• Welcome to BirdForum, the internet's largest birding community with thousands of members from all over the world. The forums are dedicated to wild birds, birding, binoculars and equipment and all that goes with it.

    Please register for an account to take part in the discussions in the forum, post your pictures in the gallery and more.
ZEISS DTI thermal imaging cameras. For more discoveries at night, and during the day.

Feeder Food (1 Viewer)

Beach Bum

Well-known member
For years, I've brewed my own nectar, the normal way. Water and sugar, boil, cool, etc. This year, I decided to be lazy and tried one of the premixed solutions which did not have color. A very common brand. The Hummers have boycotted me, totally. This afternoon, I went back to what works.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with the store bought stuff, which seems to usually have a preservative in it, and the Hummers don't like?
 
I looked at the coloress nectar in the store and I found myself talking to myself after I saw the price. Just stick to the sugar and water. I make a gallon at a time.
 
I bought the red stuff from Wally World back in the spring, because I was being lazy and thought what a gorgeous red color! Looked so pretty in my feeder, but thats all it did. Took me a few days to go back to sugar water and pour out the red mess. Havent looked back since. Lesson learned :-O
 
I've mixed my own for years
For awhile, I boiled, but I've found boiling to be unnecessary if I mix at room temperature of roughly 72f (22.2c) One concession I make, is using a filter for the well water I'm on. When I lived urban, did the same to city water.

I mix varying amounts. Early and late in the season, I bump up the sugar content slightly. During hot, and especially dry weather, I lower sugar content slightly

I use the measuring cup below. I have two types of feeders, one a four ounce, other eight ounce. The red dot is one ounce, by volume...the green dot is two ounces by volume...the cup proportions the white granular table sugar to 4 oz and 8oz feeders respectively.

Normal conditions...I measure to the center of the dot. Early and late in the year, I measure to the top of each dot..increasing sugar a tiny bit.

in hot dry weather, to the bottom of the dot...increasing the water content..because the birds needs for water are greater under dry conditions.

I don't believe in using any dyes.
 

Attachments

  • 20180807_075742.jpg
    20180807_075742.jpg
    85.4 KB · Views: 27
I just got off the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site, and they said exactly what you said regarding proportions, just like the guy on the video. I like that approach better than a single hard fast rule.
 
I feel a little like a heel but I go through a gallon per day of food in my 4 feeders. I use purified water (not boiled) and mix 4 cups sugar to 12 cups water to make the gallon jug. Adjusting for weather at the volume I'm going through just would be a nightmare for me.

Am I hurting my charm, they seem very healthy and happy. (Video link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz20bzosXZc
 
I feel a little like a heel but I go through a gallon per day of food in my 4 feeders. I use purified water (not boiled) and mix 4 cups sugar to 12 cups water to make the gallon jug. Adjusting for weather at the volume I'm going through just would be a nightmare for me.

Am I hurting my charm, they seem very healthy and happy.

Hi S1'
I think you'll be fine.
The 1 to 4 ratio is optimum, the birds shouldn't suffer by sticking to it. I mix in varying ratios, especially during spring and fall movements. I can't produce evidence that the birds benefit. It makes me feel better. You have robust traffic there. Why interfere with known working formula.

I go through 12 ounces of nectar in 2 days, currently...at the tried and true 1 to 4...sugar to water.
 
More questions about Hummingbird nectar. Do all flowers out in nature have the same sugar content in their nectar? And how sterile could flower nectar be if it’s open to everything that’s in the air, such as bacteria, fungus, dust and whatever else floats around? And is it a safe bet that Hummers have pretty solid immune systems to deal with these vagaries?
 
I just got off the Cornell Lab of Ornithology site, and they said exactly what you said regarding proportions, just like the guy on the video. I like that approach better than a single hard fast rule.

Interesting... I had read of the possibility that hummers might not be able to process higher amounts of sugar than the 1 to 4 ratio, that it might cause damage to their livers and kidneys, so I stick to that ratio, generally.
On the other hand, if it is very hot, I will add a little extra water to give them more moisture, which isn't going to hurt them.
 
I feel a little like a heel but I go through a gallon per day of food in my 4 feeders. I use purified water (not boiled) and mix 4 cups sugar to 12 cups water to make the gallon jug. Adjusting for weather at the volume I'm going through just would be a nightmare for me.

Am I hurting my charm, they seem very healthy and happy. (Video link below)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yz20bzosXZc

As fast as you're going through nectar, I would think the purified water would be fine. It won't have the impurities, minerals and possible low levels of bacteria that tap water has. I do use our plain old reservoir water which has a lot of minerals in it so I boil my nectar to be on the safe side.
Even with my four feeders, though, I don't go through as much nectar as you! At peak hummer time (now!), I only have to make a pot of nectar a day, a total of 7-1/2 cups. One of my 4 feeders ALWAYS has a guardian; he keeps the rate of consumption way down at that feeder because he (it's usually a male) chases everyone else off from the guardian post in the nearby shrub.
 
:eat:
As fast as you're going through nectar, I would think the purified water would be fine. It won't have the impurities, minerals and possible low levels of bacteria that tap water has. I do use our plain old reservoir water which has a lot of minerals in it so I boil my nectar to be on the safe side.
Even with my four feeders, though, I don't go through as much nectar as you! At peak hummer time (now!), I only have to make a pot of nectar a day, a total of 7-1/2 cups. One of my 4 feeders ALWAYS has a guardian; he keeps the rate of consumption way down at that feeder because he (it's usually a male) chases everyone else off from the guardian post in the nearby shrub.

I'm so far behind most of you. I have two feeders on our balcony, which is on the top floor of our retirement home building. We sold our house a year ago. I don't go through anything close to the volume you all do, but i've got maybe a half dozen regulars who keep things busy, and they have absolutely no concern when I come out to water plants. They just look at me as if you say Hi Daddy, what are you doing here?
 
:eat:

I'm so far behind most of you. I have two feeders on our balcony, which is on the top floor of our retirement home building. We sold our house a year ago. I don't go through anything close to the volume you all do, but i've got maybe a half dozen regulars who keep things busy, and they have absolutely no concern when I come out to water plants. They just look at me as if you say Hi Daddy, what are you doing here?

People sometimes think it's crazy when I claim that hummers do become accustomed to and recognize people. They learn that you fill their feeders and that you are no threat to them. Birds new to your feeders will be skittish at first but doesn't take them long to decide you're cool and they'll literally come right up to within a foot of your face and check you out!

Yours is also a story proving that hummers will inevitably find a feeder wherever they are located.
 
Warning! This thread is more than 6 years ago old.
It's likely that no further discussion is required, in which case we recommend starting a new thread. If however you feel your response is required you can still do so.

Users who are viewing this thread

Back
Top