When do you put the hummingbird feeders up; Oct. or Nov? I don't want to hold the birds back from migrating .

Question

Please only serious answers. I have 8 small birds and each day there seems more coming to my 3 feeders.

Answer 1

i live in kentucky and take mine down when there are no more hummers...leaving feeders up will not keep them around..when the nights turn cool and stay cool they go on their merry way just to return again next year

last year i had hummers up until the 3rd week in october..this year they left not long after labor day....

when you see no hummers for about 3 or 4 days i would say it is safe to take the feeders down

with more coming to your feeders it is because they are migrating....during the last 2 wks of august i had close to 100 hummers and only 7 feeders...could not go outside without almost getting hit in the head by the "jetfighters" as hubby calls them...the further south you are the later in the year you will have them

i have several butterfly bushes and lately they have been swamped with monarch butterflies and they are starting to migrate now so i reckon they are getting their fill of nectar before they move further south for the winter

ps..if you see a little female hummer with a red spot slightly to the right of the center of her neck that is my summer long "chirpy".....lol..i have one that is fascinated with me and call her chirpy...she will get about 6 inches from my face and just chirps like she is talking to me and when i talk back to her her head moves side to side and back and forth...hubby says next yr i will have her eating from my hand ...lol...so i told him that was my plan...she was just a hatched last yr so i reckon that is why she was very curious about me...this summer she was very aggressive to the other hummers around here unless i was outside and she was chirping to me..she even landed on my head one time but only stayed for a couple of seconds

Answer 2

I think it would depend on where you live, and what types of hummers you have. In my part of California, we have mainly Anna's hummingbirds. There is a sizeable population here that NEVER migrates, due to our relatively mild winters. So we simply keep our feeders out all year long.

I've also heard that even in areas where hummers DO migrate, they won't necessarily be "held back" by the presense of feeders. The migration instinct is very strong, supposedly. But I can't say from personal experience, since I only truly know about my local Anna's. :)

Answer 3

I leave mine out until I no longer see any hummers, we live in Tennessee and I still have them coming to my feeders too, I also done the same thing when we lived in Indiana, I think you get alot of the late movers coming down to the south so will leave mine out until they fly farther south and I no longer see them. I also mix my sugar water a little stronger this time of year, and if they go thru a cool nite and it is time to refill the feeder I try to put the sugar water out warmed for their morning feedings.

Answer 4

I put mine out in early summer and leave them out until it frosts. I live in Georgia. Also as a side note, never use the premade hummingbird food. The red dye makes the eggs too hard for the babies to hatch. Always use sugar water.

Answer 5

The feeder is not going to stop them from flying south.

Answer 6

i would not have a poultry feeder for an identical reason that I positioned away the poultry tub that I had, it extremely is an invite for neighbor cats to return to my backyard to annoy the birds.(and the cats have been making use of my backyard for their cat field)

Answer 7

i don't know where ya live,i'm on the west coast of canada and the feeder's are put away now,it's mild here all winter but they get put away

Answer 8

Here in Michigan we take them down on Labor Day.

Answer 9

Here in western PA. they go up just before mothers day and down just after labor day.