Katherine Kottke, who feeds birds at her Rochester home, began feeding mealworms when a Carolina wren arrived in her yard one November day. The bird stayed through that winter and returned the next for a repeat performance. Kottke credits the bird's survival to mealworms. She bought an enclosed bird feeder with a clear plastic front, cut an entry hole in one end, and placed the worms inside in a Pyrex bowl wrapped with heat tape. That can be important because grackles and blackbirds would quickly eat all of the mealworms if they could.
Mealworms come packed in wheat bran, which serves both as bed and breakfast.
Kottke keeps her mealworms in the basement in a cool room, where a batch will last three or four weeks and feeds them carrots, bran flakes, and dry dog food to increase their protein content, making them more nutritious for the birds. To make her mealworms last longer, McMonagle keeps hers in the refrigerator, in a box or similar container. The slender worms are about a half-inch long, beige or light brown creatures. They are not worms at all, but the larvae of the beetle Tenebrio molitor, a common pest of stored products, and a member of a large insect family, the darkling beetles. Because mealworms are dry to the touch, McMonagle said they are more comfortable to handle than, say, slippery angleworms.