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I have just recieved a hummingbird feeder yesterday, is there a special place to hang them so the birds will come.I mean like in the open , on a tree branch?Thank you!!!
Put it anywhere you want to view them. Hummingbirds are not at all shy and will feed from a feeder attached to a window, a porch overhang, a clothesline which is also being used to dry clothes, sitting on top of a parked car or on a stake in the garden. I have had success with them deep in the woods. Not sure how they found it, but when you are camping in the woods, the options are scarce. I believe they will find it even if you hang one outside a cruise ship in the middle of the ocean. Well... maybe not in the middle of the ocean, but that should give you the general idea.
Since you are new to this, the red food coloring is an option and not necessary. The birds know what a feeder looks like and they will come even if the nectar is as clear as water or as black as night.
I have just recieved a hummingbird feeder yesterday, is there a special place to hang them so the birds will come.I mean like in the open , on a tree branch?Thank you!!!
Someone just pointed out to me that you shouldn't hang them in direct sun because the heat spoils the sugar formula too quickly and can kill the birds . I moved mine to a place on my deck that only gets sun late in the afternoon.
Alice is right. If you hang it, they'll find it! Yesterday I had two hummers that kept running each other off!
When you get up close and personal to hummingbirds you realize that although they are diminutive and lovely.....they are really aggressive, pugnacious and territorial. They don't take any baloney from anyone.....
I have worried about the feeders attracting ants.....has that been a problem?
We've had hummers buzzing all over the place, and I have seen them sipping from my flowers, but not the feeder. I keep thinking that I must be doing something wrong? I've only had the feeder up for about a week, maybe I just need to wait awhile.
Have you changed the solution in that week's time Blue? If the temps are hot, it only takes a few days to go off and then they tend not to go near it. somehow they must sense that it's not good?
I've read that they can develop a throat fungus if they drink it after it's gone off, and will usually die from it?
Also, if your feeder is in the hot sun and the solution heats up too much, they will still go for it unknowlingly, and it burns them when they drink it and can also be fatal?
If you can hang it in a tree and have it shaded by the leaves, then it keeps it cool, or hang it somewhere in a shady or cooler spot.
Also, from experience, if it's too close to the windows and you haven't any 'stickie's or 'danglies', they tend to fly into the window.
And just incase you don't know Phyll, you can make your own sugar solution, using a 4:1 ratio .. say one cup of water, boiled for one minute, then add 1/4 cup of sugar, stir and boil for one more minute and then cool.
When cleaning your feeder, instead of soap, use hot water and rinse with vinegar and then water again.
Enjoy your hummers!! They are indeed such a treat to watch!
We've had hummers buzzing all over the place, and I have seen them sipping from my flowers, but not the feeder. I keep thinking that I must be doing something wrong? I've only had the feeder up for about a week, maybe I just need to wait awhile.
If they are going to the flowers......that is the best food for them! I would rather plant t he flowers they enjoy, than train them to sugar water.
In the spring, before the flowers are out, the feeders are so helpful and important. But once the flowers are out, the natural nectar must be so much better for them.
When they're strictly on the sugar solution before the flowers, they're crazy! Like a bunch of wired up crazed, aggressive dive bombers on nothing but sugar.
I've also read that the late fall just before flying south for the winter, is an important time to have your feeder going. Get them all juiced up for the long trip south.
Have you changed the solution in that week's time Blue? If the temps are hot, it only takes a few days to go off and then they tend not to go near it. somehow they must sense that it's not good?
I've read that they can develop a throat fungus if they drink it after it's gone off, and will usually die from it?
Also, if your feeder is in the hot sun and the solution heats up too much, they will still go for it unknowlingly, and it burns them when they drink it and can also be fatal?
If you can hang it in a tree and have it shaded by the leaves, then it keeps it cool, or hang it somewhere in a shady or cooler spot.
Also, from experience, if it's too close to the windows and you haven't any 'stickie's or 'danglies', they tend to fly into the window.
And just incase you don't know Phyll, you can make your own sugar solution, using a 4:1 ratio .. say one cup of water, boiled for one minute, then add 1/4 cup of sugar, stir and boil for one more minute and then cool.
When cleaning your feeder, instead of soap, use hot water and rinse with vinegar and then water again.
Enjoy your hummers!! They are indeed such a treat to watch!
Call me paranoid but I'm changing their sugar solution and disinfecting the feeder every 2 days during this hot weather. I don't want to kill any of them....
I've only had my feeders going for a few days and I've already got a following!
I love hummingbirds!
Last edited by World Citizen; 07-31-2008 at 10:56 AM..
In the spring, when they first come around and they're trying to sort out their territory, there are so many!
Keeps me hopping also, just making sugar solution almost daily for two feeders. Have to keep running off to buy more sugar, and I'm out right now as we speak ..
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Changing the solution ....
