Back on The Earthly Gardener in April 2007, I posted the recipe that Husband came up with for hummingbird food. Over the years, our recipe hasn't changed. With the coming of the birds (although not so many for us this year for some reason), I thought I'd bump up the recipe and post it here again.
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.
We
don’t use red dye in our food; it’s 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!
Happy trails!
bobbi c.
Showing posts with label homemade hummingbird food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homemade hummingbird food. Show all posts
Sunday, June 2, 2013
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
Homemade Hummingbird Food
Dear friends,
In the past, I shared "Husband's Homemade Hummingbird Hooch" with my readers, and thought I'd share it again here. Although we've had less hummers here this year than last, they are still voracious and go through a feeder every few days. We're careful to keep the feeders clean and filled for them.
I've also noticed them sipping at the huge volunteer sunflower plant that came up in the corner of the yard. Or, at least, they try to. Hard to say what they're getting from that!
Enjoy the birdies!
Oh, and dig it!
bobbi c.
In the past, I shared "Husband's Homemade Hummingbird Hooch" with my readers, and thought I'd share it again here. Although we've had less hummers here this year than last, they are still voracious and go through a feeder every few days. We're careful to keep the feeders clean and filled for them.
I've also noticed them sipping at the huge volunteer sunflower plant that came up in the corner of the yard. Or, at least, they try to. Hard to say what they're getting from that!
Enjoy the birdies!
Oh, and dig it!
bobbi c.
Tuesday, April 8, 2008
Hummers are here!
Dear friends,
We always know when it's really spring when the first hummingbirds are sighted. I was in the garden the other day and got buzzed by one that was quite miffed that we hadn't hung out the feeders yet. They did have a few salvia blossoms to nibble on, but that didn't satisfy them. Husband got busy and hung the feeder, but so far they are ignoring it.
I got a comment the other day from a reader who expressed concern that our homemade hummer juice uses white sugar. According to the experts, plain white sugar is as close to flower nectar as we can get. At least we don't put synthetic food colorings in ours like the commercial mixtures. It's really unnecessary since the bottom of the feeder is red, they don't really need red water to attract them.
Happy gardening!
bobbi c.
We always know when it's really spring when the first hummingbirds are sighted. I was in the garden the other day and got buzzed by one that was quite miffed that we hadn't hung out the feeders yet. They did have a few salvia blossoms to nibble on, but that didn't satisfy them. Husband got busy and hung the feeder, but so far they are ignoring it.
I got a comment the other day from a reader who expressed concern that our homemade hummer juice uses white sugar. According to the experts, plain white sugar is as close to flower nectar as we can get. At least we don't put synthetic food colorings in ours like the commercial mixtures. It's really unnecessary since the bottom of the feeder is red, they don't really need red water to attract them.
Happy gardening!
bobbi c.
Monday, April 30, 2007
Husband's Homemade Hummingbird Food
The Earthly Garden by Bobbi A. Chukran
March 27, 2007
Mornin’ earthly gardeners!
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.
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.
March 27, 2007
Mornin’ earthly gardeners!
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.
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.
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