Backyard Sanctuary
Well-known member
What are the acceptable sugar to water ratio for making hummingbird nectar? I have always used 1 (sugar):4 (tap water), but have seen 1:3 and 1:5.
The 1:4 ratio has a long history of safety and effectiveness, but anything from 1:3 to 1:5 is well within the ratio of sugars to water found in the nectar of hummingbird-pollinated flowers. As the other replies have indicated, weaker and stronger recipes can help the birds face different challenges.
1:3 (approximately 23% sugar by weight) is a little closer to the middle of the bell curve of nectar sugar concentration (Nicolson and Fleming 2003, p. 4, Fig. 2A), plus as KC points out it gives the birds extra energy when they're under stress and freezes at a lower temperature for winter feeding. Many hummingbird experts now feed 1:3 all or most of the year.
A 1:5 ratio not only discourages bees, whose flowers typically produce sweeter nectar than those pollinated by hummingbirds, but it may be a healthier choice during very hot, dry weather. Hummingbirds normally get all or most of their water from nectar, but when temperatures soar to over 100º F. (38º C.) even a 1:4 ratio may not provide enough for normal body processes plus evaporative cooling. One summer in the Sonoran Desert, when the temperature was at least 106º in the shade, I watched Black-chinned Hummingbirds drinking from a scummy bird bath right next to feeders filled with fresh 1:4 solution.
Personally, I use 1:3 about 11 months of the year and 1:4 during our early summer dry season when the daily highs are in the 90s to low 100s and humidity is in the single digits. I've caught flak for this flexible approach from the 1:4 "conservatives," the 1:3 "liberals," and the K.I.S.S. crowd, but that's the way it goes. |=\|
I agree with you. During the summer months I will have over 100 hummingbirds. I have 4 water sources in my back yard, 2 of them being fountains. The hummingbirds love to play in the water- drinking, washing, flying thru it, etc. Several will be doing this activity together like in a group. They will also sit on top of the water spout and spin around in the water. They also do alot of drinking from that water even tho I have 15 feeders up. I generally use a 1:3 1/2, then during migration a 1:3, they need that extra energy. During the winter when I feed about 10 or so the 1:3 works very well.
Something else I'd like to mention.....use WHITE sugar (its labeled white sugar) not just sugar that is white.
I find it interesting that people will buy the premade or dry mix from Perky Pets and others that are very costly in my opinion and have ingredients that may not be beneficial to hummers. I can get a 10 pound bag of C&H sugar at Costco for under $5 and save a bundle over the premix or dry mix packets.
I read somewhere not to waste your money buying the C&H organic table sugar, but no explaination as to why not. Probably due to higher cost.
Actually, it's related to Joanna's comment. I have yet to see an organic table sugar that was fully refined to the white stage, which is almost pure sucrose. The residual color comes in part from iron, unnaturally high levels of which can have lethal consequences in hummingbirds (iron storage disease killed most of the captive hummingbirds at the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum several years ago). I buy organic sugar for myself and regular white sugar for my feeders.