Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 09:34:02 -0700
From: ron <ron@NVWETLANDS.COM>
Subject: Re: Feeder cleaning

I think the easiest way to clean feeders is using bleach in water. If you buy
two feeders for each location where you want a feeder, you can alternate a
clean one for a dirty one each time you need to replace solution. You can take one down, rinse it out and drop it in the bleach solution. Tomorrow simply remove and rinse and let air dry. The following day (or a couple of days later if you live where it is cool, like Reno) you fill the clean one and drop the dirty one
in the bleach. This way you take only a few minutes to switch and a minute or
less each time you handle the dirty feeder. You can also reuse the bleach thiway - several times or until it no longer eats away mold. Rinsing feeders
before putting them in the bleach should extend the life of your bleach solution. I
have never known the bleach to damage my feeders, although I bet it does some
minor damage over time. This damage is no worse than what the sunlight does
while the feeder is outside, and feeders don't last forever anyway, so I can
live with unnoticeable bleach damage.

Of course what REALLY happens is that I buy a spare feeder, then soon decide to
put it out at the same time as the one it was meant to replace. When it is time
to clean, I take them both down after dark, soak for an hour in the bleach,
then refill and replace them. Eventually I will buy replacements for the two I have
out, but I know that I will soon put out all four at the same time, and my
system described above will never be put to use, at least not by me.

Ron Rovansek

====================================================

Date: Thu, 12 Jul 2001 10:53:00 -0600
From: Steve Bouricius <bourici@GJ.NET>
Subject: Feeder cleaning > Perky-Pet feeder mop

Humnetters,

Since feeder cleaning is a frequent subject here, I want to mention
again that Perky-Pet's feeder cleaning mop is a great tool for the job.
It is a cluster of cut foam tabs on a 10 inch wire handle made to reach
to the bottom of the P-P 210 and 209 feeders (though I wish it were an
inch longer). It also works on the hard-to-reach insides of those P-P
feeders. We keep an array of cleaning tools for our feeders, including
an 18 inch long brush for our Galiano bottle/cup feeder, but I think the
foam generally works better for routine maintenance cleaning than nylon

bristles. We use the foam mop every time we refill to swab the inside
of the feeders. By keeping material from adhering to the inside
surfaces, we never see mold buildup and it is rare that we need to use
chlorine.

One brush will last a whole season-- several hundred cleanings, and when
it's worn out the wire handle makes a great feeder hanger. It's a good
deal for about four bucks. Too bad they can't include one with every
feeder sold, but I'm sure their market competition forces P-P to sell at
the lowest possible price.

Keep 'em clean! If it's not clean enough for you to drink, it shouldn't
be left out for the hummers.

Steve Bouricius
Palisade, CO

=======================

Date: Mon, 18 Mar 2002 21:12:48 -0600
From: Lanny Chambers <lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar

On 3/18/02 20:01, Terry Davis Trystla@aol.com wrote:

>I will agree on bleach. It works great!! There's only one problem, it
>smells SO WRONG!!

The bleach solution should be 1 part household bleach (Chlorox) to 10
parts water; this is NOT a 10% sodium hypochlorite solution--more like
0.5%. A quick rinse or dunk in fresh water should wash it away. If the
feeder still feels slippery, you're probably using too much
bleach--measure to be sure. If the smell really bothers you, you can let
it air dry, but drying is not necessary for putting the feeder back into
service. Any remaining trace of bleach will react with the fresh sugar syrup and be neutralized.

Bleach is the standard disinfectant for bar glasses, as well as hummer
feeders. It's effective and safe. Your taco emporium might be mixing the
bleach a little strong, but it won't hurt you.

Some people are allergic to bleach. For them, vinegar may be used to
disinfect hummer feeders. Now, THERE's a smell I cannot tolerate.
Chaqu'un a son gout, n'est-ce pas?

Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, USA

===================

Date: Tue, 19 Mar 2002 11:38:32 -0600
From: Lanny Chambers <lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Preparing Nectar-Dishpan hands

On 3/19/02 10:32, steve locke loc_ke@HOTMAIL.COM wrote:

>I agree that it is important to keep my feeder clean. But who uses
>bleach to wash their dishes? It doesn't sound very appealing, and our
>olfactory abilities are not the best in the animal kingdom either to detect
>'all clear'. I would like to avoid the residue of chemicals for myself and
>the birds. Is What is good enough for me- good enough for them?
>What about dilute dishsoap?

