
- #Homemade hummingbird food how to
- #Homemade hummingbird food windows
Another option is to use vaseline to keep ants off your feeder. Readers have mentioned adding some oil to the water helps as well. When hung above the feeder and filled with water, these traps form a moat to prevent ants from accessing the hummingbird food. Luckily, there’s a simple and clever ant trap made specifically for hummingbird feeders.
What about ants? Those determined little critters will find a way to get to your hummingbird food no matter how high you hang your feeder. #Homemade hummingbird food windows
Where should your hummingbird feeder be placed? It’s best to hang it near some trees and away from windows and any busy activity. If the food starts looking cloudy in the feeder sooner than that, it’s time to swap it out. How often should hummingbird food be changed? It’s recommended to change and clean your hummingbird feeder at least once a week in cooler months, and twice a week during the warm summer months to avoid mold (even every 1-2 days!). It’s not necessary, and any extra ingredients could potentially harm the hummingbirds.
Will red food coloring help attract more hummingbirds? Please don’t add any food coloring, honey, brown sugar, or anything else to your hummingbird food. Maybe if you plan on making extra food to store in the fridge, or if your water quality isn’t the best, then that’s when you should consider boiling your water. It’s also important to note only refined sugar (white granulated sugar) should be used in this recipe.
To boil or not to boil? According to, simply using really hot clean water is enough to dissolve your granulated refined sugar. Honey, when mixed with water, spoils rather quickly.Hip tips for making your own hummingbird food: A 2-liter bottle of pre-mixed nectar, for example, may be priced at 23 from an on line source, with another 12 for shipping and handling. Prices range from costly to very expensive, whether sold as a dry mix, concentrate or ready-to-use liquid. You should also avoid using honey as a sweetener in your hummingbird food recipe. Commercial hummingbird food is also expensive compared to making your own. Also, do not use brown sugar, agave syrup, molasses or any artificial sweeteners. Do not use organic (raw) sugar as this has iron in it which could be harmful to the hummingbirds. You can use just simple white sugar for your hummingbird sugar water ratio. You can store any of this unused DIY hummingbird food in an airtight container in the fridge. Let this hummingbird feeder mixture cool on the counter and then fill the feeder with it. Stir until the sugar is dissolved and the water is clear. On hot summer days, you can even try a 5:1 or 6:1 ratio. This hummingbird feeder recipe has you bringing the water to a boil and then slowly adding the sugar. The standard ratio for a hummingbird nectar recipe is 4:1, but 3:1 works great although it may spoil a bit quicker. It is just a sugar/water ratio of 1 to 4. This is a very quick, easy and simple process. It is much simpler, easier, healthier and cheaper to just make my own with this hummingbird feeder recipe. It may contain additives or coloring that could be harmful to the birds. I don’t like to buy the pre-made hummingbird food in the store. Now, you just need some food to put in the feeder. They are usually brightly colored to look like a flower to the bird to help attract them. This is good because, amazingly, hummingbirds eat half their weight each day in nectar. #Homemade hummingbird food how to
Check out my post about how to make your own DIY hummingbird feeder!įeeders are wonderful for the birds because it can give them a steady source of food at times when the flowers aren’t blooming as much. You can also make your own feeder pretty easily. You can buy fairly simple and inexpensive ones like this, or more fancy ones like this. Hummingbird feeders are great things to have. Those specially shaped beaks are perfect for extracting the sugary sweetness of a flower! So we just need to make our own DIY hummingbird food in order to attract them. Hummingbird food is pretty simple, while hummingbirds get most of their nutrients from eating insects, they get all of their energy from eating the nectar of flowers. This is as easy as learning how to make hummingbird food. But, the reality is, hummingbirds are actually very easy to see as long as you know how to attract them. I have inherited that wonder from her and my heart starts to beat a little faster when I see hummingbirds as well. It is almost like witnessing a unicorn or a fairy, except these beautiful creatures actually exist! I think that she felt like there was something very special, almost magical about catching a glimpse of these birds flying by our window. When I was young, few things made my mother more happy than looking out our kitchen window and seeing a hummingbird flying around. Now it is easier than ever to attract these beautiful birds with this homemade hummingbird food recipe. Hummingbirds are so much fun to see flying around in your backyard.