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Hummer makeover

Hummingbird feeder makeover, that is. My poor hummingbirds are having a hard time right now. It has been raining HARD for over a week now. All of my necter flowers have been beat down by the rain. To make matters worse, the moisture caused crud to grow on the hummingbird feeder. I have to help my little friends out. Here's what I did today.

First, I made fresh hummingbird necter for the feeder. I measured out 1/4 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of water.



I put the water and sugar into a small pan and brought it to a boil. As soon as it came to a boil, I took it off the burner and let it cool while I cleaned the feeder.




See how gross the feeder is. I don't want my hummers getting sick from the mold.



Using an old toothbrush, I scrubbed the parts of the feeder. On my feeder, the "flower" cups come off and I can clean it pretty well.



The inside of the glass resevoir was a little trickier. First, I put some rice into the container with some water. Then I shook the living daylights out of it. The mold didn't budge. Plan B: make my own "tool". I wrapped a fat rubberband around a chopstick and rubbed it around the inside of the bottle. It worked like a charm.




Nice and clean and ready to fill with my homemade hummingbird food.



I don't add any red coloring to the food. The hummers find the food just fine because of the red on the feeder.



Here it is. Ready for my little friends.

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