Newbie has question about food...

18 years ago

Hi, I'm new to trying to attract hummingbirds to the garden, I planted flowers in my this year to attract them and nothing happened, I came across this forum and read up on what to do, so I went out and got two feeders 2 weeks ago, and food made up by perky pet that is concentrated and you dilute it, it all worked great -- until -- I made up my second batch of food and realized I made a mistake and the first batch of food had one cup less of water in it than it should have had (it was more concentrated). I put out the second batch with the right proportions and have had no hummingbirds feeding (2 days now), which they had been feeding all day long. My question is if I make another batch of food at the more concentrated level like the first one, will it harm them in any way? Thanks for your help! : ) Tussiemussies

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Comments (7)

suprasport
18 years ago
Mix a batch of sugar water: 1 part sugar to 4 parts water. They really like it. Alot of people say that the red store bought mix is not good for the hummers
alan_la
18 years ago
Supra has It.Good luck
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tussiemussies
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi again,

Thanks for your replies, when I bought the mix, I was very careful in looking at the ingredients and this one seems to be very good (it is completely natural, no red food coloring etc., amde from insests and flowers for the red) and I had picked up quite a lot of it to finish off the season, so I would really like to use it up, does anyone know if it would be harmful to them to make it more concentrated as I had mistakenly originally done? Thanks. : )
tzunun
18 years ago
This is a new product that seems to be Perky Pet's (long delayed) response to concerns over the artificial coloring FD&C Red #40 (though a company rep told me that PP has no plans to discontinue the original products). There's no harm in finishing off what you've got, but I'd advise against making it too strong. Try splitting the difference by making the next batch or two with 1/2 cup less water than the directions call for, then increase the water to 1/4 cup less, finally ending up with the recommended concentration. Next season, follow suprasport's advice and use 1 part plain white sugar to 3 or 4 parts water - it's more like real flower nectar than any "instant nectar" mix, plus it's way cheaper.
shireguy
18 years ago
My wife and I have been feeding hummingbirds at our home for about 15 years. When we first started we used a commercially offered feed but we found it to be quite expensive so we started mixing our own solution in a 4:1 ratio water to sugar and adding no coloring. We live in Georgia so it's pretty warm here most of the year and we found that the solution would go off after a few days especially in the heat of our summers. One day we found ourselves out of solution. I am a bee keeper so we decided to use some solution I had for the bees which is a 1:1 ratio by volume. Well, two things happened. The hummingbirds love it and the sugar water can stay in the feeder for a very long time and not go off (sugar is a natural preservative). We've been doing this for over ten years and have observed no adverse effects to the birds. We have about 15 that come back year after year. Hope this is useful information!
tussiemussies
Original Author
18 years ago
Hi Tzunun and ShireGuy,

Thanks so much for your advice I really appreciate it, I just didn't want to harm the birds, and feel a lot better hearing from you ShireGuy that they have been fine with a more conentrated food. Tzunun thanks also for your input --- : ) Tussie Mussies
mimidi
18 years ago
ShireGuy it sure is interesting.

Newbie has question about food...

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Newbie has question about food...

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