Many people have hummingbird feeders in their yard, but quite often they aren’t always sure how to properly maintain them. This post will help inform you about how to properly maintain your feeders, and thus hopefully ensure that you will have an abundance of hummingbirds visiting your yard on a regular basis.
It is important to remember that hummingbird sugar solution is liquid and therefore extremely susceptible to fermentation, mold, or harmful bacteria. These things can put the health and lives of the hummingbirds in danger.
Hummingbird feeders should be cleaned every two to three days. The feeder should be washed in very hot water, to wish you may add some vinegar or even a tiny amount of Clorox. The vinegar will help remove mold, and the Clorox should only be used for extremely difficult cleaning jobs. Whatever cleaning solution you choose to use, please be sure and rinse the feeder out thoroughly when you are finished! Any places that are hard to reach can be cleaned with the use of a bottle brush or pipe cleaners.
In very hot weather, which is considered to be temperatures above 60 degrees F., feeders should be cleaned every two days, and then fresh sugar solution should be added. The reason for this is because in very hot temperatures the pathogens in the sugar solution can multiply very rapidly.
It is impossible to state a specific date by which hummingbird feeders should be up. When to put up your hummingbird feeders will depend on where in the country you live. In the south the arrival of the hummingbirds may be as early as January or February. If you live in the north, the arrival of the hummingbirds will probably take place in April or May. The timing of when you should hang up your feeders will also depend largely on which hummingbird species are common where you live.
Many people mistakenly believe that leaving hummingbird feeders up for too long a period of time will prevent the hummingbirds from migrating. This is not true! A hummingbird has an instinctive urge to migrate and this is not based on whether feeders are up or not. The hummingbirds are most likely responding to light level changes rather than to food level changes.
In some parts of the country hummingbirds have become year-round residents. On the West Coast, in the Southwest, and in a few places in the Southeast, hummingbirds can be found in the winter. So, if you live where hummingbirds have become year-round residents, leaving your feeder up could be life-sustaining to these birds.
Having hummingbird feeders placed around your yard is one of the easiest ways to attract hummingbirds to your yard. It is important to maintain proper feeder maintenance to ensure the health and well being of these birds. Also, doing so will help to ensure that these birds will return there each and every hummingbird season.