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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]You must change the water every three days.  Any mold will kill these birds.  
We use the humzinger brand of feeders as they are super easy to clean and fill and has a perch for the hummingbirds. We make our own nectar (4 parts boiled cooled water and 1 part plain white sugar), changing it every 3 days.  Else, you will have a problem with black mold that can be fatal to these birds.

http://www.amazon.com/Aspects-367-Hummzinger-Hummingbird-12-Ounce/dp/B000CSH7VA/   It is a bit pricy but our feeders have been going strong for many years. Very durable.

[img]http://www.birdwatchersgeneralstore.com/MiniHumzinger.jpg[/img]

We wash the feeders with soap and water and then do a final rinse with vinegar and water and let it dry, before filling the nectar.  It is amazing when they bring their fledglings and teach them to drink from the feeders.  We also have a lot of nectar producing flowers in our garden and we attract many birds, butterflies and insects.

Here are some more tips -

1) Stick a large red bow near the feeder to attract the hummingbirds if it is your first time feeding them. The bigger and gaudier (maybe an old Christmas decoration) the better.

2) Do not use feeders with yellow colored feeding ports, they tend to attract wasps.

3) Use an old mascara brush to clean the mold off the feeding ports. I use a disposable one from a cosmetic counter.

4) When washing feeders, after using soap, rinse with vinegar water to remove all traces of soap and a final rinse with water to remove the vinegar residue.  It is very easy to clean humzinger.

Since we change the water frequently, I have stopped filling the feeder to the brim.  I make very small amounts of feeder water and do not fill the feeder very much. This way I can change the water frequently and cut down waste.  
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I'm inspired!  Just bought a feeder and will give this a go.  I've seen a few hummingbirds in my yard in years past, but would love see more![/quote]

If you have space in a sunny spot near your feeder, plant a couple of Vermillionaire cuphea, a couple of Black and Blue (or Black and Bloom) salvia, and Hot Lips salvia.  The first two are definitely annuals here.  My Hot Lips survived last winter.  You should be able to find all three in a nursery and maybe even one or two at Home Depot.

Monarda Jacob Kline is often recommended, but I find it scraggly. I admit to lurking on a hummingbird forum, and people there swear by salvia Amistad, which I found at Merrifield, and Wendy's Wish.  I could not find the latter locally and it seemed sold out everywhere on-line everywhere except Burpee (live plant, not seeds).  They just arrived and I planted them today.

I have discovered another virtue of the Humzinger.  Finches come to my feeders and sip water from the ant moat.

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