Hummingbird House and Cotton Nesting Dispenser
eigdeh
14 years ago
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mimidi
14 years agoeigdeh
14 years agoRelated Discussions
Ants all over hummingbird feeder
Comments (89)I live in Texas, and we do have a huge ant problem. Moats have not worked for me because I can't keep them full. Between wind shake and evaporation, they are usually empty even with close attention. I simply put a tiny bit of wheel bearing grease at the very top of the hanger, and they will not cross it. I have fire ants, carpenter ants, and other smaller types that I can't identify. They all stay off. My grease is not down where a hummer is likely to get into it, and I have never seen any evidence of it getting on any hummers. Texas gets pretty hot, but I have never seen the grease melted or running. On one feeder several years ago, I continued to have problems even with the spot of grease, so I soaked a piece of coarse cotton string in grease and wrapped it a few turns around the very top of the hanger. They never crossed it. I suggest one other thing. Put up more hangers than you have feeders and move each feeder that gets invaded. After a day or so, they will appear to have abandoned that spot, but they keep checking it occasionally for several days. Just leave that spot idle for as long as needed. Regardless what solution you use, somebody will call you an idiot. Be sensible, but know that most things we do can POSSIBLY harm something SOMETIME. I have seen just about every kind of aerial combat these birds engage in, and I have seen some predicaments they get themselves into while fighting, but we can't make the world entirely safe for them. I have seen them run into door screen, windows, feeders, and each other. Let's just be sensible and feed the birds....See Morethe catbirds seat
Comments (12)I thoroughly enjoyed reading these posts! I'm not really in the catbird's seat...nope I just found three more B list invasives! Funny, I don't really care all that much. I'll pull them out, as I do the bindweed, but that is about the biggest deal around them. For me, my gardening addiction started as a kid. I could not keep my hands and feet out of the dirt. My parents had to take out the holly bush because I ate that. I ate the grass, the magnolia, the dirt, the juniper berries, you name it, I ate it. There is a tiny photo of a tiny me. My father is sawing some old trees we had taken out. My brother (2 1/2 years older than moi) is sawing some logs with a tiny child's saw, and I am next to him, "sawing" away with a butter knife. I like it, gardening that is. I like the dirt and the things that grow. I like the challenges of weeds and pests and weather. I really like watching the chihuahuas roll in the dirt and the grass, nibbling away on bits of blades forever, without any grass actually getting in. My garden is pretty crazy, not all dirt and poop, but I really have to work it to keep it up. Three dogs plus the neighbors' makes four...they all poop. several times a day. I have an old garden hand spade that I use. I have no idea why people just let poop sit there, stinking!! I had always heard that it was not healthy for dogs to be around old poop. Even so, I don't want it all around! Pablo Honey, the tiniest dog, likes to pretend to sleep on the matt by the door, with his tongue hanging out, looking at me, watching every motion I make. I just remembered. When I was little, we had an old well that had been filled in and had a magnolia planted in it. We would save our carrot tops from the market and re-plant them. So much fun!! Gardening, weeding, thinking about it even...such a joy!...See MoreWill birds take nesting material from this device?
Comments (11)Last year the day after we groomed our two dogs outside, I saw a ton of birds taking the fur scraps/clippings! They were making repeated trips, I was surprised. So if you have a dog, you could put a bit of that in your cage. They also like thread or thins strips of cloth. It sounds like you have a good idea of what to put in for them. A little OT-we found a squirrel nest that fell last week, and it was full of strips of black landscape cloth (the squirrel must've torn it himself?), feathers, and some pillow-stuffing looking material. And leaves, lots & lots of leaves. The link has some great suggestions towards the bottom of the page. Here is a link that might be useful: attracting birds article...See MoreHummingbird food
Comments (15)We have hummers year round. My gardening is geared toward them. Flowers have varying degrees of sugar concentration even within the same plant. Nancy and others have measured them using refractometers. A homemade solution with a either a ratio of 1:4 or 1:3 most closely mimics what is found in nature. The following articles are from Flowers by the Sea Everything Salvias blog. 1. Nancy Newfield's Hummingbird Journey ...Renowned hummingbird bander Nancy Newfield of southern Louisiana shares her journey from 1970s stay-at-home mom to citizen scientist and one of the nation's leading hummingbird researchers. This is the first article in a three-part series about Newfield's work and gardens, which abound with Salvias to feed hungry hummingbirds that overwinter in her suburban yard near New Orleans. It includes plant lists and the Louisiana Winter Hummingbird Project tally of banded hummingbirds from 1979 to 2015. 2. Nancy Newfield, Hummingbird Gardener, Part II ...Salvias are among the best hummingbird flowers and red is tops. 3. Sage Experts: Nancy Newfield, Hummingbird Gardener, Part III...See Moresusanlynne48
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