Well I came up with a sturdier longer lasting idea for an umbrella over one of my feeders that is out in a less protected area and thought I would pass it along for others that may need a shelter from the sun or rain. I bought a 99¢ generic red frizbee. I cut a slit in the center to accomodate the feeder's hanger and it works like a charm. I needed a slit for this particular feeder but you may just need a round hole in which case depending on the size of the hole you could use a heated ice pick or drill a small hole the size needed. I was able to rest mine on the top of the feeder and it stays nice anc flat depending on the feeder you may have to use a hook and eye or the type of set up in the picture of the ant moat that Bob posted a few days ago.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
Thanks Sarah but I think it is my cheap or should I say frugal side that causes me to come up with these whacky ideas.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
cheri (no login)
Re: Humbrella idea
May 23 2006, 9:38 PM
Don't know if you have the equivalent of what we call $ dollar stores here Penny, but same difference. I really do hate supporting the cheap plastic industry but some of these items work so well Cheap plates make amazingly handy rain baffles as well as do plastic balls cut through the middle.
Amazing water drippers and bird feeders are also free for the making from recylcled plastic goods. I just wish someone out there smart enough to know better could create these things out of a biodegradeable material. I have recently heard of plastic 'like' food packaging containers made of corn cellouse of all things!
Cheri
(aka hummymummy, vancouver, b.c. canada z8)
Good point Cheri. When I mention I'm disturbed that the plastic rap on my five minute meal sandwich will be around nearly forever people look at me like I have two heads, which is true. And now folks are too good to drink water from the tap, let alone reuse those water bottles which the news warns may have germs. What'a sad waste.
Cheri,
Yes the dollar stores are as common here as the petro (gas) stations used to be...one on every corner it seems. I am the world's worst at not supporting the the cheap plastic and import industry if I can come up with something I already have around the house which is what I have been doing for a couple of years but finally wore out my other hummbrellas or I should say the wather findally took its tole this spring. So I was forced to make a small purchase. Yes I do recycle milk jugs, water bottles and other plastic containers for watering plants, holding fertilizer and aspirin water solutions, winter sowing seeds, potting up seedlings, using as hot caps for young plants, storing bird seed, etc. Our area does do recycling so anything that I can't reuse does go to the recycling center. I was using the water bottles to store nectar but some people just don't read the note I put on the bottle so I had to buy a special hot pick water bottle for nectar.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
Looks great Penny! I'd have to add a little matching ant moat(the ants are already all over my feeder) I like the whirly hanger as well.
Cheri
Aaka hummymummy, vancouver, b.c., canada z8)
Thanks everyone. I think I like it better than the old one.
Cheri before the tree died I had a terrible problem with ants getting on that feeder and I just used contruction adhesive to affix a aerosol paint can lid or a tuna fish can to the top of the old humbrella and filled it with water. Now that the tree is dead...no more ants. The hanger is just 16 or 18 gauge copper wire that I get at the hardware store to make all my own hangers and S hooks. It runs about 25 ¢ US per foot (30.48 centimeters). I can make a lot of plant hangers and hooks for under $5.00 (US)
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
(Select Login sarahbn) Feathered Friends Moderator 2005
It's off to Home Depot for 16 guage copper wire in the AM. Much more thrifty than those expensive hangers from the garden center. Was just thinking that in my craft box I have some red beads I could put on there too.
Penny - now THAT is clever! And it makes a great hummer "beacon" to!
Jenny
SE PA USDA Zone 7
AHS Heat Zone 6
Sunset Zone 32
(Login birdlegs1) Feathered Friends Moderator 2005
Re: Humbrella idea
May 24 2006, 8:29 PM
That looks sharp as a tack Penny.
A couple of years ago I bought 4 hard plastic plates at kmart at the end of summer, 4 for for $1.00. I did the hot nut pick poke, and put florist wire through the hole. The only problem with the way I did it was the plate would flop in the wind. Hummers would feed, and then try to figure out how to get some nectar out of the plate.
OMG! Y'all are just too funny. I didn't think it was that great but a lot cheaper alternative to buying one already made LOL! I actually considered not posting the picture b/c I figured y'all would think it was really dorkie. It is just an inspiration to get you all using what you may have lying around collecting dust and turning it into something you can use.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
(Select Login sarahbn) Feathered Friends Moderator 2005
Thanks Penny!
June 2 2006, 7:15 PM
As luck would have it we had a cracked red frisbee hanginging around although it doesn't look as nice as yours or Bobky's it serves the purpose! He it is
You may have started a new career for me. After seeing your copper wire hanger, I've now got one designed for some copper rod, copper wire tendrils, and copper leaves. I'll see if I can construct it now. That could be my downfall.
Annie
dogladybarks (Login dogladybarks) Hummingbird Member 2006
Great idea, Penny. My "Sasha" will be out her plastic frisbee"...msg
June 3 2006, 1:34 PM
and will just have to do with her fabric frisbee and flying squirrel toy (same principle as a fabric frisbee) which are better, and won't hurt her mouth, when catching!
Yesterday and today, I would need a golf-sized humbrella with these tremendous downpours of rain. Didn't bother to put out the feeder, as the feeding stations would have had more water, than nectar, which I made last night.
