Hummingbirds and the feeders
- Thread starter DoctorShavegood
- Start date
What an awesome thread!! As much as I hate spiders, I LOVE hummingbirds. Ever since I was in a magnet program in grade school, and I got to catch, tag, and release a ruby throat, I've had a thing for them. I haven't put up a feeder since I was a teenager, in Alabama, but I know there are at least a few in my area. My wife and I plan to begin planting in our backyard, so over the next few years I'll be developing gardening areas designed to attract butterflies and hummingbirds. This thread has given me the little bump I needed to start planning again.
Hm... No wonder the mods just renamed the cave to "Hummingbird Caverns"
Hm... No wonder the mods just renamed the cave to "Hummingbird Caverns"
- Thread starter
- #24
Flowers will attract hummers really well. We planted Red Salvia like this and had great results:
Here's a story about my cat Molly and a hummer:
Molly was the best huntress. She was fun to watch. She could stalk better than any bangle tiger. One day while playing out in the backyard she came walking in with something in her mouth. It was a hummingbird!! She had caught herself a hummingbird!!! Very carefully I took the bird out of her mouth. It was still alive just knocked out. It was so tiny and I didn’t want to hurt it so I sort of had it by the beak. Well it came back to life and started flapping its wings making this buzzing sound and I’m still holding it by the beak. I am sure the bird was just as surprised as I was. I let the bird go outside. Molly watched the whole thing and was very disappointed I let it go. It flew up into a small tree nearby and teetered on a branch and shook it's head...then flew off.
Here's the mighty huntress, she's long gone now:
Here's a story about my cat Molly and a hummer:
Molly was the best huntress. She was fun to watch. She could stalk better than any bangle tiger. One day while playing out in the backyard she came walking in with something in her mouth. It was a hummingbird!! She had caught herself a hummingbird!!! Very carefully I took the bird out of her mouth. It was still alive just knocked out. It was so tiny and I didn’t want to hurt it so I sort of had it by the beak. Well it came back to life and started flapping its wings making this buzzing sound and I’m still holding it by the beak. I am sure the bird was just as surprised as I was. I let the bird go outside. Molly watched the whole thing and was very disappointed I let it go. It flew up into a small tree nearby and teetered on a branch and shook it's head...then flew off.
Here's the mighty huntress, she's long gone now:
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Wow! What a cat!!
Cat?!?! What a bird!!!
Hah! Touche!
I'd like to make a suggestion on feeding hummingbirds.
We have had several feeders at our house for more than 10 years and our neighbors have fed them for more than 30 years. Our neighbors told us that the hummers only like domino sugar so we always fed them domino sugar. Last year my wife bought another brand and without thinking we fed them the new brand of sugar. The birds totally ignored the new mixture until we realized our error and changed it back to Dominos.
It's true they might have become habituated to Dominos. But the birds may actually not like something in the cheaper brands. So I suggest trying a differrent brand. We also mix at 1 cup sugar to 4 cups of water. I often throw a little bit extra sugar in. I have't killed any of them yet.
We have had several feeders at our house for more than 10 years and our neighbors have fed them for more than 30 years. Our neighbors told us that the hummers only like domino sugar so we always fed them domino sugar. Last year my wife bought another brand and without thinking we fed them the new brand of sugar. The birds totally ignored the new mixture until we realized our error and changed it back to Dominos.
It's true they might have become habituated to Dominos. But the birds may actually not like something in the cheaper brands. So I suggest trying a differrent brand. We also mix at 1 cup sugar to 4 cups of water. I often throw a little bit extra sugar in. I have't killed any of them yet.
how interesting! Your hummingbirds sound exactly like my 5 year old son!
Do you color the mixture? Around here they sell a mixture that is red in color.
Don't use food coloring. They will come to the clear sugar water just as well. 1 part in 4 as BJ Rose says.
I never heard that about the domino sugar. We use imperial sugar.
I never heard that about the domino sugar. We use imperial sugar.
I believe we use Crystal (or maybe C&H?) sugar and they seem to like it. Everything I read advised against using coloring in the water so I pour it in the feeder clear. The feeder has enough red on it to attract the hummers. I also mix it in a ratio of 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. That ratio is supposedly close to the sweetness of the nectar they'd get from flowers and such in nature.
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- Thread starter
- #33
Hummer's don't just eat nectar/sugar water. Here's a pretty good article about the hummers diet.
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/what-do-hummingbirds-eat.php
http://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/what-do-hummingbirds-eat.php
Extra sugar is not the issue. DON'T use artificial sweetners. That will kill them.
Don
We have hummingbirds here in Vegas that eat my grapes. Its fun to watch as they'll land on the branches and suck out the juice from one grape at a time. They also clear all the bugs off the grapes. I never get any grapes but the hummingbirds do. I haven't filled my feeder in 3 years since I discovered their love of grapes.
Interesting... Do the grapes turn into raisins?
In Vegas heat? Of course.
That's going to depend on different factors like if your feeder is in the sun all day or if it's in the shade all day and what the temperatures are. This is a chart I found online that can be used as a suggested guideline:
Temperature / # of days before change
70 / 7 days
71-75 / 6 days
76-80 / 5 days
81-84 / 4 days
85-88 / 3 days
89-92 / 2 days
93+ / daily
I can't say that I've followed those guidelines. My feeder is in the shade all day. I've changed the nectar weekly regardless of the temperature and I haven't seen any issues yet. (i.e. cloudy nectar, mold, hummers not feeding regularly, etc. ) I'm pretty certain if my feeder was in the sun, I'd probably have to change the nectar more frequently.
The Mrs. and I have only one basic feeder in the front yard, in the shade and attached to one of our live-oaks. We both love watching these 'fascinating' birds and 'The Hummingbird Wars' (between other hummingbirds and the occasion wasp), from our front porch (my pic [and I no longer have my 35mm] does no justice for these magnificent 'Hummers')!
Look close...he / she is on the left side of the feeder taking a sip! I think because of the heat down here...they like to hang-out at times in our live-oak trees and be close to the feeder of course (our recipe is simple;[FONT=&] ½ cup sugar to 2 cups 'warm' tap water [shake until sugar is dissolved, cool & you're ready to go],...change every
2 weeks).
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