Homemade Hummingbird Food: Super Easy, Fast, Safe and Cheap! See How to Make with Only Two Common Kitchen Ingredients! (+Best Hummingbird Feeders!)
Homemade Hummingbird Food: Super Easy, Fast, Safe and Cheap! How to Make with Only Two Common Kitchen Ingredients! | By Sherry Trautman | Traveling Michigan
Every summer, I love making homemade, dye free, hummingbird food. These little hummingbirds just love it and it's super easy, fast and cheap to make!! Plus, you will already have the ingredients in your kitchen!
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Hummingbird Food. Photo by Aldo Hernandez““By the way, did you fellows know that a hummingbird weighs as much as a quarter? Do you think a hummingbird also weighs the same as two dimes and a nickel? But then she asked a question of her own: How do they weigh a hummingbird?”
― Calvin Trillin, Enough's Enough
See How to Make Hummingbird Food in Our Video
What are the Best Hummingbird Feeders? We Use These!
Above is the hummingbird feeder that we have hanging from a shepherd's hook in the yard. It works fantastic. I refill it about once per week.
We have two hummingbird feeders as we are little obsessed with these fast flying 'lil darlings. Michigan is very lucky as we have several types of hummingbirds that zip around our state.
This is the hummingbird feeder that we have attached to our window. You will also want to get a suction cup hanger for this feeder.
Directions and Recipe for Making Safe Hummingbird Food
To make safe Hummingbird food, combine:
- 1 cup water
- 1/4 cup granulated white sugar (or cane sugar)
Bring ingredients to a simmer and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Cool completely and then pour into your hummingbird feeders.
Hummingbirds also love my red petunias so having few hanging red potted plants nearby definitely ups their enticement factor!
Do I need to boil sugar water for hummingbirds?
We lightly boil the water and sugar mixture to dissolve the sugar. It doesn't take more than a minute or two to dissolve the sugar. See our video above.
Should hummingbird feeders be in sun or shade?
It is recommended to place your hummingbird feeder in a spot with morning sun and afternoon shade. We have several trees in our yard so we hang the feeds in the open yard.
What time of day do hummingbirds come to feeders?
We generally see our hummingbirds visit the feeder in later afternoon into the evening. It's so fun to sit on our deck and watch the hummingbirds!
Why do hummingbirds stop coming to feeders?
We have found if the water is old, dirty or stale the hummingbirds won't linger to feed.
How often should you change your hummingbird feeder?
If it's very hot outside, we change the hummingbird feeder 2 times a week. If the weather has been cooler, we just do it every 6 days or so. Just keep an eye on it and if it's buggy or mostly gone or murky, change it. Oh, and clean the feeder to prevent harmful mold growth.
The Smithsonian's National Zoo has more info and answers lots of questions on Hummingbird feeders!
Do hummingbirds come back to the same feeder every year?
It is said that hummingbirds have a fantastic memory, so be sure to put your feeders out early in the season so they can find them otherwise they will move on.
Pin This Hummingbird Food Page!
See the Incredible Clearwing Hummingbird Moths!
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