Has anyone attempted (succesfully) to make a hummingbird feeder? I recently bought a fancy schmancy glass feeder and of course dropped it before I ever got a chance to use it. So before shelling out some more dough, I thought the creative members of DGs would have some suggestions on making one. thanks.
liz
Making a hummingbird feeder
Liz,
I make my own hummie feeders by recycling insulin bottles. They hold about 10-12ml of liquid and are small enough to be hung amongst flowers, vines, trellises etc.
I do hang out a dozen or so of those store bought 32 jar feeders from my back porch eaves when the hummie season is going strong...but with out south Texas temperatures that get over 100 most days in the Summer I prefer to hang about 25 of the small feeders throughout my yard.
The hummies emtpy out each bottle at the end of the day and I refill them in the mornings so I don't have a big problem with nectar going bad in this heat or forming mold.
I have an old post from last year showing numerous photographs of the insulin bottle feeders I've made and the hummies frequenting them.
http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/542014/
Here is another photo of a 55 station hummie feeder I made a couple of years ago. (I no longer use nectar with red dye). This photo shows only about 30 of the feeding stations set up.
~ Cat
This message was edited May 17, 2006 10:25 PM
Thanks Texas! I tried a search but must have not entered the right description to pull up the old post. Your pictures are great. Wow, the hummies must love visiting your yard in the summer. I think I am going to start small and see what happens.
Liz,
You should be able to click on the hyperlink in my previous reply...I also bumped up the old message - it should be one of the current ones listed now.
~ Cat
Thanks. have you ever thought of selling your handmade hummingbird feeders?? I'm sure a lot of DGers would love to have one....
Liz,
I thought about it...but never seem to have the time to do everything I want to do....then again, when it become something I have to do instead of want to do it stops being fun. Besides...the photos should give lots of people ideas to create their own :o)
~ Cat
This message was edited May 22, 2006 10:11 PM
Cat here are a few I made from you idea. Biggest problem is getting the insilun bottles. Do you have a source to buy them?
Betty
Betty,
Those are great!!! I had a stash of insulin bottles that were over ten years old! I'd collected them when I was married as my ex was diabetic. Considering we've been divorced over ten years I'd say I am the packrat Cat!!! I knew they'd come in handy for something - just took me forever to put them to use.
I have a co-worker who is diabetic so he saves his insulin bottles for me. You might try asking around at an elder-care day center or maybe if you have friends who are in the medical field? There is also a company that sells the polystyrene test tubes on eBay...I bought 100 from there and they come with plastic end caps in various colors - I just asked for all red ones and I then drilled a little hole in the end for the hummies.
Here's a photo of the end caps - you can see the little hole I driled into it.
~ Cat
Hi Cat,
What size drillbit do you use for drilling the holes in the caps?
Thanks much! :-)
What? I'm supposed to know what size a drill bit is? Hey, am lucky I even thought to use a drill :o) Just kidding...am not sure what size it is...but it's small...probably about 2cm in width?? Just big enough for a hummie to stick part of it's beak in there and still small enough not to allow the nectar to drip out. I also cheated and heated up a metal stylus and make holes by melting the plastic with the heated stylus tip :o)
Hope that helps :o)
~ Cat