[baccalynnwv]

I have read a few recipes for nectar that say to boil your water and then pour in the sugar for hummingbird nectar. Is this necessary or will just adding sugar to cool water and then stirring briskly do the trick.

Also, is there a certain type of sugar that is better to use? I know artificial sugar is not recommended.

Becca

[Tammie]

Hi Becca

Check out this web site... it will give you all the hummer information you need.

And no, you don't have to boil!

http://www.hummingbirds.net/

[BarbaraM]

Hi Becca - you can either start with tap water, add sugar and boil or heat water and add sugar - but you've got to get it to high heat (boiling) in order to change the sugar and water into the light syrup of nectar.

Sugar stirred into cool water is only partially dissolved and can come out of solution easily and drop to the bottom of the feeder as a solid. If you've ever put sugar into iced tea you've probably experienced this.

Just regular granulated white sugar is what to use. I buy it as cheap as possible by the ten pound bag and store it in plastic containers. Barbara

Just checked Tammie's web referral - I still say the water needs to be heated to get the sugar to fully dissolve and become syrup - maybe not boiled...

[desertdharma]

The literature we got from our local wild bird seed/supply store and the articles in the Albuquerque paper both said to start out the early season (which is April 1 here) by putting out a syrup of 3 parts water to 1 part white cane sugar. They said to bring the mixture to a boil, cool it, and then fill the feeder. I usually make about a quart or two at a time and always store the excess covered in the refrigerator. They said this ratio is heavy on the sugar to help the exhausted birds recover from their long migration. By the first of May or so, the mixture should be made 4 to 1. They also recommend that you empty out the feeder and clean it with vinegar every three to four days (never soap because that can leave a harmful residue). I've been following all of this advice and have had great success. They say that thirteen of the sixteen species of hummingbirds that breed and nest in the US and Canada are found in New Mexico, but we've just seen the black-chinned variety in our yard so far. Certainly not complaining, though!

[crickieheather]

I boil, simply because it's loads easier than trying to get that much sugar to disolve in cold water! I stand there stirring forever! I just boil it, dump the sugar in, stir until disoved, then throw the entire pot into the freezer until it's cool enough to put out. I use the normal 4:1 ratio in my three feeders.

[Starzz]

I do the 4:1 ratio. I first add all the sugar then half hot water (out of the tap) til the sugar dissolves, then add the remaining in cold water.

[KCFoggin]

Here I am thinking that a light simmering boil also serves as a medicinal purpose i.e. bacteria but perhaps it is not needed. It's the way I have always done it though and I probably will not change as I don't like tinkering with success

[Katy Penland]

I've always brought the water to a full rolling boil, remove from heat, then stir in the sugar until it's dissolved, let it cool, then serve. I don't think anybody should boil the sugar-water mixture as that will start turning it from syrup into "light crack" (or "soft crack") stage, which is the first step toward the making of candy if it gets too hot for too long.

BTW, just to see if I'd notice any difference in usage, I changed my last batch of nectar from 4:1 to 3:1, and it's now attracting the Bullock's oriole pair, as well as a male House Finch, today's newly arrived male Hepatic Tanager, one of the two female Brown-headed Cowbirds, as well as the rightful owners, the (still only) four hummers. Think I'll stick to the 3:1 throughout breeding season then switch back to 4:1, concurrent with the natural blooming cycle of the local flowers.

[Curtis Croulet]

No, you don't have to boil. Some people advise boiling to "sterilize" the nectar, but unless you sterilize all of your other equipment, including feeders, and then somehow prevent airborne mold spores from alighting on your nectar, boiling the nectar to sterilize it is futile. Also, the birds contaminate it as soon as they use it. Boiling to accelerate dissolution of the sugar has merit as a concept but is in fact unnecessary. I formerly used a Tupperware "mixing pitcher," which has a plunger, to mix the nectar, but now I simply put water and sugar in a 2 qt plastic pitcher and shake it vigorously. It takes only about 10 seconds of shaking to thoroughly dissolve the sugar.

[humminbird]

Hey Curtis:
During periods of high temperatures, I recommend boiling BEFORE you measure the sugar to kill the fungus that is in the water. It is not absolutely necessary though. I do not find it difficult to disolve the one cup of sugar in three or four cups of water.
I would never recommend boiling it with the sugar already in the water.

Mark
Bastrop, TX

[Tz'unun]

For most of us there are more likely to be contaminants in the sugar than in our tap water, so I usually mix all the sugar with half the water in a big glass measuring cup and microwave it just until it barely begins to boil (usually under two minutes, depending on how cold the water is to start, but it will take longer in lower-wattage ovens). Then I add the other half of the water, iced, to bring it to serving temperature. Being a busy/lazy person, during periods when the feeders need daily refilling I do as Curtis does and mix it with water straight out of the tap in a sealable, shakable juice jug.

