humming bird feeder
Humming Bird Feeder

Humming Bird Nectar Recipe

Humming bird nectar recipe

Boil some water and leave it to cool off completely. Measure the water after it has been boiled and cooled, since plenty of water will evaporate during this process. Stir down one part white sugar for every four parts of boiled water.

Humming bird nectar recipe without chlorine

I always use boiled water in my humming bird nectar recipe, since boiling with make chlorine evaporate from the tap water.

In most parts of the world, chlorine is added to tap water to prevent bacterial growth, and since we do not know the exact effect of chlorine on Humming birds it is a good idea to remove it, just to be sure. Even low amounts of chlorine might be enough to harm a small Hummingbird. You can also make chlorine escape by simply leaving the water in an open bowl over night. Please note that boiling the water will not prevent the bird food from fermenting. Boiling does kill fermenting bacteria, but new bacteria will always get in to the Humming bird feeder from the Hummingbirds.

Humming bird nectar recipe with distilled water

Distilled water lack a wide range of minerals that are found in non-distilled water, and might therefore be unsuitable for a humming bird nectar recipe since it might lead to electrolyte deficiencies if your Humming birds drink a lot of it. Some people still use distilled water, but add some sodium-free salt to their humming bird nectar recipe. Sodium-free salt will add potassium chloride to the bird food and bring the salt content up to level with the nectar found in flowers. Ordinary table salt contains sodium and is not recommended. The easiest way of not having to think about this problem is naturally to use tap water in your humming bird nectar recipe.

Humming bird nectar recipe with red dye

It used to be very popular to add red dye to Humming bird nectar, and several companies still sell readymade Humming bird nectar with red dye in it. I have however decided to refrain from including any form or dye in our humming bird nectar recipe, since the red dye is completely unnecessary. Once your Humming birds have understood that there is tasty nectar to be found inside the Humming bird feeder, they will not care about its colour.

The colour red can be used to make the Hummingbirds notice a new feeder, but there is no need to colour the actual nectar. Simply purchase a red feeder or put some red stickers on a plain feeder. (Do not tie flying red ribbons from the feeder since birds might become entangled.) You can also place your feeder next to some strikingly coloured flowers that will catch the eye of the Humming bird.

Whether or not red dye is actually harmful to Hummingbirds is still under a lot of debate. Research indicates that certain types of red dye might increase the risk for the bird to develop tumours. More studies are however necessary before we can know for sure whether this is true or not. Since red dye is not necessary to attract Humming birds, and provide no nutritional value, I see no use for including red dye in my own humming bird nectar recipe. 

 

Humming bird sitting on humming bird feeder
Picture by Michelle Lynn Reynolds

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humming bird nectar recipe