My wife feeds wild birds for a hobby, we probably buy $40 or more of birdseed a month. I also enjoy watching the birds and squirrels get a free meal. Nothing like looking out the back window on a snowy day and seeing 40 Cardinals chowing down on the feeders.

With the mild weather we have had this Winter, the Bluebirds have not migrated. Bluebirds eat insects and berrys, and the wife was worried they weren't eating properly. So, she ordered through the mail some crickets, $20 worth. I was really skeptical, wondering how she was going to feed live crickets to wild Bluebirds.

The mail lady was worried the crickets would get loose in the post office or her mail vehicle, but they arrived safely and well packaged, probably 200 or so small crickets. The wife took a handful, put them in a ziploc bag and put them in the freezer to stun them, then put them out on a wooden stand near where the Bluebirds have been hanging out. Almost immediately, the Bluebirds came to dinner:



I was amazed the birds came so quickly, now the wife is taking up raising crickets full time. She has them in a big Rubbermaid tub out in the garage, with some bread and water. Only time will tell if the crickets stay where they belong, out in the garage...

Now I neeed to find a good freshwater fishing spot with crappie and bluegill, putting the crickets to dual duty, Bluebird chow and fish bait.

Now that's the coolest thing I've seen in a very long while.

Thank you for putting up this info and a wonderful photograph...

Drew

Cool indeed. Good job!

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Regards, Ron
USASA 1965/69

They also love waxworms!

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Misty

Very cool story, what part of the country do you live in?

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They hold no Quarter

Good on you! I love stories where people do good for animals/wildlife. Thank you for doing this.

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Un-Reconstructed Southerner

Chud,

We live in Virginia, about 70 miles Northeast of Richmond, near where the Potomac River empties into the Chesapeake Bay...

You're lucky you live in Virginia. If the wife was cricket farming here in Texas the round-up and branding would probably ruin her day. However, being Texas crickets, they are going to be much, much larger.

Regards,

Dave

Well yeah - Who doesn't?

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In dog years I'm dead.

Yeah and the bluebirds are the size of 747's too right ??? Haha

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They hold no Quarter

We don't have bluebirds in Texas - the crickets eat 'em.

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6/23/2022

Well, the small ones are.

Regards,

Dave

This thread appears to have flown south!!!

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SWCA #2306
DAV in honor of POP

Gotta love them folks from Texas.
Where even the tall tales are BIG...

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They hold no Quarter

Speak more of this thing you call "tall tales". Never heard of such a thing and I've lived in Texas all my life.

Regards,

Dave

Pecos Dave?

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Even older, even crankier....

And here I was envisioning holding a bird by its wings for the cat.

bob

Touche, mon ami.

Regards,

Double-O (aka Pecos) Dave

You also get some of the big'uns from Alaska?



Back on topic, how much do crickets cost to mail order?

250 crickets cost $23 total including shipping...

We have a gal in town. Lives in NYC and has a very nice weekend place up here. Lots of acreage. A friend of mine is the caretaker and she has him order freeze dried meal worms. Don't know how much she spends, but ti's a lot. Pretty cool though when he drives in and the birds know his car. I counted 15 blue birds at one time last winter.

I've been keeping bluebird houses for 23 years here in MD and find a lot of our birds don't bother to migrate. They stay here all winter but what they eat is a mystery. I leave the old nests in the boxes and I know the birds will sleep in the boxes on cold nights. I couldn't get away with the cricket thing though with my wife's fear of bugs.

How do you make your wax worms? Do you have a fondue pot set up with wax and dip them individually? Or do you have a WIM (similar to MIM) system.

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Still Running Against the Wind

I was thinking that, too, as my wife is really, seriously bug-phobic. Then I was thinking if one knew a seriously bug-phobic person whom one did not like very much, why for a mere $23 one could arrange to have 250 live bugs shipped to hizzer mailbox!

Just sayin'...