A Gardeners Forum Forums General Discussion Landscape trials and triumphs Butterfly and Bird Gardens hummingbirds...

hello everyone,

how s everyone,it s been a litttle while since i ve visited here..omg did it ever change..bill you did a good job exept it ll get a little used to....well i ve got a question about humingbird s nectar..

the other day i was at the store and ecides i want tpo put a humingbird feder right away, early so they ll get use to our backyard and will make an habit out of coming here to feed, well could you believe it..every humingbird feeder didn t provid the nectar to put in the thing.. can someone tell me of a good home made one for them as i can t find any nectar anywhere..this is so ridiculous to be able to buy the feeder but not the nectar,i m starting to be a bit annoyed now about that...so please if you know a good recepe please tell me .

Thanks in advance.

Crazy Franny.

1 cup sugar(granulated) to 4 cups water. Mix well
You'll need to let the water set for 24 hours if its chlorinated before mixing. Some folks boil the water/sugar mix to eliminate impurities. I buy gallon jugs of distilled water and mix up a half gallon at a time (2 cups sugar to a half gal.) and keep the unused portion in the refrigerator. (At the peak of Hummingbird season I go through about a gallon of nectar a day)

You can also use 10x Powdered Sugar.....I got that tip a few years ago in my birds n blooms magazine...then you don't have to boil it because it mixes right in with the water. :thum:

I started doing that last year, and it seemed to be a big hit with the hummers.

They've said it all, PERFECTLY.

thanks everyone, loz...well fell free to call me crazy but what is 10 x ..is it 10 times the pow sugar for the same amount a water( a gallon )...thanks a lot.


Franny.

i don't know the ratio, but 10x sugar is sometimes called confectioner's sugar. it is the powdered sugar you use to make icing or frosting for cakes.

Yep that's it! I always just say 10x powdered sugar because there is a big 10X on the box.... :thum:

loz, did you know there is a 4x variety? it is coarser.

No I didn't know that....I don't think I've ever noticed it...then again I'm not much of a baker. :blsh:

Unless you go to a good responsible knowledgeable wild birding specialty shop where the owner is constantly preaching about how you dont need the red and here buy the clear and try it!

The powder sugar has corn starch in it and shouldn't be used for hummingbird feeders. Only "White granulated pure cane sugar" should be used 4:1 ratio.

http://www.hummingbirds.net/feeders.html

That's what "I" use, Jimmy. I tell folk use one part cane sugar to four parts tap water. Works like a charm. I have TWO hummers now and expect many more soon.

Thorny,
I read that if one was having trouble with ants, (I am not as of yet) that they could try increasing the ratio to 5 cups water to 1 cup of sugar---have you ever tried it?? I was wondering if you thought that would be sweet enough for the hummers.

Or you can use an ant guard Junie.

Or you can dump out out the old nectar, clean the feeder with white vinegar, and fill 'er up with fresh nectar, AFTER you spray down the pole and the swarming ants with a soapy mixture of liquid dish detergent and water in a spray/mister bottle. Soapy water kills ants INSTANTLY!!!

I didn't know that. What's the ratio of dish soap to water? I definitely would like to get rid of an ant colony in my garden. We've been sharing since I started gardening but this year they got in the apartment and it took me a week to kill them all.

No particular proportion. I just mix in some liquid dish detergent until the water looks good and soapy in my spray bottle and spray 'em down. The INSTANT ANY soapy water touches one it stops moving and never moves again.

About the ant guarde:
yea I bought one, but do the really work???
(I mean if you use them, not lay them on your diningroom table)LOL The one I have is a small black 2 inch tube like that holds water---you are supposed to insert it between the feeder & the hanger/hook---if you say they work, I will give it a try--

but I really like the idea of the soapy water in a spray bottle---thanks, once it stops raining, I wll be sure to do that.--

Hey guess what--I put up my Hummer feeders saturday at 3 and at 4 I already had a Hummer--and before it was all said & done for the day I had 4.. yea FOR ME!!!!

But the funniest things I ever saw was my hummers sitting in my maple tree that the feeder is next to. For me that is/was a strange sight.

When Hummers are NOT feeding, they often perch with little or no movement for hours close to the food source. My hummers like my willow treee where their feeders are or the Mulberry tree nearby.

I bought a new feeder and on the box it said to discourage ants by soaking a pipe cleaner in vegetable oil and wrapping around the point of contact that they get on the feeder.