It Pays to Follow Directions

Yesterday I spotted the first Rufous Hummingbird coming to our hummingbird feeders. It was a good reminder to clean up my hummingbird feeders and get them out for the deluge of migrants that are going to be coming through. Normally I hand wash all of the feeders in mild soap and water. My brother suggested throwing them in the dishwasher. I've never done that because I was too worried of them melting and I was concerned about the harsh soap. I put the dishwasher setting to rinse only with no soap and gave it a try. After the washer ran I checked them and they were not very clean. I then tried it with no soap and put the diishwasher on the delicate cycle. Major OOOOOPS! After it ran when I checked it all of the bottle portions of the feeders had melted. All of them were distorted on the tops and about half of them had warped threads on the bottom so they couldn't attach to the feeder part on the very bottom. I managed to salvage four feeders using some tape. In putting them together I noticed the fairly bold label "NOT DISWASHER SAFE". They will hopefully hold together until my order of new feeders from First Nature comes in. I like their feeders because the wide opening makes them easier to clean. It pays to follow directions. This can be applied to everything in our lives. chris