Once you've procured a hummingbird feeder (or even better, a few hummingbird feeders), you'll want to protect your investment and keep your customer happy. A big part of this is making sure that the feeders remain clean. There are any number of ways that it can become dirty - after all, the food going into it is really just sugar water. It's easy to imagine how that can lead to a dirty, sticky mess.

So what are the essential tools of a person bent on cleaning up a hummingbird feeder? It would be possible to go way overboard, but let's just examine a basic list. These should be sufficient for keeping things in working order.

- A dishrag - nothing special, just your average dish rag like you'd use the kitchen or elsewhere around the house. This will be used for the big stuff: cleaning the outside, wiping up any major messes.

- A small bottle brush - any kind of small brush is fine really, for instance a toothbrush. Make sure that whatever brush you use is clean. Do not reuse a brush that has been exposed to any kind of cleaning products or the like. This will be used for the detail work, and any particularly tough spots that need some real scrubbing.

- A pipe cleaner - this is perhaps the most critical piece. The pipe cleaner, not surprisingly, is used to clean the feeding pipes. You need to keep the nectar flowing so that the hummingbirds get the food they need.

Of course, many stores sell small brushes that are specifically manufactured for the purpose of cleaning hummingbird feeders. You may find that these are very effective for doing the job, but the items listed above which you probably have around the house can be just as effective.