Hummingbirds!!!!

[peejman]

Just now, Omega said:

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

Not that I'm aware of, as long as it's brightly colored and semi-flower-ish appearing. 

Ease of filling and cleaning is as important as anything else.  Some seem to attract fewer yellow jackets (which will run the birds off) than others. 

[bersaguy]

1 hour ago, peejman said:

Not that I'm aware of, as long as it's brightly colored and semi-flower-ish appearing. 

Ease of filling and cleaning is as important as anything else.  Some seem to attract fewer yellow jackets (which will run the birds off) than others. 

Hummingbirds are very smart little critters and they can spot a feeder right away even if it is not as colorful as most are. I am going to have to replace a few of mine this year as the bottoms of them don't seal up as good as they should and I have to work on them to keep them from dripping. I have found that when they drip they can attract pi$$ ants and soon the feeder will have them floating in it. They will have  aline formed up the side of the building going to the feeder. I am posting a couple pictures of the ones I have been using for about 12 years now. If your planning on buying feeders for next year they should be going on sale at about any store that sells them. I normally find the best deals at TSC and Co-op. 

[seez52]

We've got 6-8 buzzing around two feeders. They spend more time fighting each other than eating it seems. Actually had 4 eating together the other day, that has been pretty unusual. They can really do some dog fighting which is a hoot to watch.

[bersaguy]

6 minutes ago, seez52 said:

We've got 6-8 buzzing around two feeders. They spend more time fighting each other than eating it seems. Actually had 4 eating together the other day, that has been pretty unusual. They can really do some dog fighting which is a hoot to watch.

Yep, very rare to see 3 or 4 birds ona  feeder at the same time and I did some research about it and didn't find much but what I did find was that in some cases offsprings will travel with parents and if they spend time in same location they will often feed together on a feeder but it is very rare to see it. I guess I have seen it happen 3 or maybe 4 times in all the years I have been watching and feeding them..............

[chances R]

try this action: 

 

[peejman]

35 minutes ago, chances R said:

try this action: 

 

Looks like my sister's house in Louisiana. 

If you've only got a few birds and they tend to only drink from the outlets on the back side of the feeder where you can't see them, just cover those up with tape. 

[bersaguy]

17 minutes ago, peejman said:

Looks like my sister's house in Louisiana. 

If you've only got a few birds and they tend to only drink from the outlets on the back side of the feeder where you can't see them, just cover those up with tape. 

That video looks like my house in the evenings right now with all the new birds that showed up recently and I have still got 5 feeders up. I had fights like that back in early July till th first migration and then my bird count dropped and now it is back up and I am sure by mid Spetember it will go down as the migration goes back into swing. I will always leave 1 feeder up until I don't see any birds for about a 2 week span which is normally mid October. The birds that migrate early that know my feeders are up look for them on flight back as they fly the same route in both directions. Amazing little critters for sure...............

[Tuffus]

4 hours ago, peejman said:

Not that I'm aware of, as long as it's brightly colored and semi-flower-ish appearing. 

Ease of filling and cleaning is as important as anything else.  Some seem to attract fewer yellow jackets (which will run the birds off) than others. 

I had a red wasp and a few yellow jackets feeding on one of my feeders almost 24 hours a day and running the birds off so I set out a wasp trap which worked well. No more wasps or yellow jackets and the birds eat in peace. At least from the wasps, the other birds still fight over it. The trap is cheap and easy to make or you can get one at Lowe's.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wasp-Trap

[bersaguy]

6 minutes ago, Tuffus said:

I had a red wasp and a few yellow jackets feeding on one of my feeders almost 24 hours a day and running the birds off so I set out a wasp trap which worked well. No more wasps or yellow jackets and the birds eat in peace. At least from the wasps, the other birds still fight over it. The trap is cheap and easy to make or you can get one at Lowe's.

http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-Wasp-Trap

I think anyone that has Hummingbird feeders up has wasp issues. At first it was just a couple and then a couple more and then it got bad. I spoke to an old Gentleman that use to live 3 doors down about it one day and he said if I had that many wasps I probably had wasp nests in one of my buildings so he made a walk up to my place and within about 10 minutes he pointed out my problem. 3 different nests hid in the corners of my carport almost out of sight. I thanked him for teaching me something and I made a trip to TSC and bought 2 cans of wasp killer spray cans. He told me to wait until about 10PM when all the wasps would be home and then spray the nests. Had dead wasps all over my carport floor but none on my feeders and since then if I see a wasp I hunt the nests and they get sprayed.

I was able to repay the old Gentleman. He grand daughter told me that he dearly love fish to eat so one day I went crappie fishing and me and a buddy caught 30 nice Slabs. I came home and filet all 50 of them and I took them down and gave them to him and his wife and she said they would be having fish and Home fries and Hush Puppies for dinner that night and the old man just smiled at me and I said thats for helping me with those pesky wasps.  I lost my old neighbor about a year later but I still take his wife fish once in a while and she prepares  them for her and her grand daughter and husband that lives with her now..................

