Are larder beetle larvae OK in wild bird seed?

Question

My sunflower/millet mix is crawling with what I believe are larder beetle larvae (and a few of the beetles themselves) http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=LARDER%20BEETLES&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi

My question is: Since I'd hate to waste it all, would it still be okay to feed this mix (with the bugs included), to our backyard birds? They are mostly chickadees, titmice, blue jays, cardinals, woodpeckers. Larder beetles don't carry any parasites that could harm these birds, do they?

Answer 1

You can feed this mix to any bird. The thing is that the beetle larve eat the heart of the seed before it hatches and comes out of the seed. It will be fine to feed the wild birds, bugs and all.

Answer 2

They will eat the bugs in the seed.  But if you want to avoid this, freeze the bird seed for at least 72 hours when you buy it.  It will kill the bugs and larve.