Making assumptions about human versus animal biochemistries is always
tricky; the rules are often different. Hummers can apparently taste
soap/detergent residue, and they don't like it. Bleach, however, will remove the soap and the hummers will return.

I don't want to beat a deceased horse, but feeder hygiene is an important
part of responsible hummingbird stewardship, and bleach is hard to beat
as a safe, easy, effective, and cheap disinfectant.

Sensible use of bleach just isn't an issue. What little may remain in the
feeder self destructs with the next syrup fill--the chlorine reacts with
organic hydrocarbons, whether sugar or bacteria. The *outside* of the
feeder may still smell like bleach for a short while, but any traces of
bleach inside are converted almost instantly. One of our
chemist-Humnetters explained this a couple of years ago.

Some years ago, we took a 6-day Grand Canyon raft float (something every
American should do once, if at all possible). Our drinking water was
scooped underway with a bucket, straight from the Colorado River, treated
only by adding a few drops of bleach per bucket. It was drinkable in a
couple of minutes. We all drank a LOT of water, and no one got sick.

Lanny Chambers
St. Louis, USA

==================================

Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 17:25:43 -0600
From: Howard Williams <lesho@EARTHLINK.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: [HUMNET-L] B-Brite Cleanser - Careful Please

Craig wrote;

> B-Brite contains:
> Sodium Percarbonate, Sodium Carbonate, Silicic Acid and sodium salt. Please
> be cautious when using any product you are not familiar with, especially on
> hummingbird feeders. Perhaps the chemists among our Humnet family can
> comment of the safety or lack thereof of the ingredients. Thanks,

>
> Craig Zalk
> Houston, Texas
>

Craig, Humnet,

Call any hombrew supply store and ask them which is nastier to work with
-- bleach or B-Brite. Answer: bleach. Obviously any concoction that has
the ability to clean has its downside -- highly alkaline, highly acidic,
corrosive, caustic -- you name it. Used properly bleach or B-Brite or
vinegar can be used to clean hummingbird feeders. Homebrewers wouldn't
use B-Brite if it inhibited yeast multiplication during the brewing
process. They certainly wouldn't use it if they couldn't safely drink
their beer afterward. Also, B-Brite is not technically a sanitizer --
just a very effective cleaner. It's more environmentally friendly than
bleach although the dilution of bleach used to clean hummingbird feeders is probably just as safe. B-Brite should be rinsed off instead of
allowed to air dry. Just follow the directions. By the way, Sodium
Percarbonate (a combination of sodium carbonate and hydrogen peroxide)
is the main ingredient in bleach alternative laundry cleaners like
Oxy-Clean.

So let's get a little perspective: If you need to wear a HAZMAT suit to
clean your hummingbird feeders you've gone a little too far. If you
don't like the smell of bleach use vinegar. If you don't like the smell
of bleach or vinegar use B-Brite. If you're worried about using any
cleaning solution use a bottle brush and elbow grease. Since I use
pan-style feeders I don't use any cleaning agents since any mold that
may form is easy to get to and physically remove (sometimes I use an old
toothbrush).

Howard Williams
Dallas, Texas

=====================

Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 19:54:37 -0500
From: Backes <backes@IJ.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu

I've found the best combination for preparing nectar and cleaning feeders. I'm
currently getting at least 2 weeks shelf life on my feeders and I'm in hot
Central Florida.

I add my sugar to boiling water and then let it sit covered on the turned off
coil for 2 minutes before I cool it down by placing the pot in cold water in
the sink. I fill cleaned feeders (about an inch in the bottle) and store the remainder in a bottle in the fridge.

I clean my feeders with just hot water (as hot as I can stand). I try to clean
them before the solution begins to get cloudy. At a minimum, I clean them as
soon as I notice any cloudiness. This is usually before any black mold begins
to form. I have to admit that I have occasionally needed a bottle brush to scrub
the feeders if I allowed them to get cloudy.

Like I said at the beginning of this post, this combination gets me 2 or more
weeks of clean feeders. Unfortunately, I have to clean them every 2 or 3 days
when there are actually hummers or insects coming to the feeders.

Steve Backes
Valrico, FL
backes@ij.net

==================

=====================

Date: Sun, 24 Mar 2002 20:48:17 -0600
From: "Maurice Duvic Sr." <jsb8@WEBTV.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: [HUMNET-L] Cleaning Feeders

I note that in mine of 3/20 I recommend a rinse of 200 ppm (Parts Per
Million) for CLEAN feeders. I should have added that one ounce of a 5%
hypochlorite solution (Chlorox e.g.) to two gallons of water should
produce 200 ppm - if my arithmetic is correct.

