Leaving a homemade hummingbird nectar feeder up in autumn will not keep Ruby-throated Hummingbirds from migrating. Hummer migration is stimulated by photoperiod and not depend on your homemade hummingbird nectar, so as days become shorter in fall local hummingbirds begin to put on fat and soon depart for the tropics. Nearly all hummers that stay behind are those that are ill or "genetically inferior," and it's likely they would die in migration anyway.
At most locations in the eastern U.S. and southern Canada, 99.9% of the ruby-throats are gone by 15 October, and adult males don't begin to return until mid-March. Females follow soon thereafter. (Some ruby-throats do overwinter in coastal areas of the southern U.S.)
We suggest you maintain one half-full homemade hummingbird nectar feeder through the winter for as long as you wish, changing the artificial nectar weekly. You may need to bring the homemade hummingbird nectar feeder in at night to keep it from freezing and put it out the next morning when you fill your seed feeders. Some folks even use heat lamps and electric pipe wrap to keep the homemade hummingbird nectar warm.
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