The hummingbird arrival...

[thistlebloom]

(And no thistle, I did not get any pictures!)

That's okay Lesa, now that you've established your veracity with the hibiscus I'll believe anything you tell me!

Our hummers arrived on schedule also. We always have the Rufous here first, then a few days later the Calliope show up.

Det and Momofdrew, the standard formula is a 4 to 1 ratio of water to sugar. I start each season with a quarter cup of sugar dissolved in a cup of boiling water. I put fresh solution in the feeders every 3 days so they don't develop a fungus on their beak.
No food coloring is necessary. As more hummers show up I increase the amount I make.

I was at a job yesterday and the feeders were were super busy with hummers. We stood on the deck and almost got run over by the little flying mites as they zipped around. My hummers are never that numerous. And I plant flowers they like too.....so, I'm not sure what attracts them in larger numbers to one place over the other.

I read somewhere how long lived they are, something like a dozen years or more. They're amazing little creatures!

 

[vfem]

The hummers here are back, and they are nesting in the mamosa tree again this year.

momofdrew, I mix 1 part sugar 6 parts water for the hummers in their feeders. They're also attracted to my bearded tongues in the front garden. Maybe that would help?

 

[Carol Dee]

Thistle and I use the same sugar water recipe. No foodcoloring necessary. Can't think it is any better for them than for us! We usually put up 2 or 3 feeders. In front and in back. It is amazing how much they fight over a feeder, it is a wonder they ever have time to eat!

 

[peteyfoozer]

Ours DID come early. Most summers they sort of pass through. We're some sort of aviary fly-zone and all the migrating birds come thru and leave again. I feel so used! anyway, there are scads of hummers this year, emptying my 32 oz feeder daily. I use a 4 to 1 water to sugar ratio also, and a 6 to 1 for Orioles. No coloring. Randyman is terrified to step out the back door because he thinks he will get a bird impaled in his forehead.

 

[lesa]

Wow! That is a lot of hummingbirds! My feeder takes a week to empty... and it has a small leak! Lucky you....

 

[so lucky]

We have very high calcium content in our water, and I have found that if I boil it for hummingbird food, it turns cloudy in about a day. After a lot of head scratching and trying to recall chemistry classes, we have concluded that the boiling releases the calcium in the water--maybe "unbinds" it. I even thought it was from impurities in the sugar for a while, and blamed it on the offbrand I had bought. Whatever. I tried just using hot tap water to put the sugar in, and it dissolves fine, with no cloudiness. I can't believe that using unboiled tap water would be harmful for the birds...after all, they don't get the rest of their diet sanitized. So that's what I have been doing the last couple of years. 4 parts hot tap water to 1 part granulated sugar. I think the hot water releases the chlorine in it.
And for heaven's sake, don't be tempted to give the birds a treat by adding stuff to their nectar! The aides where my mom stays thought they would "help" her out by putting pink lemonaid in her hummingbird feeder!

 

[lesa]

so lucky, I always figured the boiling part was just so the sugar would dissolve...Reminds me of my chickens, I fill their water (after washing it out) and they drink the puddle from the hose leaking in the dirt!

 

[desertlady]

so lucky, I always figured the boiling part was just so the sugar would dissolve...Reminds me of my chickens, I fill their water (after washing it out) and they drink the puddle from the hose leaking in the dirt!

Same here My chickies love to drink dirty water !

 

[bluelacedredhead]

And always remember to let the water cool before filling a plastic feeder, or you may end up with one that leaked even though it never did before. Not that I would know this from personal experience or anything

I now have a glass tube....

 

[so lucky]

this is veering way off-topic, I know, but I just had to say : I find it totally amazing that a chicken can eat worms out of the dirt, decaying bits of food, and even her siblings (!), and drink water out of a mud hole, but the eggs come out pristine and pure. Heck of a filter they have!