EASY HUMMINGBIRD NECTAR RECIPE
Dissolve one part sugar and four parts warm water in a glass container.
Stir or boil mixture until sugar is completely dissolved. Allow mixture to cool before filling feeder.
Fill your feeder with only the amount you think will be consumed within a few days. If the nectar spoils in the feeder, your hummers may not return to that feeder for a long time, if ever!
The remainder of the solutions may be kept in the refrigerator for several weeks.
|
 Don't use honey in your nectar recipe! A honey mixture can be fatal. Hummingbirds should never be given honey, brown sugar, molasses, fruit juices, bouillon or sugar substitutes.
Sugar substitutes will fool the hummingbirds and their energy reserves can be expended, and starvation quickly ensues.
No protein additives are advised, as gnats and other insects are snatched mid-air take care of any protein requirements for wild birds.
Also be aware that sugar water cannot be used to raise baby birds. |
|
|
 Feeding hummingbirds is a very enjoyable way to observe the smallest of all birds. Tiny as they are, their energy requirements are huge. They are thought to reach speeds of around 50 mph... but to do so, they must consume roughly 50% of their body weight in nectar every day!
A hummingbird's diet includes insects (for protein and fat), as well as nectar produced by tubular flowers. You may be surprised to learn that hummingbirds are not instinctively attracted to the color red. But they learn, while feeding, that red tubular flowers contain more nectar than other colored flowers. Nectar is found in tubular flowers, most that are not red, and hummingbirds do feed from those as well.
When you create your hummingbird nectar, no red food coloring is necessary. It may even be harmful to their health. Just make sure to have red markings somewhere on the feeder (most already do) and this will be enough to attract the birds to your homemade nectar. | |
