Husband’s Homemade Hummingbird Food Recipe and whatnot…
Mornin’ all!
I’ve been getting a lot of questions about hummingbirds, and just dug up this great link with lots of information about them on the Bird Watchers Digest website. Great site, BTW!
I also got questions about Husband’s Homemade Hummer Food, so he shared his (very easy) recipe with ya’ll:
Boil a quart of water and mix in one cup sugar, stir until dissolved. Let cool until you can put your finger in it. Pour this into feeders, hang the feeders in a protected spot away from pets, and stand back! Our feeders each hold one quart, but we only fill them halfway each time. We change them twice a week or refill sooner if needed, and it’s important to keep mold and other gunk like that from growing in the sugar water. Every week or so in the high hummer summer season, we clean the feeders using just a few drops of vinegar in a lot of water, scrubbing with a brush if necessary. Then rinse very well–you don’t want the birds getting any of the bleach.
We don’t use red dye in our food; it’s just not necessary, and I’d hate to harm the birds. Most feeders either have red tips on the ends of the tubes, or red disks at the bottom, and these are sufficient to attract the birds.
Growing lots of red flowers and vines and things that have red blooms will also help you attract hummingbirds. And then there’s the blooming rosemary bush, which they love!
Until next time, go attract some hummers to your garden, and
dig it!
bobbi c.
All text and photos are copyright ©2007 by Bobbi A. Chukran. All rights reserved.
homemade hummingbird food, hummers in the garden, red flowers attractive to hummingbirds, rosemary
March 27th, 2007 at 8:43 am
Yeah, we found that the red on the feeder itself was plenty. Not only that, but the colored water fades in the sunlight pretty quickly
March 27th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Right! And if you have red blooming plants, then you’re all set!
bobbi c.
April 27th, 2007 at 9:54 am
[...] As well as the food we put out for them, we also grow native plants that they love. One of my favorites are the native salvias. Almost indestructible plants, they bloom off and on all year here, and the bright red and hot pink blooms attract the birds. [...]
May 10th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
like roses?