How do you make hummingbird food? You’ll be surprised how quick, easy and cheap it is to make.
You only need 2 ingredients and about 5 minutes to answer the question how do you make hummingbird food?
The 2 ingredients are easy to find in any kitchen. All you need is tap water and white granulated table sugar.
Don’t use any other ingredients or substitute anything. Just water and white granulated table sugar is all you need.
Don’t add red food coloring to attract the hummingbirds. Food coloring is not good for them and it’s not necessary. A red feeder is enough to attract hummingbirds. Tie a red ribbon on your feeder if it is not red.
How do you make hummingbird food formula:
The formula is a simple 4 parts water to 1 part sugar. This 4 to 1 ratio will closely match the flower nectar that hummingbirds are used to feeding on.
How do you make hummingbird food instructions:
Heat the 4 parts water in a pan on your stove to a boil. As the water is heating up stir in the sugar.
Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and continue stirring the hummingbird nectar for 2 minutes after it starts to boil.
Boiling the nectar for 2 minutes will kill any mold spores in the sugar and will release any chlorine from the water.
Boiling will help your hummingbird mix last longer once it is in your feeder.
When the hummingbird food is done boiling let it cool before adding to your feeder.
Now that the question how to make hummingbird food has been answered, all that is left to do is to keep fresh nectar in your hummingbird feeder.
Over time, heat will cause the sugar in the hummingbird formula to ferment and eventually mold will grow in the nectar. Mold will also grow on your feeder. Changing the nectar regularly will prevent this from happening.
The table below will show you how often to change the nectar based on the temperature.
High temperatures…………Change nectar after
71-75……………………………6 days
76-80……………………………5 days
81-84……………………………4 days
85-88……………………………3 days
89-92……………………………2 days
93+………………………………change daily
To maintain the cleanliness of your hummingbird feeder, every time you change the hummingbird food, wash out your feeder with plain hot water.
Once a month soak your hummingbird feeder for an hour, in a bleach water solution.
Let the hummingbird feeder solution come to a boil and boil for about 2 minutes to remove chlorine and impurities.
Once the hummingbird feeder solution has cooled you can add it to your hummingbird feeder.
Store any unused nectar in the refrigerator for use later on. It will keep in the frig for up to a week.
To keep the hummingbirds happy and to keep them coming to your feeder, you will need to keep fresh nectar in your feeder. Nectar will only keep from 1 day up to a week, depending on how hot the weather is outside.
Heat will cause the sugar to ferment and mold will start to grow. Your nectar will become moldy and mold will grow on your feeder, if your hummingbird feeder solution isn’t changed often enough.
Hummingbird Feeder maintenance:
Every time you change the hummingbird feeder solution you should rinse your feeder out with hot water.
It’s a good idea to rinse your feeder out with a vinegar water solution once a week. One part white vinegar to four parts water.
That’s all you need to do unless you forget to change the nectar and you find little black specks of mold growing in your hummingbird food and on your feeder. If this happens, refer to this link, how to clean hummingbird feeder, for information on cleaning the mold from your feeder.
Well, how do you make hummingbird food?…now you know! And now you know also how to maintain your feeder and how to be sure the hummingbird feeder food is always fresh.
I hope you enjoyed this article on how do you make hummingbird food.
P.S.
There are feeders that you can buy that will make the task of cleaning a feeder a lot easier. Try to find a feeder that is easy to take apart and allows you to get inside the feeder to all those hard to reach areas that will need cleaning.
Now that you know the answer to how do you make hummingbird food, you will need to get a feeder that is easy to take apart and clean, and one that will also protect your hummingbird food from bees ants and wasps.
My favorite choice of hummingbird feeders to use with the homemade hummingbird nectar recipe is
Aspects 12oz Hummzinger Ultra With Nectar Guard
It’ sinexpensive 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.
If you already have a hummingbird feeder, and you want to protect it from ants and other crawling insects, the ant moat below will do the job.
Trap-It Ant Moat for Hummingbird Feeders, Red
Product Description
The first and still the best to protect your Hummingbird and Oriole feeder from ants and other crawling insects. Insert between hanger and feeder and fill with water, providing a barrier to crawling pests. Red color to attract hummingbirds.
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Here is a good set of feeder brushes that will help you remove the mold from the inside of your feeder. |
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