hello all - I want to hang a hummingbird feeder in my trees. All the recipes for hummingbird
nectar call for a mix of white sugar + water but I'd love to offer them better nutrition.
Any ideas??
Thanks + love + peace.

That is better nutrition for them though. They can't filter iron so using brown sugar will kill them, so will honey etc. Plain white sugar is what they need unless you can provide them with a garden full of appropriate flowers .

Thanks Coco.
I was thinking along the lines of various fresh fruit juices mixed w/water instead of the sugar.
What do you think?

Rawbliss,
Here is a list of hummingbird flowers. If you have room to plant them they might be a better idea. I think juices might not be the optimal thing for hummingbirds.

Sort of like trying to live on raisins verses fresh grapes. But then again, the birds could always look for flowers or something else as they are free range. Keeping mold or bacteria growth down in feeders might be a problem for juices in a feeder. Another advantage of planting natural flowers.
[www.dianeseeds.com]

See, they don't know that brown sugar or honey is dangerous for them so they'll drink it, get sick and die. I'd guess the same might be true for fruit juices, bacteria etc contaminated whatevers, etc. Best to stick with what is known to be beneficial for them without harm I'd think. The controversy around feeding hummingbirds has always been the red dye, that we know is not good for them but some people still continue to colour the sugar water they put out. Use a red container, they are attracted to that colour.

Please do not assume that because something is not healhful to us, it must also be harmful to other creatures: hummingbirds aren't people! coco is right!

The arguement I have against artificial hummingbird feeders is that they don't appear in nature that way. Flowers are the natural hummingbird feeder. I had an artificial one years ago, thinking that I was doing the birds some good. But I really think people want them just to attract them to their windows for viewing. Not a bad thing really, they are beautiful birds.

But its really like feeding birds bread, dried corn with molasses for deer, etc...people are really motivated to meet their own personal ideas,emotional attachments etc... not based on what is the best for the animals.

I am sure there are many minute differences between flower nectar and sugar water. People may not know what the differences are but I am sure they are there. Animals also have to move around to gather their food, not have it concentrated in one spot. Just a few ideas. Its totally up to anyone to decide what do to, but I myself don't want to ever put up another hummingbird feeder, feed geese, pigdeons, squirels etc...

Thanks for all of your comments. It's all good food for thought. I can't imagine that giving them sugar water is in their best interests so I've decided not to hang a feeder after all. Maybe I'll test my luck w/hummingbird flowers (thanks Mislu). Oh the beauty of a forum where people concern themselves w/the Universe's tiniest creatures...

Flowers are the best way to go, for sure!

Rawbliss,
I feel kind of bad suggesting going without the hummingbird feeder. I want you to enjoy seeing them. I notice them around here, but they are honestly more attracted to a big beautiful garden with lots of flowers. I think those are a natural draw bigger than a feeder. I don't really know if they are that harmful.

I just have some negative experiences watching people feeding wildlife. It seems like a good idea to those people, but I have seen someone give a little baby deer what looked like diabetes by feeding it corn with sweenter on top of it. He made it really fat with full bloated stomach and dull looking fur. All so that he could pet it like a dog. He had photos of him petting it at his check out stand. (he worked at a local coop)I noticed he didn't keep them up long, as he was telling everyone, and showing everyone. I think someone eventually told him what was what eventually. I kept my mouth shut because I get really angry with him when he first told me about feeding the deer.

So its really just my over reaction. I don't know enough about the needs of hummingbirds.

I look at it as a little treat. I have 2 feeders in the patio area of my apt. bldg. and they feed on them, but more often than not you see them feeding off the blossoms of the flowers and trees. It's weird to see them feed off the pine tree in the back. I wonder if they are eating ants or other small bugs?

You only need a very small amount of sugar. 2 quarts of water and about 1/3 cup of sugar. Keeping a feeding clean is paramount due to bacteria. I never add any color. The number of hummers has increased and has given the seniors here some pleasure in having them visit.

Love,
Prism

Well I did a little search on the nutritional needs of hummingbirds. Sounds like some good suggestions on how to attract them. Also seems to explain why birds are attracted to gardens with lots of flowers. The additional need of insects in their diet.
[birding.about.com]

I didn't know that they eat a small amount of ash and sand. They also get some amount of pollen from flowers when feeding. The article makes it sound insignificant, but lesser amounts of something can make all the difference in the world.

I never thought of different sugar in different flower nectars. Here is a statement from another webpage.

"Hummingbirds have a strong preference for flowers with nectar that is composed of sucrose, rather than fructose or glucose, the other common components of flower nectar. Also, hummingbirds are attracted to certain colors—most often red, but also orange and yellow. Flowers that attract hummingbirds often have a tubular shape, to accommodate long bills and tongues."

