The Hummingbird Haven

[HomesteaderWife]

Blooie, how are you and your hummers today?

 

[WVduckchick]

@WVduckchick - So nice to hear you are seeing hummingbirds in your parts! I sure love seeing photos of other hummies out and about.
I saw your feeder and wanted to share something with you. A lot of people still don't realize red dyes could do harm to the hummers, though to be honest I always grew up seeing it in the feeders. The big birding organizations all recommend making it yourself with no dyes - 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. I can testify we use this in our feeders and have been making it that way for years now, and they will definitely use it no problem. In the end, it also comes out cheaper than the store mixes and better for them too. It's very simple to make, and the red on your feeders alone will get them coming to it (some people hang a little red ribbon nearby to flap in the breeze to get their attention as well). The video below does a perfect job of explaining why red dyes should be left out of our feeders.

I always make my own mix. I do think the red is attractive to them though, so I put a tiny bit of Kool-Aid powder! I think black cherry flavor is what I use, it reddens up the water only a tiny bit of the powder. It could likely be the same bad red stuff, I haven’t watched the video you attached yet, but I will do some more research.

** Edit, it does appear to be the same bad red dye, so I'll refill them this evening without any color. I hope they didn't get too fond of the flavor! lol

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@WVduckchick - Oh I am so glad you had a chance to watch it, I appreciate you considering it to be very honest. I have heard of people doing that before but the more I read into it and learned, I definitely am glad to have switched to making my own nectar clear and free. They will definitely use it, just be sure to keep the nectar changed out frequently and clean the feeders well

 

[Blooie]

Blooie, how are you and your hummers today?

Been off BYC for couple of weeks. We have company coming the first week in September so we’ve been hard at work making everything look spiffy. The yard has been a work in progress - I knew when the construction on the new house was going on we’d be fighting bare dirt on our lot for a long time, but I never thought it would be as bad as it was! Now the grass is coming in nicely, but the fill dirt that was used to level the property came from the sugar factory and is just full of weeds. It’s the dirt that they clean off the sugar beets when they bring them in for processing…..it’s free, so we just had to pay for the transport, spreading, and compacting. We’ve been fighting bindweed and tumbleweed ever since. The grass is still too young to use anything on it yet. <sigh> The fill is also very sandy and even with topsoil it’s still hard to coax anything into getting a good start. Once it gets started, it does well, but it’s quite a process.

Anyway, after a hummingbird drought for a couple of years, I have been inundated with them this year! I wish I had more time to just sit and enjoy them and do some photographing. We’re just about done with the front now. I have to get my two Clematis in the ground today and then I think I’m going to take the day off, sit on my beautiful porch with my camera in hand, and get some pictures. At this point I don’t even care if they’re bad shots, as long as I get some! Then we need to start on the backyard, which is even worse than the front yard was! The hummers haven’t seemed to mind the chaos, but it’s making me crazy!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Hey there @Blooie how is it in Hummingbird Haven? We're getting migrators now - are you pretty busy or are they starting to peel off?

 

[589205]

RTHB:

 

[kcan2]

Not sure how I have missed this thread for so long, but I love hummers! They already liked the rose of Sharon bushes at our new house, so it was no problem attracting them to the feeders this past spring. They do not like to share, so this was a unique shot!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Love seeing these clear nectar feeders - way to go if you're making your own! Love seeing photos of everyone else's hummies

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Here's a quick short video of one resident hummer being a bully. I didn't know she'd pack a punch this hard while I was sitting 1ft away from the feeder!

 

[Yowza Wowza]

I live in southern CA now and I get to listen to hummies any time of the day (except night ofc) I love waking up to them in the mornings and whenever I walk anywhere on campus. Hearing them always makes me happy and I enjoy watching them play and fly around.