yardenman,
The ports are wire connectors (wire nuts). I
used a Dremel motor with a cut-off wheel to
remove the tips, then pulled the steel coil
out with pliers.

hummersteve,
It's too dark here in the woods at Happy Hour
for a good photo with no blurred and/or under-
exposed images. In late Aug/early Sep, my adults
and juvies combine with the migrating Northern
tribes, and there is literally a swarm around my
feeders, even at midday. I hope to get a pic of
all 30 ports being used at once then. If I do,
I'll be sure to post it

And just like our Local Geezers Pub in the Business district, you caught a few in the pic "drinking their lunch". LOL

I have 3 cropped photos to add. The crowd is beginning
to arrive in the third one, but the fading light made for
blurred hummers.

Ken

Ken: 1 1/2"

Frank: You have a picture below. For lack of a
better term, I'll call the flared part of the neck
the 'lip'. The lip fits snugly in the tee and rests
on the flange that serves as the seat for the PVC
pipe. My original plan was to put a thick "O" ring
on the neck below the lip to help stabilize the
bottle. Tractor Supply is 20 miles away, so as a
temporary fix, I wrapped surveyor's tape around the
neck. I liked the extra bit of color it gave, so
I kept it. Plus, it's infinitely adjustable.

Hummersteve: I'm 40% toward my goal, there were 12
on the feeder at once yesterday.

What a great idea!! You had to be a Boy Scout..

dakster,
Nope, never a Boy Scout. Farm boy. We had to improvise.

txhummer,
The photo below is a typical moment. Others were flying
around outside the view of the camera, they didn't like
me being only 3' from the feeder. There are more just
before dark, but I can't get a good picture. The DW
and I counted 20 a few evenings ago, she counts one
side, I count the other.

Sandy

Carol,
I don't have a lot of problems with bees and wasps.
Occasionally, one will hang around the feeder and become
a nuisance, so I use a scrap vacuum cleaner to get it.
I make sure there's plenty of dog fur and saw dust in
the VC bag to clog their spiracles. You can make a
fairly effective trap using a 2-liter soda bottle.
Cut off the top portion of the bottle so you end up
with 2 pieces - a funnel and a straight-sided cylinder.
Put some nectar/apple juice/watermelon etc in the
cylinder for bait. Invert the funnel and push it into
the cylinder until the cut edges are flush with each
other. Staple or tape them together. The pests will
enter through the funnel, but won't be able to find
the way out. If you use nectar, make it strong - 2:1.
The bait gets pretty funky after a few days, so it's
best just to toss it and make another.

Thanks, Sandy!!!

I love your feeder !!

gg2,
The secret, if there is one, can be seen in the background
of all my photos - trees. Look in any direction from my
house, and that's all you'll see. It's what the RTHB was
accustomed to for who knows how long.

Where are you located???? Those look like RT hummers and I know they don't like to "share" their feeders so they must not be RT's, right?

Gardengirl, In my yard they feed from sun up till sun down, all day long. I have three feeders and if I am watching any one of them for a full 10 minutes I always see at least one hummer coming to that feeder. Sometimes I see a hummer use a feeder every couple of minutes which would mean it's different ones coming to the feeder. I've heard that the feed about every 15 minutes, whether on your feeder or another source of nectar. Janie

For a wasp trap I just use a butter tub with a splash of OJ and a small squirt of dishwashing soap. I set it on the rail close to my feeder and empty regularily. I catch alot of wasps that way and an occasional fly.

Same here, since the younguns have arrived this past week its pretty much all day long, I see hummers anytime I want to look out or go out. But I am lucky back in early june there was a great deal of courtship going on in my yard, and now am reaping rewards, last year it was august before I got this kind of acitivity. There are between 6-10 birds at almost any time of the day, subject to change of course.

Janie,
Yes, they are RT's, but belong to a well-mannered
subspecies, Archilochus colubris politerus.

I hope you get a patent on it really quick!!!

minnie, I'm flattered!! Form follows function, and this
is just the Hummer equivalent of a stockyard feeding
trough. There are 2 improvements I want to make on it,
but they'll have to wait 'til winter.

so this might sound dumb...but is there a better time to swap out the syrup? so as not to run them off? maybe at night time?

PS: the coolest thing, the feeder out front is situated just below a dove's nest...I did not see the dove nesting when I put it up!!! what a great view to see such wonderful things in nature just steps outside my front door. I'm gonna work on a photo with hummers there and the dove too.