[jpx2rk]

8 hours ago, Omega said:

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

Most have red bases with yellow flower petals and clear upper fluid container/reservoir, but you can find 'em in all different shapes & sizes.  We've had good luck with the wally world versions for <$5 each.  You can spend upwards of $20 per feeder if you want, but our dysfunctional group of hummers like the wally worlds just fine.  They still fight to protect "their" food source from the others. 

[monkeylizard]

14 minutes ago, jpx2rk said:

Most have red bases with yellow flower petals and clear upper fluid container/reservoir, but you can find 'em in all different shapes & sizes.  We've had good luck with the wally world versions for <$5 each.  You can spend upwards of $20 per feeder if you want, but our dysfunctional group of hummers like the wally worlds just fine.  They still fight to protect "their" food source from the others. 

That's probably not the first time that "Wally World" "$5" and "hummers" have been used in the same sentence.

[Ronald_55]

1 hour ago, monkeylizard said:

That's probably not the first time that "Wally World" "$5" and "hummers" have been used in the same sentence.

One near me looks like a truckstop at night. All these ladies just killing time in the parking lot.

[gr8smiles]

As far as them getting in garages, they are attracted to the emergency garage door releases that almost always have a red t-handle. Once they get it, it's hard to get them out. I've had them do that at my garage at Center Hill Lake. I just replaced the standard emergency pull cord with a green dog leash and have no more issues with them getting inside.

[A516]

We live in the woods on a mountain top and have 25-30 birds on four feeders.  My wife fills the feeders every day.  She will only use clear sugar water as it has been reported that some of the store bought "red nectar" is harmful to the birds.  The feeders are on an elevated outside staircase about five feet from our den window. She goes out with her flyswatter anytime a yellow jacket shows up.

[bersaguy]

Well I had to dig out my last 3 feeders this morning and fill them and put them up. I have no idea where all the birds that are here have come from but I have way more birds than I have feeders for but I now have 11 up and have had to fill them every 2 days. I think I have about 5 birds for every feeder I have up or maybe more. So many I ca't keep track of them. I just know there are birds fighting around all 11 feeders and I mean at least 5 birds + at each one. I have not had this many birds since about 10 years ago. I thought with the last 4 nights going down into the low 40's they might migrate but they don't seem to be in a hurry to do that...................

[Garufa]

7 minutes ago, bersaguy said:

Well I had to dig out my last 3 feeders this morning and fill them and put them up. I have no idea where all the birds that are here have come from but I have way more birds than I have feeders for but I now have 11 up and have had to fill them every 2 days. I think I have about 5 birds for every feeder I have up or maybe more. So many I ca't keep track of them. I just know there are birds fighting around all 11 feeders and I mean at least 5 birds + at each one. I have not had this many birds since about 10 years ago. I thought with the last 4 nights going down into the low 40's they might migrate but they don't seem to be in a hurry to do that...................

Maybe they know it might not be the best time to start heading South. 

[Omega]

I was planning on putting some feeders up next year, maybe I should put up a couple early.

[A516]

Our feeders were attracting 25-30 birds a week ago.  All of a sudden the feeders are being "swarmed" by too many hummingbirds to count.  I wonder if it has anything to do with upcoming bad weather from the hurricanes.

[peejman]

11 hours ago, A516 said:

Our feeders were attracting 25-30 birds a week ago.  All of a sudden the feeders are being "swarmed" by too many hummingbirds to count.  I wonder if it has anything to do with upcoming bad weather from the hurricanes.

I'm sure it does. It's migration season and most winter in Mexico via Texas. Harvey stalled their progress. 

[bersaguy]

1 hour ago, peejman said:

I'm sure it does. It's migration season and most winter in Mexico via Texas. Harvey stalled their progress. 

I think you hit the nail on the head right there but I don't think it is as much Harvey as it is Mexico getting hit by a #2 Hurricane twice and then having the 8.1 earthquake and the country is in shambles at present and Mother Nature has stalled the birds at every location where food remains until it is safe to go. I went and bout 5 more pounds of Sugar yesterday as I was running very low. I'm a firm believer in Mother Nature taking care of her critters.................JMHO

[bersaguy]

Who still has birds?? I had to fill 8 of my feeders this morning and still have birds every where fighting over feeders!!!!

[Tuffus]

3 hours ago, bersaguy said:

Who still has birds?? I had to fill 8 of my feeders this morning and still have birds every where fighting over feeders!!!!

I have 3 feeders out with 6 birds fighting for control. No change from the last 2 weeks, mostly had 4 birds all year up until then.

 

[quietguy]

4 hours ago, bersaguy said:

Who still has birds?? I had to fill 8 of my feeders this morning and still have birds every where fighting over feeders!!!!

We don't have any feeders out, but we had a couple this weekend hitting our honeysuckle.  They are a lot of fun to watch.  

[bersaguy]

14 hours ago, Tuffus said:

I have 3 feeders out with 6 birds fighting for control. No change from the last 2 weeks, mostly had 4 birds all year up until then.

 

I kind of thought with all these cooler nights that they may begin to migrate but so far I have a ton of birds on the feeders and they are still here this morning. I am expecting any day to wake up and not have any but I will keep some feeders up till at least first frosts........

[Tuffus]

I'll be keeping mine out for awhile too for all the passers by

that haven't gotten this far south yet