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I live in Las Vegas and I see hummingbirds all the time so I want to put out some feeders. I know the birds become dependent on them and I am willing to keep them filled. Here is my question.
It is very hot here during the summer and I have no place to hang feeders that is shaded all the time. Will the nectar get so hot it could hurt the birds? I know feeders are common in Arizona and it is a little bit hotter than it is here.
In general, if you change the nectar out daily it won't spoil to the point it is toxic. In your situation I'd use smaller capacity feeders, make up nectar batches and fridge them, and change the nectar daily. When you change it may end up depending on your daily schedule. If you get up really early before they are active, maybe it would be better to change it then. If they are using the feeder before you are up, maybe the evening before would work better. You could choose feeders with tops that overhang or attach something overhead to shade the reservoir from direct sun. Duncraft has various rain/snow/weather shield attachments for bird feeders. I don't know if all hummers are equally territorial, but IME there ends up being one or maybe two dominant birds defending a feeder anyway. They'll keep the others away. Once the daily pattern of use settles down you can predict how much nectar to make and waste less.
I'm in Alabama and we generally had 5 large feeders out regularly. Often with close to 100 degrees and sunlight hitting some of them all the time. We did not have to change our nectar out daily but could go several days before it turned. We had a huge population (I moved after the passing of my husband last yr) and if we used small feeders we would be refilling them a few times a day (because of consumption, not sunlight or mold or algae). 2 of our larger feeders on some years wouldn't make it thru the day before the birds emptied them. If you're just starting out, small ones should be fine. Don't add red dye to the nectar. I used to wonder about the same with the temp of the nectar and would it hurt/burn the birds tongues but it never seemed to bother them.
We always kept extra feeders on hand (I probably have about 15 of them or so) and just filled a new one and swapped it out with the old one rather than having the birds swarm an empty spot while we cleaned and refilled the feeder.
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