What is your Hummingbird "Nectar" Recipe?

[Tornado Run Farm]

For those who attract Hummingbirds, what is your nectar recipe and how often do you change the feeders?

I've used the same one for years that was given to me by someone else -- quite simple, equal parts sugar and water right out of the tap. They seem to like it (as well as the woodpeckers, hornets, ants, yellow jackets)... I change it every 3-4 days.

My cousin cooks her, but the proportions aren't the same (can't remember exactly what she told me). I think she also adds food coloring and something else for vitamins? She told me my recipe was wrong, and I'm making it too sweet -- hence the other flying objects being attracted. I just can't remember what she told me, so I thought I'd ask you all.

[LightRanch]

I love the hummingbirds. I use the recipe I found on an online hummingbird site. 4 parts water to one part sugar. I make it one cup at the time so 1/4 cup sugar. I never have any bugs other than ants occasionally.

[katarine]

four cups boiling hot water, one cup sugar- stir til well dissolved and cool. I have four feeders out and they get a lot of activity. Do not add food coloring, they don't need it.

[Hunter's Rest]

Boiling it makes it not get rancid. 4 to 1, as stated above. Boiling is an important part, though.

[dmalbone]

four cups boiling hot water, one cup sugar- stir til well dissolved and cool. I have four feeders out and they get a lot of activity. Do not add food coloring, they don't need it.
Ditto. I usually double these amounts though and keep the extra in the fridge until I need it. I do not add food coloring either. Not good for them.

[Tornado Run Farm]

Got it! Thanks! Looks like the concenus is, well, 4:1 :yes:

[2DogsFarm]

I use the 4to1 mix too and refill as needed.
I use a tube feeder - which the hummers seem to like - so it gets refilled about every other day in Summer, sometimes daily if there's a lot of traffic.
I keep the extra in an old dishsoap squeeze bottle in the fridge so it's easy to refill those little tubes.

Tell your sister I still get ants & wasps at my feeder so it's not the 2to1 ratio you use that is attracting them.

[springer]

I researched it online and the site I was on said boiling isn't necessary. I just do 4:1 water and sugar and dissolve the sugar in hot tap water. We do have spring water though so city water may be a different story. Those little buggars are pigs, too! I have to fill my feeder twice a day! I just rinse it really good with hot water when I change it.

[ReSomething]

Four to one boiler, no additives. We set up several in different areas so we wouldn't get too much territorial action. You know, hummingbirds will dive bomb and chick! chick! at you when the feeders are empty, I guess to get you inside and making more food.

[CatOnLap]

boiling just helps the sugar crystals stay in solution so it doesn't crystaliize in the jar and also keeps bacteria and organisms away a little longer. I can't keep up to my hummers. I have 2 feeders holding 1 1/2 cups each and I have to refill them every 3 days lately. In the winter snows, I was changing them every 4 hours ( I had 4 in rotation) as they would freeze and the little hummers had no other source of food. Fortunately our snow only lasted a week. I use the 4:1 recipe too, and it still attracts ants and wasps, but the hummers get their fill. This year I have seen Rufous and Anna's, Caliope, and a Costa's hummer. The Annas and Costas are not supposed to be this far north. Local birders suspect someone released breeding pairs of both some years ago as they are not a rare sighting.

When our feeders are empty the little guys come right in our faces about 4 feet away and chirp at us until we do something about it. Pretty smart for a birdbrain!

[2DogsFarm]

:lol: ReSomething & CatOnLap - amazing how "henpecked" we can be by something that weighs about an ounce!

Also fun to watch the warring families of hummers at the feeder - they allow each other time to feed and then its "Get Outta Here! N-O-W!"

[Alagirl]

LOL, I miss my Hummers. We moved and I have not seen any at the new place (not really a lot of blooms going in the neighborhood)

i used to make the 4:1 and boiled it (I actually nuked it for 7 minutes...) But I love to see them hover over the real deal...so I try to find the flowers they love which btw don't have to be red.

[crosscreeksh]

Same thing 4:1, but I don't HAVE to change mine!!! We have sooooo many little guys that they empty 2, 1 qt. feeders at least every other day!!! We have all the piggy hummers at our house!!! And heaven help you when you go to change the feeders...they give you a bunch of scoldings if the feeders are empty for one minute!! I LOVE to watch them. We have our feeders in front of a picture window and have built a roof over them so the guys can eat in the rain.

[Foxtrot's]

We have a large pink chestnut tree - as soon as it flowers, the hummers arrive. All we ever get is one or two pairs at best though. A summer highlight in my opinion.

[SmokenMirrors]

Throw my vote for 4 parts boiled water and 1 part sugar. That amount fits just right into our hummingbird feeder then I put it up in the morning so when they come out it is there. I do take the feeder down once a week or so and clean it, then wash it very well and make sure it is dark when the hummingbirds are nested down so not to worry them when they come around and there is no feeder for them.

[Tornado Run Farm]

Wow - looks like EVERYBODY got the "memo," except me! I thought asking this would be like asking someone their Chili recipe - as many derivations as the number of people you ask. GREAT! 4:1 it is!

I do LOVE my little hummers. As demanding as they are, they're such a treat! THANKS!!!:D