Features to Look for When Choosing a Hummingbird Feeder

The Hummingbirds are coming to town and these quick tips can help them migrate to your yard instead of your neighbors!

Red Color

• The most visible and pleasing color to hummingbirds is red. Look for red on the hummingbird feeder itself rather than just in the color of the sugar solution. Hummingbirds are very curious and even just a little bit of red on the feeder itself is fine.

Ant Protection

• Built in ant moats on a hummingbird feeder or add-on ant moats solve most of the ants-at the feeder problem(s).

Bee guards

• The most visible and pleasing color to bees and wasps is yellow. Newer model hummingbird feeders from almost all manufacturers no longer have yellow bee guards. Look for hummingbird feeders whose shape discourages bees from reaching the nectar (usually found with saucer-shaped hummingbird feeders).

Built in perches

• Hummingbirds prefer to sit when they feed if they are able - so place feeders with perches out.

A Small Hummingbird Feeder

• The smaller the better when it comes to hummingbird feeders, until you discover how heavy the hummingbird usage is.

Make it EASY to clean

• There should be no little nooks and crannies in the feeder for mold to lurk in. A dishrag, a small hummingbird cleaning brush and a clean pipe cleaner should be sufficient tools for cleaning. The tiny brushes specifically marketed for cleaning hummingbird feeder ports are perfect and not that expensive.


• Look for hummingbird feeders that do not require excessive twisting or screwing to be assembled; this reduces the chance of spilt sticky sugar water all over the feeder and you.

Rain guard

• Some hummingbird feeders which have feeding ports located on top of the nectar bin may allow rain water to get into the feeder and dilute or contaminate the solution. Check the feeder packaging to see if a particular model is designed to limit this problem. There are also "rain guards" available, metal or plastic disks meant to hang above a feeder, marketed specifically for hummingbird feeders.

Wind resistance

• Hummingbird feeders hung in very windy locations may spill and make quite a mess doing so -find a place that is not so messy or purchase a pole-mount hummingbird feeder