In the middle of July there was a discussion about the feeding of hummers and the mixtures for the feeders. At the time I was unable to post my observations, but if anyone is still interested, I thought I would post my fairly unusual, I believe, observations of my feeders for hummers.

This year I was determined to attract hummingbirds to my feeders so I could watch them feed instead of just use my yard for a "freeway" to other feeding spots. I got two feeders, a Best 1, I believe, and a feeder with four red "flowers" with yellow bee guards. After getting info off of Tweeters, I used the solutions of water and C&H sugar, boiling the water as per instructions, using filtered water, even. There were absolutely no takers. My husband got some commercial mix and mixed it doubling the mix instructions to the water ratio. Still the hummers just zoomed by, a blur coming and going throughout the day. I gave up after giving away my Best 1 feeder and buying another feeder with the four red "flowers" which I filled with the commercial mix. Twice weekly I made sure that the feeder with the sugar and water solution was disinfected and changed, along with the commercial mix. After about a month and a half, I left the commercial feeder alone and just changed the sugar water mix twice weekly in hopes. After a couple of weeks, I noticed that the commercial mixture that had been evaporating suddenly was attracting hummingbirds, female Rufous hummers. So I cleaned the feeder and put out new mixture. The hummingbirds once again ignored the feeder until it was about two weeks old. I started rotating the two feeders at about 2 1/2 week intervals. The feeders were on the same feeder pole, about two feet apart and a foot different in height. No matter which feeder had the fresh mixture in it, the hummingbirds continued to use the one with the older formula. I left it for three weeks, checking to make sure there was no mold that I could visually observe. The three week old formula was their favorite, and after about a month, they went on to the other feeder that was two weeks old, fed on it until it was about a month old. I didn't have time to really try it enough to satisfy myself that this was right, because by the time I caught onto it, most of the hummers had left this area and moved on. There was also a large red flowered fuschia about three feet from the feeders, and some of the hummers preferred the natural plant. When the hummers came back on their way south again, they wouldn't touch the mixture in the feeders at all and only fed on the fuschia. Next year should be interesting as I try to experiment again. I know this is against all the "rules" for feeding hummingbirds, but my feeders are under fir tree branches and almost always in the shade. It will be interesting to see what the hummingbirds tell me next year. In the meantime, I am thankful for the help I got off of Tweeters as I got started on my first year of really, really trying to get these picky little guys to stay around long enough for me to really enjoy them.

j.v. bonham
Centralia, WA
jvbonham at msn.com