Hummingbird Feeders: Maintenance and Buying Tips

I enjoy having hummingbirds in my yard immensely. Although there are plenty of natural flowers in my beautiful yard, I still like to entice hummingbirds to be closer and more consistently to my work desk as much of the day as I can.

Over the last year I have learned a few things about choosing and maintaining hummingbird feeders that I thought I would share for anyone who is interested.

1. You don’t need to buy hummingbird nectar. You can make your own by melting 1 part plain sugar into 3 parts water, letting it cool and then adding it to your feeder or feeders. The letting it cool part is important. If you have a glass feeder and pour scalding sugar water into an enclosed space, it will crack. Never use artificial sweeteners.
2. Don’t use any artificial colorants. Hummingbirds have tiny bodies. Although we humans seem to not mind all the weird stuff we put into our bodies (at least not in the short term), that doesn’t mean we should put them into hummingbirds bodies. If your feeder has red coloring on it, which most do, then it’s fine if your coloring it clear. If not, it’s probably okay to add a couple teaspoons of organic juice or coloring.
3. The feeder liquid should not be left in the hot sun until it is gone. Bacteria that is harmful to hummingbirds can grow in it and harm or kill the little guys. What I’ve been told is not to leave the food in full sun for more than 3 days, or in shade for more than 6. Because of this I think you will have the most success putting your feeder in a place you can easily reach.
4. If you have a feeder you fill upside down you need to fill it to the brim every time, if not everything will leak out quickly, which just attracts more ants and wasps.
5. Clean the feeder with hot water and rinse with a solution of 1 part white vinegar and 4 parts water. Rinse with clear water thoroughly.

My current set up:
Right now I have just one feeder. It is stuck to the window right by my desk, and the hummies visit it all day. I bought it because of the advice given to me by the guy who works at my favorite bird store. It is a Little Flyer-3 Hummingbird Feeder by Droll Yankees and I’ve been pretty happy with it. These are the benefits:

1. It has a built in ant moat. This works okay, however if the feeder is easily accessible to sugar ants, they will find a way in. But they are less likely to find it partially because it won’t drip once it’s hung. Try to rinse it before you take it out and keep it from slopping around so they don’t get any ideas.
2. It has a built in nectar guard to discourage. Basically they are little flexible internal tips that the hummys beak can get into but a wasp can’t.
3. It comes with a little brush to clean out the container and tips.
4. It has four little perches that will get the hummies to stop for a moment and stay a little longer.

Overall my advice would be buy one feeder at a time. Make sure they are in places you will remember to clean and maintain the food and in places that you are often so you will be able to enjoy them as much as possible. At first they may fly off when they see you, but leave the feeder alone. Hummies are tenacious little critters and they will get used to you and stick around.