For stubborn, moldy feeders, I soak in solutions of four (4) ounces of
5% to one (l) gallon of water. Weaker solutions take longer. Some
people might wish to soak these moldy feeders in water plus liquid
dishwashing detergent. This should be followed by a water rinse then at
least two (2) minutes in a 200 ppm Hypochlorite solution.

What I've been talking about above applies principally to those feeders with glass or plastic bottle reservoirs or similar ones. Inspection and
adequate cleaning of these requires difficult removal of the "bottom".
After this removal is done thee or four times there is often leakage;
preventing this requires wrapping Teflon tape around the bottom before
replacing it in the slotted sides. The two plastic parts of the
"saucer" type feeder made by the Aspect Company can be put in the
dishwasher and nothing else is needed.

Liquid dishwashing detergents are far more effective cleaning agents
than the usually more expensive percarbonate products B-Brite e.g.
Sodium Percarbonates are made from Sodium Carbonate, an old-time
alkaline cleaning agent, also known as Soda, Washing Soda, Soda Ash and
Sal Soda. Solutions of these products are much more difficult to rinse
off than the liquid dishwashing detergents (Surfactants - Wetting
Agents) That's one reason these detergents have taken over the hand
dishwashing market. The "Per" in the alkaline products" name indicates
that Hydrogen Peroxide is created by adding water. Oxygen is produced that is responsible for the bleaching action for which they are usually
sold. This oxygen probably has some bactericidal effect but I don't
think the manufactures make any claims to that effect.

Vic
Jackson, MS 392ll

==================================

Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2002 07:59:42 -0600
From: Tom & Eloise Sylvest <tomande@STARGAZER.NET>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: [HUMNET-L] Bleach

Vic, you said it well:

"I note that in mine of 3/20 I recommend a rinse of 200 ppm (Parts Per
Million) for CLEAN feeders. I should have added that one ounce of a 5%
hypochlorite solution (Chlorox e.g.) to two gallons of water should
produce 200 ppm - if my arithmetic is correct."

Vic, I have used your recommended 200 to 400 ppm strength of hypochlorite
solution (Chlorox, e. g., as you say) to soak my plastic and glass feeder
parts for thirty minutes for years. No fungal growth ever.

I approximate your mixture strength by pouring one half cup (about 4 ounces) bleach into a five gallon plastic bucket and adding four to five gallons of
water. After the soaking I rinse the feeders and allow to dry. Absolute magic!
No scrubbing required. Air dried, the feeders barely have the odor of the
bleach a few minutes later.

Being lazy, and not a person who enjoys the extended work of scrubbing with a
brush, I naturally assume that others are lazy like me and will enjoy this,
virtually labor free, method of cleaning.

Have fun, folks! Vic said it real good, as he frequently does.

Tom Sylvest
Winter Hummer Land
Gramercy, LA (40 miles west of New Orleans, LA,USA, and about 100 miles up the
Mississippi River from Duvic, LA, USA)

=========================

Date: Wed, 16 Aug 2000 10:23:32 -0500
From: Van Remsen <najames@unix1.sncc.lsu.edu>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: HB feeder question for the rocket scientists?

On Wed, 16 Aug 2000, Foil wrote:

> >I'm no nuclear scientist but I can tell you that microwaving is not a good
> way to sterilize stuff. It works better on fungi than on bacteria and not
> at all on viruses.

HUMNET: Dr. Foil failed to mention (surprising for a veterinary scientist)
that microwaving does indeed remove toy poodle infestations from hummer
feeders, although the results can be rather messy.

This information does NOT appear on Lanny's hummer web-site.

Bring back the Far Side,

Van Remsen,
najames@unix1.sncc.lsu.edu

=============================

Date: Wed, 8 May 2002 08:01:23 -0500
From: Nancy L Newfield <colibri@WEBDSI.COM>
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast
<HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
To: HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Idaho hummers and feeder choices

Bob, Stacy, Humnet,

At 06:59 AM 5/8/02 -0400, Big Bad Bald Bob Sargent wrote:

>Some birds have larger diameter bills that make feeding difficult in some
>feeders. If the bill of an individual is unusually wide at the base it
>can make a difference. If the fluid level gets low in some of the
>"dish-type" feeders, smaller males with shorter bills will have great
>difficulty feeding in them. This is especially true in tiny birds such as
>Calliopes. Some hummers APPARENTLY will stay away from a feeder in which
>they have attacked by bees and wasp. Some birds will avoid feeders in
>which they can see their reflection in a nearby window pane. And finally,
>some hummers appear to be just plain picky!

