Grama Lehr

Are regular ones are buzzzing around! We love to sit out front and watch them!

NikkiLu

We have LOTS of hummers at our three feeders - as usual. One thing we do is put chalk on the poles that hold our feeders - but you have to replace it every time that it rains - which has been very often here lately.

Melinda in Tulsa

I'm glad someone brought this up. I hadn't remembered to put my feeder out until I read this. Just got done doing so! I normally have about 1/2 dozen hummingbirds around. Don't know about this year as I spent very little time outdoors this year. I'll have to be more watchful.

UglyCook

I don't put out feeders but we usually have a few hanging around. This year there has been one right outside of my sewing room window all day. Wish I could get a picture, it's so cute!

dsb38327

Mine come and go with the thunderstorms/heavy rain. I had 2 or 3 for a week, put feeders out and they left. Zero birds for a week. Dark clouds boiling, thunder, then saw the hummbirds hitting the feeders like dive bombers. Ten to 15 birds. Then they left. We got a couple yesterday. Mine start building in numbers in July. By the end of August I am feeding 300+ birds, 3 gallons of sugar water a day.
The vaseline didn't work for me to keep the ants away. I haven't found an answer for the bees but I did for the ants. I will go out and take a photo and come back on my edit time to show you./Be right back.
Okay, I loaded the photos. I sink my feeder pole in the ground, use sack crete to build a bird bath around it. Dried to the pole so the water won't leak out. Ants can't swim across the water to get to the pole. Works like a charm. I will be posting pictures of the birds in August if they come like they usually do.
Regards, Dorothy

amandasgramma

Dorothy! I love that idea of the bird bath under the feeder "tree"!!!!

Now -- do you have an idea how to keep the squirrels out of the regular bird feeder??? I've seen those "RATS" jump clear across from another tree to get to ours!!!!

quilter2

Wow, that is some setup, must be great when all those hummingbirds come around. I also notice when heavy rain and storms they come around to eat. So much fun to watch.

dsb38327

Funny about the squirrels. We have tons of squirrels. Tom keeps the bird feeders filled and the squirrels are so fun to watch eating from them. My sister in law has a feeder that spins in a circle when the squirrels get on it. They go for a merry go round ride and jump off. I haven't seen it and don't know what it is called.
Yes, when the birds are here it is like a bee hive. They are a lot of work but fun to watch. It takes as much as 2 to 3 hours a day to take care of them when they are here. I can't travel (even for a day trip) unless I get a neighbor to baby sit them. They will empty the feeders 2 and 3 times a day. I feed about 6am, 12noon and 5 to 6pm. One gallon plus each feed. I wash each feeder every day from July forward. I have graduated to larger (and larger mouthed) feeders so that is much easier and quicker. I use 25 lbs of sugar a week in August. I had multiple poles the previous years with 4 or 5 hooks a pole. Tom reworked them for me in March so I have enough hooks on one pole to feed 120 birds. I will be able to feed from 3 poles instead of 6 & 7. That means the birds will be in a smaller cluster and hopefully I will be able to get some good photos for you.
I have been concerned about the hummers and hurricane Katrina. I hope some of our members there will let us know if the birds survived and are still coming through there.

FancyFoot

I get hummingbirds at the feeder all year long :) :) :) :)

quilter2

That's a job taking care of the birds, but I would also do it if I had that many, wow, would I love to see that many. Please don't forget to take some pictures so we all can see them. Friends of ours in KY have a few feeders and when they are empty, they will hit her storm door to let her know to give them food, I was amazed when I saw them do this, going there next month, sure hope she has a lot of hummingbirds.