It is so very important to clean your hummingbird feeder bottles! No matter what type of hummingbird feeder you have, keeping it clean is essential both for the health of your hummers and for the maintenance of your outdoor space! Hummingbird feeders left to themselves become a hotspot for mold, ants, and bacteria. Think about it this way – how quickly would you get sick (or just disgusted) if, instead of cleaning your dishes between meals, you just refilled them?
How Often Should I Clean Them?
As with dishes (or any type of regular cleaning), consistency is key. Experts recommend refilling hummingbird feeders every 2-3 days or so, and we recommend cleaning your feeder whenever you refill it. This means there isn’t time for it to get moldy or overly sticky!
Cleaning any type of hummingbird feeder can seem daunting, especially if you think about doing it twice a week. With Sweet Feeders, though, you don’t have to worry about accidentally dumping warm, sticky, leftover sugar water all over yourself, or the waste that comes from needing to throw away excess sugar water that “went bad!“
Thanks to the smaller size of our bottles, chances are they will be empty by the 2-3 day mark, if not before! When you are ready to refill your bottles, follow one of these easy cleaning methods:
The Dishwasher Method
Rinse the bottles with water and run them in your dishwasher. Clean the bottle tips by hand in warm, slightly soapy water, then rinse WELL.
The Hand Washing Method.
Wash both pieces of the bottles in warm, slightly soapy dish water. You can purchase bottle scrubbers from Amazon here,* to help clean the inside of your bottles. Again, rinse WELL!
The Vinegar Rinse Method.
Place the bottles and loose caps in a microwaveable cup and fill the cup with a solution of water and white vinegar (1:1 or 2:1 ratio of water to vinegar). Microwave for one minute, and then rinse off the bottles and the caps. Fair warning: your microwave may get a bit of a vinegary smell for a bit. But this is such an easy method, it’s been our favorite for many years!
That’s it! Pick one of these quick and easy methods, and you’ll find that keeping your bottles clean is a breeze. And remember – consistency is key!!
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