When I looke d yesterday, I noticed the top of my feeder the clear plastic wa s turning a funky brownish color and determine d that the intense heat from the hot afternoon sun is causing the plastic to burn.
If it burnign the plastic, I wonder at what temp the water syrup is inside the feeder . I wonder if is / can /or wil scald the hummers throats and insides. We way up in the high 90's and that are a gets the hot sun from about 1 pm til about 6 pm.
it hangs of f my top cross bar of the fence where I got the pole s all in but no piece of fence up there yet. It about the safiest place I have to put the feeder where the neighbors cats won't get at the birds. I've seen these cats climb the trees after the squireels so wont put it past them to go after t he hummers.
If I can happen to find a bit more of a safer shady spot, wil the hummer s follow over to it or think their food source has been remove d and leave here?
Wondered if ther e was someway to shade the feeder without spookign the hummers.?
Any suggestions wil be greatly appreciated.
Are the feeders getting to hot?
star, I always put my feeders in the shade and the hummers seem to find it. I see them flying through the shady parts of my garden, looking for nectar or bugs....I think yours will find it.
I have mine in partial shade. I know how hot the hose water gets, so I imagine the feeder would get that hot also.
never put your hummer feeder in the sun. It spoils very quickly and makes black mold grow which can kill the hummers. If you have to tie a string to hang down from a tree limb, please get that feeder in the shade
I'm glad I saw this thread. I bet that is why we aren't getting any hummers. The first day I put it out we were visited twice, but they didn't seem to like what was there. They haven't come back since then. I think we need to find a place in the shade for the feeder. Thanks!!
Thanks for the infomation. Will get mine moved. Now to find the ladder so I can try and climb a tre e to move it.
Oh shoot, I ust figure d out a place I can put it. dah.. somebody slap me in the head . No wait hold that thought, ya might giv eme soem smarts and that would really be dangerous.
I got apole i have hung between two trees that hold soem flowering baskets and have the salvia and hibiscus pot s there. forgot all abotu it can move the feeder to there.
Thanks bunches. let me go do it now cuz it already almost a hundred out there now.
Ya all so great!!!!!!!!!! : ) Hugs!
I moved my hummer and Oriole feeders into a shadier spot last year when it occurred to me that the nectar would get too hot with so much sun. The feeders were moved nearby, but under the shade of a tree.
Well, when the first hummer arrived after the move, he went to the former feeder spot and just hovered there, looking around. It was very funny. It did not take long for all the birds to spot the new feeders.
They arrive by habit but they are very resourceful when it comes to change!
Orginal so glad to hear that, cuz since I moved mine , I haven't seen them use it and i even sat out there gettign ate up from sketters to watch, but went and sat in my corner and my one from yesterday flew in front of me again. Wonder if it chewign me out for movign it. ; (
Sure hope they find it soon.
If you have a shepherds hook you could move it a few feet at a time toward the spot where you want it.
starlight- it wouldn't surprise me at all if he/she was scolding. They do it to each other. I'm sure they do it to us also.
fly-girl's suggestion is great.
Considering how hot our south Texas days can get I keep the feeders shaded by hanging them from my back porch eave and from the trees. I've often moved feeders around the yard and just as often get chirped at by hummies. They are quite good at making a bee line for a feeder then when it's not there you'd think someone robbed Fort Knox!!! They make make such a noisy fuss...but they are quick to find it once again.
...and yes, like BlueDancer wrote...just think of how hot water in a garden hose gets...imagine that magnified through glass!!! Yowiee!!!
Pepper, the ranch dog, thinks it's hot. She forgets she isn't a small dog and after running around the yard she jumps up into this homemade bird bath to cool off.
I always get a kick out of watching her do this...this time I'd been photographing butterflies around the yard and had the camera ready :o)
Woof!!!
~ Cat
This message was edited Jul 29, 2007 6:44 PM
cat what a great pic. Just to cute
Cat, how cute is that! She knows how to cool off!
Ahhhhhhhh...RELIEF!
Too cute.
~Lucy
That so funny!!!!!!!! : ) Now that what ya call a kiddy pool. : )
Well, I feel better now, they found where I moved the feeder , unfortunately so did all the little tiny ants, grrrrrrrr. Now othe r than goign out and aroudn and knockign them off every hour or so, what can I us e to keep them off the feeder.
I read don't put out oil cuz it could get on their feathers. The feeder handing from about a ten foot fence rail top pole that hung between two trees.
The ants are doing what they are supposed to do. You provide food. Nature discovers food. Everybody eats!
I keep mine in the shade of the house by my bedroom window and I change the nector often in the heat.
Ella - Check your local Walmart. I had bought a feeder that didn't have a water moat built in it. So I found this little moat that you attach between your feeder and the pole. Fill it with water and the ants can't get to your feeder. Of course, it still doesn't keep out the bees. :-(
Cat - ROFL! Your dog is a hoot! Pets are the BEST, aren't they? Mine have kept me in stitches with their antics!
That's a great idea!
I think I paid a $1 for the moat. They are out of them the last time I looked, but perhaps your Wally world might have some! Good luck!
Have ya'll been providing shower facilities for the hummies? I sometimes turn on a sprinkler just enough to spray the lower branches of my citrus trees - or hang the water hose over a tree branch with the nozzle on shower or mist for them. They do appreciate cooling off when the weather is unbearably hot.
Here's an old photo from last year of a hummie cooling off. I hung the waterhose over a tree branch and let the spray fall onto lower branches. Didn't take long for this little one to figure out it could perch on a lower branch and enjoy a cool shower.
~ Cat
ps...just remember with this heat and fierce sun, it's best not to let the water at high noon :o) I usually set out the hose around 5pm or later as the setting sun is blocked by trees and my fence. No sense burning the leaves on my trees - having direct sunlight hitting the water is like frying ants with a magnifying glass (not that I've ever fried ants...ROLF)
This message was edited Jul 30, 2007 7:35 PM
That's so sweet!
Good idea Cat! I can do that! It's really been hot here too.
Oh how sweet it is taking a shower.
Thanks for the idea Cat!!!!!!!! Dummy me. My water leaks so when I water at the connections it sends up a mist, btu it only a few feet high of f the ground. Never thought about hangign it from a tree branch. I can tos s it over my fence railing and giv e the guys a bath.
I was readign the other day that they like to take a bath in canna leave s so I been waterign my canna leave s now instea d of just doign the bottoms.
Love the pic. That so cute. : ) Thanks for the smile!!!!!!!!
Yeah,
They take a bath in the early morning hours using the dew that has accumulated on the leaves of my chalice vines. They are so fast it's hard to catch them in the act :o) They had me going for a while there...I was trying to figure out why they'd rub up against the leaves...took me a while to figure it out...duh!!!
Have some lousy video of a few though just for my own amusement.
~ Cat