A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2005 When to stop feeding the hummers?

I have heard that if you keep your feeder up longer then you should, the hummers could stay longer then they should and be in danger of killer cold.
Has anyone ever heard of this? Is there a recommendation for stop feeding?

No...leaving your feeder up won't make them stay longer. Actually, the longer you leave feeders out, the better. Those hummingbirds that are a little late heading south would appreciate finding a feeder on the way!

Here's a site that will answer any questions you have about HUMMINGBIRDS .

Cindy

I was just reading today that you should leave your feeder up for at least a week after you see the last one....don't know if it should be longer or not, but that's what I read......

Another interesting thing I read in my new bird book is that you don't have to boil sugar water...You can just get the 10X powdered sugar and mix it with cold water....Haven't tried it, but it sure would be easy!

Loz,
Today Paul James on HGTV Gardening By the Yard, said the same thing about the confectioners sugar. It makes sense to leave it up after the last sighting as I am sure there will be stragglers needing food (teenagers that didnt listen when their parents said to head south)LOL
Thanks

Is the powdered sugar the same ratio as regular sugar?
1 to 4?
I don't actually boil mine when I make it...
I put 1 cup of sugar in a pot with 2 cups of water and turn it on almost high just until the burner starts getting pretty hot and you can see that the sugar has dissolved. I take it off the heat then add 2 cups of super cold water out of the water dispenser in the freezer, and that cools it down pronto.

I change the nectar in my feeders every day and clean the feeders out each time...only because I'm obsessive/compulsive when it comes to my birds. :rolleyes:
Every day there's a few sweat bees or some little insect in them...and that drives me crazy.

Cindy

Hummingbird feeders should be left up year round. Some individual hummingbirds do not migrate for whatever reason and spend the Winter in the U.S. and will die unless PEOPLE leve feeders up for them. Granted it is only about 10 individual birds per state but that amounts to almost 500 hummers at least that spend the Winter in the U.S. A Rufous Hummingbird spent the whole Winter in a yard just 20 miles from me, here in Tennessee, because the owners were birders and Knew to leave the feeders out in the Winter. They named him Willy because every day they said "Will He" be back tomorrow. Well, he was, and left in the spring to return to his native stomping grounds on the West Coast. It is best to leave them out and filled regularly with fresh nectar year-round. (By the way my feeder literally exploded today when I picked it up, covering me with sticky fluid.)

Hi Thornius,
I could see your point. That method would't work for me because it would be a nectar sicle from Dec to April. Most likely break their little beaks LOL>
Thanks