Don't Make The Mistake Of Using The Wrong Ingredients In Your DIY Hummingbird Nectar

The best of intentions can sometimes end in bad results, and that is the case if you are using the wrong kind of food in your hummingbird feeder. The privilege of seeing hummingbirds coming to our backyard feeders is hard to quantify — they are lovely, feisty, and seem small and fragile — yet they are in fact strong and sturdy survivors. With that privilege comes responsibility. One could argue that the most important of those responsibilities is to provide healthy and properly made nectar (sugar water) for them to feed on. The 4:1 water to sugar ratio is important to get right, but is just the starting point in making safe and nourishing nectar. For one thing, you don't want to use anything other than plain, refined white sugar.

But before we get to the details of avoiding the wrong ingredients in your DIY hummingbird nectar, there are a few more things you can do to help protect the hummingbirds coming to your yard. To start with, place your feeder in an open section of the yard. That will provide an obstacle-free path to their food and also give them ample escape room should a predator arrive. Plant tubular flowers full of nectar to provide additional food sources. Keep your feeder from overheating by moving it to more shade in extreme hot weather. (Some folks wrap aluminum foil around the feeder to keep it cooler.) Another overlooked item to add is a bird bath – hummingbirds actually use them frequently.

The ingredients for a proper nectar are 1 cup of pure granulated sugar to 4 cups of water. The water needs to be good quality, but tap water is just fine unless there are water quality problems in your area. (If you wouldn't drink the water, why would you want your hummingbirds to drink it?) 

And this is important: do not use other types of sweeteners. No brown sugar, molasses, and especially no artificial sweeteners! Some folks are tempted to use honey in their feeders, but that is a mistake. Although a natural source of sugar, there are other components in honey that the birds don't need. The problem with these alternative sweeteners is that they either do not provide the calories that hummers need, or they can lead to increased bacterial and mold growth in the nectar. Red dye is another thing to avoid. It's not necessary and there are indications that it can actually be harmful to our tiny friends. Just say no to red dye.

Another detail that comes up is should you boil the nectar mixture or not? Boiling is not required as long as all the sugar granules are dissolved in the water. But bacteria and mold growth is a problem with hummingbird feeders, so boiling the nectar mixture for two minutes will kill any potential mold and bacteria in the mixture. Starting out with a pure nectar can slow the growth of any unwanted bacteria and mold, which is dangerous to hummingbirds.

Along with using the correct ingredients in their proper proportions, there are a couple more things you must do to keep these little dynamos safe. You'll need to empty and clean the feeder at least twice a week to remove mold and bacteria. Do it more often in exceedingly hot weather as the warmth promotes the growth of those toxins. There are also ways to keep bees away from your feeder. (They seldom harm the birds, but why risk it?) There are seemingly harmless insects that you should keep away from your feeder — specifically, the praying mantis. 

Placing the feeder in an open area will give the hummingbirds a wide view of the yard in order to spot predators. It also allows the speedy little birds unlimited escape vectors to take advantage of. But if you find spider webs around your yard, consider keeping them in place. Hummingbirds use the spiderwebs to make their nests and they also poach insects from the webs to procure a high-protein food source.

While not exactly threat mitigation, actions like planting a pollinator garden will be helpful to hummingbirds. By planning your plantings to bloom across the entire growing season, you will provide a constant supply of nectar and a hiding place for the insects that hummingbirds feed on. Supplying hummingbirds with safe and properly formulated nectar will help them not only to survive, but to have sufficient resources to breed and raise more little ones. It will also help them to be fully prepared for their migration. Some hummingbirds travel 4,000 miles or more, so it is an epic task.