how much hummingbird nectar do you use per day?

[B. Amish]

just curious how much hummingbird nectar you go through in a day. i fill mine about once a week and it has about a 1 cup capacity. my brother has the same model and he has to fill his daily.

[dockothebay]

It really varies - in the spring and the Fall I use a lot more than in the heat of summer (wonder if we'll see that this year?) when the flowers are blooming.

[micpic]

I agree with grandma! Personally I just let them share the oriole feeders. They don't seem to mind, plus every once in awhile they like to sit and drink. The main thing is once the temps get into the eighties you are going to need to change your nectar every three or four days or it'll sour on you. Good time to clean the feeder itself while you're at it. Right now they are feasting on my columbine flowers which I never planted but seem to thrive here. You'll go through 2 or 3 times more in the fall when the young and females are storing up energy for the flight south. Good luck.

Mike

[eyeguy 54]

The orioles and hummers go thru a cup in about 2 days, same feeder. The neighbor has one also and they go back and forth. 4 hummers and 4 orioles I think.

[Steve Foss]

We are now using a feeder that handles about one quart. Even at peak 'bird season, there's no way they'll go through all of it before it goes stale. In spring/early fall I fill it about 1/3 full each time, and empty it and refill once per week. In summer, I put in about 1/5, also changing it once per week.

[flipper]

I have two humingbird feeders that the orioles use too (one pint, one quart). This spring we had more orioles than I have ever seen and I was mixing up another pint of nectar daily to use in the two feeders. Right now I think we have one pair of orioles that have stayed and a few hummers. We will use about a pint a week between the two feeders.

[B. Amish]

i've had a downy woodpecker hanging onto my hummingbird feeder lately. its rather humorous to watch. it sure looks like he's there for the nectar, unless he's really searching the inside for bugs? i've never had a bug problem on the inside of my hummingbird feeder though.

[Steve Foss]

Yeah, probably a few ants on it bringing in woody.

[B. Amish]

no ants as it's the kind that hangs off the window. i captured a photo on my phone of him sitting there. i'll try to post it.

[B. Amish]

[dockothebay]

I think many birds enjoy the sweet water - I've got pictures of a sparrow drinking from ours.