![]() Unfortunately, anything more than just sucrose can be problematic for several reasons: This is hummingbirds’ preferred sugar, and they’re capable of digesting it with nearly 100% efficiency.Īlthough many other sweet things contain sucrose, they may also contain other chemicals. Sucrose is a simple sugar molecule, and the main chemical ingredient in table sugar and candy. This means one thing, and one thing only: sucrose. Keep it simple! Just about everything you’ll need: Some sugar, a wooden spoon, a stove, and a pot with some water in it!īecause you won’t be trying to meet all of their dietary needs, it’s worth keeping your recipe for hummingbird nectar simple. Hummingbirds will supplement their diets with visits to lots of other plants ( and you should plant some!), so their lives shouldn’t depend on it. In essence, what hummingbird feeders provide is one more easy refueling station to help hummers along. This can mean thousands of visits to different flowers every day! Extra gas for the tank As a result, they need to feed on nectar every 10-15 minutes. You can think of them as the polar opposite of sloths, whose bodies run super slow to conserve energy.īy comparison, hummingbirds are absolute gas-hogs! Being so small, they also can’t gorge themselves on massive amounts of heavy food. It’s all gas pedal and no brake with hummingbirds. They move fast, they chase each other around, they flap their wings up to 90 times per second. Hummingbirds’ bodies have adapted to an enormously high-energy lifestyle. In this Outdoor Tips post, I’ll walk you through the best recipe for homemade hummingbird nectar.īefore we get to the recipe itself, let’s explore what artificial nectar sources like feeders do for hummers. But what should you put in your feeders? While store-bought nectars might be a convenient option, making your own hummingbird food is super easy. Hummingbirds are a real capstone on any wildlife garden, and you can attract them using native flowers as well as feeders. Additionally, they’re a welcome sign that winter is over in colder climates. These energetic, aggressive, often brilliantly colored birds are a pleasure to watch. We had so much fun watching them & how amazing they were still out & about during the storms.If you live in North, Central, or South America, perhaps you’ve had the pleasure of meeting a hummingbird in some outdoor space. We made syrup the entire time (we run generators when power goes out.) September is about the time hummers start leaving us here in Louisiana & they really feed heavily at this time. We worried it might be dangerous for the birds, but took a vote to keep the feeders up. ![]() Well, when a family member looked out there, we had 30+ hummers feeding, so many it was hard to try to count them all. Our hummers also have hurricane parties! During Katrina (or Rita, Gustav, etc etc, pick one ?), the wind & rain was so strong that feeders hanging under our porch were almost horizontal. I have many bullies too & they will stake out a nearby branch, then chase any other hummer daring to come near “their” feeder. I find hummers pretty much recognize the feeders, so no need. What a fantastic post, Barbara, thank you!!!! Never thought to use pressure cooker for hummingbird syrup! What a time saver, keeps kitchen cooler in the summer & wonderful links to hummingbird info & supplies, WOW! Beautiful yard you have there, too. ![]() I use the same method for cleaning the bottles, and suppose if you wanted to, you could get replacements for the rings at a home-brewing supplies dealer. More than once I have gone to the refrigerator to refill the feeders and found that the syrup already had mold in it- proof that everything needs to be disinfected.īTW, I have found that European style beer bottles- the ones with the ceramic stoppers with O-rings are super to use for the syrup. Also important is to disinfect the bottles the excess syrup will be stored in. I then rinse the pieces very well, changing the water several times. I then scrub all of the pieces with a toothbrush, removing any mold that may have built up. I put all of the parts into a glass bowl of water to which has been added a tiny amount of Clorox. I remove the flowers and then dismantle the thing as much as possible. I take my feeder apart-it’s one of the feeders that have the little yellow ‘flowers’. When the hummers feed they contaminate the syrup in the feeder with bacteria and mold spores. One thing that seems to be forgotten by people making posts here(I confess that I haven’t read them ALL) is that before refilling the feeders they need to be absolutely clean.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |