Category Archives: Hummingbirds

Backyard Wild Bird Feeding, Hummingbirds, Sugar Shaker Nectar Maker

Assembling and Filling Berdz Camera Feeder Combination

We’ve been using and selling the Berdz wild bird feeder / camera combo for a few months. Great units, well packaged and built. Easy to install and use.

Well, it turns out Berdz wasn’t done they created a new unit specifically for hummingbird. Now that we have been using it for a few weeks I wanted to create a video on how to take it apart for cleaning, and how you should fill the unit.

Hummingbirds

Turn Your Hummingbird Feeder into a Watering Hole

It’s late October here in NE Atlanta, GA. Which means, sadly, 99% of the hummingbirds have migrated.

Our hummingbird season basically runs from April 1st to the 2nd week of October. It’s a nice long season however, in our particular location we typically only get really busy with the hummingbirds late in the summer.

I tell people that’s because when they are going north, we are not on their superhighway. I like to joke that the hummingbirds take I-95 to Canada, but on the way home, during the late summer, they take I-85. That puts them right over our houses here in Johns Creek, GA.

Since it is late October, it is okay to take your hummingbird feeder down. Once it is down and drained make sure you clean it right away. I use a bottle brush with a 5% solution of bleach with warm soapy water. I’ll let it soak for at least an hour then attack it with the bottle brush. That should kill all the mold and bacteria. 

This year I did something a little different with my “Best-1” hummingbird feeder. Since the season is over, I just made a minor change to the unit, and I am now using it as a watering hole for the chickadees and goldfinches. Think of it as a very small birdbath.

A goldfinch getting ready to take a drink out of my ant moat attached to this hummingbird feeder

At my house, for some odd reason, goldfinches and chickadees prefer to use my ant moats as their summer watering holes. This drives me crazy because they drink all the water out of the moats and leave them dry for the ants to cross. Because of this, shown in the picture above I’m actually using two ant moats, one built into the unit and one above the unit.

Since I know they like that watering hole location, I just needed more water to make it last a few days. Here’s how I did it: I left the base open to be used only for water by just removing the Best-1 feeder ports.

The water doesn’t overflow out of the base since the air pressure keeps everything in place. It just automatically fills up once the birds have their drink. 

If this sound a little confusing, here is a short video I made on how to do it. Any hummingbird feeder with the characteristics like the Best-1 model should work just fine.

Creating a watering hole with your hummingbird feeder
Back Yard Birdfeeding, Hummingbirds

Keeping Bees Off Your Hummingbird Feeder

How do you keep bees away from your hummingbird feeder?
 
  1.  Buy a feeder that doesn’t leak!
  2. Buy a feeder that has extremely small feeding ports (ex: The “Best-1” 8oz feeder)
  3. Buy a feeder with built in “bee guards” (Perry’s Enterprises in TN installs bee guards in their feeders)
  4. Add a bee guard (Aspects hummingbird feeders are great no-leak feeders but their feeding ports are large. To keep the bees out you add an Aspects “nectar guard” to the bottom of their feeding ports.)
  5. If you are allergic there are “Bee Proof” hummingbird feeders. If you are allergic but still want to feed then contact “Copper Hummingbird Feeders” out of AZ. Here’s a link https://www.copperhummingbird.com/
 
Enjoy the hummingbirds while they are here!