container under feeder. Move it on top of feeder. Put it inside
feeder. They’ll get the idea.
2) Feeder Type:
a. Wild Birds Unlimited has variety to choose from. If you buy plexiglass
feeder, make sure there are no perches under entry holes. They are not
needed for Bluebirds to enter and perches just provide access to unwanted
birds that will eat the food.
b. Think about suet mix feeding during winter months. You may want to
choose a feeder that is more open on the sides. If you put suet in
plexiglass feeder, fat smeared on sides will make viewing birds very
difficult. I prefer feeder with plastic coated wire mesh sides. Bluebirds
need 1.5 inch square mesh to enter.
c. Make that feeder European Starling proof or resistant. European Starlings
are non-native competitors of our native cavity nesting birds
(woodpeckers, Eastern Bluebirds, Purple Martins). Not only will they eat
all your suet mix during winter months, they will also take over a lot of
nest cavities of our native birds by killing adults/eggs/young they find
there. To do this, place suet mixes in shallow dish in very center of feeder
where they cannot reach.
3) Food:
a. During summer months, mealworms are their preferred food at a feeding
station. Just give them a few once or twice a day. There are plenty of
other insects in your lawn for them to eat (no insecticides, please).
b. During fall and winter months, prepare a suet mix for them. Put this in
dish in center of your feeder. Many native birds will enjoy it: Eastern
Bluebirds, Carolina Wrens, Tufted Titmice, chickadees, nuthatches,
woodpeckers, etc. Suet mix recipe follows.
Bluely Yours
Madame WingNut
Bluebird Banquet Suet Mix
(Recipe developed by Linda Janilla Peterson and tweaked a little by Madame WingNut)
Ingredients:
 4 cups corn meal
 1 cup whole wheat flour
 1 – 10 oz. box Zante Currants
 1 cup shelled sunflower seeds*
 1 cup chopped peanuts or peanut hearts*
 1 – 10 oz. package Simply Suet*
 1 cup peanut butter
Directions:
Making this suet mix is a lot of fun to do with children. It smells amazing and it is fun to
mix with their hands. During addition of melted suet, let adult take over (can be pretty
hot).
In a large bowl, use your hands to mix first five ingredients together. Make sure
cornmeal does not contain leavening. You want cornmeal, NOT cornmeal mix. Make
sure your peanuts and sunflower seeds are unsalted. You can substitute raisins for
currants if you cut them in half. If you purchase whole peanuts, you must chop them up
in food processor. Eastern Bluebirds cannot eat any morsel larger than a small pea as
they swallow their food whole.
In a 2-cup pyrex container, melt suet in microwave on high. This takes 4 to 5 minutes.
Make a depression in dry mixture and pour melted suet and peanut butter in there. Mix
with your hands.
You should end up with pea-sized morsels. Place in feeder and enjoy the show.
Refrigerate the rest of the food and use as needed.
*Purchase these items from Wild Birds Unlimited. Remaining ingredients are available
at your local grocery store.