hummingbird nectar life

[porthos]

i'm going to get a new hummingbird feeder. mine is small (a one holer) and leaks. the question that i have does the nectar ever spoil in the larger feeders. some look to hold a pint or more and i was wondering if the sugar water will spoil over time. how long have you guys kept it in your feeders?

[Ozark mike]

Yes it molds can last up to 2 weeks depending on weather

[too many things]

well i make my own 2 lt every other day have a 32oz and 16oz i have to fill every day
a 2lt pop bottle full boiled needs to be boiled very important to kill any bacteria 2 cups of sugar in the boiling water, let cool
add about 8 to 10 drops of red food color,this is not for the birds its for sun light , I had to buy a QT as i make so much
so far this year have used 25lb of sugar make sure you wash the feeder in bleach water once a week
i have around 50 to 75 all the time and have a green one very hard to get her to stay long enough to get a pic

if you need to keep put in fridg they like cold food on hot day

[FISH4BUGS]

It is said the red food coloring is harmful to hummers.
https://journeynorth.org/tm/humm/food_red_dye.html#:~:text=The%20Cornell%20Lab%20of %20Ornithology,and%20suffer%20tumors%20of%20the
We have 3 hummer feeders that get filled every other day.
We make our own sugar water without coloring (I don't think they need it to find it) using organic turbinado sugar.
You would be surprised at quickly how 24 or so hummers can empty 3 feeders.
Morning coffee on the porch surrounded by buzzing hummers is a great way to start the day.
We expect them to leave us in about a week or so. They leave New Hampshire towards the end of August.
DO CHECK ON THAT RED FOOD COLORING THING.

[bullet maker 57]

According to what I've read, red food coloring is not good for the hummingbirds. For the past 3 years, I only get two hummingbirds. I would like to see a few more at the feeders.

[bakerjw]

EGAD... we get a lot of them. Aggressive little beasts.

What most don't realize is that the hummingbirds eat soft bodied insects and spiders for protein.

[redhawk0]

The nectar will only last up to a week. After that, the sugar starts to breakdown and ferment (especially if left in the sun). My wife changes ours every 2-3 days depending on the heat of the day.

The little buggers sure are fun to watch.

redhawk

[Buzz Krumhunger]

When the nectar turns cloudy it’s gone bad. It usually lasts four or five days for us in hot weather.

I have also read warnings about the red food coloring being bad for the hummers.

[LavaTech]

How long your hummingbird sugar water lasts is all about “location, location, location”. My dear departed uncle Bob made his own three gallon feeders... four of them if I recall correctly, and mounted these on pedestals in his front yard. On breezeless days you could watch the “foliage” of the large tree on the east side of his house move constantly from the many hundreds of hummers he supported for decades. It was a real hoot to sit in the yard and watch the beautiful flying clouds of hummers vying for a spot at the feeders. I think he mentioned that he went through 50 pounds of sugar a week.


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[Three44s]

Wow!

I thought my wife had the “market” cornered on hummers but I see she does not by some several of the counts posted here!!

Three average sized feeders here, our highest count on them at one time, seven or eight. No idea how many overall but the feed lasts a day and a half maximum during “high tide”.

She makes her own feed for them, no coloring. As the season rises or is retreating she adds feeders or subtracts them to minimize spoilage.

They are amazing little creatures. Often, when all the feeders are in getting serviced one or another hummer hovers outside the kitchen window to supervise the work while my wife is getting the job done. It is as if it is sending her a message to HURRY UP because “we are burning daylight here!

It amazed us where we live out in the sagebrush, far from trees and water to have such an abundance that we do! We have been here about 15 years now building our home place right out of raw property. One day I was wearing a red shirt and a hummer buzzed me. My wife jumped into action with glee and set up a feeder!

Well that did that! We are on the tour of homes for hummers now!

We never dreamt that we would hardly see them so far away from water and cover! I think they probably utilize the Greasewood that is around here and were around all along.

It’s nice to have our little friends buzz us, they get a big gas out of it and we know they appreciate my wife’s assistance. They really make cats look foolish as well!

Three44s

[talon7825]

can you keep in the fridg

[Winger Ed.]

We use clear sugar water in our feeders.
We change it when it turns cloudy, and that varies with the temp.
In 90-100 degree heat, we only get a couple of days before it turns cloudy, and I've heard it can make them sick.

[LavaTech]

Until we moved from Sunland, CA a few years ago my wife and I hosted a "feeding cloud" of hummers that averaged around 60 birds per feeding at breakfast and dinner times (for the birds, not us of course). There was never any waste, but sometimes a bird would arrive too late and run out of steam before being able to tank up. The ground below the nearby trees that they would invariably descend to had a high insect count, so no worries.

[Tom Myers]

They are amazing creatures. And very smart, if not intelligent.
Every year on my birthday, April 28, they arrive here in Mid-Minnesota. When they arrive, one or two will hover and flit back and forth outside my office window - reminding me to put out the feeder. After the feeder is set up, they are never seen outside my window again until the next April 28.

As an asside. My wife saw me typing this and reminded me that, way back when we had the dairy farm, The barn swallows would also arrive every year on April 28.

Awsome creatures are the birds.

