I hate cleaning my hummingbird feeders, but I do it every weekend. I’ve read it should be done more often, but my time during the week is so limited that I fail. I tend to not fill them very full so the birds run out of sugar water before they should be cleaned.

This is one of my favorite feeders because it is easy to clean. A little hot water, vinegar and a bottle brush and it’s clean.

On the other hand, this feeder is a challenge. The curve of the neck is the perfect place for mold to collect. The mouth is too small for my bottle brush, so I often resort to stuffing a paper towel in and scrub it around with a bent metal skewer; not fun or very effective.

Today I was studying the problem and wondered what I could put in the bottle that would be abrasive to help clean it. Then I had an inspired, wonderful, fantastic, brainstorm. I poured in a tablespoon of rice along with about 1/2 cup of vinegar into the bottle. I covered the mouth and proceeded to shake for a few seconds. The results was a crystal clear clean bottle. I poured out the contents, rinsed and refilled with sugar water for the birds.

Surely I’m not the only one whose thought of this. A quick Google and I discovered that it’s not an original idea – but I’m still pretty pleased with myself. Maybe this tip will help make your hummingbird cleaning easier!