The Hummingbird Haven

[HomesteaderWife]

Another fun update - two male Ruby-throated here at the homestead. We spread feeders across the property, and we have the other fella at feeder #2. "Tony Tuesday" arrives Tues. 3/22/22! He buzzed me at the goat pen to let me know his little feeder had leaked out - it was a trial one, but those mini feeders from DG aren't worth the $2. I had to replace with my DT feeder instead. Girls should be here around Easter I suspect.

 

[Blooie]

Another fun update - two male Ruby-throated here at the homestead. We spread feeders across the property, and we have the other fella at feeder #2. "Tony Tuesday" arrives Tues. 3/22/22! He buzzed me at the goat pen to let me know his little feeder had leaked out - it was a trial one, but those mini feeders from DG aren't worth the $2. I had to replace with my DT feeder instead. Girls should be here around Easter I suspect.

How exciting!!! I’m getting so antsy here for the first ones. It was 78 degrees here today, but only supposed to be in the 40s the rest of the week. I’ll wait until mid April to put the scout feeder out, I think.

 

[HomesteaderWife]

@Blooie - In looking at sighting reports of species around WY, the early part of May was listed on three sightings. There was a report of 4/30 as well. These were from 2021 sightings so possibly mid-April for you?

 

[Blooie]

It takes them awhile to make it this far north. And when the wildflowers in the mountains are in full bloom, they aren’t always in a hurry to leave there. Southern Wyoming gets them way earlier than we do - we’re 6 miles from the Montana border.

 

[rjmyooper]

I usually have Bee's and that's a conflict since Bees don't share.

 

[Blooie]

Usually those bee guards on feeders are yellow, have you noticed? Bees looooove yellow. So do hornets and wasps. I took them off and painted them red. I just used red nail polish and let it dry and cure for a good week before I put them back on because I worried a little about off-gassing. I gave them the old sniff-test and didn’t put them back on until I couldn’t smell it anymore. I’m sure there’s a better paint than nail polish, but it’s what I had at the time. I’m going to red model car paint on the next one, again letting it cure for some time. I still had a few bees, but they mostly moved on to the dandelions and yellow flowers in the yard and I didn’t see too many after that. Worth a try!

 

[HomesteaderWife]

Try putting a shallow dish nearby with some little pebbles in it and a bit of water. Sometimes bees are simply seeking water to help thin the honey and cool the hive from what I’ve learned, and also try having some bee friendly plants around too. We’ve been leaving the Creeping Charlie to grow tall with the Clover and they’ve been so busy at the flowers they have yet to bother the feeders and we have a TON of bees here now (not sure if feral or from a colony domestic at someone’s place in the properties around us?) - yellow jackets are a different story!

 

[589205]

Hi, @Blooie! How are you?

 

[589205]

I finally got some new ant moats:

 

[Blooie]

Hi, @Blooie! How are you?

Hello there!!! You have the moats…..any hummers? We haven’t seen a thing here. But then the whole lot has been reconfigured for the new house we have on it now, and they tend to look for feeders where they fed last. No flowers planted here yet either, so this year may be a bust.
How are you doing?