hummingbird feeder nectar

Most hummingbird lovers know how to make the sugar water to be used for hummingbird feeders: 1 part granulated white sugar to 4 parts water. What I do is keep tabs on when my feeder will next need to be refilled, and make a batch beforehand so that I have time to boil the water, stir in the sugar, and give the mixture enough time to cool down again; then it'll be ready to go when I need fresh nectar.

For the one 8-oz. feeder that I keep active now, I only make one batch of nectar at a time - it works pretty well. The birds sip it at a rate where I don't worry about it spoiling before having to add a refill. And I always clean the feeder thoroughly between refills. To make this easier, I prefer the saucer design as opposed to the fountain design which looks and works great, but is much more difficult to clean. And I keep it under a corner overhang facing north and east so the most sun it gets is early in the morning. That way it's protected from the elements and out of direct sunlight during the heat of the day. It's also conveniently in front of a window so the birds can be admired.

One thing that I would like to emphasize regarding the sugar water nectar: please don't add any red dye or food coloring to the mixture! Any red color to the feeder itself should be plenty to attract the hummers. They are such tiny creatures with tiny systems that adding red dye to the nectar, which is unnecessary to attract them anyway, runs the risk of harming them. I've read this advice many times in hummingbird books, yet far too often see photographs of hummingbird feeders filled with red-tinted nectar. It's not worth the risk!