birdbaths and hummingbird feeders frozen this morning

[PangolinPie]

It’s so cold. :(

I have a few little flowers still in bloom that the hummers go to on a lovely salvia (don’t laugh, but it’s called “Hot Lips” for its pink and white markings).

I worry about the feral cats, and the dogs owned by people who never bring them inside.

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[timeslid]

A great trick to keep you hummingbird feeders thawed is to duct tape a hand warmer (hot hands) to the bottom of the feeder before you go to bed. I have found that it keeps the feeder thawed until morning. This morning one of the feeders was slushy though.

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[JoB]

timeslid.. what a great idea..

i will try that tonight.

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[Blackcat119]

Our feeder was frozen as well! I headed outside about 6 am yesterday morning to grab our feeder for a warm water refill and was nosedived by 3 hummers. Not sure if they were excited to see me or protecting the food source : ) I read online that you can change the sugar to water ratio from the usual 4:1 to a more potent 3:1 in the winter months. Apparently the higher sugar content prevents the nectar from freezing and contains more calories per drop which helps the hummers out. We tried the new ratio yesterday and it was still liquid this morning at 6am.

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[JoB]

another great idea.

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[linda]

I read an article recently by Cisco Morris recommending you NOT increase the sugar/water ratio in the winter, it’s actually bad for the hummingbirds (in the Seattle Times sometime over the last two to three weeks). Sorry I don’t recall all the specifics he cited.

I bring mine in at night then put them out in the morning before I go to work. When I’m home, I have extra feeders so I can rotate out the thawed ones for frozen ones.

I think I’ll try the hand warmer trick tomorrow though. Sounds like it’s going to be really cold tomorrow morning for an extended period of time and I have to be at work. I’m worried about the feeders freezing before I can get home.

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[JoB]

i tried the higher sugar content last night

the feeder was still slushy this morning and i haven’t heard whether hubby saw hummingbird activity

am going out for more handwarmers today

i already gave what i had away

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[linda]

Found the article by Cisco with suggestions on winterizing the feeder. He didn’t go into specifics, just states a stronger sugar mixture can harm the hummingbirds.

http://seattletimes.com/html/living/2022100513_ciscoelawnhummingbirds26xml.html

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[JoB]

hubby didn’t see the hummers this morning so i am guessing they were either not attracted to the clear sugar water or the delivery points were too slushy for them to feed…

i got handwarmers today and will be sending hubby out with a warmed feeder before midnight tonight

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[JoB]

handwarmers and footwarmers are available at Costco in big big boxes right now..

the footwarmers are only good for 5 hours but the handwarmers will last 8

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[JoB]

the cold last night exceeded the ability of the handwarmer i taped to the bottom of the feeder to keep it liquid… i have bigger warmers and i have the 12 hour pads used for pain but no electricity outside..

anyone else have better luck?

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[seaopgal]

Hummingbirds don’t feed at night, so the easiest thing we’ve found is to just bring the feeder in, then get it out asap in the morning … before dawn, if possible. Or have an extra batch of nectar in the fridge to swap out for the frozen in the morning (and at these temps, throughout the day).

Seattle Audubon has some good information:

http://www.seattleaudubon.org/sas/LearnAboutBirds/SeasonalFacts/Hummingbirds.aspx

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[Homer]

One trick I learned from the blog a long time ago is to place a regular incandescent light bulb (plugged in of course) UNDER your feeder but not touching it as it might melt the plastic. But as close to the bottom as possible and the heat from the bulb will keep your feeder liquidy and yummy.

A timer, if you have one is great for this so you don’t have to remember to plug it in before dawn, just set the timer for 3am and by 4am or so and it will be all be back to liquid just in time for first feeding.

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[JoB]

seaopgal

i was hoping to avoid that getting up before dawn part.. though i am up every night between 3 and 5 so i could put a feeder out then…

but i am not so sure i could go back to sleep afterwards :(

tried a bigger warmer this morning.. we will see how that works..

if it does i may put one of those 12 hour heavy duty personal heating pad puppies on tonight..

it won’t be this cold forever…. will it?

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[JanS]

oh, please, let’s hope not, JoB…any temp. with a 1 or 2 to begin with needs to be gone, the sooner, the better.

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[seaopgal]

Agree with difficulty of getting up before dawn … and with dislike of teens and twenty-somethings (temps, of course).

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[JayDee]

Cisco’s article suggested rotating feeders, or installing heat tape — I am gonna try heat tape–used to keep pipes from freezing and more effective and cheaper than hand warmers or incandescent bulbs. But this morning I put the fresh feeder out and got instant customers. I feel we are complicit–if we didn’t put out feeders, there wouldn’t be hummers hanging out here, but since we have done so we have no moral choice but to keep feeding them.

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[JayDee]

OK, here is at least one hummer at my feeder:

(I hope this works)

https://www.dropbox.com/s/zckca3zcbm90sie/DSC01456.jpg

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[rw]

For the second time in two days I found a hummingbird on my front steps. The first time the poor guy was clearly dead. This time there still seemed to be signs of life, so I brought him inside, where his respiration is picking up. He’s resting in a bowl in my kitchen right now. Flexed his wings and legs a few times, but still appears to have labored breathing. I’m brewing up a fresh batch of sugar water and brought the feeder back inside (it was frozen since I put it out around 6 this morning and it’s 11:30 now.

But even if this guy revives it’s hard to imagine him surviving if I put him back out in the cold.

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[rw]

He just started to fly around the kitchen and living room. I suspect he is probably too frightened to think about food, so I opened a window and he flew away. Godspeed, little guy!

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[JanS]

jaydee…totally jealous of your view !

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[JoB]

jaydee.. nice feeder!

rw.. Nice move!

hubby came in and told me that hummingbirds couldn’t possibly have eaten that much nectar and then came back in to tell me that he had seen hummers at the feeder..

getting close to time to either put another warmer on or bring it indoors :(

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[JayDee]

I went Mad Max and bought a 3-foot long heat tape and wrapped it around a new Perky Pets feeder. It ain’t as pretty as the humdinger feeder, but easier to apply tape to. Heat tape ain’t cheap–$35 for 3′. But I hate the idea of hypothermic hummers. (My cats would love to have one in the house, natch.).

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JanS: I was thinking your signature could read Naughty And Nice.

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I like my view too. I bought the house so I could have sun in the afternoon; when seeing it during an open house, someone pointed out a fool off Alki standing up in a boat. That sealed the deal.

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[JoB]

alas.. i have no outdoor electric outlet

it is probably a good thing that it limits my ability to decorate

but not so good when i want to run heat tape to a hummingbird feeder

oh well

i am generally up by 6 AM..

i will attach the larger warming pad and take it back out in the morning ..

haven’t brought it in yet since it’s still liquid

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[JayDee]

Two Scientific Questions:

1/4 Cup sugar in 1 cup water would lower the freezing point of the solution (the colligative effect). However, we report that our feeder’s freeze at 25 deg F. I guess it must be mol’s at work since a 1/4 C of sugar is more like 1/5th of a Cup when you consider the porosity of dried sugar.

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Someone said that hummers don’t feed at night. OK: is that because the night is dark or cold? If I turn on my deck light would that entice them to feed at night? My deck light might irritate the neighbors, but it could help the little birds live through these cold nights.

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