Recipe for Hummingbird Food - How To Enjoy Hummingbirds

A Recipe for Hummingbird Food that will flood your yard with hummingbirds

Select your hummingbird feeder carefully. Make sure the feeder you choose:Who said sugar is bad for you? Hummingbirds would disagree! These small, high-energy birds flit from flower to flower looking for nectar. You can get a bird’s-eye view of them by adding a hummingbird feeder close to a window in your house.

– has sufficient capacity for the number of hummingbirds in your area. A dish feeder has limited capacity but may be enough if you have a small number of hummingbirds visiting you.

– is made of heavy glass and sturdy plastic. You will want to test it’s sturdiness with the “drop test” … can it survive a 5-foot drop onto grass?

– has replacement parts available. Hummingbird feeders are constantly exposed to the weather and parts will become brittle as they age. When this happens you’ll have to replace those parts or the whole feeder.

– is easy to take apart for cleaning. Hummingbird feeders should be cleaned frequently. This means every other day during hot summer days and at least every 5 days at other times of the year. Ideally, cleaning involves soaking all the feeder parts in a mild bleach solution (10 parts hot water to 1 part chlorine bleach). Be sure to rinse it thoroughly before filling it again.

Recipe for hummingbird food:

Once you’ve made your selection, you are ready to use the recipe for hummingbird food to make the sugar water that is the hummingbird’s food of choice. It’s quite simple: add 1/4 cup of white granulated cane sugar to each cup of boiling water.

You must boil water (stovetop or microwave) and then add the sugar and stir until dissolved. Boiling helps dissolve the sugar and kills off things that may make the sugar water spoil faster. The recipe for hummingbird food must be cool before you add it to your hummingbird feeders!

The sugar water can remain in your refrigerator for 2 weeks. However, it spoils rather quickly outside in the hummingbird feeders. This is why it is important that you replace it (and clean the feeder) every 2 days throughout warm weather and at least every 5 days the rest of the year. You can usually tell when you’ve waited too long and the sugar is becoming spoiled; it will start to cloud.

Why do you usually see a red liquid in hummingbird feeders? Some people like to add a touch of food coloring to the sugar water. It is not necessary to do this and is more for your pleasure than the hummingbird’s.

What you do NOT want to do is use any other form of sugar in the hummingbird food: not molasses, not brown sugar, not honey, not artificial sugars. These do not provide the same resemblance to nectar that white granulated cane sugar does.

If you decide to put hummingbird feeders in your yard, please keep them full and clean. The hummingbirds will get used to finding a food source in your yard and, when natural nectar resources are hard to find (e.g. frost has killed off the flowers), they will come to you for food. Think of them as one more mouth to feed from now on.

C.J. Westrick has a website (http://www.OutdoorDecorAndMore.com) dedicated to articles about garden decor and landscaping and another website (http://www.TheGiftBearer.com) with products for home decor and garden decor.

_________________________________________________________

Now that you know the recipe for 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 recipe from bees ants and wasps.

My favorite choice of hummingbird feeders to use with the recipe for hummingbird food is

Aspects 12oz Hummzinger Ultra With Nectar Guard

It’s inexpensive 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.

To keep hummingbirds coming to your yard and using your feeder you must maintain and keep your hummingbird feeder clean. Your hummingbird nectar will eventually have to be changed. How often, depends on the weather. Below is a link that will tell you how to determine when your nectar needs to be changed. It will also tell you how to clean your feeder. Click on the link to read the article. How and when to clean a hummingbird feeder.

Here is a good set of hummingbird feeder brushes to help you clean your hummingbird feeder.

Hope you enjoyed this article on Recipe for Hummingbird Food.