Hey, it's hard work buzzing around all the time and they need energy to catch insects as well as to drink nectar! You're probably right about bulking up for migration too - that's a long long journey ahead of them and they'll be starting soon. I wouldn't worry about it.

I have a different problem - a pair of raccoons empties my deck hummingbird feeder every night so I have to refill it every morning. The hummers don't have a chance to empty it (I have another feeder on the other side of the house so they have a choice).

Claire

Thanks Claire. I hope they don't get so bulked up that they can't take off. ;)

Hopefully those danged coons will get diabetes. Is that evil of me?

Bring your feeder in at night?

I'm not willing to do that, susanmw. The hummers get up (or at least up and dressed) much earlier than I do and I want them to have food waiting there. The coons leave about 1/2 inch of solution in the bottom and I think the hummer tongue can reach that.

Twice this week the coons didn't empty the feeder (they did last night) so maybe they're getting bored with it or they've found something they like better. I'm hoping there will be no retaliation when the hummers are gone and the feeder is down.....

Claire

Oh man! I had to quit feeding the other birds in the back yard, because it would attract the coons and they would cause all sorts of problems. I think one of them even stole an entire metal cage with a block of suet in it. Can you put your shepherd hooks away from your railing? Maybe they would give up on that........but you never know about those %^**#&!!!s.

The hook is attached to the railing and the deck's too high for a shepherd's hook mounted on the ground near it. I could just stop using that feeder since I have another feeder on the other side of the house but I really enjoy the hummers coming while I'm out on the deck.

I've also had suet cages disappear and lately they started taking a container with jam from one of the jam feeders. For a while they'd just drop the empty container on the ground and I'd reuse it but when it disappeared I stopped using that feeder. I have another one that has a baffle on it and they don't get up there. The orioles have gone anyway and only the catbirds are eating the jam (I think).

The coons don't bother my regular feeders; probably because I put seed on the ground as well. I can't really complain because I also put peanuts out for the squirrels and chipmunks and blue jays so giving a little to the raccoons seems acceptable to me.

I feel I've hijacked your thread - sorry about that.

Claire

No problem Claire! I don't mind at all. Another reason I quit feeding the other birds was that I got chickens, and coons LOVE to eat chickens. Even after they never came around the back yard anymore, one got into my chicken run (that I thought was the Fort Knox of chicken runs), and killed 2 chickens. I try to remember that the coons are just looking for food, like everything else......but sometimes I just get plain mad at them.

I didn't know coons eat chickens, catherinet! No wonder you were mad when chickens you were responsible for got killed. It's not always easy to take a balanced view (coons have to eat) when something you care about gets eaten. Nature isn't fair, at least not in the short view.

Claire

Sometimes they just like to kill them. :( After that attack, we reinforced the run even more. And the fencing has to have very small openings, because the chickens sometimes are curious about the coons and go over to the fence, and the coons will pull their heads off. :( Sometimes it's hard to like them. We never ate our chickens.......just enjoyed their eggs. They were like our pets.