Effects of Sugar Concentration on Hummingbird Feeding and Energy Use
I have 10 feeding stations in my garden and love to help others set up feeders for the local birds in their area.
One of the delights of summer is watching the hummingbird feeder through the kitchen window. Now that mating season is over, and the young have fledged, there's less fighting, and the males are (usually) content to share the feeder with the females and young birds.
In the early morning and at dusk, all 10 of my feeding stations are usually occupied, with a hummer or two waiting for a seat. A quart-sized feeder gets emptied in about one day. In early spring, and after the main migration in the fall, I use a smaller feeder. I used to have multiple feeding places, but they got too hard to keep up with!
In this article, I'll share with you some important points to consider when setting up a hummingbird feeder in your garden.
This article will break down all the information you need to know to set up a hummingbird feeder in your own garden.
5 Set Up Tips:
Here are some of the primary factors to consider when you're setting up a hummingbird feeder:
1. Watch out for Insects
Hummingbirds live on small insects like aphids, spiders, and "no-see-ums," but larger insects can be a threat to them. Bee and wasp stings can be fatal, so hummers will avoid a feeder when these insects are present. Large spiders and praying mantises will catch and eat hummers, so the feeders need to be kept away from their hiding places! Ants are not a problem per se, but they tend to drown inside the feeders.
Ant guards and bee guards will eliminate most problems. Ant guards are barriers filled with oil, water, or insecticide, that hang between the feeder and the line, stopping ants from forming a trail to the feeder. Some feeders with large, artificial flowers will attract bees and wasps, and these need bee guards (thimble-like objects made of mesh) that fit over the nectar holes. These prevent bees from reaching the nectar while allowing the hummers to lap it up with their long tongues. Most new feeders eliminate this problem by replacing the flowers with a small slit opening. Hummingbirds have excellent sight and will find the opening, but bees and wasps usually do not.
2. Beware of Other Pests
My two biggest pests are orioles and woodpeckers. I love both birds, just not on the hummer feeders! In addition to scaring away all of the hummers, their weight tends to tip the feeder sideways, allowing a stream of nectar to pour out. This wastes nectar and attracts ants.
The orioles are around for only a week or two in spring and fall, but the downy woodpeckers are a perpetual nuisance. Last year, I had a couple of nice feeders with removable drinking ports, making them easy to clean. The woodpeckers thought the ports hindered their ability to get to the nectar, so they systematically pulled them out and flung them out into the yard.
This year, I switched to feeders with permanently attached drinking ports. I also put a weather dome over the feeder. It isn't there for the weather—since the feeder hangs under the eaves of the back porch roof—but the dome makes it harder for the woodpeckers to drop down from the roof onto the feeder.
A couple of years ago, I looked out my kitchen window and could have sworn that a tabby cat was hanging from the hummer feeder. It took my foggy brain (it was before my first cup of morning coffee) a couple of seconds to resolve the image into a yellow-bellied sapsucker. Fortunately for me, it was not planning to take up permanent residence in my yard and left after a couple of days of being sprayed with the kitchen sink spray nozzle. The hummingbirds seemed relieved!
Feeders should be easy to clean.
3. Keep it Clean
Hummingbird feeders must be kept clean of insects and mold, so a good feeder should come apart easily. There shouldn't be any parts with openings too small to get a bottle brush in, or you are in for a terrible time cleaning! This is the most important consideration when selecting a feeder.
Feeders need to be cleaned any time there is evidence of mold. In the cool weather, this may be once a week, but it may be every day in the summer heat. If you are not ready to clean the feeders, it would be best not to set one up since contamination in the nectar can make hummingbirds sick. Boiling or sterilizing the sugar water will not stop contamination since the hummingbirds bring it in themselves on their tongues.
The best way to clean a feeder is with baking soda or mild dish soap (not detergent), rinsing thoroughly. A bottle brush or old toothbrush is handy for getting around the edges. After cleaning with baking soda, a little apple cider vinegar will cause the remaining baking soda to foam, while the vinegar helps sterilize the feeder parts.
