Hummingbirds!!!!

[bersaguy]

I'm not sure if folks have taken down their feeders or just let them go empty but over the last couple days my group of 5 birds has grown to about 25+ and birds fighting like crazy over my feeders so I have to put up 3 more this morning so now I have 7 up. I had that many up early but nectar was going bad in them with only 5 birds. I'm glad I had enough food to fill the extra feeders...............

[Tuffus]

I have had 3 birds all summer but now I have 6. Maybe they have already started migrating south.

 

[Omega]

How did you guys attract them in the first place?  I had wanted to put up some feeders but haven't seen any around here.

[peejman]

Migration time. 

If you build it, they will come.  Seriously, just put up a feeder and they'll find it. It may take a while, but they will.  

The birds generally follow exactly the same route when migrating. So if they don't live near you but find it on their way, they'll come back every year.  

[chances R]

yes, this is the peak migration period.  Just buy some pre-mix and hang a feeder.  I've got a buddy that has so many it is not safe to walk in his yard..... He feeds about a gallon of mix a day.

[bersaguy]

8 minutes ago, peejman said:

Migration time. 

If you build it, they will come.  Seriously, just put up a feeder and they'll find it. It may take a while, but they will.  

The birds generally follow exactly the same route when migrating. So if they don't live near you but find it on their way, they'll come back every year.  

Yea, PJ is correct. The first year I lived here I didn't see any birds but my buddy across town had a few feeders up and he had like 5 birds. I went to Tractor Supply and bought 2 feeders and some nectar and put them up and within a week I had about 1/2 dozen birds. I enjoyed watching them a lot. I was in TSC that Fall and they had HB feeders on sale to get rid of them and I bought the last 6 they had and checked the nectar bags for expiration date and it said it had a 3 year expiration date so bought the last 10 packs of it and following spring I boiled up some water and dumped the powder into the water amd made enough nectar to fill all feeders and then hung them. All around the yard and buildings and by June I bet I had 50+ birds hanging around and they stayed all Summer and I was told that Sugar water was better so I went to Sugar water with red food coloring and the birds loved it. I had birds like that up until a couple years ago and noticed I was not getting as many birds. Did some research and it was because the drought in the southwest made their migration hard on them finding food so they did not migrate this far in big numbers. It has been slow up until this year and right now I have more birds than I have had since the drought. If you just hang feeders you will get birds Omega. You have the Cumberland River up your way and should have a lot of birds as they are attracted to the wild flowers that grow around the River banks and will search out feeders in a large area........JMHO

[peejman]

Making food is easy.... 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water.  Or 1 cup of sugar in 1 quart of water.  Food coloring not required. 

Edited August 28, 2017 by peejman

[bersaguy]

4 minutes ago, chances R said:

yes, this is the peak migration period.  Just buy some pre-mix and hang a feeder.  I've got a buddy that has so many it is not safe to walk in his yard..... He feeds about a gallon of mix a day.

I have a buddy in Watertown that has that same problem..........LOL!!  Thick as mosquitos at his place which mosquitos is a main part of their diet too. He goes through about a gallon every 2 days...........lol.

[Omega]

If they eat mosquitos then I'm in!

[bersaguy]

3 minutes ago, peejman said:

Making food is easy.... 1/4 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup of water.  Or 1 cup of sugar in 1 quart of water.  Food coloring not required. 

I know the food coloring is not required but makes it easier for me to see the levels in the feeders without walking all the way out to the ones at the back of my big yard to see if they need filling.

[bersaguy]

3 minutes ago, Omega said:

If they eat mosquitos then I'm in!

Yea but the feeders are a lot more easy to use than trying to catch that many Mosquitos............LMAO

Edited August 28, 2017 by bersaguy

[monkeylizard]

Could you put an orange ping pong ball in there? It would float and you'd be able to easily see it from a distance w/o the need for food coloring. I've heard the coloring isn't good for them.

Edited August 28, 2017 by monkeylizard

[peejman]

2 minutes ago, Omega said:

If they eat mosquitos then I'm in!

