An ever-growing number of Anna’s Hummingbirds led to a quest to build a bigger, better hummingbird feeder. The Perky-Pet 2 Foot Hummerbar Hummingbird Feeder has a 16 ounce nectar capacity with 22 red flower-shaped feeding ports along the unique horizontal feeder.

Have you ever imagined building a better bird feeder? Or building your own feeder? This is an example of how Greg, the man who invented the Perky-Pet Hummerbar, had a problem we would all like to have - there were too many hummingbirds visiting his feeders. It all started about four years ago after Greg realized he had a lot of hummingbirds to feed, and as a result, a lot of feeders to clean.

“We had a hummingbird feeder set up that attracted hummingbirds, but always had two or three waiting to feed.” Greg explained. “We put another feeder up and that brought in more hummingbirds. Just for fun, we put up a third feeder. We kept putting up more and more feeders and more hummingbirds came.”

The problem that quickly became evident was that filling and cleaning all those feeders was a time drain, but Greg still wanted all the hummingbirds to visit.

“We tried to figure out a feeder that could feed them all at once,” he said, noting there would be a lot less cleaning and filling time involved with a single feeder that served more hummingbirds. That notion was the start of the project where Greg and his son, Steven, would develop the Perky-Pet Hummerbar, a revolutionary horizontal hummingbird tube feeder that permits tens of hummingbirds to feed at one time.

The First HummerBar Models

To build the feeder, the father-son team first had to come up with the right design. Some were discarded along the way but it really seemed to mesh when they dreamed up “a long horizontal tube with a cap on each end.”

“We had some success with that design, and it was the dawn of the Hummerbar,” Greg explained. With the basic idea in his head, Greg explained there was more work to do. “I did about a year of research on hummingbirds – the length of their tongues, calculating angles, and determining positioning. I also wanted to make sure the birds could see over the tube.”

He explained that in many other feeders, the hummingbird instincts kick in and they frequently check for danger because the nectar reservoirs can block their views. With the Hummerbar, the hummingbirds drinking from it have a clear view of their environment.

Other ideas for the multi-hummingbird feeder didn’t make it to the final version. “We made a window version,” Greg said. “We tried making it into a triangle, then a square.” Ultimately though, the final design was dictated by a basic rule of manufacturing, he said. “The easiest way to get it to market was to keep it simple,” Greg explained.

The earliest versions also looked a bit different than the models you can buy from Perky-Pet. One of the first had a stripe of red paint along the top of the feeder. Others had their flowers painted on with puff paint to give them a three-dimensional look. Another version was painted to look like a branch with flowers.

Success!

Ultimately, the final version came together: It was a clear, horizontal tube with stoppers at each end, suspended by cords. The clear tube was the choice so birders could more easily monitor nectar levels, but it ended up having an added benefit, Greg explained. “The clear tube magnifies your view of the action of a hummingbird’s tongue, which darts out 20 to 80 times a second. Now you can really see it,” Greg said.

With the final design in place, Greg said his Hummerbar became a neighborhood hit. “Once we created it, many of my neighbors and friends said they wanted one,” Greg noted. He lives in an apartment complex and has people who like to sit and watch the action.

With that level of interest, he knew he had something special and took the next step. “I went through the patent process. Then I researched bird feeder companies and I knew that Perky-Pet had the broadest penetration in the market.” He also appreciated that Perky-Pet has been a trusted brand in hummingbird feeding since 1958, so he felt confident the company would be the best partner to bring his invention to market. Not long afterward, Perky-Pet and Greg reached a deal on the feeder and the Hummerbar was put into production and debuted during the spring of 2015.

Advice for Inventors

Greg, who works in sales, marketing, and consulting, has some advice for other inventors.

“I’m a real big advocate for inventors to keep advancing the process,” he said. “Focus on the passion of the project and for every cool idea you have, you need to build it. Go to Home Depot and assemble it from the parts you find there. You can do it.”

He added that planning is really important. Be prepared to make dozens of versions, and do it economically. The Hummerbar wasn’t the product of a massive workshop either. “We did it in our apartment and out in the patio,” he shared.

Once your final design is set and you have your patent approved, “Come up with something close and let a manufacturer like see it. The most important part of a new product is to demonstrate the utility of it, and that’s what you have to be prepared to do.”

The patent is absolutely vital as a manufacturer such as Perky-Pet won’t look at designs without a patent in place. Now that Greg has his new hummingbird feeder in production, he’s realized he’s a victim of his own success: “I go through a gallon of hummingbird nectar a day with my 2-foot Hummerbar.”

The Hummerbar Today

Perky-Pet introduced the Hummerbar in Spring 2015 after working with the inventor and the company’s engineers to make it manufacturable. Two versions of the unique hummingbird feeder are now available: The 2-foot Hummerbar has 22 feeding ports, and the 4-foot model has 44 feeding ports. Once the horizontal feeder is leveled, the Hummerbar is easy to fill, just remove its plug and add hummingbird nectar.

The Hummerbar is designed to simulate the angles and depth of the nectar flowers hummingbirds feed at. By mimicking these features, hummingbirds can reach the bottom of the Hummerbar tube with their long tongues.

For more information about Perky-Pet’s Hummerbars, please refer to the product descriptions and order opportunities at https://www.perkypet.com/perky-pet-hummerbar-hummingbird-feeder-2-ft-humbar200

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