Hummingbird Food Recipe
Hummingbird food recipe+ hummingbird feeder= lots of hummingbirds in your
yard to enjoy as you watch them feed on your hummingbird food recipe.
Hummingbirds are one the most popular birds that people try to attract into
their yards. One way to attract them is to plant some of their favorite flowers.
Honeysuckle vines and trumpet vines, butterfly bushes and weigela bushes,
beebalm, tobacco plants, petunias, salvia, coral bells, cardinal flower and
penstemon will all attract hummingbirds.
Or if you don’t want to spend the kind of effort that gardening requires, you
should be able to attract a few hummingbirds by just hanging a feeder or two in
your yard. A feeder is also easy to move so you can bring the birds to a spot
where they will be most visible to you. I like to bring them right up to my
window with a window feeder that attaches to the window with suction cups.
No matter what type of feeder you use, the most important thing is to have a
good hummingbird food recipe mixture to fill your feeder. And to change you hummingbird
food mix several times a week to keep it fresh.
My favorite hummingbird feeder to use with the
hummingbird food recipe, that's easy to take
apart and clean, is the
HummZinger Ultra
Aspects 12oz Hummzinger Ultra With Nectar Guard
It's only
$28.18 and
has several features that makes it well worth the price.
The
HummZinger has
patented Nectar guard tips which are flexible membranes attached to the feed
ports that prohibit entry from flying insects, but allow Hummingbirds to feed as
usual. The HummZinger also has a built in ant moat that will stop crawling
insects from getting to the nectar. It also has raised flower ports that divert
rain.
This mid-size nectar feeder has a 12 oz. capacity and
can be hung or post mounted with hardware provided. It has four feeding ports
for hummingbirds and is made of unbreakable polycarbonate. Easy to clean.
For ease of cleaning and protection from bees,
wasps and ants, this feeder can't be beat.
Hummingbird food recipe
The standard hummingbird food recipe is to make a solution of 1 part white,
granulated table sugar to 4 parts water. To start with you can use 1/4 cup sugar
and 1 cup water. This will make enough nectar to put in a small feeder. You
don’t want to fill your feeders unless you have lots of hummingbirds because you
will be changing the food mix twice a week and if it isn’t all used up by the
hummingbirds it will just be wasted.
If you want to make larger batches of the hummingbird food
recipe, you can put
some in your feeder and store the rest in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Start by boiling the water first. This will make it easy to dissolve the
sugar and help to eliminate chlorine and other things in the water. Once the
water is boiling, stir in the sugar until it is dissolved. and boil for about 2
minutes. After the hummingbird food recipe mix has cooled you can add it to your feeder
and store the rest in the frig until needed.
Don’t add anything else to the hummingbird food recipe. Some have added
honey, but honey ferments quickly and will ruin your nectar. Also there is no
need to add red food coloring. If your feeder has red on it that will be enough
to attract the hummingbirds. There is some question as to what effects the food
coloring might have on the hummingbirds so be on the safe side and leave it out
of the hummingbird food recipe. And as stated before it’s not necessary to attract the birds anyway.
You will need to clean your feeder about once a week. This should be done by
rinsing with one part white vinegar to four parts water.
