Perky-Pet Glass Hummingbird Feeder, 30 Oz, 209B

July 28, 2012 Update”
Talk about discrimination. Our bunch so far this year has grown to 5 and they are just as much fun to watch as before. This year they have their eyes and tastes set on the two Perky-Pets in the back yard and not so much on the front yard’s other two feeders. The key to this year’s success for them and us is changing the solution every two or three days and putting fill the glass to about 1/4th full. I am here to simply order two more. I hope you enjoy yours as much as we enjoy ours.

April 29, 2012: They’re back and still as beautiful as ever. This year so far only two have shown up and I cannot determine their sex or anything. They are still skittish and will not come to me as in the past. It takes time. They use these Perky-Pet 209s almost exclusively even though there are 2 other brands up.

November 18, 2011: Just a quick update. The feeders are down, the hummers are on their way to Mexico and all is well. After a full season of use and feeding a whole bunch of hummers I am happy to say these are the best of the best. I usually changed the feeders every two to three days and have yet to have the first second of any problem except on some mornings the hummers would be a tad impatient with my schedule. No leaks. No broken roosts. Nothing negative. My homemade ant trap/chaser kept the glass clean on the inside. I heard that a hand full of dried beans dropped in the glass and a few vigorous shakes would help keep the insides clean and it worked well. Can’t wait for springtime and their arrival.

In recent years we have bought several feeders and this is the best yet. We have had 4 to 5 feeding stations set up and the first one to empty is this and its twin even though one is out front and the others are in the back. With all factors the same, i.e., sugar water in a glass container this one just has more appeal and frankly I do not know why. They will not tell me. When it is empty they do let me know while I on the way to refill it that it sure took me long enough to get there. I always alternate feeders and will set the empty on top of the trash can while installing the new batch of food. When I put this one on the can they go to it even though the Brand X has food. When I set the one with Brand X on the can they could not care less. Right now our population has grown to about 6 but there is no way to be sure with all them mostly the same colors except the male ruby throated ones. The like the perch better than the rest and even though the holes are the same as the others they just seem to enjoy sitting there taking a sip. If simple, hour wasting watching appeals to anyone buy a feeder and check out several of the hummingbird websites for recipes and care. We use 1 cup sugar to 4 cups boiled water cooled to room temperature. The hummers are absolutely delightful and thank you Perky-Pet for the 209s.

We ordered 2; they came quickly and are as shown. Unfortunately, one came with a broken segment of the plastic landing strip/platform opposite a feeding opening. Since there are 3 other platforms it doesn’t matter at this point, however I don’t know if the others will also break. The glass portion and the rest of the feeder seem sturdy.

The hummingbird feeder arrived packed well so it was not until we hung it outside with hummingbird food in it that we realized it dripped – constantly. After looking it over we realized that the bottom piece was actually two pieces, the red piece with the flowers and the red piece with the ring for the hummingbirds to sit. These two pieces were loose and did not screw tightly together – hence the leak. We returned the item and the return process was excellent. We said it was defective, but it could be a design flaw so we did not request a replacement. It might be a good idea if ordering this to ask that question first of the Seller. If ours was a defective unit then I would consider the feeder a very nice one and if you take a chance on it, know that the Amazon return policy and process was excellent.

I’ve been feeding hummingbirds for a good 20+ years, and in the past I’ve had cases where they’d stay away from a new feeder for a long time before getting used to it and accepting it. So when I purchased this feeder and hung it outside, I expected it would be the case here too, and that I’d be spending a while cleaning and refilling in vain while waiting for any birdies to get interested… Now, I can’t say whether it’s in part because our new neighborhood has more people feeding the hummingbirds too and they’re used to feeders in general or if it’s just that this feeder is particularly good, but one thing is sure, I was amazed to see the birds go for the feeder the very next day! (Maybe even the first day, I wasn’t looking.)

Not only did they go for it, but there’s already a lot of them coming to feed on it and they’re drinking it up pretty fast, much to our delight as we watch them.

It certainly helps that I put the feeder in an attractive location, just under the roof above an area of our garden with flowers where we normally always have a ton of hummingbirds feeding. But still, regardless of the flowers being there I was amazed by how fast they accepted the new feeder.

The little perches around it are great too. We have lazy birds that like to sit down to eat rather than remain in flight. 😉

I just hung it the other day so I can’t say much about the feeder’s lifespan or cleaning etc. yet (the first cleaning was easy), but I’ll update the review if it ends up having any problems. The way it’s built makes for a really easy to clean reservoir. A bit less so when it comes to the area with the flowers, but that’s very similar in most feeder models, and it’s not really a problem since you can easily soak the base to clean it.

I’m really happy with this feeder, and so far it has exceeded my expectations.