Wow love the videos!!!! How lucky you are to have so many at a time. Hopefully I will have more this year we think that they are nesting in the trees and honeysuckle on edge of our yard. In 2005 we only had a couple here found them by mistake. We were getting ready for our back yard wedding. The men were taking a break I saw a hummer fly to an orange cord it was wanting food. Two hours later that poor baby had a feeder to go to. They thank us by being at the feeder was we were married 3 feet away from us. Since there has been more and more very year I feel so blessed by them every year.

Hmmm. Several things to mention. First, I use Best-1 feeders. Audobon sends me catalogs often, some have full $20 off coupons. I buy a couple for just shipping cost. I haven't tried the Humzinger (so nothing against it), but compared to the awful retail store feeders I tried years ago, Best-1 is a gem. I find them easy to clean. Yes the red color fades somewhat, but it doesn't seem to bother the hummers at all. Second, I don't depend on ant moats. They dry out. I hang my hummer feeders from 2' of wire and smear some Tanglefoot on 6" of it. I have NEVER had an ant on my feeder with Tanglefoot. It requires 2 applications per season (one at the start, one midway). The hummers never grab the wire, and I've never seen any other bird feather on it. Third, location... I have my feeders in the shade most or all of the day. I think it really helps to keep the nectar cool, and it lasts longer that way. I have two feeders on the north side of the shed, and the other two are shaded by trees after noon. Fourth, I have one feeder by the glass deck doors. I can often watch (and take pictures) from only 2 feet away. I see them so often, I begin to notice little habits that distinguish them as individuals. They each seem to have slightly different posture, feet positions while hovering and tail angles etc. That's one reason I think the same ones settle here for the couple/few of years they live. Fifth, clustering feeders... I've never tried that. My hummers are so competitive that it seemed futile to put 2 near each other. If I see 2 at the same feeder, I'm awestruck! (I saw 3 together once and about fell over) I am tempted to temporarily put up a pole to hang 4 feeders from for a week to see what would happen! Sixth, it is almost impossible to place feeders where there is no perch that cannot see all of them. But if you put 1 under the front roof eaves and another under the back roof eaves, it is impossible for 1 hummer to watch both! Seventh... On the other hand, their aerial dogfights are half the fun! Make sure to put a couple feeders in east sight of each other. You'll soon earn who the Alpha Hummer is. ;) And if you stand quietly a few feet from a feeder, you will have they whizzing just a few inches past your head. The sound is unique. I got an ear brushed once.

Question, Our wasp are starting to be attracted to meat more than sugar. Some are still after the hummingbird nectar, but do you think that putting the juice from a piece of steak will attract them? I think I'll make one with fruit juice and one with meat juice to see which one will be better. I'll let ya know how that works out. John Patrick Here is a link that might be useful: Bird Oasis.

kaysbelle, I'm so glad you like my feeder!! It started out almost as a joke, but the hummers took to it very well and I was surprised how easy it was to maintain. I have a 2008 model in mind to build this winter, it'll have a few changes, but will be basically the same design. You should be able to find a 1 1/2 x 1 1/2 x 1 tee at HD, but if you can't, you can use a reducer bushing to step it down. Look on the inside of the tee and you'll see a ledge which serves as the stop for the PVC pipe, that is what the lip of my bottle rests on. The lips fits so snugly in the tee, that I have to 'bump' it lightly to dislodge it when taking it out. In fact, I had to use my Dremel motor and a sanding drum to take a little of the glass off before it would go into the tee. In this picture, you can probably tell it's been sanded: The orange tape helps keep it stable. The wire nuts are 3" apart (good guesstimation!) and are not staggered. The perches are 1/4" oak dowels - $.89 for a 3' piece. I haven't used my feeder in three weeks because I've been taking census photos, and the hummers which are perched on the side opposite to the camera can't be seen. This weekend, just for fun, I'm going to put it back up and hang all my other feeders around it to see if the hummers show a preference. Please feel free to ask more questions, DIYers have to stick together!