I'm sorry for your loss...

I'm taking mine down right now!!! Thanks for the info and how terrible it muct have been to find that little one!!

Linsa, I see PetSmart has them on their web site. Why don't you send an email to them. I'm sure they wouldn't want to sell something dangerous!!

I am not sure I understand what he got hung up on. Can you post a pic so I can see. I have 3 different types of feeders and I sure don't want to have something dangerous out there!
Lisa

When I picked him off of the feeder, his beck was down in the flower and his little tongue was hanging out. I don't know if it happened around dusk last night or early this morning. I found him around 9:00 a.m., and they usually start feeding around 7:00 a.m.

I went to Wal-Mart this afternoon and checked out the feeders. The one that I am talking about is the Perky-Pet Exclusive Dew Drop Design, large 32-ounce capacity, number 273. The problem appears to be with those "pretty yellow flower ports" opposed to the actually style of the feeder container. I think that if you just pull the flowers out (that's what I did), that the feeder will probably be OK to use.

I bought some of the Perky-Pet Brand replacement flowers number 202-F (the flat yellow flowers), and pried the little slots open with a kitchen knife and snapped them in. I hung only one of them back up, but like I said, I think the problem was with the "cupped flowers" opposed to the "flat flower".

Regarding pictures of the feeders try checking out: pictures of bad feeder ports which shows the one type that I'm talking about.

I'll keep everyone informed.

I'm sorry if this is a little lengthy, but I feel very strongly about humans taking responsibilities for the little hummers. We want to make sure that if we are going to help them, then we must do it safely.

For those of you that are not familiar with Rockport, Texas, we are on the main migration route for hummers, especially the RT. And I know that some of you have attended our annual Hummer/Bird Celebration in September. Literally, thousands of hummers migrate through here each spring and fall, although we do have some that are year-round residents here. The birds are much more prevalent in the fall than in the spring. I have been told that one possible reason for the light sightings of hummers in the spring is because they are on their way to start the breeding process.

OK, for what it's worth, I have found over the past 17 years of feeding hummers that some feeders attract more birds than others. I have also found that some feeders should not be used because they can harm the hummers. And overall I prefer the glass feeders because they do not wear out as fast as the plastic ones. The plastic ones discolor and can even warp with too much heat (like we have here in south Texas). However, they work good for hanging in a place that cannot hold a lot of weight.

And, I have been given many different hummingbird feeders as gifts. Some of them are beautiful, i.e. rose-colored bottles with an etched hummingbird on it, a beautiful stained-glass feeder, pretty little glass globe feeders. Well, for me I have found that the hummers won't even look at them let alone drink from them. They seem to like the "less expensive" ones much better. And the saucer style does not seem to work very well for me. And the reason is probably because of our constant SE winds that generally blow in at 15 mph. It splashes the solution out easily.

Regarding cleaning the feeders, I use a 1:10 ratio of bleach to water and let them soak for at least 15 minutes or more. A baby bottle brush works well for getting into the bottles. After soaking and scrubbing them, I rinse thoroughly (some people use a vinegar water rinse), and then hang them to dry thoroughly. After that I just fill and hang them. It really doesn't take too much work to keep them clean.

So here is some information that you might want to check out.

MY FAVORITES:

#1) Perky-Pet Brand 4 Fountain Hummingbird Feeder (203cp) either with or without the perch. It is easy to clean, and not only do the hummers have the advantage of more than one hummer being able to feed from the port, it also attracts butterflies and orioles.

#2) Glass Humming BirdFeeder Pinch-Waist either with or without the perch. It is easy to clean, but only one hummer can feed at a time on this feeder. Notice the flat yellow ports which I used to replace the cupped yellow flower ports which I make reference to below.

The following three are plastic feeders, but I still use them, and the hummers seem to like them.

#3) Perky-Pet Brand® Hummingbird Feeder (216) A good light weight small feeder, easy to clean.

#4) Perky-Pet Brand® 48 oz Hexagonal Hummingbird Feeder The hummers are feeding heavily on it, but it is so large that in normal conditions, i.e. less frenzy feeding, I would probably not use it because the solution would go bad before it was eaten.

#5) Perky-Pet Brand® Hummingbird Feeder 19 ounce Rose Petal Feeder. It says it is easy to clean, but I have not found that to be the case. It has four ports that have attached white designs around them. It appears to be very safe, but the hummers have not been crazy about it.

DON'T USE UNLESS, . . .:

#1) Perky-Pet Brand® Lantern Design Hummingbird Feeder (201) This feeder has the cupped flowers that caused a hummer to get hung up yesterday and died.

#2) Perky-Pet Exclusive Dew Drop Design, large 32-ounce capacity, number 273 This was actually the feeder that caused the hummer to die. It has the same cupped flowers as in #1.

Both #1 and #2 above can be modified by removing the cupped flowers and replacing them with the 202-F flowers (See following paragraphs for more information.)

#3) The old fashion Best One Models that is referred to by Sarah on October 1, 2005, 10:16 p.m. in post I'm so upset!

On Saturday, after finding the dead hummer, I went to Wal-Mart and checked out the feeders. The one that I am talking about is the Perky-Pet Exclusive Dew Drop Design, large 32-ounce capacity, number 273. The problem appears to be with those "pretty yellow flower ports" opposed to the actually style of the feeder container. I think that if you just pull the flowers out (that's what I did), that the feeder will probably be OK to use.

I bought some of the Perky-Pet Brand replacement flowers number 202-F (the flat yellow flowers), and pried the little slots open with a table knife and snapped them in. I have hung two of them back up, and I have seen no further problems. Like I said, I think the problem was with the "cupped flowers" opposed to the "flat flowers".

I am so sorry.

thanks for that list. I'll copy it and carry it when I buy my next feeders. I took those flowers out of the one I had.

Linda
Thanks for posting this information. I did have a feeder that had those flower feeder ports several years ago but I got rid of it because I felt uncomfortable with the flowers...now I know that they can indeed be dangerous.

Penny

You are all welcome. So far I still have lots and lots of hummers and no more casualties.