Perky Pet 209 "Our Best" Hummingbird Feeder, 30 oz capacity

Comment: I don't have any problems with this and neither do the birds. We fill it with a sugar/water mix rather than feeding the poor little critters a load of crummy additives, they really don't care that the water isn't red and the artificial coloring is suspected of giving them health issues.

Anyway, I just unscrew it from the cap when I want to clean and fill it, then empty any remaining solution down the drain in the yard and wash it off with the hose before taking it indoors (sugar water really attracts dirt in a carpet, ask me how I know).

I have not found it difficult to clean. Once refilled I take it out again, still upside down, and then turn it over before anything significant can leak out. Then just screw it back in to the cap.

Comment: I doubt anyone could design a feeder that is harder to clean if they tried. The sealed plastic base is formed with so many internal nooks and crannies that it is impossible to clean without soaking the base in bleach. It is impossible to get a brush or cloth into the base to remove any debris or mildew. The base should have been fabricated so that it could come apart for easy cleaning. The same can be said for the narrow mouthed glass bottle - extremely hard to clean. The 30 ounce capacity is overly generous if you have one or two birds, because the nectar quickly ferments in warm weather and you end up tossing most of it away. On the plus side, the hummingbirds like the perch.

My advice would be to purchase a feeder that:
1) is easy to take apart for cleaning and is relatively smooth inside, like a two part flat feeder that unscrews (see the Aspects Hummzinger);
2) has a perch;
3) has no more than 12 ounce capacity, or you'll waste the nectar;
4) is easy to hang (the wire on my most recently purchased Perky Pet feeder was too short to wrap around even a small branch).

Comment: I've had this feeder for a while now. The birds love it, and it holds enough you don't need to refill too often.

Comment: Bought this feeder based on the good reviews i read here and LOVE it. And that is mainly because the hummingbirds LOVE it! Lasts a long time till it needed refilling (yay for the high quality LARGE glass container) and love seeing the birds visiting regularly. We already had hummingbirds around each day, but now there seem to be a lot more, everywhere in our garden, not just at this feeder. The birds must be humming and the word is out. =)

Comment: Over the years, we've tried many types of hummingbird feeders and this is no doubt the best we've found. In our rural area, we have a lot of hummingbirds and the 30 oz capacity of this feeder helps us keep up with the hundreds of birds that we feed. We use five of these feeders and still have to refill them at least once a day during the late summer and early fall. We will often have several hundred hummingbirds in our back yard all looking for an opening. It is not uncommon for all six spots on the feeder to be filled at once with another dozen birds hovering around each feeder. We go through about ten pounds of sugar a week keeping them full.

The Perky Pet 209 feeder is reasonably easy to clean and easy to fill and the 30 oz capacity is great.

Just remember, consistancy is the key to keeping birds coming. The feeders need to be filled and available at all times for the birds to become habituated to your feeders. The Perky Pet 209 feeder turns our back yard into a hummingbird show and we love it.