In testing feeders for the feeder-preference test recently published in
Bird Watcher's Digest, I spent a lot of time observing just how hummers
approach and use various feeders. During the testing period,
Ruby-throateds were the primary species present, so I was watching birds
with exposed culmen lengths of approximately 14 millimeters to 18 millimeters. All the testing was done at Margaret and John Owens'
"Hummingbird Oasis" because I never have enough traffic to provide a fair test.

To conduct the tests, I places a double shepherd's crook in the middle of
the yard in a location where there had never been a feeder. I hung two
test feeders and counted the number of feeding events in a times one hour
period. After each test, I removed the feeders and waited 30 minutes
before moving the shepherd's crook to another part of the yard. At all
times, 20 or more other feeders were available to the birds. I made no
attempt to quantify the amount of nectar taken by any of the birds.

These birds showed a real preference for using feeders with perches and
most of the test feeders had perches. However, several models had perches
that were either too close to the feeding port or were too far away from
it. One model had perches that were too small and too close to be used by
the hummers. In cases where the perch was too far from the port, hummers
attempted to compensate by hovering while feeding, then perching on the perch for a few minutes.

The Ruby-throateds seemed most comfortable on feeders where the feeding
port was angled toward the perch. They seemed least comfortable using
feeders where they had to hover in a completely horizontal position and to
stick their bills deeply into a vertically oriented feeding port.

Another feature that got strong Ruby-throated disapproval was deep-sided
fake flowers on the feeding port. They did not like to have to press their
faces deeply into the fake flowers to reach deeply enough to access the
sugar water. Perhaps they felt too vulnerable by having their peripheral
vision blocked or perhaps the hole in the feeding port was too constricting
on their bills.

The two feeders that I find most consistently preferred [Perky-Pet "Four
Fountains" (sans fake Gloxinias) and Perky-Pet "Little Beginner"] were not
in the test. The two I tested that were most preferred were the Opus "GardenSong/Garden Jewel" and the Bird Company "Fliteline". On both these
models, the angle of the feeding port toward the perched bird seemed just
about perfect. Interestingly, though, neither of these feeders found any
favor among the many Rufous that spent the winter at Casa Colibrí nor were
they heavily used at the Owens' place after migration had passed.

NLN

Nancy L. Newfield

==================

Date: Tue, 18 Jun 2002 13:21:33 -0400
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
From: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@listserv.lsu.edu>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] Feeders

To clean your feeders, my recommendation is:

Mix 1/4 cup of bleach in a gallon of water.  Soak the
parts for 20-30 minutes.  Rinse THOROUGHLY, fill and
rehang them.  No brush, no soap, no scrubbing, no
toothpicks, just quick and easy.

Bob Sargent
Trussville, Alabama

===============================

Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 12:18:33 -0600
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] mold

On 2/5/03 11:41, Dottie, Hickory Hollow, Brown County, Indiana
yumyumkatts@VOYAGER.NET wrote:

>I never bleach out my feeders as I'm afraid I won't get all the bleach
out.

That's not a problem, Dottie. Rinse with plain water. Any residual bleach
will simply react with a tiny portion of the next sugar fill and be
neutralized (turning into water). You don't even have to dry the feeder
before refilling it.

Lanny Chambers

============================

Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 13:33:00 -0500
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: Re: [HUMNET-L] mold

In a message dated 2/5/03 10:19:35 AM Pacific Standard Time,
lanny@HUMMINGBIRDS.NET writes:

That's not a problem, Dottie. Rinse with plain water. Any residual bleach
will simply react with a tiny portion of the next sugar fill and be
neutralized (turning into water). You don't even have to dry the feeder
before refilling it.

Lanny Chambers

====================

Date: Wed, 5 Feb 2003 13:14:02 -0600
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: [HUMNET-L] mold
To: HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU

Dottie,
Bleaching feeders is a regular part of my program and we never have any
problems with mold, it never has a chance to grow. I change feeders every
3 days in warm weather and every 4-5 days in cold weather. I also bleach
the container I put the sugar water into. I always make the amount of
necter I will use for filling the feeders one day. Make fresh necter as
needed.
I am luckey, I have CASES of feeders and have enough clean feeders to fill
and replace the forty I take down during the height of migration. I should
own stock in Clorox.

