Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)I own one of the Perky Pet Planter Box Hummingbird feeders and four of the Perky Pet Window feeders (see my review for that one). This feeder is very easy to set up, clean, and use. While it's not as good as the window feeder and has a few problems, it is worth getting for variety and if some adjustments are made.
Pluses:
+Super easy to set up+
There is nothing to do but pick a spot to place the wire and hang the feeder.
+Easy to clean.+
With the exception of the bee guard, the main bottle can be cleaned well with a baby bottle brush cleaner. Just use dish soap, warm water, scrub it out well, and rinse. The end cap can be cleaned as well. The bee guard can be cleaned, but I am never quite able to get it as clean as I like due to the tiny openings.
+Super easy to fill.+
Turn the feeder upside down, unscrew the bottom cap, add the sugar water, screw the cap back on, turn it right side up, and hang from the wire hanger.
Minuses:
-The wire alone cannot support the weight of a filled bottle.-
You may have to reinforce this wire at the anchor point if you plan to put this in a planter or anything with a soft, loose base. Since I shoved the wire in between two pieces of wood on our porch railing, the wood provided enough support to hold the wire in place with the weight of the filled feeder on it.
-No perches for the birds.-
The hummingbirds don't mind, because they visit this feeder just as frequently as my window feeders. For us, though, there is just less of a chance to see them sit still since they have to hover to feed (which is how they feed off natural flower sources anyway).
-You will definitely need an ant moat.-
You'll be fine until the ants discover the source of the sugar water. Once they do, they will be all over this feeder. I created an ant moat from an old plastic spice bottle cap. Using the end of a tiny phillips head screw driver, I twisted it through the cap until I made a hole just big enough to fit the wire support through. Fill the cap with water and it will stop the ants from getting to your hummingbird feeder.
-The cardboard seal in the feeder cap doesn't last.-
I replaced it with wax paper that I put in each time I change the sugar water. I cut a circle slightly bigger than the inside of the cap and put it inside before I screw the cap back on. It works to seal it, but has to be changed each time the sugar water is changed.
-The unit will drip.-
Since the hummingbird access to the sugar water is a tiny tube opening near the base of the unit, the sugar water will drip out if the feeder is not perfectly upright or if the wind blows it around. Not surprisingly, this is also how the ants will first discover the feeder!
Although there are more minuses than pluses in my review above, I still feel that this feeder has a place in your yard. It is much quicker to clean and refill than the window unit, and with the small amount of sugar water it can hold, you won't waste as much as you would using larger capacity feeders. Adding an ant moat and extra anchors for the wire support make this feeder very usable. The hummingbirds visit it often.
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