Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2003 22:52:33 -0500 Reply-To: Maryland Birds & Birding Sender: Maryland Birds & Birding From: Ruth Culbertson Subject: Re: question about hummingbird feeders MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mark Miller" To: Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2003 4:54 PM Subject: [MDOSPREY] question about hummingbird feeders > I've never fed a hummingbird in my life, but I want to > start. I've searched the PaBirds and MDOsprey > archives for advice on the best type of feeder, the > best location, and how to deal with bees and ants. > > One post endorsed a wide-bottled Perky Pet feeder. > Another endorsed ASPECTS' HummZinger II. > > Regarding ants, someone suggested Vaseline, and > another suggested the Ant Moat. > > Someone felt plastic was better than glass. > > I'm not sure what the best preventive measure was for > bees. Someone suggested olive oil will repell bees. > > I was just hoping for any more advice people might be > willing to share. One book that would be helpful for you and answer a lot of questions you pose is Donald and Lillian Stokes' The Hummingbird Book. They don't recommend any one kind of feeder (although they do mention the Perky Pet one) but they do feel glass is better than plastic. They suggest putting Vaseline or Tanglefoot on the pole to repel ants, and mineral or salad oil on the feeding port to repel bees and wasps. That's wonderful that you want to start feeding hummers--you will enjoy them! Ruth Culbertson ======================================================================= To leave the MDOsprey list, send e-mail to listserv@home.ease.lsoft.com with the following message in line 1: signoff mdosprey ======================================================================= =========================================================================