Foods That People Supply For Hummingbirds

 

The predominant hummingbird food used to lure birds to garden areas is nectar. You can buy the nectar premixed, make it from a mix, or make up your own from a recipe. Whichever you use, stay away from red colored nectar. The dye is not needed for attraction purposes, and there has been some study that indicates that the dye damages the little birds' kidneys.

Hummingbird nectar is fairly easy to make. Use 4 cups of boiling water and 1 cup of pure sugar. Boil a bit over four cups of water, to allow for steam. Then stir in your one cup of sugar until it is all dissolved. Place it in your refrigerator to cool. If you leave it overnight, this is usually long enough. When the mixture is cold, there you have your hummingbird food.

Pour the mixture into a hummingbird feeder, and anime-kool.com hang it in a quiet area of your yard - they don't like high traffic areas. If you place it near a window, you will be able to watch the birds from there.

A few notes to remember when making home-made hummingbird food:

DON'T boil your water in a microwave. This causes it to come to a boil too rapidly, and may result in burns to the person making the food.

DON'T put hot food into a feeder. This can cause breakage of the feeder and possible cuts to the person filling the feeder.

USE only granulated sugar for your mixture. Do NOT use Sweet 'N Lo, Equal, Splenda, syrup, powdered sugar or brown sugar when you make hummingbird food. The chemicals in the other products can cause the illness or death of a hummingbird. The brand name of the sugar you use doesn't matter - as long as it's pure granulated sugar.

DON'T use Kool-Aid to make your food from. The chemicals in Kool-Aid are not healthy for hummingbirds to drink, and it may result in illness or death.

Hummingbird Feeders to Attract Birds to Your Yard

You can build your own hummingbird feeder with materials you already have around your house.

You can be flexible with the materials in our instructions, and use whatever works best for you. More care must be taken to make the correct hummingbird food (see above).

Use whatever works best for you in the materials listed below. For example, you can paint your feeder in one solid color and add stripes, or you can leave it unpainted. You may choose to use an awl or a drill; you can use whatever paint you have handy if you don't have Krylon plastic paint. Make sure you supervise children in this project.