Feed the Birds

I love watching hummingbirds. Though I obviously don’t consider them pets I do enjoy helping care for them and am glad when they choose my feeders to eat at!

Around here they start coming out in force this time of year (though there are always a few stragglers throughout the winter months too), so it’s time to get my hummingbird feeder back into shape. I like to try and keep it filled year-round but the stupid ants always find a way up onto eaves and infiltrate it by mid-summer. I try and spray around the area (with the feeder down so as not to contaminate it), but it never works.

Anyway, I’ve used several different feeders over the years and like the standard ones best. The one I have holds just over two cups of liquid, which I make using a formula I found online years ago: 1 part granulated sugar to 4 parts water, which translates to two cups of water to 1/2 cup of sugar for my feeder. That’s it! I usually boil my water first (adding in a little more to account for evaporation) and put the sugar in once hits the boil so it dissolves easier. Wait for it to cool down before putting it in the feeder. I’ve used just room temperature water before as well and don’t have much trouble with it, you just need to do a bit more stirring. You can store unused sugar water in the fridge for up to two weeks.

Don’t use red food coloring - they don’t need it and some have been found to be harmful; the red of the feeder is enough to attract the birds. Don’t add any other sweeteners (especially artificial) as they have no nutritional value, and you know hummingbirds need a lot of that! Don’t use honey either, it ferments and will make the birds sick. There are also many flowers you can plant that hummingbirds feed from!

[image: stock.xchng]