i use the hummzinger feeder (with ant barrier) with homemade food (clean & change every few days) and they love it!

a few weeks back the ants discovered it, and i just let them fill it up & drown, and after a few days they were gone. i think they realized it was bad news and told the rest of their friends... or, they just all died. i also tried spraying simple green on the beam were the feeder's hanging from, in hopes that it would repel them.. so maybe that helped.

the hummers been using this feeder for a while (except when the ants took over), but just recently, for the first time that i've noticed- they started feeding from my flowers-- i guess they are just at the right point of ripeness, or something.

here's a few suggestions for flowers that are super easy to grow in central texas, very attractive, and cheap!... mexican milkweed, mexican sunflower, and turk's cap. they have been macking on these lately like crazy, and seem to have totally forgotten abut the feeder. i think what i've been seeing here is the black-chinned species. earlier in the year i saw mostly the male, then the female started coming out- and recently it's been either 2 females, or maybe 2 siblings. yesterday i watched as one kept chasing away a gulf fritillary butterfly that was trying to feed from the sunflowers. and just today the 2 hummers were flying spirals around each other, like they were playing.