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5. The Bigger, the Better
Those tiny feeders that hold 3–4 ounces of nectar look cute, and you might be thinking, "how much nectar can a hummer or two eat in a day?" But around my house, one of those feeders would be empty in less than an hour. If you live in an urban area, with hummingbirds only dropping by occasionally, these small feeders could be just right. On the other hand, if you have many hummingbirds, any feeder that holds less than 10 ounces is a waste of time. Get a larger capacity feeder (some hold a half-gallon!) and don't fill it with more nectar than the hummingbirds will drink in two days (one day in hot weather.) As your feeder attracts more birds, you will be happy for the larger size.
There's a smaller (8–14 ounces) feeder that sticks to a window with suction cups. This is a great choice if you want to get up close to the birds as they feed. You can stand next to a window with the feeder on the outside, and the birds will simply ignore you. (They see you, but they also see the window.) The biggest problem with these, aside from their small size, is that ants will find the feeders unless you put a barrier of some kind around the window. These feeders may also blow off in high winds.
6. Color Matters
Hummingbirds will check out anything that is brightly colored—so feeders do not have to be red. A favorite old feeder around my house was purple with yellow feeding ports. Once the birds have found a feeder, they will return to it. If they seem to be having trouble finding it, place bright ribbons or foil on the line holding the feeder (or in the window for a window feeder) to attract their attention.
Please do not add red food coloring to the nectar or buy prepared nectar that is colored. There have been no extensive studies to show that the dye is harmful, but a hummingbird's kidneys are tiny and do not have to handle dyes in nature since flower nectar is colorless. Why put something in that serves no purpose and may be harmful to the birds? And many red dyes contain propylene glycol: antifreeze. Hummingbirds migrate in the cold weather, so they don't need antifreeze!
3 Common Questions About Feeders:
1. When is the Best Time to Hang the Feeder?
Put up your feeders a few days before hummingbirds are expected to arrive in your area, so they have some "quick energy" after their long flight. If you don't know when they arrive in your area, check the migration maps. Hummingbirds will return to the area they inhabited the year before and look for "their" feeders. If you are late hanging the feeders, you may see hummingbirds hovering where the feeder had been the year before.
Take the feeders down after the first frost in your area. It is a myth that keeping feeders up encourages hummers to stay rather than migrate. Migration is triggered by day length, not the availability of food. Keeping feeders up and filled in the fall will help the migrating birds with quick energy for their flight.
2. What Goes in the Feeder?
Nectar is a mix of one part pure cane sugar to four parts boiling (or otherwise purified) water. Experts say that you may use tap water if you drink it yourself. There's no need to boil the water if it is drinkable—add the sugar and make sure it is dissolved completely. Nothing else should be added. Never use any sugar substitute since these lack the carbohydrates the birds need for fuel. Never use honey because it harbors a mold that will kill the hummingbirds.
Do not vary the ratio—a weaker mix will be ignored by the birds in favor of flower nectar, and a stronger mix has too little water for proper kidney function. Don't buy commercially prepared mixes because these are a waste of money, and most contain red dye. Some special mixes contain added nutrients, and these may be of use to wildlife specialists caring for sick or over-wintering birds. For the average home user, they are not needed.
The hummingbirds get all of the nutrients they need from the insects they eat. They only get energy from the nectar, and the 1-to-4 mix is very close to natural flower nectar.
3. Should I Buy a Feeder With Perches?
Some people like to watch the birds hover as they drink from the feeders, so they eliminate perches. On the other hand, it helps the birds conserve energy if they can sit on a perch while feeding, and I would recommend feeders with perches.
At first light, the hummingbirds are in torpor from the long night without food. The ones that show up at my feeders look a lot like I do before my first shot of coffee—a little groggy! They will sit on a perch for 10 minutes, slowly sipping their morning energy boost, before flying off. There's usually a waiting line for perches, and the birds will sometimes share a perch with offspring or siblings, especially first thing in the morning.
Putting up your feeders a few days before hummingbirds are expected to arrive in your area will provide them with some "quick energy" after their long flight.
No Feeder? No Problem!
There are lots of plants that attract hummingbirds. Basically, any flowering plant that produces nectar will be visited by hummingbirds, but they especially like tubular flowers.
