Pure cane sugar in a 3 parts water to 1 part sugar or 4 parts water to 1 part sugar is the best and most closely related mixture to natural flower nectar. Either of those mixtures can be used safely. The commercial nectar does have elements that are not necessary nor beneficial to hummers. The red dye (RD#40) used to color commerial nectar can actually be harmful.

Penny

I notice when I buy sugar it does not say cane sugar, just sugar. How do I know if it's pure cane sugar or is it beet sugar?

Bill

I always make sure it says cane sugar on the package...if it doesnt say 100% pure cane sugar it may be beet sugar and i dont know if thats any good for hummers...i have read before it is not as good

I am the same way. If the bag just says sugar or granulated sugar, I assume it is beet sugar so I keep looking until I find sugar that says pure cane sugar. Believe it or not WalMart's cobranded sugar does say pure cane sugar as does Domino's. Beet sugar is safe to use but the hummers do seem to prefer the cane sure because it may be just a tad sweeter.

Penny

Below is a link to a site that tells you more than you may want to know about the process of deriving sugar from sugar cane, and from beets. There are a bunch of tabs at the top, and you can move around the site, learning about all sorts of things such as how unrefined sugar is made, and also about the refining process that results in pure, white sucrose. One relevant quote is this:

"White sugar is essentially pure sucrose and there is no difference between that derived from cane and that from beet."

I did, however, read one part that said different refined sugars might be sweeter than others because they are composed of smaller crystals. I guess this would result in more dense sugar, with less air spaces between crystals. I don't know. Look for it, read it, and see what you think.

You can also type in a page from the hummingbirds.net website-- http://www.hummingbirds.net/hainsworth.html. It will get you to an article by hummingbird researchers. In the article there is an interesting discussion about ranges of sugar concentrations in natural nectars, and in feeder solutions, and how this affects the frequency of hummingbird feeding trips. Although flower nectar can contain three different sugars--sucrose, glucose, and fructose, when given a choice, the birds show a definite preference for pure sucrose over pure glucose or fructose.

As far as I can determine, once it has been fully refined, sucrose is sucrose, whether it comes from beets or sugar cane.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sugar cane, sugar beets, and sugar refining

I don't post often here, but just thought I'd share that last summer, I used a noname sugar (from WM) and the hummers weren't liking it nearly as much. On closer inspection, it was beet sugar.
So........based on that experience, I stick to pure cane sugar!!!

The only thing I can think of, is that there is some yucky tasting residue in the beet sugar, that is not found in the pure cane sugar. Even if the sugar is pretty pure, maybe the birds can taste small amounts of leftover impurities that were not removed in the refining process. That's the only reason I can think of that they would show such a preference. Both are sucrose.

I imagine some will get angry at me for mentioning this, but when I used to work in an aviary, our hummingbird nectar recipe contained small amounts of soy-based protein powder. Many of our hummingbirds lived very long lives (10+ years) subsisting on this diet. We also made sure we kept lots of rotten fruit around to encourage fruit flies. It was fun to watch them snap the tiny little flies right out of the air. Amazing!

I hesitate to mention the protein powder, because I don't want to encourage people to use it. It would be easy to overdose them, and I can't remember the exact recipe any more. Also, wild birds would have greater access to insect food, so such supplementation for a wild bird should really be unnecessary. I must confess that I snuck a little into their nectar last fall, in the hopes that it would fortify them for their long migration, but I only did it for maybe a week or two. I thought they might not like the taste, but they went for it eagerly.

Oh great....I bought that commercial nectar containing minerals and Red #40 for feeders! Guess I'll not be using this anymore.

Vera

I noticed that HBs were not eating from my feeders, even though they had been and there were many around. I found out about beet sugar and checked my new bag of sugar. It had SUGAR as the ingredient. I called the headquarters of the establishment(one of the largest stores in the world). The representative listened and put me on hold to call their sugar supplier. She then told me that that batch of sugar DID contain BEET SUGAR. I immediately bought a bag of sugar the had cane sugar as the ingredient; used it and the HBs returned. The supplier assured me that the print on the bags of sugar would be changed to reflect that CANE SUGAR was the main ingredient when that was true. So my Ruby-throated HBs could and did tell me which sugar to use. BTW, I have been feeding HBs for many years.

Hi caroleturek, what kind of hummingbird feeders do you prefer and use? Have you tried the saucer type hummingbird feeders from Aspects?