Just getting my daily fix on that bird feeder ctn!!!

There are a couple different schools of thought on changing the nectar. One is doing at night when they quit if you have enough feeders out for them to still feed. The other is have extra feeders already made up and just swap them. Dont worry about running them off when you are out there, if they have been using your feeders for a while they will circle around and come right back.

Anyway, no one nesting quite yet. but there is always hope for that...

bjames, I'm no plant expert, so I can't answer your
question. Cleome spinosa is the only plant that I grow
just for my hummers. Each flower of the C. spinosa
produces a large drop of nectar in the morning and
afternoon for two days. I would think that other
flowers also offer nectar more than once.

As far as the amount of nectar the hummers can get, thats debateable. Ive noticed that the flowers must be pretty full first think in the morning, but I have watched more than one hummers go over the same flowers. I know that I have set up a mister to run on my flowers a couple of hrs a day and the plants have been revived to more lushness because of it and that fact hasnt escaped the hummers eyes.

I can see the photos on my computer, so I don't know
what to tell you. If you will send me your e-mail
address, I'll send you a picture.

I tried tying bright red and orange plastic flowers next to the feeder and that worked, but no as well as some sort of whirling object.

Thanks

This is . Thank you for sharing!

You've gotta love a farm boy; in fact I married one!

Any help/advice you can give me is greatly appreciated.

Many thanks!
Linda

The 4:1 mix is 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. Some people like to boil it, but I just pour it out of the tap and keep it in the fridge for refills every other day.

Thanks again!
Linda

You'll need some 1-1/2" PVC pipe, 1-1/4" will be OK; 2 caps to seal the ends (the threaded plugs are unnecessary); and a 'T'. The part of the 'T' in which the bottle goes comes in different diameters, so get one that gives the tightest fit. The perches are 1/4" oak dowels (3' piece for less than a buck at HD), attached with #12 screw hooks (sold in packages of 3). I drilled a small pilot hole for the hooks and dipped the threads in PVC glue to prevent leaks. The ports can be anything. I made a small prototype from a scrap piece of PVC (why waste good PVC on something that may not work?), drilled some holes, and painted rings around the holes using red nail polish. They found it in just a few minutes. I made another feeder this year, and used medical test tube stoppers instead of the wire nuts. A few of the nuts never did fit well (shoddy hole drilling), and would fall out when blasted with a garden hose. The stoppers fit much better, and are easily removed. The hummers weren't very happy with them at first (probably because they aren't bright red), but are OK with them now. Good luck!!

claire, you're right, gotta love those farm boys! They put the food on our tables, and the cotton in our underwear & jeans.

Sorry, I have no idea what is eating your plants. It could be any number of things. Maybe someone else will know.

Here is the pic of my new feeder. I've made a few changes: eliminated the threaded plugs (unnecessary), reduced the number of ports to 20 (the most hummers seen at once on the old feeder last year), and the 3 liter wine bottle gives a 2 day capacity (the 750ml tequila bottle gave only 1/2 day). The fashion police (wife, daughter, & niece) say that my greens clash, but neither my hummers nor I care.

6-8 is the normal crowd at any given time during the day, about 10-12 is normal early & late in the day.

Question - Where would you find "medical test tube stoppers"?

cheers

Alii, probably aphids are eating your plants

But now that I think of it, you probably can't keep the bottle filled long enough to test that... =)

Matt, thank you for your kind words about my color choices. I haven't seen much mold on either feeder, but I do believe the nectar stays cooler in the green bottle. I've noticed that the air space in clear bottles expands when in full sun and forces the nectar out. This feeder gets about 2 hours of direct sun at midday, and the air space doesn't expand anywhere near the amount that I had expected.

i'm learning our hubs love to tease us cuz they just have nothing better to do and just to get us to go ahead and see how much of our minds we will actually use!! LOL although my hubs hates it when i really get it going!! LOL he'd just rather me make it look nicer, so that's my goal!! LOL ~Medo

Medo, I'm so glad your Talla likes the videos. I'm adding a different link that will make it easier to pick & choose a favorite video.

Great and original idea. I want to build one for my wife before next spring!

