Here it is!!!

The post you've all been waiting for! Okay, I'm sure no one lost any sleep over it, and you've probably all forgotten, but as promised...more details on the 'did you know yellow attracts bees' question.

If you've ever bought the cheap little Humming Bird Feeders with the little yellow flowers on them, then you've probably watched the birds and the bees compete for the nectar! Humming Birds are very territorial and bees are just plain stingy and don't like to share their food source! I wonder if this is why God made the blossoms on veges yellow? To insure the bees attention for pollination?

I've spent hours researching how to make humming bird feeders (aaaahhhhh.... trying to figure out where to buy the pieces necessary) and how to keep the bees away, and the least expensive way to make nectar, etc., etc.

Well, this is what worked for me... I went to the dollar store to purchase some cheap (that's me...cheap) humming bird feeders, expecting to pay $2.00 or $3.00 a piece. Was I excited when I found these awesome little humming bird feeders 2 to a pack for $1.00 and they come with ity bity baby Shepherd hooks to hang them anywhere with!!! I'm thinking, I can make these work for less than anything I could possibly put together myself. Yippee!!! (Nope, doesn't take much too excite me!)

I thought, I have got to do something with these yellow flowers, since it's the red color that attracts the humming birds, I didn't need the yellow. I read last year to use red fingernail polish to color the flowers, which I did and it worked. This year, I decided to use some of the red acrylic paint I have. This also worked. I'd imagine if you want, you could paint them any color, just not the yellow. It seriously works to get rid of the yellow.

Now, hopefully you will read this entire post before you run out to your local Family Dollar, because, here's the funny part. If you listen to what people tell you about taking care of your feeders, you'll be cleaning them every other day, because evidently humming birds are sterile, fragile little creatures!!! (Poppy cock I say, they spend weeks on end in flight when migrating...without ever resting, and what do you think they did before man came along to wash their little dishes?)

I fill mine up whenever they are empty and that means (i have 4 of them) at least once a week. I take them down and clean them every other week. Just a running/soaking with hot water (I don't use soap, because I don't think the cavemen used it when washing the humming bird's dishes.) I let them dry (simply because I can't do anything with multiple steps without getting sidetracked in between steps), then i fill them up with home made nectar.

I mix one cup of sugar, 4 cups of water and bring it all to a boil and then after it has cooled, I fill my feeders, and pour the rest into a little pitcher that is dedicated specifically to nectar and store it in the fridge. I hang the feeders out on the porch and enjoy. You don't need to add any red food coloring, somehow (may be the red on the feeder) they'll find it. This amount of nectar should last about 3 to 4 weeks. Depending on how many feeders and how many birds you have.

Oh yeah, I was going to tell you the funny part about painting the flowers! After about the 3rd or 4th cleaning.... I realized that the little flowers just pop right off and don't even need to be painted! But that's okay, at least I know I can paint them to keep away the bees, if necessary. Right? Since I have this urge to try to paint everything at least once, I'm going to (soon) try to paint the clear plastic nectar holder like stained glass... and I promise I'll share the results!