Category: Hummingbird Food

How Quickly Does Nectar Spoil?

Post author By
Post date

How quickly the nectar will spoil in your hummingbird feeder depends on what the temperature is outside. If the temperature is 80 degrees or over, you will then need to change the nectar solution and refill the feeder every three to four days. If the temperature reaches 90 degrees or above, then that may need to be done every two days or so.

If your nectar solution appears cloudy then the solution has spoiled and must be changed. You will also need to change the nectar solution and clean the feeder if it appears to have black mold in it.

Maintaining a hummingbird feeder is a simple and easy way to attract hummingbirds, but doing so comes with the responsibility of properly maintaining the feeder. Do so and you will help ensure the heath and safety of the hummingbirds as well as also being able to continually enjoy the birds’ presence in your yard for sometime to come.

Hummingbird Food

The Daily Calorie Needs of a Hummingbird

Post author By
Post date
1 Comment on The Daily Calorie Needs of a Hummingbird

Have you ever considered how many calories per day a hummingbird requires in order to survive? The answer may surprise you as it did me. According to the website Nectar Art Prints.Com, on an average 12 hour day, a hummingbird weighing 10 grams, such as a male Anna’s Hummingbird, will require a whopping 6,660 calories per day in order to survive. Wow, that is a lot of calories for such an extremely tiny bird! The hummingbird will expend more then 1/3 of that amount while hovering during their efforts to gather food.

Hummingbird Feeders Hummingbird Food

Put Only Cool Nectar Solution In Feeder

Post author By
Post date

Never put hot homemade nectar solution in a hummingbird feeder! That is a common sense statement, right? Well, apparently not everyone knows this, because I myself have been asked about this numerous times. The nectar solution must be cooled before placing it in the hummingbird feeder. Here’s why.

If the nectar solution is too hot when you attempt to fill the hummingbird feeder, there is a good chance that this will cause the tank of the hummingbird feeder to break and this could cause serious injury to the person who is attempting to fill the feeder. They may either be cut as a result of the broken glass or they may be burned as a result of the hot liquid getting on them.

An unsuspecting hummingbird could burn its tongue on the hot liquid. This would cause harm to the hummingbird and probably cause the birds to no longer trust your feeders as a reliable and safe food source.

Making homemade nectar solution is a simple and easy way to attract hummingbirds, but I hope you now understand why it is vitally important to let the nectar solution cool completely before filling your feeders.

Hummingbird Food

How to Create a Hummingbird Haven

Post author By
Post date

Whenever you are using plants to help create you hummingbird habitat, be sure to place flowers of like color in large groups. A large area of color is more likely to catch the hummingbird’s attention rather then having single plants around the yard.
Plant perennials because they will come back year after year and be a consistent and dependable food source for the hummingbirds that visit your yard.
If you have a new garden, annuals will bloom quickly and serve as effective way to attract hummingbirds.
It is also useful to plant a wide variety of flowers that will boom at different times, because this will help ensure that there is a natural nectar source available during the spring and summer.
Add a water source, either a birdbath or mister, to your hummingbird habitat. Hummingbirds love to take a bath daily and this will allow the birds to do so.
You can even hang a few feeders in your hummingbird habitat. This will allow the birds the choice of feeding from the natural food sources or the feeders. Due the fact that hummingbirds are very territorial, it is better to space your feeders apart so that more birds will be able to feed at the same time.
Set up a place where you can enjoy viewing the hummingbirds. The location should be in a shady area and not be too close to the hummingbirds that your presence there scares off the birds that you are trying so hard to attract,

Hummingbird Feeders Hummingbird Food

Your Vacation Won’t Starve the Hummingbirds

Post author By
Post date

I recently asked a good friend why she hadn’t yet put up her hummingbird this season. You see, she is an avid hummingbird enthusiast and normally does so faithfully. Her response surprised me. She said she couldn’t do so because she was going to be leaving on vacation soon and that because she wouldn’t be here to refill the feeder the hummingbirds would starve to death. This simply is not true! Let me explain.

Think of the nectar solution in your hummingbird feeders as an energy drink for the hummingbirds. It will give the birds a quick boost of energy whenever it is needed, but nectar is not how hummingbirds get the majority of there nutritional needs met.

The hummingbird gets a great deal of their nutritional needs met by eating things such as aphids, mosquitoes, fruit flies and gnats. These things are all vital sources of protein to the hummingbird’s diet and the hummingbird must have this to ensure their survival.

Lastly, plants, flowers and bushes are excellent sources of nectar for hummingbirds. Even if your feeder should become empty while you are on vacation, the hummingbirds will have plenty of natural sources of nectar on which to feed while you are gone.

Hummingbirds are very resourceful and therefore will not stave just because you have gone on vacation for a brief period of time. Don’t let your upcoming vaction stop you from hanging your hummingbird feeders! Hang it now and enjoy it before you leave and then also upon your return from vacation.