The Hummingbird Haven

[JedJackson]

They feed on the sap of trees such as sugar maple when needed.

I had no idea they did that! No sugar maples here, but lots of vine maples and red alder.

 

[rosemarythyme]

https://www.amazon.com/Backyard-Hum...cphy=9033356&hvtargid=pla-1593493523187&psc=1

It works well.

I should probably invest in a few of those. I've heard of people wrapping the feeders in Christmas lights too, to just add a minimal amount of heat, but I have the flat ring shaped Aspects feeders and wrapping those seems too tricky.

The way I've dealt with freezing is to have double the number of feeders ready to go, and swap them out if they freeze. The hummers are quick to complain at me when I go to replace the frozen feeders with unfrozen ones.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

I’ve heard of safely using the swap method where you keep them under cover to have no ice and freeze then swap with fresh feeder a few times. Don’t know if anyone who has heated feeder but I heard of one person who cut the end off a sock and put a thick sock around their feeder to keep from freezing

 

[JedJackson]

I should probably invest in a few of those. I've heard of people wrapping the feeders in Christmas lights too, to just add a minimal amount of heat, but I have the flat ring shaped Aspects feeders and wrapping those seems too tricky.

The way I've dealt with freezing is to have double the number of feeders ready to go, and swap them out if they freeze. The hummers are quick to complain at me when I go to replace the frozen feeders with unfrozen ones.

That's the way I used to do it until I saw these heaters. It is just light heat and I'm not sure they would work in an Arctic blast, but so far, so good.

 

[rosemarythyme]

That's the way I used to do it until I saw these heaters. It is just light heat and I'm not sure they would work in an Arctic blast, but so far, so good.

Yeah I couldn't see them working in truly cold climates, but typical winters here don't dip too far below freezing, so just a little heat would be enough.

 

[589205]

That's the way I used to do it until I saw these heaters. It is just light heat and I'm not sure they would work in an Arctic blast, but so far, so good.

It looks kind of similar to a heated chicken drinker base. I will have to get one and give it a try. Thank you, @JedJackson!

 

[JedJackson]

Yeah I couldn't see them working in truly cold climates, but typical winters here don't dip too far below freezing, so just a little heat would be enough.

Yep. I don't know what would work for really cold winter weather.

 

[Blooie]

The only thing that works in Wyoming winters is patience. We don’t get any hummers here until late spring anyway. That said, I have had a couple of scouts as early as April and had one persistent BlackbChinned who was still here into November.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Just saw someone in the Hummingbird Spot chat say they are in South Florida and confirmed having Ruby-throated, they're moving on up!

edit: Also, checked Journey North sightings and more people in Florida reporting now!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Any sightings out there yet? None so far here, but feeders are out for them and ready.