Hummersteve: It is go great that you have hummers. I live in Zone5B IL and I haven't seen one yet. Big bummer, my hummingbird fever started early last fall when I seen one for the very first time. Went out and bought a couple of feeders and soon had about 20-30 hanging around for about a month. Why none this Spring? They follow this route because I seen tons of them last fall. I have had my feeders out for about 4 weeks. Still no real plants though. I do have "Lady in Red" and "Coral Nymph" (4 of each but they are still pretty small. I also have a hanger that is red filled with their favorite nest making material which I purchased at WBU.

All of my feeders are hanging under the branches of shade trees out of the sun, since light and warmth will encourage bacteria and/or mold in any feeder, regardless of whether it's plastic or glass. Rainwater helps that along, so the downward-pointing tubes you're using keep the nectar cleaner than any other type, but aren't practical if the hummingbirds consume a gallon of sugar-water a day. In the past fifteen years, two or three 8 - 16oz feeders were plenty and uneaten nectar had to be dumped every third day or so. But I started planting more flowers last year and got the first breeding pair to take up residence. This year, with even more flowering plants, there was an unexpected population explosion. Now there are twelve feeders in the yard of seven different types/ brands and they all get used, though five are hung under what's become The Hummingbird Tree because of the crowd that prefers to feed there. They're using both rings on the Best-1 as perches:

you are probably getting a wave of females migrating through. You are correct that adult males leave before the females by a few weeks, then the adult females and lastly the juveniles. I doubt that you would see Rubies coming from the south, the ones leaving Texas and Arizona would be either going south to Central American or perhaps east along the coast to LA, AL, or FL. The Panhandle of Florida does get birds that come across and then head south in Florida instead of going to Mexico.

Thanks for your comment, mbrowne. I'm sure the additional feeders are affecting their behavior as well. Last year, the two feeders were guarded fiercely from a nearby wire. With 5, I'm finding one bird only guards one or two, and allows feeding at the others. I don't know if you remember my comments about timidity earlier this year--you were surprised. Well, this new mob isn't as timid, either. They'll feed if I stand motionless a few feet away, and tolerate some movement inside the house. Also I've noticed they may turn their back on me (I guess to shut out the intrusive sight of me :) Fly off only at movement, but even then come right back. All the extra acitivity is definitely worth the little bit of extra work.