Saw first hummingbird of the year couple days ago. Put out my feeders. The best I have found are First Nature and Wal Mart here carries them. They come apart at the base making them easy to clean, they last for years and are among the cheapest you can find. Instructions always say boil the water for the food. I use cold tap water and mix in the sugar just like making Kool Aid--no boiling, seems to work fine. There are several species of hummingbirds. Some are very territorial. They fight each other at the feeders. I get this type and seldom have two at a feeder, but some species will have several at the feeder at one time.

We've had them for years; one in the front and one in the back of the house. They will buzz each other at times, chasing each other off the feeder. Pretty cool to watch.

I had some up for years. The problem was that other small birds would rob the feeders, leaving the hummingbirds with little or nothing. Suggestions?

The trick is to use multiple feeders. Less dogfights. 6ft off the ground or higher works well for me. Flower nectar is not boiled so I don't boil my sugar nectar. I think they like it better when it has fermented a bit. Late season last year I left the feeder out long after the hummers had left for Mexico. The nectar had gone pretty ripe. One day I saw over 100 bumble bees covering the feeder. Many were dropping to the ground and appeared dead. At first I thought they had been poisoned somehow until I saw a few apparently come back to life and eventually fly off erratically. Then I realized they merely passed out from alcohol intoxication. I guess humans aren't the only species that likes to get hammered.

I've had squirrels get pretty damn drunk on fermented humming bird sugar water!
Thats a sight!