Hummingbird Food:
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Use 1 part sugar to 4 parts water mixture. (example: 1cup white sugar + 4 cups water)
- 1. Boil the water. Measure after.
2. Add the sugar while hot and stir until all the granules are dissolved.
3. Allow mixture to cool to room temperature before filling clean feeders.
4. Refrigerate any leftover solution.
Boiling will kill any bacteria or mold spores which may be present. It will also reduce any chlorine or fluorine that is in the water.
Measuring the water after boiling prevents the amount of water used from being reduced by boiling and therefore making the solution too strong.
Problems with Hummingbird Food Leaking
Allowing the mixture to cool to room temperature before filling the feeder is very important. If the liquid is too warm it will cause the threads on the screw-up part of the feeder to leak.
When filling a nectar feeder, here is another very helpful tip to preventing leakage. As you tighten the syrup holder (while it is inverted of course!) to the base of the feeder, do not over tighten. As soon as you feel it catch, stop! Our natural instinct is to “tighten it up”. You will be amazed at how well this works to stop the most aggravating problem of syrup leaking.
Hummingbird Food, Or Not?
Honey has sometimes been recommended as a substitute for sugar in a syrup recipe. Honey is not a natural food for hummingbirds. It spoils much faster than sugar water. But most importantly honey contains bacteria that causes a fungal disease on the tongue of the Hummingbird and is always fatal!
Other things to avoid are artificial sweeteners, protein supplements and red food colouring. There is no energy in artificial sweeteners. Protein supplements are not necessary as the birds will satisfy this need by eating bugs. The safety of red food colouring for human consumption has been in question for many years. So it is likely not healthy for little Hummingbirds either.
Flower nectar is a sucrose sugar like white sugar. The mixture recommended (1 part sugar to 4 parts water) most closely matches the strength found in flower nectar. There has been no evidence that sugar water causes any harm to Hummingbirds. Only if it has been mixed with too much sugar in the Hummingbird food recipe, has there been evidence of some liver damage.
Hummingbirds will not choose your syrup feeder to the exclusion of natural sources even though it is very convenient. Alfred G. Martin in “Hand-taming Wild Birds at the Feeder” wrote: “I have been feeding sugar to hummingbirds for fifty years and have kept them under close observation. I have never seen one leave a feeder without going directly to flowers to feed on nectar and insects. There seems to be no ill effects from sugar.”
Hummingbirds consume almost half their weight in sugar each day from natural and human provided sources. These tiny birds have a very high metabolic rate. The sugar they consume through syrup feeders will not harm them, if the Hummingbird food recipe is mixed properly. Hummingbirds are extremely active all day in their non stop quest for food so they burn energy quickly.
More About Hummingbird Feeders
- Hummingbird Plants & Feeder Location
- Hummingbird Feeder Maintenance
- Hummingbird Food: "The Energy Drink"
- Unwelcome Guests at Hummingbird Feeder Nectar
