Hummingbird Blog

I live in Oklahoma and have been feeding hummingbirds all summer. They are still hanging out, and we’re getting into fall. When should I stop putting out food so they will go south, or do I have to stop at all?
Thanks–I just put up another 16oz or so of food, but I’ll take it down after they finish that off. We are just now getting colder weather, so maybe that will send them along.

well its strange you still have them there, usually they’ve all gone to the south. This is the time i normally i take mine down.

What is the ratio of sugar to water for hummingbird food?

3-4 cups of water
1 cup sugar
Boil for a couple minutes to stop fermentation
Drop or two of red food coloring
Cool
Serve

There is some controversy as to whether or not the dye is harmful to hummingbirds or not. I have never heard that it might be harmful to their beaks, but it is thought that it may cause tumors or may build up in liver or kidneys. There has been no scientific studies (on birds) proving OR disproving these statements ..so I just use plain sugar water with NO coloring. It is actually not needed to attract the birds as the red color on the feeder itself is enough to get them to the feeders, so why take the chance of harming them when the red dye is not necessary. There HAVE been studies done on mammals testing red dyes (with tumors resulting), and some experts do agree that it should not be added when feeding birds.

http://www.paghat.com/reddye.html

No; it won’t "keep." Use only sugar and water, no dye or food color, and never use honey. I found 444,000 hits for hummingbird nectar with Google; try it.

I have sugar and red food coloring. How much of each do I mix to make hummingbird food?

1 part sugar
4 part water

DO NOT USE THE RED….It is toxic to the hummers.