A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Hobbies, Crafts and Creativity The Bird Lovers Forum I hope to attract some hummers this year.....

.....With this!!! My first ever hummingbird feeder! Isn't it pretty?

That's so pretty Cheryl! Give them a while to find it and I'm sure you'll have them in no time.

My wife thinks she saw TWO today in our yard but wasn't sure.

How long is awhile? Just curious to have some idea as to when I can begin to hope to see some.

:ding:

That is a very pretty feeder........

I have no Idea myself.

no idea either, but that is beautiful!

it's lovely. They'll show up soon.


By the way, I have out 4 feeders and they won't eat out of one of them. They drink all the stuff out of one of them and barely touch 2, but don't drink any out of the other one.

Do you feed them sugar water as well as food?

The "nectar" that came with the feeder listed the ingredients as cane sugar. But I didn't have to boil it to make it dissolve. They also gave instructions for how to make your own sugar water to put into the feeder. I guess the sugar water is the food. And the upside down umbrella is an ant moat. Never heard of that before (I'm new to hummingbird feeders) so I put some water in it to catch the ants that might climb up the pole to try to get to the sugar? It's supposed to be cloudy and rainy again all week so hopefully, someday, when the weather warms up and is consistant, I'll get some visitors.

Cheryl - the ant moat is a very good thing, or you'd have them crawling all over your feeder and into the holes where the birds drink from. The idea is that the ants go into the moat and drown before they get to the holes.

By the way... if the nectar that came with the feeder has red dye in it, do not use it! It is harmful to the hummingbirds stomachs! The theory is that hummers prefer the color red, so the manufacturers put the red dye in it, but I've read many many articles online that say not to use it as they can get sick from it. I was amazed at how many different boxes of nectar WalMart was selling this week with the dye in it - more so than ever before!

Here's a hint how to attract them to your yard - tie strips of red ribbons or hang red beads near your feeder - they ARE attracted to the color and it sometimes helps them find the feeder. Once they are there, it's not necessary to do that. And they do remember from year to year - mine have returned every year now within the same day or 2-3 days from that - like clockwork!!!

Good luck and enjoy!

Thanks for the advice! The nectar that came with it has no dye in it at all and the instructions also say not to use the dyed nectars. I know I've heard/read that before so I already knew to stay away from the dyed kind. Once this bag of nectar is gone I'll probably make it myself. Cheaper huh? So it's good that the flowers are red right? And because they are glass they should reflect sunlight. I'll also tie more red stuff around it to help them out. Thanks so much for all your info!

Yes, the homemade nectar is much cheaper and it's really easy to make up a big batch and store in your fridge.

When I was first trying to attract the hummers here the first year we lived here, I made some red shiney beaded do-das and hung them from the tree the feeder also hung from - worked like a charm!

By the way... mine have shown up here every year between May 2 and 5th.
I do put the feeders out a week or so before that in case they come by early.

All I have right now is a soda bottle that my siste in law painted with flowers and cut holes for a bird to perch on ......DOnt know if I will get business at all...I am going up and hunt red beads........Red soemthings .. I have loz hummer there now .. Inviting them...

Oh jeepers. I've been using the stuff with the red dye. I buy it pre-mixed in little bottles and just squeeze it into the feeders.

Thats why the hummers arent here.......YOu killed them??



Naw.....keep thy faith......

i have faith.

Sheri - don't worry - just mix up a batch of the homemade stuff and you'll be good to go.

It's 1 part granulated sugar (not confectioners) to 4 parts water.
I boil the water so the sugar mixes easier - not everyone does.
I make a large glass bottle's worth and store it in the fridge.

See - easy!

I make my own nectar also. I boil the water for 5-10 minutes to sterilize. If your on city water, you probably want to find out exactly how long is recommended to kill the chemicals. then I mix in the sugar with a 4 to 1 ratio. (four parts water to one part sugar) I don't bother coloring the water. the bottom of the feeder is red and that seems to be enough to attract them.

Are you feeding yours that raspberry jam?


I'll clean out my feeders and refill them.

I am in NH and ours always get here by Mothers Day. I already have feeders out for them and keeping my eye out. Won't be long!

THAT IS WHAT THEY SAID WHEN THEY CUT OFF THE DOGS TAIL, IT WON'T BE LONG ANYMORE.......

I saw a hummer fly by today, but he didn't stop to check out my new feeder. I've got red ribbons all over the area to try to get them to notice and I changed the nectar today, just like the directions told me to. I'm being really impatient, I want to see them feeding!

No hummers here......My feeder is a pop bottle that sis in law painted for me and I hung up......Probably cause it is pink .. Wont work.

b

none here yet that I have seen, but too I haven't hung up my feeder and don't have anything for them to eat yet

Belinda, maybe you ought to get afgreyparrot , just like cindy has.........It will keep you happy inside and out.

I dont know much, but I have my finch feeder on the porch for photo purposes. But know what, I have sheets of flexiglass below it, know why? They poop on the porch......I just take the flexiglass and hose it off and its clean again.

And the birds seem to like eating the seeds off the flexiglass......I recycle.
They are sooooooooooooo messy with food.
Now I have to get a hummer feeder also.. I have a jacob hook by another window to put that..............

I know what you mean Dodge. They are messy with their food and they don't care where they poop

My friend has a parrot in the kichen.....It pitches out so much, it looks like a sand storm there......It pulled my hair too.

Wonder where it pooped? She had paper in the cage too.......Surely it went somewhere else too, cause she lets it have the run of the house.

My sister has parakeets and know what they do? they chew the wood trims on her windos inside the house.......True.
She lets them run around too........EEk.. Makes home made macroni on stick and the birds fly the coop Or should I say POOP>>>>>...

Hummers seem to preferr FULL sun from what I've seen. They congregate thickest around feeders that are in full sun so I try to place mine in this type of location.

Perhaps I must move mine again.................b In the shade now...............

saw my first hummer today here is picture.

Wow how nice of a photo too....Guess I need a red thingy for hummers.

Thanks for sharing, and congradulations.

None here

I still haven't seen any gummingbirds at all. Am I doing something wrong? It's in a sunny spot but maybe that little tree is blocking it? I've got red ribbons all around the area and have putting in fresh nectar every week. Should I move to the front closer to the street side I'd am I still just being impatient?

This is my first stab at it .......I have mine on the porch east side>>>>.They say they want sun, I have seen them in the shade on flowers?

I have said it before and I'm saying it again. What is wrong with this feeder?




The hummers don't touch it. It was the first one I put up. They drain dry the other three but have not taken one drop out of this one. I just keep cleaning and refilling it. My husband thought it was stopped up but it's not.


They suck these dry about every 3 days.



I have one more on the other side of the house that stays empty. They drink out of it first.

I have moved the one they won't touch 2 times now and they still ignore it.

Maybe they dont like the bell on top ..It is white.Take it off.

we thought about that but it's an ant bell and is supposed to keep ants away. Surely the hummers appreciate that the ants can't get to their food.