WOW, Hummersteve...you have more hummers than I do and that makes me really jealous!!! Great vid and thanks for sharing! BTW, I have the same PP feeders as you.

Donna

Thanks Donna--- They really like to gather at those feeders maybe because they are up kinda high and they feel safe. Last year during august I had to have a third feeder out there to fill the needs. With that wall of cardinal climbers that should be up by august should make it even better.

I have 4 feeders up pretty high hanging from the eaves of my breezeway (only 2 there currently) and clearly they prefer those. However, in August when they are swarming, all of the feeders are busy, busy, busy!!! I was thinking about adding more feeders to the 12 I have up during peak season..my DH thinks that's crazy and he's probably right. 12 is about all I can manage! How many do you have?

Donna

Could you tell me the name of your feeder please?

Donna

Last year I had 15 feeders out during migration which included the small walmart feeders. I dont plan to have that many up this year. Right now I have seven up which includes the tiny ones. Im sure I will have to add a couple more during august. It sure does seem that I have more hummers right now than this time last year. Cant imagine what august will bring this year. I know one thing Im looking forward to sitting outside with my coffee and watching em come in to feed.

Gemini40-- Im assuming you are referring to the feeders in the video, Perky Pet 209. You can get replacement parts at perky pet such as the entire base for this feeder and others.

Steve,

Great video. I am so envious.

In the four years I have been feeding, not once have two hummingbirds quietly fed together. One drives the rest away before feeding. I have many plants spaced across the yard and she still manages to patrol it all.

I wonder if the same dominant bird returns every year?

Do those pp drip? I have a small perky pet and it drips like crazy. What state are you in Steve? It's amazing you have so many!

harryshoe-- It in their nature to protect their food source or area. When you get enough hummers coming into your yard it becomes fruitless to try and defend as my vid clearly shows. I think especially at twilight when they will be thinking of their final meal for the night they will be more willing to share. I believe some of the same birds will return to an area.

Ken-- Its true many of the PP feeders drip. This one does not seem to. Of course a hummer may sometimes dribble when drinking. So when cleaning my feeders I use bottle brushes and then a sponge and soap and water to clean all around the base and all ports , cracks and creases. Then I rinse well with cold water. Some have said the soap leaves a residue that hummers dont like. I see no sign of that on my feeders. I too am amazed that I have so many hummers that like to feed here. Nothing special about my small yard. But its at evening time when they really congregate here to feed. I live about 30mi sw of Indy.

Another good cheap feeder that does not drip is the first nature feeder. Walmart and other places sell it , 16oz one for about $4. I hang this one on a sheperds hook and it is much used by hummers. The good thing about this feeder is the base also comes apart for good thorough cleaning.

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The hummzinger feeders I bought last year at Walmart have a metal S hook which fits perfectly on the sheperd's hook. This year, all the hummzingers (at Walmart) now have a black plastic hook that won't fit so I have to use twist ties on the new ones. Guess it's cheaper to make the plastic ones, but I sure don't like it.

Hummersteve, I clean mine pretty much as you do, but I use a toothbrush around the ports. Don't know why PP doesn't make a pop off base like the hummzinger. It sure would make our job alot easier! Many years ago, my brother bought 2 absolutely beautiful, rather pricey feeders from I think, National Geographic...not positive about about that. Anyway, they had a curved tube from the base. They hung next to a PP and believe it or not, the hummers wouldn't use the fancy feeders at all! Sometimes price just doesn't matter.

BTW, our Walmart and Lowes no longer carries the style PPs we use, so I've ordered a few on line.

Here's hoping we all have a successful hummer season! OK ya'll, when do we start counting???!!!

Donna

I guess I have the worst walmart in creation out here in the boonies. They have never had the hummzinger, lately about the only one they have is the first nature which is a good one. I have had to take down the two window feeders which are PP rose petals as wasps have been swarming around those and actually chasing the hummers away. The attraction seems to be the leaking they do. I may let my sister have those as she has ant problems which I dont. I will try and replace them with first natures , but they have the thick black hooks which I will have to work around
that. Removing those may force more of the wasp to the wasp trap. I also increased my tiny feeders to 1:5 hoping to keep the wasp attraction down on those.

I have 3 feeders. A Perky Pet small single port feeder where the port is at the bottom of the tube, so it drips. Would not be bad except for the fact that the only thing I am feeding are the ants that wait on the ground under the feeder. Then I have these two beautiful Droll Yankee feeders. One a window feeder and the other the LF 3 which has 4 ports. Both are of nice quality and easy to clean. Very similar to the Hummzingers.

Rare activity on these 3 feeders. Do you think they would like the bigger perky pet feeder better? So much so that they would stick around?

I really am at the end of a very 12 months(minus winter of course), as you all for sure know by now! Sorry about that! I should have a bunch of hummers as I have the 3 feeders with fresh 1 to 3 nectar, I have tons of Monarda, butterfly bushes, and other plants that they like in full bloom at the moment. Rare activity only every few nights. I am thinking that perhaps I am between where they hangout during the day and feed and where they go to sleep.

Ken

AWESOME STEVE; btw did u steal my hummers? i have that feeder and 2 hummzingers;hummers go to both but favor the perky pet

Ken

Im not going to go out on a limb here but I have read where some people have said after swiching from bottle type to hummzingers that their hummers wouldnt feed at the hummzingers. But that may not be your problem. It just takes time for hummers to start coming regular to your place even if you are doing everything right.

Concerning my wasp problem I took down the PP rose petal feeders and put up a new first nature at my window and so far the wasps wont even go near it they just fly around it , I suppose looking for the old feeders they remember being there. So now the majority of wasps have to go to the single port feeders like Ken has or to the wasp trap.

Coolaces-- Not exactly sure which feeder you are referring to PP 209 or first nature but both are very good as far as hummers go.. Lately I have been filling the 30oz feeders about half full thats all theyve been eating in two days but after refilling last night they had drained one feeder by 2pm today so I filled it up today. Ok here we go.