Mosquitos, gnats, flies, spiders, weevils, and even some wasps. 

[bersaguy]

11 minutes ago, peejman said:

Mosquitos, gnats, flies, spiders, weevils, and even some wasps. 

Yep, they do dine on a varity of bugs for sure. I also have a thick fence row across my back yard with some type of Horn Shaped flowers that they love also. I'm not sure what type of flowers they are but they are orange in color.  

[AuEagle]

We have had a constant 2-3 all year, 1 feeder. However....At our old locale we had so many you couldn't count them, feeders front & back. My wife went through 75# of sugar in the busiest year.

They're a riot to sit among. 

[Omega]

I went to Denver on vacation a few months ago and decided to visit the Royal Gorge to see how the area was rebuilt after the fire.  They had feeders setup all around and had a dominant one keeping all the rest away from "his" feeder.  The bird darted all over the place and would sometimes hover inches away from you seeming to keep us away as well.  It was real colorful so I guess it was male, there must of been 6-8 trying to get to the feeder so it kept him busy.

[bersaguy]

4 minutes ago, Omega said:

I went to Denver on vacation a few months ago and decided to visit the Royal Gorge to see how the area was rebuilt after the fire.  They had feeders setup all around and had a dominant one keeping all the rest away from "his" feeder.  The bird darted all over the place and would sometimes hover inches away from you seeming to keep us away as well.  It was real colorful so I guess it was male, there must of been 6-8 trying to get to the feeder so it kept him busy.

They are very protective of their feeder they lay claim to for sure. Back years ago before my wife passed away us and another couple took a trip up to Eurieka Springs Arkansas and I think there had to be a million hummingbirds in that town. It is an old timey type town and you could not dive anything except a horse drawn buckboard on the dirt streets in the town or walk on the old wooden sidewalks to the different stores. There was a square in the middle of it and I thought it was strange that the trees on the square were about 60 feet tall didn't have any leaves yet they looked alive with thousands of pretty flowers.  I asked an old gentleman sitting in a rocking chair what kind of trees they were and he said plastic. I said your kidding and he said nope, not kidding and I asked him about the flowers and he said they are birds and not flowers. He reached into his shirt pocket and pulled out a small black cat fire cracker. Lit it off his cigar and pitched it on it the street. When it went off I bet a few 1000 birds took flight. It was all hummingbirds and not flowers. That was when I noticed all of the feeders hanging every where you looked. There must have been 300 or more feeders in the square. As we walked back to our Van to go back to the motel we noticed everyone had about 5 of more feeders hanging. When we got back to the motel outside of town I asked the person working at the Motel which also had a ton of feeders hanging around it and they said that they have  a crew of people that make sure that the feeders remain filled every day in the town. Each merchant in the town donates funds into an account to purchase the food products necessary to keep the birds fed all the time they are there before migration each year. This town is located in the Ozark Mountains in Arkansas. I have no idea why so many birds pick this area to spend their summers but they said they come in March and April and then many of them leave and in mid summer the population begins to increase with the hatchlings growing up and the beginning of the migrations south birds arrive back in town.

[Tuffus]

7 hours ago, bersaguy said:

I know the food coloring is not required but makes it easier for me to see the levels in the feeders without walking all the way out to the ones at the back of my big yard to see if they need filling.

I've read that the red coloring is bad for their kidneys. I make mine just like Peejman.

[jpx2rk]

We have 3 feeders out with one dysfunctional family of about 5 or 6, not sure as it's almost impossible to count 'em since they fly so damn fast.  LOL.  Ours like to "claim" a feeder and then spend most of the day defending it by chasing the others away.  Each feeder has the standard 4 holes but seldom will more than one be feeding as the others are always chased off.  Entertaining to watch for sure.  Unfortnately I found a dead one in the garage over the weekend as it got trapped inside it with the doors closed.

Wife has a FT job keeping the feeders filled.  LOL

[peejman]

11 hours ago, Tuffus said:

I've read that the red coloring is bad for their kidneys. I make mine just like Peejman.

