Ken

I hope you enjoy your new jewelbox. Ditto to Nottawa. They are great. I found the best way to deal with it is to clean the feeder , hang it as level as possible, then raise the hinged lid and fill it. In that way water doesnt get sloshed about in carrying to the hanging spot and thus avoids any leakage because of that. At first I didnt put on the nectar guards till they got used to it, but later added the guards to keep the bugs out. After launching the vid on the other site there were those who decided to order it also.

Hey Steve,

I did notice it was very difficult to carry and drop in the hanger while it was only half full. Never had that problem with other feeders, but I guess that is what makes this one so compact and easy to see the birds.

I did not order the optional guards. :c(

Ken

Maybe because I ordered both the happy 8 and the jewelbox at the same time they sent me enough nectar guards for both feeders. At any rate when I returned the happy 8 I kept enough tips for the JB.

Ken, the Jewel Box is great! I find the easiest way to set it in the window is to put one hand under the feeder and one on top. Then you can control it and keep it from splashing. I do fill the ant moat from the window. I do not use the nectar guards and have not felt the need for them. It's much easier for the hummers to use the feeder without the guards. Also, the ant moat takes care of the ants and most gnats, too. I haven't really seen any bugs in the nectar when cleaning. One final point, hummers live on nectar AND bugs, so if they eat the bugs in the nectar all the better!
Carol

Hi. I'm new to this, so bear with me. I have so very much enjoyed the birds in my yard since I moved to Arizona in April--a small compensation for long-term unemployment in tough economic times. A few weeks ago I saw an oriole on my finch-feeder--wow! he just showed up, as I'm typing this! a hooded oriole! Cool. Anyway a few days after that I was in a hardware store and saw and "oriole feeder," and I bought it. It's like a hummer feeder but orange. Within an hour or so of hanging it outside it was simply encrusted with bees (honeybees, as far as I can tell, although I can't be sure). After that, the bees seemed to discover my hummer feeders, of which I have three. One has yellow plastic "flowers" but the other two are completely red, so I don't think the color is the problem. I've tried spraying them with water (needless to say I took down the oriole feeder) but they seem to have moved in. I understand that honeybees are in trouble, so I don't want to hurt them, but I don't want them scaring off my lovely hummers, either. Any other suggestions?

Pandafish

If you check your feeders they must be leaking or dripping some nectar[sugar water] . The bees must be able to access some of it in some way. If its not leaking then you may have some dried nectar on the feeder. Good cleaning is essential. But ck for leakage.

Thanks Carol!

The Jewewl box sure looks like a nice feeder. Looking forward to seeing a hummer use it. Might not be till next year though as I have few visits each day, and when I do get one, I get two and there is almost no feeding going on as they start chasing each other. :c( It seems like two are playing some sort of game. One lands on the feeder and drinks for a few seconds, the second one lands and watches the first one drink for a few more seconds, then the chase begins. I was beginning to think they would start using the feeder together.