[humminbird]

Sounds very familiar Sheri. If the birds are drinking the whole container in a day or two, no need to worry about spoilage.

Mark

[Curtis Croulet]

For me it easily lasts at least a week in the fridge with no spoilage. My hummer activity is a fraction of what some of you see (but I have them all year), so for me 2 qts is ample for three rounds of refills. I see no benefit to boiling.

[baccalynnwv]

Thanks for your replies. I made a 4:1 Saturday and haven't even been home long enough to watch my feeders. Previously I was using nectar from the store but will not be doing that anymore. Seems to me that the hummers I did see stayed a bit longer with my mixture. Made me feel good. LOL.... I only have two different hummers (Male Ruby Throat) that come to my feeder right now. I might go to a 3:1 to see if I can attrack more, and then go back to a 4:1. I also need to get to planting flowers and other shurbs and trees around as well. We just built our house and have no place for the birds to rest or offer protection and they have to fly about 50 feet to their nearest comfortable shelter. I boiled the water, took it off of the heat, and then added the sugar and it seemed to dissolve fine. Now I just need to buy more sugar. LOL....

[desertdharma]

Here's what BirdWatchers.com had to say about the "boiling issue:"

The main reason to boil your water when making nectar is to completely dissolve the sugar, and also to boil out any chemicals that might be added to the water for softening, etc. In a pinch, I have used hot tap water until I could get some made in the meantime. I always recommend to boil the water!

Thank you for your interest in BirdWatchers.com

Debbie Lea
http://www.BirdWatchers.com
800-981-2473

I wrote back and asked her, okay, but WHY does one need to worry about the sugar dissolving completely -- is there some harm to the hummers if it's not? Or does it just make for better consistency? I'm awaiting her response!

[Curtis Croulet]

Is Ms. Lea's comment based upon research, or is it just a seat-of-the-pants fear that there might be something noxious to hummingbirds in ordinary tap water?

[desertdharma]

It'll be interesting to see what her next response is . . .

[BarbaraM]

Originally Posted by desertdharma

Here's what BirdWatchers.com had to say about the "boiling issue:"

The main reason to boil your water when making nectar is to completely dissolve the sugar, and also to boil out any chemicals that might be added to the water for softening, etc. In a pinch, I have used hot tap water until I could get some made in the meantime. I always recommend to boil the water!

Thank you for your interest in BirdWatchers.com

Debbie Lea
http://www.BirdWatchers.com
800-981-2473

I wrote back and asked her, okay, but WHY does one need to worry about the sugar dissolving completely -- is there some harm to the hummers if it's not? Or does it just make for better consistency? I'm awaiting her response!

It's physics - if the sugar doesn't dissolve completely it can go out of suspension more easily and settle at the bottom of the feeder - temperature affects the amount of sugar that can be held in suspension: cold means less sugar in suspension, heat means more sugar in suspension. Boiling (e.g., high heat) dissolves the sugar completely and, I think, changes the sugar crystal structure a bit to keep it dissolved. Depending on the feeder sugar going out of suspension results in either solution that has less sugar than intended (feeders where the hummer accesses the nectar from above) or the thick goopy wet sugar clogs the feeding tube (or simply drips out, also making the nectar less concentrated thatn intended).

Maybe one of our BF teachers can do some experiments with his/her students to demonstrate this - figure out the temperature effects, difference between boiling and not boiling, change in sweetness of nectar if sugar doesn't dissolve completely, whether drip feeders clog with undissolved sugar that leaves suspension, etc.

As for boiling out additives to tap water - ?? Some of additives (chlorine?) might gassify (sp.?) and blow off but seems to me the salts added for softening would get a little more concentrated. Barbara

[craig whitmore]

For 50 years I've been running 4-1 by volume. Using warm tap water to aid solution, and cleaning feeders when they got dirty, not before. Have not had a single complaint.
Tip. 60% of hum bird diet is insects. No protien in sugar. Place a half an orange peel or other fruit below feeder. In a few days, if youre lucky, you'll have fruit flys. When the birds hover at the feeder the air from their wings stirs up the flys and you will have a field day watching them zap the flys.

Craig

[humminbird]

Originally Posted by BarbaraM

It's physics - if the sugar doesn't dissolve completely it can go out of suspension more easily and settle at the bottom of the feeder - temperature affects the amount of sugar that can be held in suspension: cold means less sugar in suspension, heat means more sugar in suspension. Boiling (e.g., high heat) dissolves the sugar completely and, I think, changes the sugar crystal structure a bit to keep it dissolved. Depending on the feeder sugar going out of suspension results in either solution that has less sugar than intended (feeders where the hummer accesses the nectar from above) or the thick goopy wet sugar clogs the feeding tube (or simply drips out, also making the nectar less concentrated thatn intended).
Barbara

Again, I have never had any trouble getting one cup of sugar to disolve in four cups of water even at room temperature with vigorous stirring. I still think the mould is a greater concern than the sugar crystals.

