What to do with Hummingbird feeder while on vacation

What a conundrum you got yourself into, but its a fair one as hummingbirds can't expect you to avoid a much needed time away while watching over them the whole time.

What to do with hummingbird feeders while on vacation is simply allowing nectar to run dry, if its a short few day vacay. With a longer vacation you can pass on responsibility to your family, friend or neighbor; they'd need access to your house, while being trained how to make nectar or clean it out.

Do pack away your hummingbird feeders if you must, of course hummers will disappear yet could be hard to attract back - but you can figure that out when your home.

What I would personally do in this scenario is pass on the responsibility of taking care of my hummingbird feeders to a family member.

Don't get too far ahead, as this person would need to be trained how to properly clean a hummingbird feeder - along a proper disinfectant - they'd also need to know how to open the feeder to replenish... and of course they'd need to know how to make homemade nectar.

Making homemade nectar can be avoided if you make up several individual bottles of nectar to freeze - then your love one can begin defrosting it the day before use.

I will say a family member should come first, but who's to say a best friend or a close neighbor can't also do this for you.

Regardless, they will need to be trusted as they'd need the keys to your home to access the water supply to clean - and of course to wash up after themselves.

I will leave you by saying, and extended vacation would allow time for mold to develop, whereas ants can become stuck in port wells or those that manage to get inside. You'd than have to make sure the family member or friend responsible for managing your feeder while you're away, can take a hummingbird feeder down to clean with ease.

Pack away until your return

While its certainly possible hummingbirds can be hard to attract back to a feeder after it disappeared for several days - the simple solution can be packing up the hummingbird feeders all together.

Do pack away hummingbird feeders until your return, then in time you can get the hummers trust again even though you basically abandoned them in their time of need, to put it nicely.

Don't let the care and maintenance of hummingbird feeders stop you going away on vacation, there's certainly more feeders about hummers can be attracted to.

You can't fill hummingbird feeders to the top then allow them to run dry; feeders need a lot of attention due to cleaning up bacteria while washing off any spilled nectar. Left to hang while unused will see a hummingbird feeder become a bacteria breeding ground.

Its simply not possible to keep hummingbird feeders hanging during the duration of a long time away - similarly the sugar water will always run out long before you arrive home.

For now then, you can pull down your hummingbird feeder, empty any leftover nectar, clean it out with soap dish as you normally would.. and then pack it away.

Pass on responsibility to family

Rather than pull your hummingbird feeder down until your return from vacation, would it be possible to pass on the responsibility to a family member.

You can offer them money or owe them a favor, all while they can attend to the hummingbird feeder two to three times a week - with a plan you've laid out for them to follow carefully.

Responsibilities could be more time and effort than they would expect, so be sure they know all their duties with a to do list:

• How to make the homemade nectar using 1 part sugar to 4 parts boiling water, of which you'd leave out the sugar, jug and saucepan if its needed
• Know how to simply open up the hummingbird feeder to replenish with fresh nectar every time they visit
• Family member is trained how to dismantle the hummingbird feeder if they must clean it at least one time - in case you are on an extended vacation
• Hummingbird feeder is hung within reach of this person, while they understand it must be hung safely back up
• How to deal with a bee guard that must be replaced; while an ant moat would have to be re-filled with water every time they come around

Close family member would have to be trusted enough to be given keys with access to your house. They'd need access to the kitchen to make the nectar while using your sink to clean the hummingbird feeder or wash up any spilled nectar.

Neighbor can lend a hand

If you don't have any close family or relatives able to help out once or twice a week while your on vacation - or perhaps they've all come with you - turn to a trusted neighbor.

It doesn't have to be a next door neighbor but a well know friend in the street you can help you out while your away.

Not only neighbors mind as you can always turn to a long time friend who happens to live a little further than away than you would like.

With your neighbor, he or she would need access to your home again so they must be trusted enough so you can give them the run of your house.

It can be possible they could use amenities in their own home, although what does that say about you when you don't think about leaving them a spare key. Its imperative this neighbor is given a key as it would be made difficult for them.

Run through all responsibilities to your friend and, or neighbor while providing them a 'do do list' so they don't forget their vital duties.

What else I suggest you do is make up bottles of nectar to leave in your neighbors fridge-freezer. They only need to defrost each bottle, 24 hours prior to filling up your hummingbird feeder in your yard.

Allow Nectar to run dry

What you can do that runs a small risk if you are on vacation for over a week, is simply allowing the nectar to run out.

You'd fill the hummingbird feeder with your homemade nectar in the morning before leaving for the airport or heading off in the RV. Do it late as you can so the nectar will be sure to last that little bit longer.

To allow nectar to run dry you'd get about three full days of nectar that would remain safe for hummingbirds to use.

Remember hummingbird feeders can become cloudy or quickly develop unsafe nectar, so you must be sure there's no history of this in your yard.

As you'd probably be leaving for your vacation in summer, of cause in this time away you might develop a bee issue on your hummingbird feeder - without you their to get rid of bees on the hummingbird feeder - the feeder will be unused until your return.

And this can be said for an ant infestation developing on the feeder with ants clogging up the port wells - if insects swarm the feeder hummers will stop using it.

Allow your hummingbird feeder to run dry if you are away for under a week, with a vacation that goes beyond a week then you'd need to seek help off someone close, or pull down the hummingbird feeders until your return.

Make it up to Hummers when home

Its too bad you can't go on vacation in September through March the next year, as hummingbird feeders must be taken down then as hummingbirds would of migrated.

Vacation time is summer of course thus you'd need to think about avoiding a hummers busiest time. If that is not possible with your vacation booked, once again you can rely on friends or family.

But what if you can't rely on anyone but yourself or your partner, with the only option to pull down hummingbird feeders to put them back up once your home from your break?

Then you sure do have a lot of making up to do as hummingbirds will be long gone before your back; thus its imperative you know you'd have to attract hummingbirds to your yard - and therefore your hummingbird feeders all other again.

To begin with you only have to pull out your feeders from storage while hanging them back up to where they once were hung prior to your vacay.

Make it up to hummingbirds when your home by possibly using more feeders to be sure to get their attention - while never allowing the feeders to run dry - as it risks hummers abandoning you this time.

Conclusion

If only a few hummingbirds were attracted to your yard on a daily basis, you would be OK to pack away the feeders until your return.

What to do with hummingbird feeders while on vacation is not to use them at all; because there's hope hummingbirds will simply be attracted to their feeders again once you proceed to hang them in your yard when your home.

To attract an abundance of hummingbirds in your yard then I wouldn't risk loosing a single one of them - when you can pass on any responsibility to a friend or neighbor.

Just maybe you can persuade a friend to stop by once or twice a week to maintain, clean and replenish the hummingbird feeders.

Better still a trusted neighbor can do this for you while freezing up batches of nectar in bottles - then the neighbor or friend - only has to defrost it before use.

What I would do is pass responsibility to a family member, someone you would allow access to your home with a spare key.

Now let's assume not every family member is going on vacation with you, this person can be trained to make nectar fresh every visit, clean the hummingbird feeders by fully dismantling it - all while using your amenities for carrying out their duties.

You can allow nectar to run dry if you are staying away for a few days... or if its a week then there's only a few days hummingbirds would of gone without.

Don't worry if you must pack away your hummingbird feeders when your going away on vacation, hummers will simply find new feeders to use until you can tempt them back.

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