Orange Hummingbirds

Do you see that little guy? He seems harmless. even cute. We have 2 of them. And they are fighting with all of the other hummingbirds. They beat up on them.

Yesterday morning, I literally had to stand outside and watch the birds. These 2 orange birds were following me around. I was trying to water our trees. We have pinon and pine trees. These birds were falling me around. Like if they were ready to attack.

But they beat up on the other hummingbirds. Even the big ones. I feel so bad for the little babies. They try so hard to eat. But these big orange guys, they keep beating up on all of the other birds. So I googled them. And I found this article. Doesn't give me much hope. I don't know what I'm going to do.

How Much?

The last time I opened up a bag of sugar, I decided to keep track of it. I just can't believe how much these hummingbirds are eating. Or how many birds we have! There are so many of them. Over 20 that I know of.

We went through a 5lb bag of sugar in less than 2 weeks. Yes, that's how often I have to fill the hummingbird feeders. I'm not sure if this is normal or not. But it's been a lot. Some days, I fill up both of my feeders. Yes, 2 feeders a day!

I recently bought 10lbs of sugar. We don't even use sugar in our house. But for the hummingbirds, we do. But it's nice to get up in the morning and see all the hummingbirds eating. Recently, we've noticed that at least 5 birds will feed at the same time. It's amazing to watch.

How Much Do They Eat?

I'm wondering just how much hummingbirds eat. I started this Spring with 1 feeder. And maybe 4 hummingbirds. I was refilling it maybe every 4 days or so.

Now we're up to 2 feeders, about 12 hummingbirds, and me filling both feeders every other day! Yes, that often. I have a 3rd feeder, but I'm wondering if maybe I'm feeding them too much. I'm just not sure. And I can't find any real concrete information.

I just refilled both feeders. And there is 1 hummingbird not letting the others get to the feeders. A typical day. But I'm just worried that I'm overfeeding the hummingbirds. And I don't want to do that. I just want our hummingbirds to be healthy.

Hummingbirds

Do you see that cute hummingbird? I've got about 8 of them in my backyard! I put out a feeder sometime around the first of the month. Sadly, it broke on Mother's Day when I was filling it up. And it was an expensive glass one. I had only had it up for about a week! I really wanted to cry! My daughter was helping me hang it up, and the jar part broke off. At that point, I had 2 or 3 hummingbirds.

The next day, we went to Wal-Mart and I bought a regular plastic one. We came home and mixed up 3 cups of sugar water right away. We hung the feeder and the hummingbirds quickly started to feed. This past Sunday, I filled up the feeder. By Wednesday morning, it was completely empty. I'm pretty sure, we have 8 hummingbirds now. My husband says that there are more. Where did they all come from?

But I'm enjoying them. I like to sit on the couch and watch them through the window. There is an alpha male bird. The rest of the hummingbirds have to distract him to feed. He likes to chase them away. Like the feeder is only for him. I've noticed that the females hide in my lilac bush. Which is almost directly under the feeder. And when that male flies away, they quickly feed. I've also noticed, only 2 birds will eat at once.

Thursday I started some flowers from seeds. I've got lots of flowers in my backyard. But for Mother's Day, my daughter bought me a large package of hummingbird flower seeds. I'm hoping that will help the hummingbirds a little. My husband also bought me a hanging basket with flowers a few weeks ago. They seem to enjoy those.

Do you have hummingbirds around your house? Do you feed them? I'm starting to think that these birds are sending out the message that I'm feeding them. It makes me happy. But I'm wondering if 3 cups of water every 3-4 days is too much. But either way, it's nice to sit and watch the birds feed.