Mark
Bastrop, TX

[Tz'unun]

In a pinch, I have used hot tap water....

NO!!! Please don't use hot tap water for yourself or hummingbirds! Hot water leaches lead from plumbing and fixtures, and drinking or cooking with hot tap water could lead to lead poisoning. Skeptical? Here's a quote from the Centers for Disease Control online Q&A on lead (http://www.cdc.gov/lead/qanda.htm):

"In all situations, drink or cook only with water that comes out of the tap cold. Water that comes out of the tap warm or hot can contain much higher levels of lead. Boiling this water will NOT reduce the amount of lead in your water."

Barbara's correct that the salt added by common household water softeners, as well as most of the other chemicals in tap water such as chloramines, would be concentrated rather than removed by boiling, so Ms. Lea got that wrong, too.

But there seems to be some confusion on the physics/chemistry issue. Sugar doesn't go into suspension in water - it goes into solution (dissolves). Boiling, or any other method that causes the sugar to dissolve completely, doesn't change the sugar crystal structure - it destroys the sugar crystals as the water molecules strip sugar molecules from the crystals' surfaces until they're gone. What I think Barbara's trying to communicate (correct me if I'm wrong, please) is that undissolved sugar "seeds" the solution and tends to promote regrowth of crystals, something cooks are aware of when making candy (you want seed crystals when you make rock candy but not when you make fudge). The sugar solutions commonly used in hummingbird feeders aren't super-saturated, as many candy recipes call for, so the sugar in them tends to remain in solution unless evaporation increases the concentration (which shouldn't be a problem if you're not making the solution too strong and you're changing it regularly) or extreme cold decreases the saturation point (and it would probably freeze first).

As usual, I'm with Mark on this - no problems with sugar recrystalizing in my feeders whether I boil (microwave) the solution or not. The only difference is Arizona's low humidities and high winds, which can evaporate enough water from a saucer-style feeder to turn ordinary feeder solution into a gooey syrup or even "rock candy." This is one reason I tend to make my feeder solution a little weaker during the windy spring/early summer dry season.

60% of hum bird diet is insects

Craig, I'm interested in your source for this figure.

[Curtis Croulet]

I guess I need to amend my previous statements: I've had problems neither with spoilage nor with recrystalization of sugar when using plain tap water to make my nectar. Dump everything in a 2 qt pitcher and shake vigorously. Refill the feeders at hand and store the rest in the fridge. In fairness, I should add this qualifier: my tap water in winter runs around 52F, in the 70s during the summer. Those with colder water may have a problem.

[MBP]

We always bring sugar _and_ water to a (very) short boil and add it to the feeder immediately. This is more to sterilize the feeder than the solution, and it works great - if we do change the solution regularly, we do not get any mould growing and we do not need to use dishwasher or bleach to clean the feeder. We usually do this after sunset, so the feeder can cool down until it's time for breakfast!

If we forget the pot on the heat, we will have caramel pudding the next day ...

[craig whitmore]

Craig, I'm interested in your source for this figure.[/quote]


Sheri : Shame on me, I can't remember the source for 60%. At 84 I'm having trouble remembering what I had for breakfast this morning, and yours is a legitimate question. Best I can do is quote from cornell webpage
www.birds.cornelll.edu/bow/ruthum

"In addition to nectar, small insects are an important part of the Ruby-throated Hummingbird's diet. Small flies, bees, wasps, and spiders are taken at flowers, but they are also gleaned from bark or found beside sapsucker's sap wells. At times, these hummingbirds feed by flycatching in clouds of gnats."

Became interested in hummers when Crawford Greenwalt. then president of Dupont Chemical, published his famous photo essay on hummingbirds. This was before the days of offset lithography, and the photographs were actuall Kodak prints pasted into the book. Somewhere between then and now I read the 60% figure and it stuck. Had to be at least 20 years ago as I started feeding drosophila to Costas and Xantus down in Baja California in 1984

Craig

[Tz'unun]

That's my all-time favorite hummingbird book! I don't own the original edition, but the Dover reprint ain't bad. The best parts are the text and black-and-white illustrations of flight, iridescence, etc.

The subject of invertebrates vs. nectar in the diets of hummingbirds has been an elusive one for research, so I'm always suspicious of numbers. Little critters are definitely dietary essential, and hummingbirds spend huge amounts of time hawking and gleaning, but the proportions probably vary widely depending on species, activity level, weather, relative availability, migration/breeding/molt, and other factors. Even if someone pinned a number to a specific case, it would still need additional explanation: % by weight or by volume? with or without water?