I had that problem last year.. I was told to get another feeder, which I have done.. So far no problem, but it is still early.. It is hilarious to watch I agree!

Yes, mine did that, too. Sometimes it seemed that no one got a chance to feed because they were so busy fighting with each other.

how far apart do you have to place the feeders? i just bought one 3 weeks ago, i know for sure there are 2 males and 1 female that come and feed. these past 2 weeks the female has claimed my feeder and chases the males away.

i don't have any large trees in my backyard, they come from my neighbors' large trees. how large a territory do they protect?

That's just hummingbirds being hummingbirds.. The trick is to attack a large enough number of hummers to the feeder. The bully guarding the feeder eventually gives up chasing the others away.

You know when you have enough hummers coming to the feeder when the bully goes out to chase another hummer away and then when he's gone on the chase, another hummers comes in to feed. Eventually the bully becomes overrun and figures out it is fruitless to try to guard the feeder.

Yes, I love to watch one bird chasing a couple of birds all over the place and THEN, there are just too many birds. Happens every year. I quit spreading my feeders out a long time ago. I just put them where I can watch (on my patio). The birds currently might move a bird over to an adjacent feeder, but not so much chasing off to the woods.

If the hummingbird can keep an eye on both of them, he'll protect them both. Mine started guarding from the telephone lines instead of perching on the feeder when I put out an extra one. You have to put one completely out of sight of the other.

I've tried putting feeders in the front, on the side and around behind my house. Might as well put them at the neighbors house. I did have one feeder in front of my house last year, but you should put them where you are going to watch the birds. My new patio is the place for my current eight feeders in back. Just haven't drilled enough holes for more hooks for more feeders yet. Of course I live in the country and my birds aren't going to the neighbors yard, but to the back yard. I've always heard that you should put a feeder out of site from the other; but even my first stab at feeding hummers 25 years ago or so, I just added 2 more feeders in about an 18 inch triangular pattern. Still had 30 or more birds and 50 oz. per day. That was the only place were we could enjoy the birds. I assure it is not about making sure the birds get fed. They were doing just fine before we started feeding them.

I guess after a few years of feeding hummingbirds via feeders and plants I am finally realizing that it all depends on where you live. Here in NJ I would like to find out if anyone gets 25 hummers at the feeders at one time, even in August. I feel here in NJ that it is a good idea to spread the feeders out so that one hummer cannot guard all of them at once. I see hummers using the other feeders that would not otherwise get to. If I had 25 hummers and they all shared feeders for sure they would all be right near one window.

I have seen only a few times in the years that I have had feeders out two hummers on a feeder at once. Last year my resident male in August allowed one female to use the feeders. He aggressively chased all the others away. Must have been his mate earlier in the summer.

Hummers can get along! Wish I was smart enough to post a picture of the 21 birds on 2 feeders that I took a few years ago. I was lying on my back and took the pic straight up. Could only get 2 feeders in the pic from that distance, but had another 5 or so feeders that looked the same. Nineteen of the birds were sitting on the feeders taking turns and 2 were hovering. I believe there were 8 ports on each feeder. One would dip into a port and when he (She - all females or first year birds -no red)came up for air, one sitting beside her would take her turn. Only tried this once, but could have gotten more birds in the pic if I had tried harder. Females seem to be more tolerant and less easily agitated, but I have never seen them as less fierce when it comes to guarding a feeder. Saw a female this morning turn completely around with her feet looking away from the feeder to let an annoying bird know she wasn't leaving the feeder. Never seen this trick done before, although it was simple. Sat out for about 10 minutes this morning, but it is already too hot here in S. AR to even play golf.