More Birds Ruby hummingbird feeder review

What it is

Perky-Pet publishes the More Birds Ruby as a 10 oz glass hummingbird feeder with four bee guard ports, an integrated perch design, a built-in ant moat, and construction in glass, plastic and metal, measuring 8.75 inches high by 6.5 inches wide and deep. Retail listings add five integrated perches, a wide bottle opening and a detachable flat base, and a one-year limited warranty.

We have not handled this feeder. Everything above is quoted from published material and cited at the foot of this page — this is what we do instead of testing.

The argument: insect defense that is not an upsell

Bees and ants are two unrelated problems with two unrelated solutions, and most feeders in this price bracket solve neither, leaving you to buy the parts separately.

Ants are stopped by water. A moat is a small cup of plain water between the hook and the feeder, and ants will not cross it. That is the entire mechanism and it works completely, as long as there is water in it. The Ruby has one built into the top rather than sold as a hanging accessory, which matters because a built-in moat is one you cannot forget to buy and topping it up becomes part of the same visit as refilling. See keeping ants out of a hummingbird feeder.

Bees are stopped by port geometry. Bee-guard ports narrow the opening so a hummingbird’s bill and tongue reach the nectar and a bee’s does not. The Ruby has four of them as standard. This is not quite the fitted Nectar-Guard collar that the HummZinger Ultra uses, but it is a real geometric barrier rather than a deterrent, and at this price it is unusual to get one at all. See how to keep bees off a hummingbird feeder.

Getting both included is the reason this feeder earns a review rather than a line in a roundup. Buying a cheap feeder and then adding a moat and hunting for bee guards usually costs more than buying one that came with them.

Why glass, and where it genuinely wins

Polycarbonate clouds. After a couple of seasons of sugar water and UV, a plastic reservoir develops a permanent haze, and the practical consequence is that you can no longer tell clean from dirty by looking. That matters more than it sounds, because the visual check is how most people decide it is time to wash the thing.

Glass does not do this. On a feeder you intend to keep for years, that keeps the honest signal available for as long as you own it. It is the same argument we make on glass vs plastic, where the conclusion is that design beats material — but if you can get glass and the features, as here, you take it.

Ten ounces is also, quietly, the right capacity. Nectar spoils on the weather’s schedule rather than on how much you poured, so a smaller reservoir in an average yard means less poured away every few days. Most of this category is oversized; this one is not.

Cleaning: better than most bottles, worse than any saucer

The flat base detaches and the bottle opening is wide, so you can reach every surface — that is the good news and it is what separates this from the sealed decorative glass feeders we tell people to walk past.

Perky-Pet’s own instruction for this model is to soak all parts in a 50/50 solution of white vinegar and water and to brush the inside with a bird feeder brush. The same page says not to use a dishwasher. Follow that: a port brush on the four bee-guard ports is non-negotiable, because a narrowed port is exactly the geometry a stream of water cannot clean and exactly where mold starts.

Set against a two-part saucer, it is still three components and an inverted jar rather than a lid and a dish. On the every-three-to-five-day schedule that difference is real, and it is why our overall pick is not made of glass. Cadence on how often to clean a hummingbird feeder, method on how to clean one, and the dishwasher question on its own page.

Where it is weak

• It is an inverted bottle. Nectar sits above the ports held by a vacuum, and when the sun warms the trapped air it expands and pushes liquid out. It can drip, and drips are how insect problems start — which partly undoes the bee guards it ships with.
• Glass breaks. A filled glass reservoir on a thin hook in an exposed yard is the one real breakage risk in this hobby. Not the feeder for a windy site — see feeders for windy areas.
• Ten ounces is small for a busy yard. Right for most, limiting if you have real traffic.
• A one-year warranty, against the lifetime guarantee Aspects attaches to its Rhode Island-built line.
• Stock is genuinely patchy. Covered below, because it is the most likely thing to trip you up.

A note on availability, because it is unusual

We check that a product is currently purchasable before we feature it, and this one gave a mixed picture worth passing on rather than smoothing over.

When we looked, the Ruby was in stock and priced on Amazon — which is where our buy link goes — while several specialist and big-box retailers showed it as out of stock or no longer carried. That pattern usually means seasonal supply rather than a discontinued product, and it is a real current listing from a live brand. But it does mean you should check the button above before setting your heart on it, and that if you want one, buying when you see it is more sensible than waiting for a sale.

Who should not buy this

1. Anyone in a windy or exposed spot. Buy plastic. A swinging glass reservoir is the wrong risk to take.
2. Anyone whose main complaint is cleaning time. A bottle plus a base is slower than a lid plus a dish, every time. Buy the HighView.
3. Anyone with a genuinely busy yard. Ten ounces and four ports will not keep up; look at the six-port HummZinger Excel or add a second feeder.
4. Anyone with a serious bee problem already underway. Bee-guard ports help, but fitted Nectar-Guard tips on a no-drip saucer body are the stronger answer.

Where it sits

The Ruby is our “best cheap glass” pick on the glass roundup and on the budget roundup. Against the whole category it is on the main roundup.