When to put up hummingbird feeders?

[sixdogs]

We do enjoy our hummingbirds! Where we live in Ohio it's early to mid-May before they come to our feeders.

Do you see them before that and when do you first put up your feeders? We are new at this and don't want to miss the scouts.
We live in central Ohio .

 

[kco]

How much feed you guys go thru ?, we're up to about a quart a day.

The feeder on the woods side of the house they hit the hardest. Little over a day and it's almost empty. The other 2 not so much.

I'd imagine Kco is close to a gallon a day ?

That's a close estimate for the very busiest days Willl. Several years back we estimated we were filling 6 of those large feeders (ie without the taper in the middle) per day. That is 172 oz or 1.33 US gal. They likely weren't completely empty so 1 gallon would be closer. But that is only over a few busy days after the youngsters are all out. The last two photos are from at dusk (thus the flash photos even though it wasn't that dark) during a busy time. I believe the busiest time was the night before these photos (when I did not take photos). There is at least one other feeder out of the pictures. As close as I could estimate, and hopefully without exaggerating, I figured there were 52 birds at the feeders or hovering right above. I think I estimated it by the number of holes, all of which were occupied, with 1.5 birds at each one plus many hovering. I recall there were 30 holes in total.

It's harder to track now because we had to move the feeders from the deck when we changed the railing from wood to clear glass panels. You can see the railing in the 5th photo above and the attached photos shows how we changed it. We made that change at the height of the season in 2010. When we installed the glass panels in the frames we had 15 birds hit the glass within 10 minutes (no exaggeration). Two of them were killed. My wife called me and got me to remove the panels.

Now we have 4 feeders out by the lawn as shown in the photo, plus two more hanging in a mountain ash out of the picture. It seems like the peak couple of days now is 4 feeders, and most days through the summer we fill 2 to 3, or about 2.5 x 32 = 80 oz.

Here's the photo showing the 4 feeders by the lawn and the glass panels (1/2 of which I've never put back in):



It's less spectacular with the feeders out on the lawn, but likely better. It has cut down on fights.

 

[grnspot110]

When the Columbine starts blooming around here, the Hummers will be close by!

 

[J F]

Do you see them before that and when do you first put up your feeders? We are new at this and don't want to miss the scouts.
We live in central Ohio .

You're not going to hurt yourself by putting them out as soon as you would like, just swap it out every 7-14 days. That way you can catch the early arrivals.

Or, if you're lazy like me, just wait 'til they're knocking on your door demanding their dinner. :laughing:

 

[sixdogs]

You're not going to hurt yourself by putting them out as soon as you would like, just swap it out every 7-14 days. That way you can catch the early arrivals.

Or, if you're lazy like me, just wait 'til they're knocking on your door demanding their dinner. :laughing:

The grass just turned green and I hear they are in southern Ohio. Too soon to put one or two out? We have eight feeders.

 

[J F]

Put 'em out, the worst thing that happens is you put in fresh sugar-water a couple of times before it gets used. If you're still getting freezing temps, leave plenty of room for the water to expand.

 

[DennisArrow]

Here in NW Georgia the first scout showed up today. They are late this year by a few days as in the past several years it has ALWAYS been on April 1. Anyway, it is a for sure sign that FINALLY........SPRING IS HERE.......Now the cooking of gallons and gallons of nectar for the 4 or 6 feeders we post around our gazeebo, which is up at tree level, begins........God bless.....Dennis

 

[/pine]

I cleaned and filled the feeders last Monday...saw the first one late Wed. afternoon...the first ones here normally move on after a day or so...in another week or so we will get the masses that hang around until fall

 

[J F]

Same thing here /pine, I procrastinated and finally cleaned and filled one feeder on Thurs. night, and Fri. morning had a couple (mates, I'm guessing, male and female) at the feeder...I'm quite sure they were angry at me for slackin'.

I'll probably get to the other feeder some time in August. :laughing:

 

[whistlepig]

Do you see them before that and when do you first put up your feeders? We are new at this and don't want to miss the scouts.
We live in central Ohio .

We see them first. If they have been fed before they will return to where our feeder was. We hang our feeders on shepard's hooks in our back yard and we watch them off our back deck. When they return they will hover around these shepard's hooks. If no feeder is there they will fly up within about two inches of our noses and take a long hard look at us. Its like "Where's the Beef?". It seems that when we can smell the honeysuckle the hummingbirds come about the same time. The feeder solution spoils if left out too long and it isn't cheap. They still are not back here in our part of Ohio yet as of today.