Yep. Using too much sugar isn't good for them either.  Some recipes use double what I listed above. 

Its usually pretty easy to tell when a feeder is empty... they're not fighting over it anymore. 

The syrup gets rancid after about a week anyway. 

 

I've had several get in my garage too. Tough little buggers to catch. I found a broom and an aquarium net worked fairly well. 

[monkeylizard]

I had one get in my garage once too. Their instinct is to fly higher to get away from danger, which is the opposite of how to get out of a garage. I held a broom up close to it and it landed on the edge of it. I just slowly lowered the broom and carried it outside. I wish I had more of them. I'll see one every couple of years.

Would adding feeders draw them in, or do you need to have them already then put out feeders?

[bersaguy]

1 hour ago, monkeylizard said:

I had one get in my garage once too. Their instinct is to fly higher to get away from danger, which is the opposite of how to get out of a garage. I held a broom up close to it and it landed on the edge of it. I just slowly lowered the broom and carried it outside. I wish I had more of them. I'll see one every couple of years.

Would adding feeders draw them in, or do you need to have them already then put out feeders?

If you want Birds just put up about 3 feeders beginning in April and give it about a month. The change out the food with fresh and they will find it. I put all my feeders up in Mid April and filled each about 1/2 way. I do that for the early birds that are migrating north in the early flight and want them to have food during their trip. Once you begin getting a bird or two then you will begin to get more and depending on your location you may have to get more feeders. I filed all my feeders last Thursday and will have to fill several of them tomorrow again. If I did not have that thick fence row behind the house full of the orange horned shaped flowers I would plant some of their favorites which would really attract them to your home. Below is a link about their favorite flowers for those of you that have a green thumb!!!

http://www.hummingbirdsociety.org/hummingbird-flowers/

[bersaguy]

3 hours ago, jpx2rk said:

We have 3 feeders out with one dysfunctional family of about 5 or 6, not sure as it's almost impossible to count 'em since they fly so damn fast.  LOL.  Ours like to "claim" a feeder and then spend most of the day defending it by chasing the others away.  Each feeder has the standard 4 holes but seldom will more than one be feeding as the others are always chased off.  Entertaining to watch for sure.  Unfortnately I found a dead one in the garage over the weekend as it got trapped inside it with the doors closed.

Wife has a FT job keeping the feeders filled.  LOL

Yep they do like to lay claim to a feeder and will drive others away. Back a couple years ago it was getting late in the season for them and many of them had made the migration and I had about 5 birds left so I had taken down most of my feeders and only had 2 up. I was setting in my carport where I could see both feeders and there was one bird that had laid claim to both feeders and would land on a cable between them and if any other bird showed up it would run them off. Well that will only last so long before the game began. When you only have a few birds you can pretty much tell which one is which by size and colors. The one that was being a bully was a big Red Breasted Male and there was another smaller male and three females. They began playing a game of cat and mouse with the Bully. One bird would fly in and get the bully to chase it and at the same time the rest would hit the feeders and feed up. When the bully came back he would run them off. Soon another bird different than the first one would get the bully to chase it and they birds would flock to the feeders.  This game would go on for about an hour before time to roost so everyone went to bed with full bellies. They did that until they were gone for the year. It was fun to watch..................

[Omega]

Ok, so there are a myriad of feeders I have seen; Are there any that are preferred and others to avoid? 

[peejman]

1 hour ago, monkeylizard said:

I had one get in my garage once too. Their instinct is to fly higher to get away from danger, which is the opposite of how to get out of a garage. I held a broom up close to it and it landed on the edge of it. I just slowly lowered the broom and carried it outside. I wish I had more of them. I'll see one every couple of years.

Would adding feeders draw them in, or do you need to have them already then put out feeders?

If you put out, they will come.

As Bersa says, put up a feeder or two (right now is fine) and fill them 1/4 - 1/2 full.  You'll need to change the syrup about weekly. It may take a few weeks, but they'll find it. Take them down when it gets cold and put them back up in the spring. 

You may not ever get hordes of them like Bersa, but you should get a few. We rarely have more than 4.