Remedy for frozen hummingbird feeder

[cjboffoli]

hopey: Unfortunately, that is natural territorial behavior and there is nothing you can really do about it. It’s a shame too as they don’t understand that the food supply at a well-tended feeder is unlimited. And they must expend lots of valuable calories chasing away the other hummers.

Lisa: Don’t let the lack of a record of the event spoil how marvelous it was! Trust me, I go through this all the time as a photographer. Sometimes you need to remind yourself to put the camera aside and experience something purely (and through two eyes instead of one).

It’s fair to say the very best photographs in my life that I’ve ever composed are the ones that I saw with my eyes but missed with my camera.

Share This

[hopey]

cjboffoli: thanks. I haven’t been paying close enough attention to individually identify birds coming & going, but I do think a few are managing to sneak in when the “guardian” is elsewhere.

Love your photo vs. real life philosophy too. :)

Share This

[gann]

well- I had a horrific experience this evening with my hummmers!

I have been bringing my feeders in at night and returning them- like a few of you also-

Around dusk I checked my front one and it looked mostly frozen from the top down but a hummer was there licking up what was hopefully still thawed at the bottom. SO I left it.I went to check my back one and it was completely frozen, but it had a very bedraggled hummer sitting on it with its little wings hanging down like it was sick. Then plop- the hummer just keeled over and fell down into a snow banck beneath it!!

I was horrified! I grabbed a dishtowel & quickly slipped my clogs on and and made my way around my deck. There is was with only the slightest of flopping as I approached. I gently encirled it in the dishtowel and it is now in a box with another feeder inside stuck in a dark corner of my library! I called Paws Wildlife Rescue for advice – but they confirmed that I did about as much as I can. I am tyring to leave it alone until morning & am prayin- deep, secular prayers that it will still be alive!

Share This

[wingme]

hummers, well birds in general, have a way of coming back “from the dead”. i found a “deceased” hummer in my driveway this fall and it made me very sad. when i picked him up i noticed he was still warm so i took a chance and put him in a hanging flower pot. about ten minutes later i saw him perched on the edge, tho very wobbly, a few minbutes later he was ruffling his feathers and shaking it off, then ZOOM! i figure he somehow knocked himself cold (big tree nearby). thank the gods i didn’t bury him alive.

Share This

[Jerald]

Gann, I hope you’ll give us an update tomorrow. Fingers crossed!

I usually have two feeders out to try to prevent the birds from wasting so much energy fighting over one. But right now I’m using the 2nd one to rotate out when the other freezes. I’m thinking it might be time to buy a couple more.

Share This

[Anonymous]

I have read that if two feeders are placed so one hummingbird cannot see both at the same time, it will cut down on feeder-guarding. I have not tried that yet.

I have been using a thermometer to check the temperature of the sugar water before I offer it. I am aiming for 105 degrees fahrenheit maximum and 101 degrees fahrenheit minimum.

Any opinions on the best temperature?

I replace the sugar water when I notice ice forming at the top. There has always been a ring of ice (unseen until I rinse out the feeder) in the flower section at the bottom of the feeder if there is ice at the top of the sugar water.

Share This

[La]

Thank you for suggesting the light bulb, Chris! My husband was kind enough to rig up our version, and although there’s no shade on our shoplight, the heat from the bulb seems to have kept the nectar liquid. I don’t know how early these little guys get up, and they need all the energy they can get so I appreciate knowing that they now have unfrozen fuel!

Scott B, I read the same thing about placing 2 feeders apart. I put two up this year – one by my side door and one by the back – and got a good laugh when I realized that one of our guys had stationed himself at the corner of the house so he could patrol BOTH feeders at the same time. Time to put a feeder at the front door…

Share This

[JoB]

La

that is one enterprising little hummer.. :))))

Share This

[gann]

to those wondering, this morning my little hummer was up, perched on the feeder rail inside his box.

So i took the box and placed in just outside the door on my deck with the top open. He sat quite still for few moments. Then started moving his gaudy but tiny head- looking this way & that-

finally he zipped up and away with no trouble at all!

hooray!

Share This

[inactive]

Hooray for YOU GANN AND the little hummer!

Nicely done!!!!

Share This

[birdlady]

I wrapped a string of small Christmas lights tightly around the portion of the feeder where the solution is visible AND then wrapped overtop with several layers of the small bubble wrap.

This has kept our two feeders from freezing. We keep the lights on 24/7 — one little male hummer guards the backyard feeder during all daylight hours. We have one feeder by a front window and the other in the back by a kitchen window — this prevents him from guarding both. In addition, the feeder in the front has no cover (roof overhang), so I punched a hole in the middle of a large clear plastic plant tray and hung directly over the feeder — works well to keep the show from building up on the feeder. I did up the sugar solution 3:1, but will switch back to 4:1 when the weather warms up.

Share This

[cjboffoli]

birdlady: I’ve been doing research on the nectar issue and there seems to be a pretty good debate going back and forth about the issue of nectar mixtures that are richer in sugar.

