Hummingbird Food (Nectar) Recipe
Follow this easy hummingbird food recipe to make homemade hummingbird nectar without boiling, including the best kind of sugar to use, sugar water ratio and more.
Equipment
- Small pot or tea kettle
- Hummingbird feeder
Ingredients
- 1 cup water, un-chlorinated and filtered if possible
- 1/4 cup refined white sugar* (do not substitute with other sugars or sweeteners, see notes below)
Instructions
- Completely dissolve 1 part sugar in 4 parts hot water. Scale up or down as needed for your feeder(s). For example, use 1 cup of sugar and 4 cups water, 1/2 cup sugar and 2 cups water, or 1/4 cup sugar and 1 cup water. During winter: increase the sweetness to 1 part sugar to only 3 parts water (1/3 cup sugar and 1 cup water), but no more sweet than that!
- You can either lightly heat a pot of sugar water on the stove, or by heat water in a tea kettle and then mix it with the sugar in a heat-safe bowl or glass. If your water gets really hot straight out of the tap, you can simply mix hot water and sugar right in jar, glass, or bowl. You do NOT need to boil homemade hummingbird food, but do make sure the sugar completely dissolves.
- Allow the sugar water to cool down to lukewarm or room temperature before adding it to your hummingbird feeder.
- Hang the feeder outside in a shady location at least 4 feet above the ground, and have fun watching your hummer friends enjoy their food!
- If you make extra, store any leftover hummingbird food in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
- Thoroughly clean and sanitize feeders at least weekly. Every 4 to 5 days is ideal, and more frequently in hot weather. Do not "top off" the feeder by adding more nectar before emptying it first. If the food becomes moldy, cloudy, or otherwise grimy, immediately take it down and clean out the feeder.
Notes
Regarding sugar: Do not use brown sugar, "raw" cane sugar, or organic sugar (unless it is pure white in color). If the sugar is not 100% white refined sugar, it may contain a small amount of molasses. Molasses is rich in iron, and iron can be toxic to hummingbirds in even small doses. For example, the organic raw sugar we usually use at home has a tan tint to it, so we don’t use it in this homemade hummingbird food recipe. Do not use honey, agave syrup, or artificial sweeteners. Beet sugar is the only other suitable replacement for white cane sugar.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!