To clean: I flush the tube with a garden hose - put in about 1/2 cup aquarium gravel (pea gravel) - add vinegar until it's coming out the ports - let it soak 2-3 minutes - dump the vinegar - shake the tube back & forth to get the gravel to scrub its inside - flush it again with the hose. Quick & easy! I don't try to get the gravel out, it's been sanitized by the vinegar and will do no harm. A few pieces fall out while dumping the final rinse, so I occasionally have to add a little.

Here's the business end of the wine bottle... I hold my finger over the tube until the bottle is inverted & in position over the 'T'.

Ann

I have to show the Cottage forum people as well.

Edna

If you wuz a farm boy, you coulda been an engineer, too.

tbob, Sophie, the Wonder Dog, keeps the squirrels at bay. Alert & fearless!!

Also, I can't find the concave test tube stoppers. What size stoppers do you use and do they already have holes?

As I write, 5 hummingbirds are fighting over my head for control of 2 feeders about 20 feet apart!

-----------------------------------------------------------

Posted by ctnchpr (My Page) on Sat, Jun 28, 08 at 9:18

Thanks, folks!! I thought this thread was dead and gone.
You'll need some 1-1/2" PVC pipe, 1-1/4" will be OK; 2 caps to seal the ends (the threaded plugs are unnecessary); and a 'T'. The part of the 'T' in which the bottle goes comes in different diameters, so get one that gives the tightest fit. The perches are 1/4" oak dowels (3' piece for less than a buck at HD), attached with #12 screw hooks (sold in packages of 3). I drilled a small pilot hole for the hooks and dipped the threads in PVC glue to prevent leaks. The ports can be anything. I made a small prototype from a scrap piece of PVC (why waste good PVC on something that may not work?), drilled some holes, and painted rings around the holes using red nail polish. They found it in just a few minutes. I made another feeder this year, and used medical test tube stoppers instead of the wire nuts. A few of the nuts never did fit well (shoddy hole drilling), and would fall out when blasted with a garden hose. The stoppers fit much better, and are easily removed. The hummers weren't very happy with them at first (probably because they aren't bright red), but are OK with them now. Good luck!!

If you haven't found the test tube stoppers yet, forget 'em, they're not the best option. I don't think the hummers liked the smell of the hot rubber when the sun was on the feeder. You can be creative with the ports, something as simple as a hole surrounded by red nail polish will work. These caps on the latest version are the best so far...

If you're looking for a feeder that will magically make your hummers stop fighting - good luck!! While you may see 10 or so feeding "peacefully" at the PVC feeder, what you don't see are the 10-15 engaged in aerial combat just outside the view of the camera.

The support pole is made from 5/8" steel rod. I bent a piece, like Superman, with my bare hands to form the shallow arc attached to the pole. I welded a 1 1/2" piece of rod to each end of the arc, vertically. (I have a small, 120 volt MIG welder, and 5/8" rod is near the upper limits of what it can weld.) I drilled two 13/16" holes in the bottom of the PVC pipe, the distance between them being the same as between the short rods. In each hole, a piece of 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe was glued. (The inside diameter of 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC pipe is 5/8" - go figure!!) The feeder is "impaled" on the short rods. If you mount your pole plumb in both directions, your feeder will be level in both directions.

I had 2 problems with the wire nuts, both of which could be fixed. First, I wasn't very careful while drilling the port holes in the 1st feeder. Some of the wire nuts were loose, and would fall out during cleaning. Second, when the tips of the nuts were cut off, the hole was rather large. I have trouble with the small, ground-dwelling hornets, and they could come and go thru the hole as they pleased. If I used the wire nuts again, I would just pull the steel coil out and drill a small hole in the tip, 1/16" would be about right. The ports on this year's version are the caps from Carmex Lip Balm tubes, and they're working very well. The ridges on the outside of the caps give a snug fit, so snug in fact, they have to be pulled out with pliers...

Thanks for the info. I plan to put several feeders in next season to expand the war zone and move the conflict off our back porch! I have no idea where the females feed.

Here are some ideas for the "flowers". There are many plastic caps and plugs available that are quite inexpensive. Here are some examples:

plastic caps and plugs...
more plastic caps and plugs...

I haven't ordered from either of these vendors, I just found them after a quick search. Ebay might be a good source. I think I will try some tapered plugs or caps. Looks like they will wedge nicely into the pvc.

You have a beautiful place, it looks like an ideal hummer habitat.

This encourages me to finish the PVC one.