Hummingbird Nectar Recipes
If you’re searching for hummingbird nectar recipes, I’m sorry to say, you
won’t find many hummingbird nectar recipes to choose from.
Here you will find "the hummingbird nectar recipes." It’s a simple recipe
containing only white granulated table sugar and water, in a 4 part water to
1 part sugar ratio. That’s it, there’s nothing more to it!
Don’t add anything else to it or make any kind of substitutions of any
kind. Other people have tried different additives such as brown sugar or
honey, or sugar substitutes, or adding red food coloring. These will all
cause problems and should be avoided.
Honey will ferment too quickly and cause a fungus that will harm your
hummingbirds. Sugar substitutes have no calories and will starve the
hummingbirds, that are needing high calorie nectar for energy. Red food
coloring isn’t needed to attract hummingbirds if you use a red feeder. Some
people even say the food coloring is harmful to hummingbirds, so don’t use
it.
Just good old granulated white table sugar and water is all you need.
Hummingbird nectar recipes how to:
1. Pour the water and sugar into a pan on your stove top and heat to
boiling. Stir the hummingbird nectar while boiling , to dissolve the sugar.
2. Boil for about 2 minutes then remove from the heat.
3. Let the homemade hummingbird food cool before adding to your
hummingbird feeder.
If you make more than you need to use at one time, you can store the
excess hummingbird nectar in the frig for up to 2 weeks.
It’s good to make a larger batch of nectar and have some left over,
because you will be changing the nectar now and then to make sure the nectar
in your feeder is always fresh. Hummingbirds won’t come to a feeder that
doesn’t contain fresh nectar.
Below is a chart that will tell you how often to change the nectar, so
that you can be sure it is always fresh nectar that you have in your
hummingbird feeder. How often you have to change the nectar will be
determined by how high the outside temperature reaches. The cooler the
temperature, the longer your hummingbird food will last before fermenting.
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
If your nectar ferments before you get it changed, mold can start to grow
in the nectar and on your feeder also. So try to change the nectar according
to the time table in the chart. Once the nectar begins to look cloudy, it is
time to change it.
Each time you change the nectar, you will also need to rinse it out
thoroughly with hot water to help keep your feeder clean.
If your feeder does become moldy, you will have to soak the feeder in
bleach water to kill the mold and to sanitize the feeder.
Make a bleach solution by adding 1/4 cup bleach to 1 gallon of water.
Soak the feeder in the bleach water for an hour. Remove the feeder and rinse
the feeder with running water several time to remove all traces of the
bleach water, before refilling with fresh hummingbird food mix.
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You may also need to brush the feeder with special hummingbird feeder
brushes to remove the dead mold. They come in shapes and sizes especially
suited to get into all the little nooks and crannys where mold might be
hiding. |
You can make your feeder cleaning a lot easier if you first start with a
feeder that’s easy to take apart and clean. Here is the perfect hummingbird
feeder you should have.
My favorite feeder to use with my hummingbird
nectar recipes 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.
Now you know how to mix hummingbird nectar
recipes, when to change you nectar and
how to clean your feeder. All that’s left is hanging it in your yard and
waiting for the hummingbirds to find it, which shouldn’t take long.
Enjoy your hummingbirds and I hope you enjoyed
this article on hummingbird nectar recipes.
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