Some plants loved by hummingbirds include bee balm, sage, hollyhock, fuchsia, columbine, nicotiana, petunia, gladiolus, butterfly weed, cardinal flower, lupine, honeysuckle, trumpet vine, campsis, morning glory, lilac, quince, weigela, azalia, butterfly bush, silk trees (mimosa), and flowering locust.
Remember that hummingbirds live on small insects, not just nectar. Overspraying with toxic insecticides will leave the hummers with no food source, and they will not stay in your area, even with abundant nectar feeders.
This content is accurate and true to the best of the author's knowledge and is not meant to substitute for formal and individualized advice from a qualified professional.
Amie on July 02, 2012:
Orioles love the nectar too if it has stands and the HUMMERS are not afraid of the big birds. So you can still have both. I have a feeder and the hummers even try to scare the orioles.
RockBlossom (author) from The Arkansas Ozarks on December 17, 2011:
Russ:
Look at this map:
http://annenbergmedia.org/jnorth/maps/humm_fall201...
It is not uncommon to see hummers in your area after the "normal" migration time. Sorry - no "anti-freeze" that I know of that won't kill the hummers in the process. I doubt that they can survive below-freezing temps, anyway, so if they haven't migrated south before the freeze ...
Russ on December 17, 2011:
I keep reading that the hummers have migrated south - but it is frozen outside, December 17th and the hummers are at my feeder for food! I think they must be getting something or they wouldn't keep at the feeder but I need to know what I can use for antifreeze in the feeder mix. Our temperature will get to the mid twenty range over night and mid thirty range during the day. Hummers in western Washington don't seem to migrate.
jwalkerprice from Auburn/Jacksonville on July 09, 2011:
Hello. This is a very informative article. I enjoyed reading it as I am a research assistant for an ornithologist at Auburn University. We will be conducting tests in the next few months on Hummingbird nutrition and performance when adding electrolytes to the food. I do like that you and some of the comments address salts (electrolytes). It is interesting that they need to feed so frequently before running out of energy!
TyraSenki on April 30, 2010:
Those are some great tips, especially the ones about cleaning. I found some Top Fill feeders by Perky-Pet that are specifically designed for easy cleaning.
Here's one I found online:
http://www.birdfeeders.com/store/hummingbird-feede...
RockBlossom (author) from The Arkansas Ozarks on June 03, 2009:
Hah! I seem to be in the middle of a migration path for orioles. They pass through in clusters, but don't stay the summer. For the couple of weeks they are here, they are pests. They will hog the hummer feeder, even when I hang a perfectly good oriole feeder a few feet away! It makes me wonder if they recognise the hummer feeder and know it has nectar, but aren't used to seeing oriole feeders. By the time they have discovered that the oriole feeder is easier to sit on and has nectar, they are heading north again. The hummers seem relieved to see them gone.
The World of Hummingbirds: http://www.worldofhummingbirds.com/nectar.php says nix on the Kool Aid. Since I never buy Kool Aid, I don't know what is in it, but I tend to err on the side of caution and leave additives out. Hummers only get energy from nectar - natural or feeder - and get other nutrients from insects. Some experts say that there are trace amounts of potassium salts in flower nectar, and small amounts may be added to feeder nectar. I left that out of my article for fear that readers might see "potassium salt" and confuse that with table (sodium) salt. Adding table salt is a very bad idea.
Dolores Monet from East Coast, United States on June 03, 2009:
So you call orioles pests? I would love to have an oriole visit my hummingbird feeder! I have heard that people add red Kool Aid, just a little, for color and nutrients to the nectar. Is this a good or bad idea?
Great hub, Rockblossom. I can't believe you've only been here a week. Both your hubs are very informative and detailed. I'll be back!
Matt Couden from USA on May 29, 2009:
Excellent lens and tips on hummingbirds. We also have a feeder for hummingbirds and one for birds outside the kitchen window..it can be a great way to start your day gazing out the window at nature as you eat breakfast!
myra636 from Viginia on May 28, 2009:
Thanks for coming by I enjoyed reading about your humming birds all so
Source: https://dengarden.com/gardening/Feeding-Hummingbirds
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