[nationalzoo.si.edu]

Very interesting. I also read on another webpage that nectar usually contains a mix of different sugars, also sodium,and potassium salts, and a small amount of protein. I am sure that if it were examined even closer one is likely to find other things like antioxidents in small amounts, and perhaps vitamins.

I imagine that its best to NOT try and make a mix of sugar water and the above ingredients, I certainly wouldn't know how much to add of each to make a safe solution.

Its curious that one source says that is how the bird is getting its water, apparently they don't drink water from other sources. Has anyone observed them drinking anything other than nectar or solution from a feeder?

I found a related webpage about nectaring of butterflies. Interesting, I never thought that nutrition from nectars from different flowers could be so different.
[www.quinocheckerspot.com]

Didn't go into too much detail about the difference, but apparently there is a difference. Sounds like this is a rather unexplored area of study. It sounds weird, but is there such a thing as a human nectararian? Maybe that will be the next thing! Sounds like it would be very, very difficult, and perhaps disaster waiting.

Wow, what a great hummingbird education!! Mislu, you've no reason to feel bad re: recommending doing w/out the feeder - I appreciate the honest input. And your "overeaction" to the guy feeding the deer could only be viewed as such against a norm that doesn't consider its impact. For me, it's the sugar issue I ultimately can't square. It makes me nuts when bees are force fed sugar, cattle fed grains, etc., etc. - substances their bodies weren't meant to metabolize (much like all the @#$%& the food industry prays
we stuff ourselves with). Still, I do understand wanting to be closer to nature & her lovely creatures & respect the feeder hanger's rights to do so.

Rawbliss,
I don't think I will ever forget the guy feeding the deer. He said he fed them for months gradually getting closer and gaining their trust, so he could eventually hand feed them and hold them etc... He thought he was so clever, and that the deer were so 'cute'. They are, but such close interactions with wild animals usually don't turn out so well. But I am obviously preaching to the choir.

I was thinking about nectar, there must be something in it that makes it ok for hummingbirds to have such a large amount of sugar. I am sure its worth investigating further.

Mislu,

Usually I tell people like that, "You know you are training them to be docile around humans so a hunter can just walk right up to them and shoot them--BAM!--right in the face someday. Is that what you're after?" and then leave them to have a chat with their own conscience.

It's not the nicest way to handle it, admittedly, but I've found that people like this don't respond to plaintive arguments or remonstrations: these put them on the defensive. Unfortunately, the hard tack seems to work better.

It's amazing to me how oblivious humans are to the consequences of their actions. Amaaaaaaaazing.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/20/2011 02:15PM by Tamukha.

I couldn't agree more. But there is also the more immediate problem of some ill health he inflected on the baby deer. I have never seen a baby deer with a little bloated belly and dull looking fur like the one in the photo. Even in that little community, most people look down on deer hunting, but don't give a second thought to nutritional problems from feeding the deer.

Yes, the last time I had an interaction with that person my partner was sensitive enough to interviene before it got too ugly. I am glad he did. I am not completely happy with leaving the situation as it was, as I wanted him to think about something other than how 'cute' this wild creature was. And the naive notion that it could benefit somehow from sweetned corn. (not to mention his presence.) My partner brought up another question about tick transmission...I thought man this guy doesn't understand a whole lot.

Well, its left me very negative about feeding animals or trying to assist them.

Tamukha Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> It's amazing to me how oblivious humans are to the
> consequences of their actions. Amaaaaaaaazing.


We visited the new pet supply shop in town today. Beta fish in teensy weensy little globe bowls. Sigh. It's REALLY not hard to educate yourself about how best to keep them, you'd think a freaking pet supply store owner selling FISH would bother to look that sort of thing up. Imagine the advice they are giving to people who shop there...
I'll print out some info and mail it to them, hopefully they have enough heart to pay attention and learn something.

*shaking head*

Coco,
I have seen worse. I have seen betas being sold in plastic drinking cups with tape over the top, or a lid with a little hole on the top. A major department store also had small tanks, probably about a pint or two of water with rocks, plastic plants and maybe five small fish in them, usually ones that actually require heat and filtration. I thought, "what the". I was surpised that they weren't all dead.

But apparently they were packed and shipped within a very short period of time, sealed with I guess a good supply of oxigenated water. But no food, so they don't toxicify themselves or use up oxygen too quick from bacterial action. So they stay alive just long enough to be sold...that is if they are sold in time. I think they just returned the set up if it wasn't sold on time.