Olga Clifton
Abita Springs,La.
West St. Tammany Parish
humermom@bellsouth.net

=========================

Lanny, Dottie and 'netters
As usual, your advise is correct.  Start with a clean feeder and use a
bleach solution for cleaning when needed or as part of a prevention
program.  I use 50-60 feeders and I can tell you from lots of experience
that this regime works.

Bob Sargent

======================

Date: Thu, 6 Feb 2003 10:14:36 -0500
Reply-To: BB for Hummingbirds and Gardening for them in the Southeast <HUMNET-L@LISTSERV.LSU.EDU>
Subject: [HUMNET-L] Cleaning feeders

Humnet:

OK, here's the core text for an email for the "Useful Messages" archives.
Since I won't remember everything, other Humnetters feel free to chime in
or correct errors. It'll be a group effort.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Cleaning Feeders and Battling Mold:

Keeping feeders clean and syrup mold-free is important. Flower nectar
doesn't have a chance to spoil in flowers. It's produced at least once, and
sometimes several times during a day. Feeders should come as close as
possible to imitating the nectar found in flowers.

In warm weather, mold grows quickly. Sugar syrup can spoil in just two or
three days, but it will last longer if the feeder is clean.

To clean feeders simply remove them, empty rotten syrup (if it's cloudy,
it's sour) disassemble feeder, and soak for at least 10 minutes in a warm
chlorine bleach solution. Turn feeders so all surfaces, inside and out,
contact the solution.

Scrub remaining mold debris out with bottle brushes. Tiny brushes fitting
most port holes can be obtained from a variety of mail order and retail
outlets. Rinse with tap water. The prestigious Humnet Chemists
Association ;) assures us that all remaining chlorine molecules rapidly
break down into harmless substances shortly after the syrup is added, but
certainly are gone when the air/and or sunlight contact the feeder parts.

The stronger the chlorine solution, the faster it'll do a number on mold.
I use about a 1:10 chlorine/water solution, but some may be able to get by
with a weaker one. Also, use pure chlorine bleach without added detergent
or perfumes, which tend to stick to the plastic feeder parts.

There are other cleaning solutions (vinegar?) which are supposed to be as
effective and nontoxic to the birds. (Anyone?)

Cleaning feeders with each refill is best, but not practical for most. One
technique I like for between bleachings is to carry a bucket of plain tap
water & a bottlebrush, and simply rinse out each feeder before adding fresh
syrup.

Also, I think boiling the water used in making syrup does extend the
syrup's life. It kills any microorganisms floating around in the tap
water, and don't worry, despite the best municipal chlorination/water
systems there ARE always a few lilliputan survivors.

Measure the tapwater to be used in the solution, adding a little more to
offset evaporation. Bring to a boil, add sugar, stir until dissolved, then
cool & use or refrigerate. If using a very airtight microwave and
heat-resistant glass container, be careful not to super-heat the liquid and
possibly scald yourself. (Vic?)

Feeders hung in the shade generally last longer than ones in sun. Feeders
not visited by ants last longer than ones on the ant smorgasbord trail. To
make your own feeder shade, buy a child's football tee & fit over the top,
or rig a plastic cereal bowl. They can be spray-painted red, if not
already that color.
Repelling ants is a little more tricky. Humnet should have an archived
message on that subject. I use a glob of Crisco on the wire, but there are
a variety of techniques.

Keeping bees out of the sugar water also helps it last longer. That's alos
a subject worthy of its own discussion.

Feeders that are easy to take apart and clean, and feeders with colorless
glass or plastic syrup reservoirs are important in maintaining fresh sypup
for the hummers. A feeder that's difficult to disassemble is guaranteed to
stay moldy, won't be used much by hummers, and will end up gathering dust
in the garage. One with a tinted reservoir might look pretty, but
determining whether the syrup needs changing is difficult. Syrup goes
sour, birds don't use it, so the people think it doesn't work and it ends
up in the garage,too.

Humnetters with year-round hummers will notice that syrup is much slower to
spoil in cool weather. It can last a week. Also, using a thicker syrup
solution retards mold growth. In winter, I use a 30% to 50% (1 part sugar,
2 parts water, or one part sugar, one part water) syrup. The distinguished
Humnet Ornithologists' Association tells us a thick solution is fine for
the birds' health.

OK, Humnet, here's something to work with . Y'all fix it up and somebody
put it on the website.

Miriam Davey