Hi Agatha welcome! Lucky you in Texas you get them almost year round I think plus many different kinds. I guess I am too tough on the hummers in my yard because they use the humzinger or whatever other feeder I hang out I have various ones they like all of them as long as the sugar water is fresh and the feeder is clean they seem to be happy and I can believe your husband about the sparrow incident because I have seen them chase catbirds and today I saw one chase a bee. I'm glad he didn't get stung because I sure did. Sarah

Welcome Agatha,
I don't have the Hummzinger but I do have saucer feeders and my hummers use them just as much as they use the bottle feeders and sometimes more. Yesterday afternoon I had a hummer chasing the chicadees that were too close to the scarlet runner beans. Like yours she chased that poor chickadee all over the yard until it retreated into some nearby shrubs.

Penny

Agatha,

I have seen the same exact thing you are. My saucer feeder barely gets hit where as my bottle fedder always has a hummingbird on it. I even swapped the locations and they followed the bottle feeder.

Eric

I have out both right now and he seems to be going for the bottle more than the saucer- although he DID start with the saucer. The saucer is in the middle of the flower garden and the bottle is in the middle of the hostas- away from the house. Hmm..maybe I should swap them out to get him where I want him- near me!

Thanks for the welcome!
I sure love this forum and you sure make my day. Well, almost as much as seeing my hummingbirds :)
Now if I could only capture them with my camera... They usually are too fast for me. I will need to get one that can capture them up close. Any recommendations?
This morning I did see one hummingbird at one of the round glass feeders so maybe now that they've found me they will checkout some other feeder types. Eric - I may try moving the bottle feeder also to get them closer to our house

agatha

hi, agatha. those are the same 2 feeder models that I use, too, and I have indeed noticed something similar in the earlier part of the season. despite that, I recently bought 2 more hummzingers because I really like the company, design, materials, packaging, everything. I do see more visits on the hummzinger now that the yard is more crowded with other hummers, though. now I put the 2 bottles up where I can see them from inside and scatter the 3 hummzingers around the other 3 sides of the house so the subordinates can drink, too.
I like the variety. I want as many birds to feed and hang around as possible.

Over the course of 35 years of Hummer watching and feeding,
i've tried more feeders than I care to mention.
I buy hummer feeders like some women buy clothes and shoes.
I have several Hummzingers as well and like you even though
they came to the saucers, it was the Perky Pets with
perches that has been their choice.

Family and friends have given me an assortment of those
fancy blown glass, glass flowers, etc. Those are pretty
much useless in my garden. They hang out in the attic
with the others.

I hang the smaller PP's on fishing line from a hook
underneath the eaves of my house close to the windows.
Their favorite one is the one at the dining room window.
I can walk into any room and see hummers from March til
November when they leave me for the winter. I've never
had a problem with ants getting on the ones on the fishing
line and it saves the ant cups for the other feeders.

That's funny, because I have the opposite. It's not so unbalanced, but they prefer the hummzinger (maybe because I put that one out first). Also, I don't have the PP with the perch. I have to admit, I never know if the PP is clean, since I can't scrub the insides of it like I can the hummzinger. I do use dilute bleach and rinse at least 20 times, so I guess it is getting clean.

One thing I do that makes it easier to manage so many feeders.
I buy extra and then when I take down an empty one, I can
have another to take it's place. I then have time to
wash the ones i've taken down.
I also use the feeders with removable perches and discs.
Those are easy to take apart and I keep a small container
of bleach water to soak small parts in if need be.
I have an assortment of brushes that can get in every
nook and crannie of a feeder.

I just read today where in temperatures of 90 or above,
nectar can spoil in 2 days. Up until the heavy migration
started, I only changed out feeders on the third day.
Now that migration is here they empty them about as fast as I can fill them.