Perky Pet 30-oz. Hummer Feeder #209: A banquet for the little buzzers
Written: Aug 26 '03 (Updated Aug 26 '03)
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Large capacity for lots of birds, sturdy glass
Cons: Large capacity wastes a lot of nectar; hard to grasp; yellow flowers attract bees
The Bottom Line: The difficulty of getting the base clean, the yellow bee-attracting flowers, and the large capacity that wastes a lot of nectar trump the sturdy glass bottle.
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| Penguinlady's Full Review: Perky Pet Products 209 30Ounce Hummingbird Feeder |
I've written, in earlier reviews, about the pleasures of feeding hummingbirds and about the Perky Pet Hummingbird Feeder Model #210. But I have lots of feeders, so this review is about another model, the Perky Pet 30-oz. Hummingbird Feeder #209.
FEATURES
• The Perky Pet 30-oz. Hummingbird Feeder #209 is a big guy - it has a capacity of 30 ozs. of nectar.
• The bottle is made of heavy-duty glass, and the base is red plastic.
• There are six feeding ports in the base, each marked by a yellow plastic flower.
• The red plastic cap screws onto the top of the bottle and has an integrated red plastic hanging wire.
• It has a circular perch all the way around the base, to give the hummers a rest while they're feeding.
WHAT I LIKE ABOUT IT
• It's big. This baby holds close to a quart of nectar, so if you have a lot of hummingbirds, you don't have to keep refilling it. But as noted below, this can also be a liability - read on.
• A perch is important for hummingbirds. Hummers spend more than 80% of their lives airborne, and have to consume half their weight every day to do it. It doesn't make much sense for them to be expending energy while feeding, so I always buy feeders with a perch, to give them a break. This perch goes all the way around the base of the feeder and is made of the same sturdy plastic as the base. No fear of it breaking, as is the case with other feeders.
• I like the six feeding ports. That is, if you can get these incredibly territorial critters to stop fighting long enough to share a feeder. It doesn't happen often, but I sometimes see three or four hummers feeding at the same time - pretty cool!
• The glass bottle is easy to clean. The heavy-duty glass will stand up to very hot water and bleach, both of which are necessities in your cleaning routine. Nectar is a perfect medium for growing bacteria, so it's important to ensure that the feeder is absolutely clean before you fill it.
• That red plastic hanging wire is there for life. I was pretty sure it wouldn't last, but I've had most of my Perky Pet feeders for many years and the wires are still firmly attached.
• Replacement parts are readily available. If you go to the http://www.perkypet.com, you can find bottles, bases, perches, screw-tops with hanging wires, and yellow plastic flowers. Here are the prices:
Feed Base with Flower Only = $5.50
Feed Base-Flower and Perch = $8.50
Full Circle Perch Only = $2.50
Glass Bottle = $7.00
Pack of 9 Yellow Flowers = $2.49
Red Knotted Wire = $0.50
Threaded Cap = $2.00
I bought mine long ago, but the feeder is available for about $12 - $14.
• The bottles seem to be pretty unbreakable. My feeders hang from the second-floor deck and one of my feeders slipped off the nail and fell to the hard-pan dirt below. The base shattered but the bottle didn't. It wasn't the Perky Pet 30-oz. Hummingbird Feeder #209, but the glass used in all glass Perky Pet feeders is the same. Sturdy stuff.
WHAT I'M NOT SO CRAZY ABOUT
• As much as I like the generous capacity of the Perky Pet 30-oz. Hummingbird Feeder #209, it can be a liability. Nectar, made of one part sugar to four parts water, can ferment pretty fast, especially if hung in the summer sun. So I dump the unused nectar and thoroughly clean my feeders several times a week in the summer. Unless you have a lot of hummers that can empty this big guy within two or three days, you'll waste a lot of nectar. In fact, the feeders I've been buying lately have all been either 8- or 12-oz. models. I have to clean and fill them more often, but I don't waste nectar.
• The glass bottle has a substantial circumference and gets slippery when I wash and refill it. I prefer the pinch-waist models because they are easier to grip.
• Most Perky Pet hummingbird feeders have either a flat yellow flower or a molded yellow one to mark the feeding ports. And most of them, unless they have bee guards, which only two models do, attract bees, wasps, and yellow-jackets. I've learned that hummers are attracted to red but can't see yellow. Bees, wasps, and yellow-jackets, however, are attracted to yellow. 'nuff said.
• Like the bases of all Perky Pet bottle feeders, this one is hard to clean. Unlike the bottle, it's made of plastic, so it won't stand up to very hot water or bleach. And the inside is somewhat convoluted, so unless you have a tiny mascara brush and a lot of patience, it's almost impossible to get into all the little nooks and crannies. I soak mine in hot sudsy water for about 15 minutes and then attack it with a variety of brushes, but I'm never really confident that it's truly clean.
• Because of the difficulty of cleaning, I take it down every two days, empty it, clean it, and rehang it in the shade. So even though I'm not filling it even halfway, I'm wasting nectar.
A FEW IMPORTANT NOTES ABOUT FEEDING
I'm copying this from my earlier review, and will repeat it in each hummingbird feeder review I do, because it's important information.
1. Make sure you empty and clean your feeder thoroughly every couple of days before refilling, regardless of how much nectar is still in it.
2. Use commercial nectar mix or make your own with one part sugar to four parts water and stir until the sugar is completely dissolved. Never use honey, molasses, maple syrup, corn syrup, or artificial sweeteners. Just plain sugar. Some people boil their home-made nectar to kill bacteria and then cool it to room temp before filling the feeder.
3. Carry it to where you want to hang it, quickly flip it right-side-up, and “burp” it to remove the air bubbles that form at the feeding stations. I do that by gently tipping it in all four directions until I see the bubbles rising in the nectar. If you don’t do this, the birds will be unable to access the nectar through the bubbles. But you’ll spill some nectar, so do this over grass or a hosable surface.
4. Once you decide to start feeding the hummers, be consistent. They will get used to feeding from your feeder and will come to depend on you. So don't let them down.
5. Hummingbirds are terrifically territorial and aggressive, so you'll see incredible aerial dive-bombing fights around your feeder. I have seven right now and they still fight over them. I think they take pleasure in their amazing flying abilities, so don't worry about it.
SUMMARY AND VERDICT
Of all my feeders, the Perky Pet 30-oz. Hummingbird Feeder #209 is the most problematic, because of its huge capacity, bee-attracting yellow flowers, and hard-to-clean base. I almost never fill it all the way because even with the one or two dozen hummers that live in my oak tree, it almost never gets emptied. Between that fact, the lack of bee-guards, and the difficulty of cleaning the base, I would recommend this feeder for use in an aviary or bird sanctuary only; it's just too big for most home bird-feeding programs.
Two stars.
Recommended:
No
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