Wondering where the hummingbirds went? Birds & Beasleys owner, Sandy Shull, explains hummingbird behavior and how to best maintain your nectar feeder. Come visit us this weekend! Open Saturday and Sunday.

Hi! I’m Sandy from Birds & Beasleys. Today’s questions is, what happened to my hummingbirds? Where are they? Where did they go? What should I do? Well, there’s probably a couple of things going on.

The birds are probably fine. They are migrating, they are either going to pass through or they are coming back down. Or maybe they knew it was cold and icky in June and they’re waiting. Hard to say. My guess is that there is good foliage out there, there’s lots of flowers, lots of nectar. The birds are probably eating naturally, they don’t need to depend on a feeder. So when we say it’s a good hummingbird year, it’s because the birds are coming to our feeder because it is a poor natural food time. If it was a poor hummingbird year for us, it means great flowers, not so much a push to the feeders. So, that’s one issue.

The other thing is what’s going on now is that the heat is coming in. The time to really watch your nectar, look at your nectar, see if it’s cloudy, change it often, it might be as much as every day or two. If you start to see it get a little cloudy, turn it, because the birds will not eat it if it has fermented.

Lastly, what else happens in the summer, ants come in. Ants come down, they stay on a trail, they come off a hook down a wire, into the moat. If you put a moat in and put some water, the ants will drown, it will keep them off your feeder. But if the ants can jump on your feeder, they will. Also, think about maybe vaseline on your hook. That will help deter ants. And finally, if you start to get bees, get the product Skin So Soft, AVON Skin So Soft, which we carry and you might have it in your drawer. Put a little bit on your finger, rub it over the holes, that helps deter wasps and bees from coming in on your feeder. So, if you have any other questions, call us down at Birds & Beasleys.

The forecast calls for SUMMER. Birds & Beasleys owner Sandy Shull is here to show you how to help your backyard birds cope with hot, dry days. Stay hydrated out there! #wildbirds #birdbaths

Hi! I’m Sandy with Birds & Beasleys. Today, we are talking about what happens with hot weather. What happens to birds, what happens to animals, what happens to people.

Well, the simple thing is water. Everybody needs water. Even Downtown Walking Mall has water now. So, what I want you to do is think about a bird bath. Is it full? Is it clean? What am I wanting to do?

So, birds are wanting to come. There’s a lot of young birds out there right now learning to fly and they need water to survive. So, fill your bird bath. I encourage you to take a rock or a piece of wood and put it in your bird bath so that if the bird falls in, they can swim over to it and get out. Sometimes bird baths are too deep, so don’t make them too deep, add rocks if you need to.

The other thing is my bird bath is getting green or my bird bath is getting red. That is algae. This time of year the algae is starting to grow. Get a brush. We have great brushes at Birds & Beasleys or get a brush. Scrub it out. Flick the water out, put fresh water in. A little bit of bleach, like I would say just about a glug. Let it sit a little bit, I would cover it so the birds can’t use it. Let it sit for a half-hour, an hour, so it kills the algae. Take off the lid, put more water in it. Toss it on. With that dilution, it will not hurt the grass and it will help kill the algae. So again, when it’s hot, algae grows, just keep your bath clean. The cleaner the bath is, the healthier the birds are. Thanks for checking with Birds & Beasleys!

It’s chilly and rainy outside and new nestlings need snacks. How can you help feathered parents support their new family? Birds & Beasleys owner, Sandy Shull, is here to help you figure out how to feed new parents in your neighborhood.

Hey! This is Sandy with Birds & Beasleys! Today’s question is what do I do about all of the baby birds right now? As you know, it’s cold and wet out there. It’s time to talk about how to take of them.

First of all, Mother Nature has it covered, but you can help a little bit. Let me look up here. Here’s an Osprey nest. We have one we’ve been watching in Missoula, this one is not it. If you get in on the Cornell Labs website, check in to the Missoula Osprey right now. She’s hunkered down, she has her wings over the top of the chicks, she’s repelling all the water, keeping them warm, waiting for the mate to bring the fish so they have something to eat. The big thing is, keeping them warm and dry and with good high-protein. This happens to be one up in Chesapeake, but it is fun. Look at explore.org as another place to look at webcams.

Here, locally what we want you to do is think about suet. So the birds are coming, they’re eating bugs and they’re eating suet. They are looking for high-protein. So, you can either put out something in a suet container, you could put out some mealworms, make sure you have out bird seed. Those adults are looking for food, easy food to give to their babies.

But if you don’t do that, not to worry, Mother Nature does have it covered, they’ll be fine. They’re just going to be hunkered down, so you might not see a lot of action at your feeders because they are keeping their chicks warm. If you have any questions, call Sandy at Birds & Beasleys.