[quilbilly]

We add a 1/2 tsp of the commercial red hummingbird food to about 1/3 cup of sugar to 1-1/2 cups of warm water to put in our large 6-hole glass feeder. That only makes the feeder 1/3 full. No more is necessary. The red color helps me see the level of the food from a distance otherwise the sugar would be enough. It keeps our local hummers happy all year and in the winter, that much sugar will prevent 100% freezing in temps as low as 20 degrees.

[Omega]

I only have two feeders, under the porch roof, one on each corner. For about two years, I had two birds, that I seen, using the feeders at the end of last year they seemed to have an offspring using the feeder too. I use 4:1 ratio 4 tablespoons sugar per cup of warm water, and I only put 1 cup per feeder and change it out once a week or sooner if it gets low. This year I got more, by the use of the feeders, and they almost empty the feeder now and have to change it out a little more often. The aerial acrobatics is getting much more entertaining too, so I know there are more even if I've only seen three at a time.

[Geezer in NH]

We have 2, 1 quart feeders on the front porch that need to be filled every 2 days. We use 4 cups sugar per gallon milk jug, 20 drops of red food dye.

Made gallon # 20 for this year, this morning. One cannot count the birds we have there are so many been doing the same thing for the past 25 years or so.

I call bumpkiss on not using the dye we get return birds in bigger amounts every year.

Here in NH Just above the lakes region our resident birds leave about September 5 day or 2 either way and see many transients from north of us for about a week. My wife has kept track of all our birds for the same 25 years.

[gwpercle]

can you keep in the fridg
Yes . 1 part refined white sugar / 4 parts water .
I bring mixture to a boil to sterilize it , let cool and store in refrigerator .
Refill feeders every other day in hot weather .

Gary

[trebor44]

My thoughts on feeders: when the temps are cooler, a one quart feeder (six ports) will suffice. When it heats up and depending on the population of hummers, I switch to a much smaller feeder (the one with four "ports') and refill it on average every 2-3 days. Rinse before filling and if it looks like mold (or feed getting cloudy) is starting to grow, give it a bleach soak and rinse before refilling. Hummers ARE territorial and the 'alpha' will chase off 'intruders'. The aerial 'dog fights' are entertaining!

[bedbugbilly]

Here in southern AZ we have two feeders up - both 4 hole feeders. All we use is our own mix = 1 cup sugar to 3 cups water - boil - let cool and put in feeder. It doesn't spoil and the hummingbird are at it throughout the day at the one in the back yard and the one in the front. Fun to watch. They really start to arrive at them about an hour before sunset - not uncommon to see 6 or 8 around the feeders. Personally, I think the commercial mixes for "nectar" are a marketing hype. As trebor44 points out - the "dog fights" are interesting to watch when intruders come in to what others perceive as "their territory". They certainly are amazing little creatures!

[Ozark mike]

Im glad all these folks feed these little birds cause i enjoy em alot my grampa used to feed a lot of em they were every where back in missouri great times back then boy do i miss em

[gwpercle]

Im glad all these folks feed these little birds cause i enjoy em alot my grampa used to feed a lot of em they were every where back in missouri great times back then boy do i miss em

Despite it's tiny size the Calliope Hummingbird is able to survive cold summer nights in the Northern Rockies and travels around 5000 miles as they migrate along the Pacific Coast they make a large oval route to their wintering grounds in Mexico via an inland route along the Rocky Mountains...

So the Calliope hummingbirds just might be in your area come summer ...hang some feeders , once they know you are putting out food they will usually return every year .
Gary

[Ozark mike]

We got some rubys and some others just not like the amount back east got 3 feeders and only use 1 or 2 cause the water rots before they use it all

[too many things]

the BS about red food color is just that BS do you KNOW what BS is?
it is 100% SAFE
its not for bird is for sun it will let algae grow
i have done this for years, the red color is BS like the the other crap you read on the Internet
yes its good in fridg they like cool on hot day
dont read internet you will vote for biddy or what ever he is

[gwpercle]

We got some rubys and some others just not like the amount back east got 3 feeders and only use 1 or 2 cause the water rots before they use it all

Some is better than none ... You're pretty far up there
All you can do is just feed the ones you have ...I'm sure they'll appreciate it .
Gary

[Ozark mike]

This is close to where waksupi lives just 100 miles from me
https://youtu.be/HRBQfDwyVBQ

[Burnt Fingers]

Do the little guys a favor.

Change the nectar EVERY day. Also clean your feeders EVERY day. If the temperature is in the 40's you can go two days between changes and cleaning.

Use plain water and organic sugar. There's no reason to add the coloring. https://www.birdwatchersdigest.com/bwdsite/learn/hummingbirds/red-dye-hummingbird-nectar.php

When we lived in Portland we had a year round flock of Anna's. We had six eight hole feeders out around the house. We were going through over a gallon of nectar a week. In the winter we would cut back to four feeders with heat lamps on them to keep them from freezing.

You'll soon figure out how much nectar they can go through in a day and just fill the feeder to that amount.

Birds are tough, yet delicate. I've had a "house chicken", aka Goffin's Cockatoo for over 30 years. My first was wild caught and lived with us for 27 years.

My current owner is six years old and hatched here in the US. He's on my shoulder right now demanding attention.

It takes a little more week to clean and fill the feeders every day but your hummers will love you for it. I've got a soft side for birds. I had a pet duck when I was a year old.