Susan's Hummingbird Gardens

 Tips For Making Homemade Hummingbird Feeders

Hummingbird Feeder

This is an interesting article for DIY gardeners on how to make homemade hummingbird feeders. There are two points, however, that I disagree with:

1. Unless you can sterilize the old prescription vials, use something else… buy a few test tubes (like the ones used for fancy spices), a handful of corks, and some red tape. Drill a hole, large enough for a hummingbird’s bill, all the way through the cork from top to bottom. Make sure there aren’t any cork “crumbs” in the hole… just blow through it. Apply the red tape to the outside edge of the tube opening. The object is to draw hummingbirds to the business end of the tube. Since most test tubes are flared at the top, wrap the wire just under the flare and hang it right side up. If you ARE able to sterilize old prescription vials, then follow the author’s instructions.
2. Never use honey when making hummingbird nectar water. It’s not a case of honey is more natural than sugar… it’s a case of hummingbird bodies cannot process honey, and prolonged use will kill them.

Other than these two points, I thoroughly enjoyed Kathryn’s article… as I’m sure you will.

Building Your Own Humming Bird Feeder

By: Kathryn Whittaker

We all know that taking a beautiful photo of humming birds is hard to obtain, even when they are inside cages. The only thing that you could do is buy a hummingbird feeder to bring these birds into photographic distance. But these ready-made hummingbird feeders are somewhat expensive. Worry no more, because you can make your very own hummingbird feeder for free. All you need to do is recycle used or old prescription vials for making nectar dispensers. Hummingbirds are known to feed on nectars.

The materials needed to make your own hummingbird feeder are clear prescription vials with a fitted cap, a few feet of thin wire or heavy thread and transparent tape or scotch tape. You may also need a sharp pointed metal object like an ice pick.

To start with this project, heat up the ice pick or whatever sharp pointed metal you are using and make a pair of holes on each side of the prescription vial, near the open end where the cap is placed. You have to make sure that they are close but not too close that the holes are covered with the bottom of the cap when it is placed on. The size of the holes should be small enough to keep the liquid inside the container.

Next, round up the thin wire or thread. Secure it by wrapping with the scotch tape or transparent tape on each end of the thread or thin wire to the prescription vial. If you want extra holding capacity, wrap a second piece of transparent tape around the prescription vial.

Basically, that’s all you have to do in making hummingbird feeders. It depends on you how many hummingbird feeders you want to make, but if you want to enjoy watching more than just one hummingbird, you can make a number of these feeders and tie them into a mobile and place them in your backyard.

To fill up your hummingbird feeder, remove the cap holding the prescription vial on and fill it up with nectar and replace the cap. Closed tightly, turn the prescription vial upside down as quickly as you can. The feeder’s hole should be at the bottom, a small amount of nectar will leak out the feeder’s holes, but as soon as the vacuum inside the prescription vial is created, the leakage will stop.

Now we come to making the nectar for the hummingbirds. Basically there are two choices of nectar. First is the nectar mix that is commercially available in a granulated form. Or second, you can make your own nectar from a sugar solution. For the purpose of information, honey is not recommended. Research proves that too much honey is harmful to hummingbirds, since it weakens them and may cause death to these birds.

Just where to hang the feeders? In general, it is good to hang these feeders in any part of the garden where there is no direct exposure to sunlight and where the wind will not be able to shake the feeder. Direct sunlight speeds up fermentation of the nectar inside the feeder. It is recommended to hang the hummingbird feeders near the flowers in the garden to further attract these birds. Now, you can enjoy watching hummingbirds hovering and perching on your own feeder. 

About the Author

Jo Williams has an interest in Pet related products. To access more articles on bird feeder’s or for additional information and resources visit this bird feeders related website.

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