What Features Make the Best Hummingbird Feeders?

Interestingly, the types of feeders that hummingbirds are most attracted to turns out to be the same inexpensive feeders that are sold everywhere.

The Most Important Feature is Color.

A great feeder needs to have a good deal of bright red and yellow in it’s design.

The above inexpensive feeder is very popular with hummingbirds. It can be found in almost any store with a gardening department as well as online.

The biggest reason this specific feeder is such a hit with hummers is due to the fact that it is in thousands of yards around the country – the birds actually remember it as a source of food. And yes, they will return to the same yards year after year. Your odds of attracting them are much higher when they recognize their favorite restaurant is in your yard. I have one and it’s always busy.

Note: DO NOT use red dye in any of their food.

Red dye isn’t healthy for the birds, whether it’s purchased at the store or made at home, and it isn’t necessary. See our companion article “A Simple Hummingbird Food Recipe” for a super easy food recipe that you can make in minutes using just two ingredients. These little guys deserve the good stuff, not the fake red stuff. Having red in the feeder design is enough to attract the hummingbirds. Anyway….

Other Key Features of a Great Feeder:

It should have a thick glass bottle for the food. A glass bottle won’t disperse BPA’s into their food source like some plastics will, especially when it gets hot in the summer sun. If the packaging states that the plastic in the product is “BPA Free” then it’s ok to use. BPA stands for Bisphenol A, which is an industrial chemical that has been used to make certain plastics and resins since the 1950s. For more information on BPA’s, click here for the Mayo Clinic’s article about this substance.
A great feeder will include little “resting bars” at each flower. Hummingbirds need breaks from all that zipping around and a nice place to do that is when they’re at a feeder. I prefer the plastic “resting bars”.
It also needs to easily be taken apart and cleaned regularly. Cleaning is super important to keep harmful mold and bacteria from building up which can make them sick.

A Few Words about Cleaning The Feeders

As mentioned above, you need to thoroughly clean the feeder to prevent mold and bacterial growth. Take it completely apart and clean it at least once every 2 weeks.

Use a mild dish soap and water to clean the bottle and all the parts. Many feeders will come with small brushes but if they don’t, here’s a tip: I clean and recycle my old mascara brushes because they fit perfectly into the small feeder holes.
Next, use a large bottle-brush to clean the glass bottle that holds the food.
Rinse thoroughly, reassemble, fill, and hang on hook, or on a tree.

Hummingbird Feeders

There are so many cool feeders to chose from. Below are just few of our favorites:

At Green Living Modern World, we independently select and write about products that we love and think you’ll like, too. The pictures below contain links to some of our favorite hummingbird feeders that the birds love which include hanging feeders as well as window feeders. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships so we may receive revenue from a purchase made using our links.