Hummingbird Feeder Success

We are proud to report that the hummingbird feeder is now visited by "regulars" :)

Fine feathered fowl...who are anything but foul to look at, can be seen at all hours of the day.

There are several things we've learned about them thus far:

1) They are territorial, well at least the males, and will happily chase each other away from the feeder.

2) They are plagued constantly by the evil-tempered Blue Jay who we witnessed chasing a small, fragile looking humming bird from tree branch to tree branch.

3) They've made our Weeping Cheery Tree into their "Home Tree", they nest in the protected center of the tree and can be seen fluttering around for brief seconds.

4) Just like people they have different personalities, while one is a major ham and poses for the camera another is extremely skittish and dodges out of sight whenever he sees us. 

Early Morning Hummingbird

Camera Curious Hummingbird

No matter how often we see these little guys, it's always an exciting experience :)

Enjoy!

Love 'Em Honey Bread

This book came to us as a gift and that's certainly the word we'd use for it. 

The recipes in here are what keep us best friends with our furry little companions, otherwise I don't think they'd like us so much.

Love 'Em Honey Bread

(about 6 loves or muffins or about 23 mini-muffins)

Muffin Mix

2 cups whole-wheat flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

2 large eggs

6-8 ounces sour cream or unflavored yogurt
     (we used CHOBANI Greek Plain Yogurt)

1/4 cup warm honey

Chicken Glaze

1/2 cup chicken broth

1 package unflavored gelatin 

For the Muffins

Set oven to 375 degrees, set out 2 cookie trays lined with mini-muffin cups.

In a large bowl, using a wire whisk, blend together flour and baking powder.

In a medium bowl, using a wire whisk, beat the eggs until thick and light-colored.

Beat in yogurt and honey.

Using a spatula or by hand, combine both mixtures until they form a dough.

Break off tablespoon-sized chunks of dough and roll them into balls with your hands.

Place each ball into a mini-muffin cup.

Bake for 10 minutes or until they are golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the center of each muffin comes out clean. 

Set aside on wire racks to cool.

For the Glaze

Mix 1 cup of boiling water with a chicken bouillon cube or packet of powder. Mix until dissolved. 

In a small bowl combine chicken broth and gelatin, stirring with a spoon until well mixed.

Place the cooled muffins back onto the cookie trays to avoid making a mess

...and believe us, we know all about messes...

With a brush or spoon, cover the top of each muffin with glaze.

Set aside to cool and to let the glaze form. Refrigerate leftovers.

Note: We've noticed that some dogs are sensitive to milk products, therefore we decided to use yogurt in place of sour cream so it would be easier on their little systems. Every dog is different though, become familiar with your own dog's system and use what works best for them.

Enjoy!

They certainly did, look at those tails go!

Yum :)

Hummingbird Feeder Setup

We had never thought of hummingbirds as being "pets" until we saw a section of supplies at a local store entitled Perky Pets. 

After that moment it was all over.

We knew we had to invest in some top quality products to entice these birds into paying us a visit. No matter what the cost or how much debt we would have to flounder through for them.

Basically, just about $12 later we walked out of our nearest Lowes with everything we needed.

Hummingbird Feeder
  (we bought a small 14.8 ounce one)
1 box Nectar Solution, store bought or homemade
  (we used store bought this time)
Hook for hanging
  (we bought a window suction-cup hook)

The very first thing we did, apart from buying all the needed equipment, was to wash the feeder and all of its parts in warm water. We then set it aside to dry. This assures us that no dirt or harmful particles remained on the feeder from its time at the store.

For the Nectar

(we doubled this recipe)

2 Tablespoons Nectar powder 

4 ounces of tap water

Next, we measured out the tap water. We decided to double this recipe in order to fill the feeder. So instead of 4 ounces of water, we used 8 ounces. 

Then we poured the Nectar powder. Since the recipe originally called for 2 Tablespoons we doubled it to 4 Tablespoons. 

Blend the powder into the water, stirring with a spatula until completely dissolved.  

Turning the feeder upside down we then filled it with the Nectar solution.

We screwed the bottom onto place and carried it upside down to prevent leaking.

We hung the hook onto the window, twisted the feeder hook into shape and hung our feeder.

Enjoy!

Update: A hummingbird was seen! ...On the opposite side of the house where the feeder isn't... :( 

but we're still holding out hope that they will discover our feeder in the close future.