Some of what I’ve read suggests that to stray from the 4:1 ratio would cause liver and reproductive problems for the hummers. But other research, which seems pretty reputable, indicates that anything between 3:1 and 4:1 is within the normal range of the concentration of sucrose nectars the birds would encounter in the wild (though they’d probably only find 3:1 level sweetness at the height of summer).

Some of the warnings against the richer 3:1 mixture also touch on the fact that increased sugar means the nectars will spoil faster. But in the cold weather we have been experiencing that’s not so much a factor and, in fact, the added sugar may help the nectar from freezing so readily.

The forecast for this week’s temps indicate that we’ll be above freezing most days. Even at 26 degrees this morning my feeder didn’t freeze with 4:1 nectar in it.

Share This

[KatherineL]

westseattledood, thanks for mentioning that the birds need plain water in this weather. Their usual sources freeze over. It is a pain to keep thawing a birdbath. However, you can buy birdbath heaters and avoid all those trips outside. I bought one from Audubon years ago. It has a thermostat. It comes on only when the water temperature drops below freezing and turns off when it gets above 32. I do have to monitor the birdbath, because they splash the water out. But I don’t need to go out several times a day or dash out first thing on a freezing morning.

Share This

[Robert]

Here is some scientific research on the concentration ratio.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/hainsworth.html

The research indicates that higher concentrations do not harm hummers and concentrations can be as potent as 1:1.

Share This

[Tom L]

One clever lady wrapped tiny Christmas lights (non-LED) around the glass portion of her feeder, then cut out the toe of a dark colored sock and pulled that over the lights to keep in the heat and reduce the distraction for the birds and finds it works quite well.

Tip from Purdue University profs: Always boil your sugar water, but never in a microwave as that changes the molecular composition of the sugar and reduces its effectiveness. Who knew?!?

Share This

[flowerpetal]

This is the first time that I have read these posts. When it reached 40 posts my curiousity got the better of me. I feared that this had devolved into some controversy; and I was pleasantly surprised to see that you all are taking care of our tiny bird friends just as the subject title says. How very sweet you each are. Thank you!

Share This

[GreenSpaces]

I have been doing ok with a glass feeder with a metal bottom and 3 plastic portals. I bring it in overnight. I was up at an insane hour this morning to smash a path to be able to take my dog out (since she refused to cooperate in the wind storm last night), so my feeders were hung by 6:30 AM. I saw my first chickadeed at 7:19 and my first hummer at 7:49. I have seen two hummers, but only briefly, as I think one did chase of the others. Today it has taken up residence in one of the huckleberry bushes on my deck and my husband got an amazing picture that he submitted to WSB but also it is posted on his blog at http://www.pensandpixels.com/stephenhj/

Besides the black capped chickadees (my fave) and the hummers, we are also mobbed by Oregon juncos. My 3 cats are quite worn out from hours of staring out the window at all the activity a mere two feet away.

Wendy, High Point

Share This

[B-squared]

I have two glass/plastic feeders that i have wrapped in pipe insulation (that foam that is cylindrical – i cut it to length and used two pieces to insulate the glass, tied around numerous times with an old bike tire tube). This has kept it from freezing all day. the one on the window (with the suction cup) seems to be a hit (even if i am standing in front of it, hummer will come drink with me 6″ away!). i am still using 4:1. i bring them in at night and am out again at about 7:30.

Also had towees, thrushes, nuthatch, chickadees and flickers (i have a tube feeder with sunflower seeds, and a suet cake). i poured very hot water in the birdbath today to thaw it out, and it was a huge hit with the robins.

Share This

[cjboffoli]

An entire flock of robins completely cleared off a neighbor’s bush that was covered with some kind of bright orange berries. And about a dozen starlings relieved another neighbor’s tree of its remaining apples. Those birds are HUNGRY out there.

Share This

[B-squared]

Yeah, the robins here have just about wiped out my cottonester bush berries so i know they are desperate (those are nasty berries).

Share This

[Juliet]

Thanks to this thread–and especially cjboffoli’s entry which started it off with info and a photo of the work light solution for protecting hummingbird feeders from freezing–I’ve been relieved to be able to keep both my feeders clear of ice and available 24/7 for the little guys. They are out of sight of one another, so a male and female have both able to feed w/out fighting it out all the time.

The really touching and amazing thing to me was that last night (Saturday) during the worst of the weather, I saw one of the hummers on a feeder at 9:30pm! I wasn’t aware that they ever came out that late and assume he was fairly desperate. He seemed grateful for the warmth as well as the nectar.

I thought I’d also try rigging one of those work light setups to hang over a shallow bird bath to keep the water from freezing. To my surprise, it’s worked–in the cold it sends up steam like a little sauna although the water isn’t hot. The birds/animals have yet to find it, but it’s there for them when they get there. Our little buddies!

Share This

[birdlady]

Robert – Thank you for the link on the hummingbird research http://www.hummingbirds.net/hainsworth.html — I now understand how, when and why one might choose to change solution ratio!

Share This

[Bikefor1]

You think frozen hummingbird feeders are a problem, read this endearing article about a frozen HUMMINGBIRD an 83 year old Portland woman took in.

http://www.portlandtribune.com/news/story.php?story_id=123034259283545300

Share This

[Author]

Posts