Sue,
I actually have a regular sized umbrella over one of my feeders that is hanging on a shepherd's hook. I just bungied it to the pole of the hook and one of my hummers loves it. Dhe sits on the feeder for the longest time between slurps.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
I am so glad I was able to offer a useful idea back to everyone that has given me so many good ideas and info over the years. I finally had to hang up my ant mots this week end as they have come out of the woood work with a vengeance and I noticed that they hummers would not use a feeder with ants on it.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
Thanks Penny - Here is a slightly different adaption.... Dr JB made it easy for us. Walgreen's had old 'flying disks' on sale so I bought two and put them to work on the JB's. Looks like it might shade the nectar a little and keep the rain off, and at the same time--calling all rubies. They are in the area but haven't seen one yet.
Well done Al. Hey and when the sun fades the flying saucers they take spray paint very easily. I just rub them down with a piece of sand paper and then spray.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
Pam I can get pictures but not good ones of my hummers as my camera doesn't have a zoom ....well it does but it is a built in feature and you can zoom in but when you view the picture it doesn't look any different than it did before you zoomed. It is just a Kodak Easy Share so unless you are sitting right on top of the subject the pictures aren't very good.
Fran thank you. You will soon learn that I am very cheap and anything I can make or alter for as little money spent as possible is what I do best.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
These "bump ups" really mess with my mind.
Every time I read one of Stan's old posts I get a lurch, usually followed by a few tears.
I suppose one day I'll get used to it, maybe even learn to appreciate them as mementos.
Not there yet, though.
Lizette,
I feel the same way. We actually lost Dog Lady Barks too, I think not long after her last post here. It is still nice to be able to go back and recall some of these posts. There were things that I missed the first time around.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
We looked at Walmart, Dollar stores and there were no frisbees to be found! So we took another
hint from here and got the plastic flower pot bottom saucers to make a shade over the
Hummer feeders.. actualy they look nice. We gave our neighbor one and she was thrilled I tried to post a pic but I dont think it worked.
well it worked but I didnt expect it to take up the whole page gheezopete!
This message has been edited by Aleahh on May 2, 2008 2:52 PM This message has been edited by Aleahh on May 2, 2008 1:46 PM This message has been edited by Aleahh on May 2, 2008 1:45 PM
Nice, Aleahh!! You bought it red or painted it? I've never seen red pots or bottoms in my area. My house is black & white & I've always planted red flowers, even before I started trying to attract hummers. Red pots would look great!! I know they have the Krylon paint for plastics but sometimes it peels off & sometimes it doesn't. Must have to do with what kind of plastic the pot is.
Joni: Yes it was Krylon paint that my husband used. We got it at an Ace hardware. The saucer
is from the plastic pots.. you know the browish ones. He drilled around edge on the underside
before painting it so rain water wouldnt collect.. and along the top a fw times.. it really is neat.
I am glad I saw a pic here that somone posted but we couldnt find a frissbee so we settled for
the next best thing.. Aleahh. P.S. its cold here again in SW Lower Mi in the 40s but I left
the feeders out, its supposed to warm up tommorow some again.
Aleahh
SW Lower Michigan.
Zone 5
(no login)
humbrella ant moat
May 6 2008, 1:50 PM
how bout just turning the frisbee upside down and adding water? best, t
Well the frizbee is slightly concave and if the water shifted just a bit or a bird landed on it it would dump out and if you have a heavy rain it would fill up quickly and be spilling over the sides.
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
I checked a couple stores yesterday and did find some frisbees. Walmart has $1 cheapos, but no red ones(purple is the closest). Walgreens has red ones that would work well. The frisbees at both places have reflective crap all over the top, which I don't want at all. I would need to paint it to cover the shiny stuff, although I'd have to go buy paint. Is there a certain paint that I should buy if I decide to go that direction? Is painting the humbrella perfectly safe, as in paint residue would never drip onto the feeder during rain?
Penny, you say you cut a slit in the middle of the frisbee for the feeder hook. How much rain water pours down through the slit and down the sides of the feeder?
Dan
The one frizbee with a slit is used for a feeder that has a half moon type hanger that goes from one side of the bottle to the other size. The wire is thin so the slit is only about the thickness of a table knife and any rain that goes into that slit just trickles down the side of the bottle. It doesn't get into the feeder.
My other frisbee humbrellas just have a hole big enough for the hook and eye bolt (turnbuckle) and I used a rubber washer first and then threaded the turnbuckle on and tighten it to seal it then I hang the feeder from the eye hook underneeath and use the hook on top to hang it No problem with water on those either.
Yes sometimes the plain red frisbees are hard to find but don't drive yourself crazy doing it. Cheapo spray pain works like a charm regardless what color the frisbee is. Nearly all of mine have some sort of metalic design on top and I just buy a 97 cent can of red spray paint at Wally Warld and spray them. One can will pain a lot of frizbees. You can take a piece of sand paper and rouge up the surface a little before spraying for even better adhesion but it isn't absolutely necessary/
If you haven't seen the link on how to make your own ant moat before here is the link. I use the same basic principle to make the humbrella....Hook, ant moat then frisbee and then bottom eye screw. If you don't need the ant moat then where you see the ant moat you would screw on the frisbee. Here is the link: http://www.network54.com/Forum/439743/thread/1147823739/Want+to+build+your+own+ant+moat-
Penny
Niagara Falls, NY
USDA hardiness zone 6a/6b
Heat zone 4
Sunset zone 39
This message has been edited by Pennytoo on Apr 16, 2010 1:23 PM
,
I tried to post a pic but I dont think it worked. 
![[linked image]](http://banners.wunderground.com/weathersticker/gizmotimetemp_both/language/www/US/NY/North_Tonawanda.gif)
