Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Hummingbird feeder

The hummingbirds make such a mess on the railing of the porch, I decided I would put their feeders out in the yard. I have a mimosa tree not too far from the porch, so I put the new feeder pole under it. I felt they would like that, since it would not be out in the hot summer sun.We love to watch them in the early mornings while we are sitting on the porch drinking our first cup of coffee.
We have been "scrapping" this last two weeks,gathering up all the scrap metal that had accumulated for the past 32 years.The prices they pay for metals have been up really good lately. While helping Pop with that project, I ran across several tines from an old time hay rake. Pop had used several of the tines years ago to make me a similar plant hanger,but since it was so hard to keep the plants watered and thriving in the heat of the summer, I decided I didn't want to mess with them, and gave the hanger to his cousin's wife.I should have tried it in partial shade,but since I was still working at the time, I simply didn't think about an alternative plan. I just gave it away. I think that hurt Pop's feelings a bit, but he never let on.When we ran across the remaining tines,I thought about using them for a bird feeder rack.It works perfectly. The mimosa tree has not leaved out yet, but the hummingbirds are using the feeder already.It's been cool and rainy here lately,so the sun is no problem yet.
I took a piece of a small metal pipe and drove it into the ground till it felt firm, leaving about a foot above the ground, then placed a larger piece of pipe,about 5 feet long, over the metal stake.Then I poked the pointed end of four tines into the top opening of the larger pipe.They wanted to wiggle a bit, so I drove a wooden stake in the middle of the four tines to hold them snug.Then I painted the entire thing, and hung my four new feeders.I probably should have taken the time to make my own feeders, but that will be a project for another day. These will have to do for now. I paid less than $4. each for the feeders,but they usually last for several years.

4 comments:

  1. very nice, we dont have hummingbirds but we do have lots of other birds that can come and feed in the garden. we have tui's and wood pidgeons, waxeyes and common sparrows,fantails, miners and finches. around the countryside we see pheasants, californian quails and native pukeko's as well. we dont have any bright tropical type birds like australia or south america though.

    ReplyDelete
  2. We bought 22 bobwhite quail at the auction.We have never tried to raise them before, so we are playing it by ear just to see what we can do with them. Most folks eat them when they are grown, but I doubt we could do that after raising them.We may let them lay eggs if they will do so in captivity,then sell the eggs or babies if they produce any and we keep them alive that long. I gave $2. a piece for mine at a few days old,but we may not be that lucky when it comes selling time.

    ReplyDelete
  3. hmm that is a very good idea (about the tines from the rake)!

    And i your little hummingbird feeders are quite lovely and small!

    Thanks for sharing
    Leontien

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thanks,Leontien! I am thinking of using the feeder frame for my purple martins next season. I will raise it higher and put about 8 gourds on it. The cats killed my mother martin that had hatched 5 babies in my bluebird box,thus letting the babies die. Hopefully the gourds will be higher and the cats can't get to them.This was one lone pair that had built in the bluebird box. We had watched so intently for a couple of weeks, and were so excited about the little couple building and raising their first set of young ones. The main flock have their regular housing up high on a tall pole elsewhere on the property.

    ReplyDelete